LIKE Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. declared at the height of the red-tagging controversy, the battle lines are drawn. You cannot take the best of both worlds. Either you are for or against the government, the laws of the land and the people.

Actually, it was to the Makabayan bloc in Congress and to the various organizations registered legally but actually fronting for the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) that Parlade addressed the declaration. But of late, indications are that the challenge has actually permeated down to the lowliest ranks in the communist terroristic insurgency. While top cadres of the NPA have been continuously falling in skirmishes with government forces, droves of rank-and-file combatants have been turning back to lawful living over the year.