Untold stories of the CPP-NPA

“Tigaon 1969” (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2023) by Soliman M. Santos Jr. focuses on stories that led to the formation of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the Bicol region. The author is a retired judge of the Regional Trial Court of Naga City. As a longtime human rights lawyer, he developed familiarity with the Communist front in the Philippines.

In 1970, a five-person team of Bicolano student activists of the First Quarter Storm came to Tigaon, Camarines Sur to start the CPP-NPA story in Bicol.

The book is composed of 12 chapters on the founding and struggle of the Bicol revolutionary movement, with two additional chapters on reflections by the author, including a Postscript of the post-Joma era.

The book is dedicated to the original five members who started the movement. All five have passed away. They are Marco Baduria, Nonito Zape, David Brucelas, Francisco Portem, Ibarra Tubianosa.

The first chapter talks of the biographical sketches of the five and their origin as Kabataang Makabayan (KM) activists.

The early chapters also discuss the role of the universities that played vital roles in the founding and nurturing of the initial years of the KM. These included the University of the Philippines, Lyceum and Holy Angel University.

Why and how did the municipality of Tigaon, Camarines Sur become the birthplace of the Bicol Communist Party? Tigaon was the epitome of “semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. It was characterized by a few landed estates with six big landholdings.”

The five activists focused on the politicalization of the peasantry. There is also a narrative on the vital role of then CPP secretary-general Nilo Tayag in the Bicol expansion work. It appears that Tayag had a major role in the expansion of their movement in the Southern Tagalog and Bicol areas.

There are extensive narratives in several chapters which detail the personalities and the tactics for the Bicol expansion.

It is reported that the Bicol expansion program became a controversial topic among the leadership of the CPP.

According to the book, Joma Sison had his own narrative about the Bicol expansion regarding the support of the CPP central leadership. The author quotes Sison: “Soliman and his Ka Maning (Baduria) are telling a lie. The CPP leadership welcomed and supported the building of the first guerrilla zone of the NPA under CPP leadership in Bicol.”

Baduria, however, was also quoted as saying: “We were on our own from then on, from late 1969 … as ordered to abort the initial Bicol expansion after the Negros debacle.” In another chapter, there is a narrative on how the regional Party finally arrived at an agreement with the Central Party to support their endeavor.

Another interesting story is the first major encounter between the NPA and the Philippine Constabulary on Aug. 25, 1971. There are also varied accounts of fighting between the Bicol NPA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

I found Chapter 9 especially interesting because it talked about the split between the KM and the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK). It seemed that several original KM members led by Sixto Carlos decided to oppose Joma Sison and his group in the election of new national officers by the National Council in December, 1967.

The names of the pro-Sison and the anti-Sison factions are cited in the book. It was said that it was a close election but the pro-Sison faction won. After that, the group led by Carlos went on to set up another group which became the SDK. This was the beginning of a fraternal struggle between the KM and the SDK.

Among the original leaders of the SDK were Sixto Carlos and Reynaldo Vea.

In another chapter, the author writes that Nilo Tayag was responsible for bringing the SDK back into the national democratic mainstream fold.

There is also the story of how Joma Sison was able to meet with Bernabe Buscayno (Commander Dante) and formed an alliance which resulted in the formation of the NPA as the armed wing of the CPP.

Santos has several insights into the National Democratic Front (NDF) movement. He wrote that according to Nilo Tayag, the commanding officers (CO) of the NPA tended to be of KM origin, while the political officers (PO), who ensure CPP guidance, tended to be of SDK origins.

Nilo Tayag narrated that he had to settle conflicts between the “KM-SDK and the CO-PO dichotomy.” This reflected a certain general profile of KM activists as more action-oriented and of SDK activists as more ideology-oriented.

Tayag was arrested in June 1970. After his release from prison in 1980, Tayag went over to give support to then President Marcos Sr.

This book is especially interesting because it narrates the founding and the struggle for existence within the context of what was happening in the Communist movement in the whole country.

Joma Sison and many of the individuals mentioned in the book have passed away. There are also major personalities that have decided to drop out of the movement for personal reasons.

However, according to Soliman Santos, the five revolutionary pioneers in Tigaon, who were less articulate especially in writing compared to more prominent revolutionary personalities, should also be given their just due in history.