A vlogger has resurrected an oft-repeated claim about the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr being a co-founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This claim has no basis.
On Sept. 4, a vlogger behind the Facebook (FB) page AdminRich claimed:
“Noong 1968, December 26, 1968, itinatag naman ni Joma Sison ang founder, siya yung founder ng Communist Party of the Philippines, at ang kasama niya ang co-founder niya ay si Ninoy Aquino.”
(On Dec. 26, 1968, Joma Sison established as a founder, he founded the Communist Party of the Philippines, together with his co-founder Ninoy Aquino.)
“Ninoy Aquino could not have been a communist or founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines. He was well-known as a [Central Intelligence Agency] asset from the time he was war correspondent in Korea,” the late Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said in a 2016 interview.
VERA Files Fact Check has repeatedly debunked this claim.
The CPP recognizes Dec. 26, 1968 – the 75th birth anniversary of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong – as its official establishment date. However, American journalist Gregg Jones argues that the party was actually established on Jan. 3, 1969.
Among the 12 CPP founding members were Sison, who was elected chairman, Nilo Tayag, who was elected secretary-general, Monico Atienza, Ray Casipe, Leoncio Co, Manuel Collantes, Arthur Garcia, Hermenigildo Garcia, Ruben Guevarra, Arturo Pangilinan, Fernando Tayag, and Ibarra Tubianosa, according to Jones’ book Red Revolution: Inside The Philippine Guerrilla Movement.
Sison established the CPP in Alaminos, Pangasinan as a breakaway faction of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP), according to the CPP’s brief history. He was expelled from the PKP in 1967 after criticizing the PKP’s errors under the leadership of Jesus Lava, Jones’ book explained.
The video posted by FB page AdminRich (created on March 14, 2021) got 74,754 interactions. It appeared as a reaction to a netizen who incorrectly said that the CPP was established in 1968 during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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