EDITORIAL - Bankrupt

The worst thing that can happen to an insurgency is to have a reformist government in place. There is greater reluctance among the people to “donate” to the insurgents’ cause, and their fund raising is always shown up to be nothing more than extortion.

In recent years the New People’s Army, the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front, has taken to raiding mining operations that refuse to pay “revolutionary taxes.” The CPP-NDF and NPA claim the attacks are meant to protect the environment.

But what could be the excuse for attacking the construction site for the Southern Luzon International Airport, and destroying P100 million worth of heavy equipment? NPA militants swooped down in three waves on the SLIA site last Friday night and torched the heavy machinery, setting back the completion of the airport in Daraga, Albay.

The province and neighboring areas in the Bicol Region are starting to boom from eco-tourism, driven by the regular visits of whale sharks and dolphins in the Albay Gulf on top of the traditional tourist lures such as Mayon Volcano and geothermal springs.

The airport will further boost travel and tourism in Bicol, with local officials expecting an additional 500,000 to 650,000 visitors annually in Albay alone. Tourism is one of the best ways to ease poverty particularly in the countryside, while at the same time protecting the environment. The only ones who would want to prevent the construction of an airport are those who thrive in people’s poverty and underdevelopment, and who need to preserve the inaccessibility of their lairs.

The NPA attack once again illustrates the bankruptcy of a group that has been reduced to banditry. Its leaders are on welfare in what is arguably the most liberal society in the world, and have shown no indication that they want to give up the good life to lead their insurgency in their own land. The NPA attack should make the government review its policy toward this group, whose ideology has been discredited, and which is groping for a legitimate cause.