#any progress on his plans. so ra's killed the hostage

[t4tails]

i can never make any meaningful critiques of bruces writing in this show because i can never tell if theyre actually bad at writing him or deliberately making him "ooc" because hes young and needs to develop into his established traits

[happymeishappylife]

Books I've Read in 2024 Part 3

1. The Dragon Returns by Stan Lee, Stuart Moore, and Alan Tong (Book #2 in the Zodiac Legacy Series)

Its been a year since the events of the first book and yet, it doesn’t feel like any of the characters have progressed. In fact, it feels like a regress because they still don’t seem to operate well within a team, most of them want to leave, and none of them want to admit that Jasmine is no longer in control. Meanwhile Maxwell has been planning plenty with kidnapping and mind wiping Carlos to do his bidding and create devices to take away and trap the other zodiac powers. Plus now that the has all of them except for Rabbit and Rat, he feels pretty unbeatable. But for me, this one didn’t grab my attention until we got to the fight at Maxwell’s. Maybe its because of the wishy washy feeling of the Zodiac team and that fact that they each acted on their own which caused all of their problems made it not fun to follow any of the characters. Even Steven’s arc of learning that he still has some Tiger power after it being taken away and meeting his mom, felt a little less than substantial which made me not care as much. I definitely want to see how this concludes in the next book, but we’ll see if it ends well or not. I still feel this should be a comic rather than novels.

2. Breathless by Dean Koontz

So this is the second Koontz novel in my recent reads, where the ultimate theme of the book is eventually there will be some sort evolution (human evolution or in this book just evolution) that will spawn creatures so pure and innocent, that they will change the world and mankind’s understanding that eventually we will all be better people. I don’t know if this Koontz’s own hope for the world shining through when so much of the world seems to be in chaos, but if it is, its painted very oddly. Because while the story plot surrounding Grady, Cammy, and Merlin, discovering Puzzle and Riddle is nice, and the side story of Tom Bigger reconnecting from a world that long abandons him is hopeful, it’s colored by the other side of the book which focuses on the evils in the world. One is through Liddon, a corrupt defense attorney, who only wants to help people who will help him like Rudy Neems, who he then enlists not only to kill his wife and son, but gives permission for Rudy to rape his wife. Tom Bigger thwarts this, but these people still exist. And then there is Henry, who worked in congress and saw the corruption and what he believes is proof of the violent societal collapse, and now decides to find his twin brother  that he hasn’t seen in decades, to murder him and his wife, pretend to steal his life in rural Colorado, and eventually kidnap and hold women hostage to have sex with them for his pleasure only. Now Henry has a psychological break after murdering his mother that leads him to suicide, but for a book where the end is about how wonderful creatures Puzzle and Riddle are, I don’t understand the obsession to focus one third of the book’s storyline on this psychopath. So ultimately I find the message muddled and because of that, not rewarding in the end.

3. The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan (Book #2 in the Kane Chronicles)

It’s been a year since we left off with Carter and Saide Kane. Since then, we have learned that they have recruited several other kids to train them in the ways of Egyptian magic. But then Carter has a dream with Horus who tells him Apohpis is about to escape so Chaos can reign, so the Kane kids have two choices. Take Horus and Isis back into their bodies and reign as new gods or bring Ra back to life. They of course take the route of bringing Ra back to life which proves to be difficult, especially given that they only have three days to do it. Through battles in London, Russia, and Egypt itself, we go on a journey of fun, heartbreak, and the meaning of a true name. It’s a great time and I enjoy that the narratives of Sadie and Carter continue through ‘audio transcript’ like the first one. But as they get older, so do their actions towards each other and it shows that they have bonded over the first year and even more so through their actions towards one another. Now the only mystery is what does it mean that Ra is back and why is he obsessed with Zia and Walt whose godly connections are both alarming and fully unknown. There’s only one book left in the series so we’ll see. Also because the ebook didn’t have the second crossover story with the Camp Halfblood Gang, I’ll have to track that down to read separately.

4. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

I really enjoyed this novel. I had no idea what I was walking into and at the start, I worried that something serious was going down, but while this book definitely put these kids in more adult situations that they had to navigate, they approached it like a group of friends and that’s why the Kids of Appetite will live forever. Vic joins them after getting mad at his mom for getting proposed to by her new boyfriend when he is still in deep mourning of his dad who died a couple years previous from cancer. But after taking his urn, he discovers that it holds more than his dad’s ashes and connects to his parents younger lives as he drops parts of his dad in the places that helped them get together. And to help him are Baz, Nzuzi, Coco, and Mad, a group if kids living in a greenhouse who take of each other and all the ‘chapters’ of the people who come into their lives. And while Vic starts as a chapter, by the end he becomes a part of the group, not only because they help him with his journey, but he saves Mad from her abusive uncle, and lets Baz and Nzuzi finally feel ready to talk about their journey from the fleeing of the Congo Civil War to America. It’s heartfelt, funny, and sincere, and honestly feels very natural for this group to go on this journey. And the telling between Vic and Mad’s point of view, helped to really bring us closer to all the people they encounter. Knowing this is Arnold’s second book, it makes me want to pick up Mosquitoland and others he may continue to write.

5. Under the Never Sky y Veronica Rossi

I wanted to be more into this book than I ended up being. Its another dystopian YA novel where an event called Unity, divided up humans between those who live in secured Pods called Dwellers or Moles and those who live on the Outside, called either Outsiders or Savages (already, an issue with the name). What I think would have helped made this stronger though was a better introduction to the world of the Dwellers. Because the idea that humanity escaped to these pods to then live in virtual reality makes me really curious what life is like in the Pods, but instead the novel starts with Aria and her friends breaking into a damaged one and through a series of events, her immediate expulsion of the pods. She then has to survive on the Outside and though Perry’s background is better explained in regards to what life outside the pods is like, the interactions and eventual relationship of these two is not appealing to me. Sure he saves her life and helps her survive, but he doesn’t see her as a woman until she menstruates (something supposedly that Dwellers don’t do, but makes me raise questions on her age). And then because he is a Scire, her sent drives him wild and when he renders her, he loses all common sense. And she’s not super likable. At first I felt for her, but her questions are bad and their whole interaction at the end when they are ‘in love’ with each other I felt more nauseating and obnoxious. Because of this, I can’t endure the next books in the trilogy because the story couldn’t bring me to care about either of them as much at it tried.

6. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

I loved this story and I loved a fresh take on the Wonder Woman origin. Diana is that young, impatient amazon who is frustrated that she hasn’t proven herself among her sisters. So intending to win in a footrace, she instead changes her fate, the fate of Themyscira, and the world by saving a young teenage girl from a shipwreck. After saving Alia, she then goes out into the mortal world to help Alia to the spring where Helen was laid to rest because Alia is a Warbringer, an ancient line of women who on their 17th birthday, if they survive, start global wars that just get worse and worse over time. And preventing a war, purifying Alia not only prevents that, but keeps Themyscira safe. The journey and cast of characters make the story fun and hard to put down, but I loved the way they took on the lore and really hyped it up. For example, I don’t think I realized that Amazons are women who are born again after dying heroically. Suddenly that makes so much more sense why there are no children or babies in Themyscira and why all the Amazons are tough as hell. Then the Oracle who tells Diana how to change the fate of the world, appears at first as the typical Oracle of legend, an old seer. But it gets revealed that they are the embodiment of Athena, Afrodite, Artemis, and all the other goddesses who started Themyscira, which is super cool. My only gripe was the twist of Jason’s character, both times, felt weird and I don’t like that had interest in him because that felt unnecessary. They could have just been friends. Also, not a big fan of the we died and now get brought back to try again trope. I much more prefer Diana turning into a goddess we know her to be and kicking ass. Still it was a fun ride.

7. Doctor Who: The Shroud of Sorrow by Tommy Donbavand

Its interesting to me that I can now tell when a book was written before people got a good grasp of the characters when there has been a new Doctor or new companion switch. Now granted, I forgive this one a little because Jenna and Matt only had a handful of episodes together so we really didn’t get to know Clara well, especially given the whole Impossible girl thing in season 7, though thankfully that didn’t come up in this novel. But for me, I didn’t like the way she was represented in this book, because to me Clara felt a lot more, react and stand on the sideline, rather than take charge, find things out on her own. In fact there’s lines that say she constantly messes up and causes problems for the Doctor, when in reality we know Clara is just as good as the Doctor and even early on, she was the one who was ready to take charge and stand up for herself. But otherwise the story was super interesting and creepy. It centers around the death of JFK (which is also a nice nod to the shows premiere), but the alien threat is a race called the Shroud who feed on people’s grief, by at first appearing as faces from their dead love ones, and then turning into faceless women who can rewrite your memories just to help feed their grief. I thought the solution to problem was a little silly, but overall it fits Doctor Who very well.

8. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kaled Hosseini

I am not surprised that in this second novel I’ve read from Hosseini, that it is just as raw, hard, heartbreaking, and utterly breathtaking in its story telling. He really is bringing to light the reality of the world of Afghanistan and all the horrors that these people have endured, mostly from outside forces, but also the infighting inside the country. This novel centers around the story of two women. First, its Mariam, who is an illegitimate child because her father slept with her mother when she was working for him. Growing up, it seemed like he cared for her, but when she reaches out, he denies her, her mother than commits suicide and then is married off to Rasheed who is 30 years older than her at 15. It was hard to read about this and harder to endure the pain Mariam suffers through continuously through the novel and I kept hoping things would get better for her and it does, kind of, but it’s a heartbreaking tale. Laila, grows up in the neighborhood of Kabul that Mariam now lives in. Her father supports her education as a former professor and she finds that the older she gets the more she doesn’t understand her mother’s attachment to her brothers who died fighting the Soviets, but also is falling more in love with her best friend Tariq, who even though he has lost a leg as a child, is not someone people disrespect. But when the war gets closer to home with daily bombing, Tariq and his family leave, after a tearful and passionate goodbye to Laila. And shortly after, in her parents delay to leave, they get bombed, but miraculously Laila survives and so does her early pregnancy. Rescued by Rasheed, but not because he is so kind, she is lied to and believes Tariq died in a suicide bomb attack so she marries Rasheed to try and hide Tariq’s child. It only somewhat works, but at least once Rasheed knows, she then becomes friends with Mariam who is charmed by Aziza and having a baby to care for. The two bond and while they try several times to make their situation better, at least they always had each other, through the worst of it.

9. Days of Air and Darkness by Katharine Kerr (Book #8 of The Deverry Novels)

This might be my favorite book so far in the series. And I think its because it focuses on the same characters throughout the entire book, including the past section because we still see Jill and Rhodry in what is setting up to one of the villains. I’ll admit, that part of the book felt like a lot of backstory for so little that her future self is involved, but since she survived the war, I guess we’ll see her again. I also enjoyed that the book was focused primarily on the action and the final adventures of seeing Cara’s baby born. It was a great way to bring the story to the end, even though we lost Jill. It’s funny because the books set up early on how important she was and she dies heroically, but it’s clear that the narrative has shifted to Rhodry who I was expecting to die this book. Instead he’s the last remaining character of the original books and I wonder for how long we’ll have his stories to rely on. But considering we revealed new things about him, like him being bisexual, we’ll see where it goes. My only complaint is I was enjoying this book a lot because it looked like it would be the first one not centered around sex, and yet Kerr cannot let Rhodry go a book without it, even if his sex with Dalla isn’t more than satisfaction of a physical need.

10. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting with this. Having heard a lot about HP Lovecraft stories, worlds, and creatures, I was maybe expecting a lot more of this to be, transported to another world or interacting with smart, but other worldly beings. Instead, it was mostly random boys in Massachusetts discovering their uncle’s or their father’s or estranged relative’s house was haunted, often by demonic horrors to begin with, and then them abandoning the property or seeing this other worldly things and trying to act sane. The only one that actually was creepy and made my skin crawl was The Horror at Red Hook because it was this weird guy who then got super creepy and that was fascinating. And it wasn’t until that story that we had a protagonist in first person that I actually felt was a character. The rest kind of felt like newspaper or journal accounts with no real depth. And then the book ended with the famous Cthulhu, and while yes, the description of this eldritch horror was interesting, the story felt like the rest with some dude discovering these people practicing these ancient rites around this mysterious being, him seeing it, and then claiming he would die soon and was going insane. So it was kind of a let down and it didn’t hold my interest very much.

