Legarda digs herself a deep (political) hole

SENATE Pro Tempore and veteran lawmaker, Sen. Loren Legarda, has just dug for herself a deep (political) ‘hole’ where her political career may not be able to crawl out after delivering a privilege speech at the Senate last August 30, 2022 and where she showed her true color of being a ‘supporter,’ if not an actual ‘ally’ of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Legarda took to the floor and deliver her speech lasting nearly 10 minutes after Sen. Francis Tolentino made remarks as regards the arrest last August 24, 2022 in Quezon City of Adora Faye de Vera, elder sister of Prospero ‘Popoy’ de Vera, who has been appointed as chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Adora, according to police and military records, is a ranking member of the CPP as secretary of the party’s central front in Panay Island and also, as a staff member of the National Operations Command (NOC) of the terror group’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

She was arrested on the basis of a standing warrant of arrest for multiple murder and rebellion after being tagged as a participant in an NPA ambus that killed 9 soldiers and injured 18 others in Calinog, Iloilo on November 19, 2005.

At the time of her arrest, she was carrying a P2.5 million bounty on her head, another indicator of her high position in the local communist terrorist movement.

While claiming that she has no interest as regards the case of the de Vera siblings as she does not know them “personally,” Legarda went on to inject suspicion on the actual personality of Adora as a ranking terrorist personality by saying there are certain groups and individuals “deemed ‘subversive’ by the government but not really proven.”

Pushing for the resumption of the already dead ‘peace talks’ with the CPP-NPA and its umbrella organization, the National Democratic Front (NDF), Legarda added she was never “ashamed” of working with the NDF on previous occasions.

“I have worked with the National Democratic Front and I am not ashamed of it, Legarda said, stressing she also agreed with the terrorist group “on many subject matters close to our hearts.”

Legarda also feigned ignorance of the CPP and its founder, Jose Maria Sison, already being designated as terrorists not only by the Philippine government but also by the United States and the European Union since 2002.

“I do not recall what law or what pronouncement of government has declared the CPP or similar orgs, movements, beliefs, association, as what, enemies of the state… it is so difficult,” said Legarda, who was already a senator back then having first being elected in 1998, using her popularity as a broadcast journalist as her ticket to the Senate.

Legarda also pushed for a “review” of RA 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, stressing she did not vote in its favor anyway during her time in Congress (2019 – 2022) representing the province of Antique.

Legarda also downplayed the violent political agenda of the CPP of seizing political power thru armed struggle by describing its politics as simply “left of center.”

“I would not pass judgement and label certain organizations whose beliefs may be different from the general majority,” Legarda said.

Strong, unequivocal backlash

Legarda’s statements putting the CPP in a better light has drawn a strong backlash from the entire cross section of Philippine society that continues to reverberate.

Relissa Lucena, founder of the ‘Yakap ng Magulang’ (Parents’ Embrace), a non-government organization of parents whose children ended up being recruited to the CPP-NPA thru their various front organizations inside the country’ campuses, immediately took to ‘Tiktok’ to denounce Legarda, branding the lawmaker as a “lover” of the CPP.

Lucena said Legarda’s statements came as a complete “shock” to them, having supported her candidacy in the May 9, 2022 elections.

Former national defense secretary Gilberto ‘Gibo’ Teodoro, who admitted to being a “personal friend” of Legarda, said that despite this, he cannot agree with Legarda mouthing her support to the CPP and its violent agenda of bringing down the government.

Indigenous peoples’ groups in Mindanao, the most prone to CPP-NPA recruitment and terrorism since the start of the CPP “revolution” some 50 years ago, also called on Legarda to stop wearing their traditional dresses as she is actually “disrespecting” them and their culture over her expression of support to the CPP that has victimized thousands of IPs in the country.

Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, regional spokesman of th National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the Visayas, also said many of Legarda’s “kababayans” were also shocked and confused by what they heard, noting that Legarda used to came out with press releases praising the works and achievements of the NTF-ELCAC while now also realizing that she is ‘waltzing’ with the enemy of the state.

The highly-respected evangelist, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the SMNI news network, also did not hide his dismay of Legarda and vowed to no longer support her future political plans.

Quiboloy also suggested for Legarda to “return” her rank and uniform to the Armed Forces as reserve colonel saying her statements in favor of the terrorist group is an embarrassment to the military establishment and to its men and women who fell victims to CPP-NPA atrocities over the years.

Evasive response

It would take a week before Legarda, realizing her monumental mistake of revealing where her true sympathy lies—in favor of a vicious terrorist group and not the government—to issue a statement that still sounds hollow and evasive to most people as she continues to push for peace talks.

In a short manifestation at the Senate last September 5, 2022, and subsequently released by her media staff, Legarda said she “denounce” and “condemn all forms of violence and terrorism and call for an end to armed conflict.”

“I am in favor of peace talks that are built upon a genuine desire to come to an agreement, which are within our democratic framework and in accordance with all our laws,” she said.

“I would also like, at this juncture, to commend the women and the men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for their service to our nation. For years, as a reserve officer of the Philippine Air Force, I have worked to support the AFP through legislation and appropriations. I will remain your ally in the Senate,” Legarda said.

Her response, many quarters pointed out, is eerily reminiscent of the same evasive response given by the CPP front representatives in the legal mass movement and in Congress who claimed they are condemning all forms of violence and terrorism but when challenged, refused to directly name the CPP-NPA as the perpetrators.