IN 2011, legal propagandists of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) triad had a heyday laughing at then-Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. when President Benigno Aquino 3rd sacked him as spokesman of the Philippine Army for speaking out loud against the release of the Morong 38, the cause célèbre of a controversy that erupted in February 2010.

Combined troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) had arrested and detained 43 elements of the CPP/NPA during a clandestine meeting in a resort in Morong, Rizal. Five of the 43 readily admitted they were members of the CPP/NPA and turned state witnesses — attesting to the fact that the group were members of the terrorist organizations.