[thedcdunce]

Killer Croc

“Killer Croc is what they called me! But some day, some day I knew they'd call me king!” - Killer Croc

Real Name: Waylon Jones

Gender: Male

Height: 7′ 5″

Weight: 686 lbs (311 kg)

Eyes: Red

Skin: Green

Powers:

Regressive Atavism

Abilities:

Wrestling

Swimming

Weaknesses:

Diminished Intellect

Base of Operations: Gotham City

Universe: 

Earth-One

New Earth

Marital Status: Single

Citizenship: American

First Appearance: Detective Comics #523 (February, 1983)

Powers

Regressive Atavism: Killer Croc is afflicted with what seems to be some form of regressive atavism, meaning he has inherited some of the traits of ancestral species of the human race. Over time the primal reptilian part of his brain gains more control of his psyche.

Regenerative Healing Factor: He has superhuman regenerative powers, able to heal even lost limbs.

Armored Skin: His skin has hardened to the point where it is invulnerable to most forms of abrasion and even high caliber weapons fired from a distance.

Superhuman Strength: He has grown so physically powerful and quick over the years that Batman has had to resort to planting explosive devices on Croc's chest to knock him unconscious. He has also been able to rip a large bank vault door right off its hinges with ease.

Superhuman Speed

Enhanced Senses

Claws

Fangs

Abilities

Wrestling: Croc has some experience at street fighting and wrestling. Swimming: Croc is an expert swimmer and can hold his breath far longer than normal humans.

Weaknesses

Diminished Intellect: Killer Croc's mind, once possessing above average intelligence, has now lessened greatly due to his advanced mutation level and the specialized virus designed to advance it created by Hush. He is a high school dropout, but has proven to be moderately capable of organizing thugs in small-time racketeering operations. He is usually hired by other villains as muscle or as a hitman, as he is at least intelligent enough to follow instructions.

History

Killer Croc, also known as Waylon Jones, is a high profile criminal and one of Batman's most challenging adversaries. Croc is best known for his reptilian appearance due to his medical condition, which slowly transforms him into an anthropomorphic reptile.

Origin

Waylon Jones was born in a slum in Tampa, Florida. He was born with a medical condition that caused him to grow progressively more like a crocodile, hence his name. His mother died in childbirth, and his father abandoned him. Waylon was raised by his aunt, but her persistent drinking prevented him from growing up in an ideal household.  As a teenager, Croc had no friends, and was the object of ridicule of those who knew him. By the time he reached adulthood, Waylon found work wrestling alligators as part of sideshow carnivals, where he earned the name "Killer Croc". Croc soon realized that there was more money to be made in crime, so he set out to become Gotham's most powerful underground figure. For this purpose, Croc first murdered Squid, an uprising crimelord and then he attempted to seize control of the Tobacconists' Club. His criminal activities made him a target of Gotham's vigilante Batman.

Croc's rise to the top of Gotham's underworld didn't go unnoticed and he made quick enemies of already established criminals. Croc was soon approached by Joker, who arranged a plan for Croc to eliminate Batman, but the madman's plan would also involve a double-cross, where Croc would be eliminated as well. Joker's plan failed and in the last confrontation with Batman, Croc was defeated and his reign of terror was over.

Some time later, notorious sociopath Ra's al Ghul engineered a massive breakout of Arkham Asylum, freeing all of the patients, including Killer Croc. In exchange for their freedom, the prisoners agreed to help Ra's with a scheme to confound the Batman. Croc's role in the plan was to break into Wayne Manor and abduct Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth. Croc had no idea what connection Pennyworth had to Batman, but he executed the deed without question, and brought Alfred back to Poison Ivy's Exotica Emporium where four other hostages were being held. Batman soon arrived to rescue the hostages and fought with Croc once again. As time was of the essence, Batman wasted little of it fighting Croc, and quickly subdued him with a gas pellet from his utility belt. Afterwards, Killer Croc was returned to Arkham Asylum.

Like many do, Croc eventually escaped from Arkham and began running criminal operations again. After robbing a shopping store, Croc discovered a secret stairwell that led into an old unfinished subterranean highway. The tunnel had since become a shelter for many of Gotham's homeless. Croc became friends with the homeless people and attempted to make a new life for himself. Croc's newfound lifestyle was short-lived however. Batman investigated the store robbery, and the trail led him right to Killer Croc's shelter. The two began fighting one another, but at midnight, the city flushed the tunnels with water from the river, and Croc was washed away. His friends believed that he had died in the flood.

