Tabara and Dela Cruz: Scoundrels Masquerading as Revolutionaries

Press statement by Popoy Lagman, 27 December 1999

We welcome the decision of Arturo Tabara—Nilo dela Cruz renegade gang in unmasking itself completely as a bunch of scoundrels by seeking peace with the Estrada government.

Tabara has outlived his usefulness as a saboteur, and from here on, he will be of service to his handlers as a barefaced traitor. De la Cruz, on the other hand, is a tired warrior desperately seeking political stardom in the twilight of his terrorist career.

To negotiate peace with Estrada at this time is either the height of stupidity or simply outright treachery. In the first place, is the RPA-ABB in a position to negotiate a just peace given their flimsy and lousy armed and mass strength? As a ragtag group of roving rebels, they will get nothing from the government but crumbs in exchange for their capitulation.

More importantly, what do they expect from a government as corrupt and reactionary as Estrada’s? As a political maneuver, this peace offering of Tabara, et al, is bereft of any political sense and is tantamount to political suicide at a time the people are so disgusted with the present regime. But the truth is, they are not offering a handshake for peace. They are extending a helping hand to this rotten regime in the spirit of collaboration.

What they did in Baguio is not even a peace initiative but a courtesy call of political surrenderees. This is unmitigated treachery and political opportunism. Tabara and de la Cruz will not even end up as Gringos and Misuaris but as second-rate, trying hard copycats of political scavengers of the likes of Nilo Tayag.