The Manila Times-Oct 3

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is trying to recruit college students in 10 universities in Metro Manila as well as workers in their attempt to oust the Duterte administration under its alleged “Red October” plot.

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez revealed this during a budget hearing on Tuesday, when Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th asked him to clarify the supposed destabilization plot that the military had uncovered.

“The ‘Red October’ plot is a combined armed struggle and legal struggle that will be conducted by the CPP and NPA (New People’s Army) using the broad coalition with the opposition and also using the infiltration of the different youth sectors and labor sector,” Galvez said.

“In fact, they have already organized 10 of the universities in Manila. Right now, they are making a lot of information drives wherein they will tell high school and college students the different atrocities during the Marcos regime and equate that to the present administration,” he added, without naming the universities.  “And they have the ‘Operation Talsik’ and ‘Operation Aklasan’ wherein they have a template like the Nutri Asia [labor dispute]. They will simultaneously conduct labor protests and at the same time conduct tactical offensives in the far-flung areas. They will use issues including inflation, high prices, dictatorship and tyranny.”

Galvez said the military unearthed Oplan Aklasan with the publication of the constitution of the CPP-NPA in 2016.  He said the CPP-NPA’s plan was to mount successive mobilizations beginning September 21, the commemoration of the declaration of Martial Law, “then October, then November until such time they will also have their 50th anniversary in December. Our intention is to disrupt their massive recruitment especially of our students.”

Liberals Cleared

Trillanes asked Galvez to “categorically” indicate if the military indeed received a report that he and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, the Liberal Party president, had entered into a coalition with the CPP-NPA to oust Duterte.

“Based on your intelligence report, while the CPP would like to form a coalition, did we coalesce with them?” Trillanes asked Galvez.

The military chief replied, “No, Sir.”

“It is a sinister plot of the CPP-NPA. They would like to have a coalition with the opposition. The intention is to protect the legitimate opposition,” Galvez said.  Galvez refused to answer directly when Trillanes asked whether the Magdalo Group, where the senator belongs, was recruiting people to destabilize the government. Galvez said he would answer him in an executive session.

Trillanes was prompted to say, “Let me just assure you that if there’s recruitment (for the destabilization plot), it’s not coming from Magdalo. Sir, we took this parliamentary route to address the grievances of the soldiers. We have been consistent about that. We would not abandon that even at the worst of times.”

Pangilinan also denied being part of a conspiracy with the communists to unseat the President.

“I will categorically state that there is no desire on the part of the Liberal Party to oust President Duterte. We will not support any unconstitutional approach or move. We swore an oath to uphold and defend this Constitution, and any unconstitutional act, we will not be party to, and we will oppose.”

Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano questioned the budget of the Armed Forces, citing its “weak” intelligence information on the so-called Red October plot.

“Our point here is, the estimated confidential intelligence fund of the government amounts to more than P5 billion…if this is the kind of information that they are getting which are not validated, then we are wasting money,” Alejano told reporters in a news briefing at the House of Representatives.

Palace: ‘No Inconsistencies’

Malacañang Palace on Tuesday insisted there were no inconsistencies in the statements of President Duterte and the Armed Forces, after the military denied that the Liberal Party was involved in the Red October ouster plot. “It could be true that there is no formal memorandum of agreement between the party itself and the CPP-NPA; it does not prevent leading personalities with the Liberal Party from having such collusion,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said.  “[Trillanes] has repeatedly called for the ouster of the President. So, there is no inconsistency. He has told — he has actually verbalized time and again, that he should step down. He should be removed from office, he should be sent to jail. There’s absolutely no inconsistency,” Roque added.

‘Completely Cuckoo’

The CPP on Tuesday again denied being behind the supposed Red October plot, saying “Duterte and his minions…have gone completely cuckoo.”

“Again, there is no Red October plot orchestrated by the CPP. The more Duterte and the [military]are trying to prove this so-called plot, the more they sound incredulous. To now claim that the CPP will ‘create chaos,’ supposedly ‘like in Plaza Miranda’ to ‘force’ Duterte to fulfill his most ardent wish, is at best, lazy and clumsy,” it said in a statement.

The communist rebels chided the government for misrepresenting the “broad coalition against tyranny as a mere conspiracy,” to make its members “open to suppression through state terrorism.”  The CPP nonetheless admitted that it had been calling on the people to unite and struggle to overthrow the Duterte regime.

“But as the CPP has also repeatedly pointed out, it will be the confluence of various democratic forces that will ultimately bring down Duterte. Given the increasingly difficult economic conditions of the people and rising internal political conflicts within the Duterte regime, the Party anticipates protests to continue to mount in the coming months,” it said.

With Ralph Edwn U. Villanueva and Glee Jaliea

‘https://www.manilatimes.net/reds-recruiting-in-10-universities/447825/