Knightfall

Croc survived however, and six months later had taken to living out of the Gotham City alleyways. He was tormented by visions of his past, calling to mind hurtful incidents where his peers would routinely comment about his physical features. In combination with his natural, instinctive rage, Croc's emotional state erupted into a wave of violence and he began going berserk throughout the city streets. News crews captured his latest rampage, as he began terrorizing the district known as Eden Park. An aspiring foreign crime lord known as Bane witnessed Croc's rampage, and determined that defeating him would be a stepping stone on his personal path towards destroying Batman. Before Bane could catch up with him though, Croc found himself facing neophyte vigilante Jean-Paul Valley, as well Batman's young sidekick Robin. Bane interrupted the fight and demonstrated his raw power by breaking both of Croc's arms.

Croc was sent back to Arkham Asylum, where he spent a very short period of time because a few weeks later, Bane attacked Arkham and unleashed all the inmates including Croc. Wandering through the sewers of Gotham, the only thought in Croc's mind was getting revenge against Bane. His opportunity came when he discovered Bane had captured Robin and taken him to the sewers. Croc fought Bane and destroyed the venom pumping machine, but Bane broke his arm again. They were dragged by the water to the river outside and Croc was left unconscious after the fight.

Prodigal

Croc soon healed and returned to Gotham in an effort to re-establish himself in the criminal underworld. He went on a brutal murder spree that claimed the lives of several members of the Paretti crime family operating out of Gotham's waterfront district. At this point in time, Bruce Wayne had relinquished the role of Batman to his first ward Dick Grayson. As the new Batman, Dick and Robin fought with Croc at a warehouse. Surviving members of the Paretti gang were present and opened fire on Croc severely wounding him. Croc survived once again however and evaded capture.

Years later, Killer Croc was summoned by some strange paranormal force to break out of Arkham Asylum and make his way to the Louisiana swamps. Batman followed him there only to find that the mysterious force was actually the Swamp Thing, who offered Croc a place in the swampland where he could finally give in to his animal side and live free from human persecution. There he stayed, and Batman returned to Gotham City.

Hush Virus and Mutation 

On a grand scheme to take Batman down, Hush implanted a virus in Croc that caused his body to devolve into a more primal and reptilian state. In this state, Croc was told to kidnap a rich kid and to claim the ransom to treat his condition. However, Hush was using him for other purposes and Croc was captured by Batman. 

Croc was then taken to Arkham Asylum, where Batman questioned him about the money, but Croc managed to escape and Batman allowed it in order to follow the monster. Croc went to see Catwoman, who took the money after he was captured. Batman stopped him from hurting her and when Croc was revealing that the money was to cure him, Amanda Waller and the F.B.I captured Croc and took him into custody.

Croc is then treated by the police and a doctor named Maria Belleza and shortly after, Croc is cured and returned to his "normal" appearance.

During the great gang war of Gotham, Croc was present at the massive criminal meeting at Robinson Park and he was one of the first criminals to attack Batman, biting his cowl and destroying the radio intercom. Croc was preventing Batman from reaching Black Mask until Robin arrived and defeated Croc using his staff. Afterwards, Croc joined Scarecrow and they followed Black Mask to the North End of Gotham.

However, Black Mask kidnapped Croc and with the help form Mad Hatter, they implanted a mind-controlling chip in Croc's brain allowing Black Mask to force Croc to do his biddings. A few days later and during one of Black Mask's bank heists, Croc removed the chip from his brain and slaughtered Black Mask's henchmen. After this, he went looking for Mad Hatter and was about to devour the man when he was stopped by Batman, who explained that Croc had a brain infection that could kill him and that the virus that caused him to mutate so severely has reactivated and his mutation would worsen with time. Batman dosed Croc with an antibiotic to save his life and Croc escaped from the place, with a desire for revenge against Black Mask.

Croc looked for Maria Belleza again and on his way to her he slaughtered more members of the False Face Society. Doctor Maria Belleza was a scientist whose knowledge about Croc's disease allowed her to get closer to Croc than any human has ever before. However, Maria's antidote was short lived and the mutation started again. After long tests, Maria concluded that there was no cure and Croc, losing control over himself, devoured the doctor, following his animal instincts but regretting the action with his human conscience. With vengeance in mind, Croc went looking for who was responsible for his mutation.

Croc was later discovered feeding off the remains of the villain Orca. He was apprehended once again and taken back to Arkham Asylum.

