Josephine Magbanua shared her experience under the NPA.
Josephine Magbanua revealed her experience under the New People’s Army and shared how the government accepted her and her husband when they decided to get out from the movement.
The New People’s Army is the Communist Party of the Philippines’ armed wing. It is referred as the Bagong Hukbong Bayan in the Filipino language. Recently, one woman who claimed to be a former member of the NPA revealed her experience under the movement.
Based on a video posted by Philippines Government on YouTube, the said former member is Josephine Magbanua. According to her, her maiden name is Josephine Palermo. Back in the 1980’s when she and her siblings were still small, there were already NPA members who were going to their house.
Furthermore, Josephine shared that their family was indoctrinated by the movement and she did not have second thoughts in joining the movement since they were told by the NPA that the revolutionary movement is the one who will lead the fight against poverty.
According to Josephine, another reason that she joined the movement is because she was carried away by the line of the NPA members that the young people are the ones who have the strength to make the fight against poverty successful.
Inside the movement, Josephine shared that they were taught to just live a simple life and were not allowed to buy new pieces of stuff that’s why they keep on using even tattered underwears just to keep away from buying new ones.
However, Josephine revealed that was not what they can see from other members. According to her, some officials buy new pieces of stuff which made her doubt on their equality of rights inside the movement.
According to Josephine, when she reached the age that is already suitable for relationships, one of the officials did not allow one of their members from another unit to court her.
She added that it sparked a question in her mind about the reason behind as she has some co-members who were allowed to be in relationships. According to her, the questions pushed her to temporarily get out from the movement and think about her situation.
Josephine said that she and her husband who’s also from the movement thought and decided if they are going to go back to the movement or not anymore. She said that they decided to just start a new life.
According to Josephine, she and her husband now live without connections to the NPA. She also shared that the government and the military have really accepted them and took care of them – in contrary to what they were taught in the movement.
https://youtu.be/T-Tivzv65Lo