One Year Later

While being transferred from one prison cell to another, Croc wrestled free from his handlers and attacked visiting reporter Jimmy Olsen. Olsen spontaneously generated super-powers and was able to escape unharmed. Killer Croc soon escaped confinement however, and was one of many super-powered villains led by Deathstroke who crashed the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary. Fortunately, the wedding party was made up of members of the Justice League, the Justice Society, the Outsiders and the Teen Titans. By the end of the fight, most of the villains, including Croc, were apprehended. The administrators of Checkmate later decided that Croc was too dangerous for them to safely contain him. He, along with many others, were exiled from the Earth via Boom Tubeand taken to the "Salvation" World.

Upon returning to Earth, Croc along with other supervillains like Mr. Freeze, fought to regain control of the city by taking out Intergang. However, Croc was eventually captured and taken to Arkham Asylum.

After the Black Glove's failed plan to destroy Batman, all the inmates from Arkham Asylum were transferred to Blackgate until Arkham was completely decontaminated. On their way back to Arkham, the vehicles that transported the inmates were assaulted by a new Black Mask, who freed the inmates, blew the asylum in front of all of them and forced them to join his army. Croc was among the inmates who joined Black Mask's group and under his instructions, he worked together with Poison Iyv, located the Batmobile and attacked Damian Wayne, who was rescued by the timely arrival of Nightwing. Afterwards, Croc, Ivy and Firefly attacked and destroyed several factions of Penguin's gang, following Black Mask's instructions.

He escaped Black Mask but was captured and imprisoned by the Outsiders.

[phgq]

Reds’ allies employ massive efforts to avoid defeat: Parlade

#PHnews: Reds’ allies employ massive efforts to avoid defeat: Parlade

MANILA – With the attacks of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) now faltering, a ranking military official on Monday said allies of communist terrorists operating above ground are now conducting massive efforts just to keep the movement alive.

"At ground level, CPP cadres (former Bayan Muna) Ka Satur (Ocampo) (Bayan Muna) Rep. (Carlos Isagani) Zarate, and the Kamatayan (Makabayan) Bloc, including Karapatan continue with their attacks on the bureaucracy, keeping hostage the agencies' budget. After the PCOO (Presidential Communications Operations Office), it is NICA's (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency) turn," said Lt. General Antonio Parlade, Jr., chief of the military's Southern Luzon Command.

Parlade, in a statement sent to PNA, said NICA Director-General Alex Paul Monteagudo has directly identified the Makabayan bloc as being members of the CPP.

"Can we go anywhere nearer to the truth than this?" he asked.

He added that the NICA chief is the most credible government official to state what everyone in the military and the NTF ELCAC knew all along, that the Makabayan bloc representatives are high ranking members of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front.

"That the head of the repository of all intelligence of every government agencies, the most credible person to declare what (PCOO) Usec (Lorraine Marie) Badoy and a lot of us have been saying all along: that Makabayan Reps are high ranking members of the CPP-NPA-NDF.  That they cannot be nominated by the CPP to any of the Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc party-list if they are not card-bearing members of this terrorist organization," he added.

As members of the CPP, he said, they are responsible for everything that the terrorist NPAs have done like the recent killing of Datu Jumar Bucales and Zaldy Maca, both former NPAs who have since helped many NPAs return to the fold of the law and live peaceful lives.

“They were also instrumental in exposing the real agenda of the CPP alternative learning schools like Tribal Indigenous Peoples Surigao Sur (TRIFPSS) which were eventually closed by DepEd (Department of Education)," Parlade added.

Just like CPP founding chair Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, Bucales and Maca have both red-tagged the Makabayan bloc as part of the CPP-NPA, he said.

"It is not NICA nor any government official who red-tagged them. They are simply stating a fact that needs to be known by our people in order to protect their children from the exploitation of these groups, as well as prevent the IPs (Indigenous Peoples) from further exploitation," he added.

He said such actions of Bucales and Maca are considered counter-revolutionary acts by the CPP-NPA leadership such that they have sentenced to death the two IP leaders, and the thousand more victims of CPP purging in the past years.

Challenge

Parlade dared Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat to comment on the killing of these IP leaders.

"Can she offer any justification for the killing of her constituents? Or will she be mum about this because her siblings, as well as her husband, are NPAs, with her NPA husband facing criminal cases for the assassination of indigenous peoples," he added.

Meanwhile, he called the spate of CPP-NPA attacks in Albay, Mindoro, and Surigao in the past few days as feeble attempts by the communist terrorists to get even with the government who now has the upper hand in the conflict.

"The NPAs in Albay and Mindoro ambushed PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel recently. They also killed two tribal leaders in Surigao who were openly and fiercely anti-communist. These are separate incidents and are, in reality, parts of a bigger CPP plan which they failed to execute for more than ten months now, thanks primarily to the support given by the Filipino people to the NTF ELCAC," he added.

The attacks, he said, are statements to show that communist terrorists are still a relevant fighting force despite their series of defeats.

"The incidents were statements: 'Bago man lang tayo malaos na ng husto, makabawi man lang kahit papaano' (Before we get really beaten and fade into oblivion, we might get even a little)," he added.

Parlade said these crushing defeats and lack of public support are the reasons why NPA fighters and allies are surrendering in droves nowadays.

"The recent surrenders by groups of three or four or more is also a statement: many of these fighters are convinced that they are a dying breed, and that now is the ripe time to lay down their arms," he added.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Parlade also chided members of  Kamatayan bloc for forgetting that they are public officials who have sworn allegiance to the Philippine flag.

"Their duality, however, requires them to take an oath too to the CPP Constitution, with an M-16 bullet at hand, to signify that they embrace the use of violence to achieve their end,  and be part of the efforts to overthrow our democratic government and supplant it with a 'democratic dictatorship' (CPP Constitution Art. 3 Sec. 7, p. 24)," he added.

Same boat?

Parlade took offense to Zarate's tirades against Monteagudo wherein he invoked Republic Act 6713 (also known the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees).

"So, Rep. Zarate when you invoke RA 6713, and require public officials like DG (Director General)  Monteagudo of NICA, to act with professionalism and the highest degree of integrity, should that in fact remind you that we are all in the same boat?" he asked.

He added that the oath that Zarate took as an elected official also means that he has to do everything he can to protect every Filipino citizen from the atrocities being committed by the NPAs.

"It also bears down on you to expose the identity of these terrorists who pose a big threat to our children, our Indigenous Peoples, the poor and marginalized," Parlade said. “And if you break this oath by being true to the oath you took to the CPP and by the existing dualities of masks you wear, then you will be liable under Sec 15 of the ATL for Grave Misconduct and Disloyalty to the Republic and Filipino people. The same goes for each Makabayan bloc representative."

Parlade also scored Ocampo for his column on Oct. 3 that says the "NTF ELCAC is the prime purveyor of tagging activists and progressive people's organizations as terrorists and enemies of the state."

In the same column, Ocampo also cited United Nations High Commission for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet's deep concern about these incidents (red-tagging leading to the killing of targeted individual groups or organs).

"But with his involvement in the CPP underground, Ka Satur knows that all of these tagged organizations are indeed red. By virtue of their plans and actions, they all conspire to commit terrorist acts and violates Sec. 7 of Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL)," Parlade said.

He claimed that Makabayan bloc’s attempts to incite or commit acts of terror by their speeches, writings, banners are in violation of Sec. 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

"They also know they are guilty of (violating) Sec. 10 - recruitment to a terror organization. All of them also know that most of the fabricated information provided to the UN came from CPP affiliates in the ILPS (International League of Peoples' Struggle) including Ibon and Karapatan, the objective of which is to continue to project that the Philippine government displays a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant abuse of authority – a tyrant," he added.

Protecting Joma

Parlade said actions are being done by the CPP-NPA and its allies to protect Sison by invoking non-refoulment and evade the possibility of being sent home to answer for his continuing crimes of genocide and murder.

"Karapatan called on the AFP, the PNP, and NTF ELCAC to disclose the advocacy groups and the  FB accounts they are supporting and asked 'How much of peoples' taxes they are spending on government's fake online prop machinery taken down by Facebook'," he added.

He vowed to deal with Karapatan general secretary Cristina Palabay later as she has  "heaps of issues" to explain about the NPA's violations of human rights.

"Meantime, let the Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc explain their involvement in the CPP. Their membership in the CPP is legal so why deny what is verifiable truth? They deny it because they are aware of the million and one heinous crimes committed by the unholy Trinity of the CPP-NPA-NDF that can never be justified. Let's hear it from them," he added. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Reds’ allies employ massive efforts to avoid defeat: Parlade." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117776 (accessed October 07, 2020 at 10:05PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Reds’ allies employ massive efforts to avoid defeat: Parlade." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117776 (archived).