The military swiftly pounced on the picture of communist leader Jose Ma. Sison dancing with sexy bombshell Ara Mina, obviously intending to sow intrigue between the ideological light of the revolution and his comrades in the field. One need not carry the intrigue too far, given the ostensibly bourgeois setting where Sison was living it up. To penniless rebels constantly exposed not only to danger but also to the elements, Joma's act smacks of ostentatious display of counter-revolutionary lifestyle.

In a war that knows no borders notwithstanding the supposed adherence to the Geneva Convention and the International Humanitarian Law, propaganda exacts a far more vicious toll than the body count tally in the field. Surely, this seeming slip was too good to pass unexploited. Knee-jerk reaction however is not an exclusive franchise of the Armed Forces and it would not come as a surprise that both the clandestine and the above-ground forces would quickly rally behind Joma in this intriguing episode.

If there is any adverse effect that Joma's partying would have, it would more likely be on non-aligned civilians who do not view Sison with esteem anyway. There would be little, if at all, negative repercussions on the ground as military psy-ops experts would have us believe. Sison's terpsichorean adventures notwithstanding, the government should realize that it has to cover a lot of ground as far as defeating the Maoist insurgency is concerned. It will take much more than just distributing photos of Sison and demonizing the rebel movement and its more visible personalities.

In basketball, the best offense is defense. The reason for this is simple: offense has its off-nights while defense has none. The earlier the government realizes this, the better for it. Take the case of the Dumaluan Resort in Panglao. Despite repeated issuances of cease and desist orders from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, it continues to operate and mock government institutions. How can the government expect people to take it seriously if it cannot even implement a simple closure order on a resort owned by the family of a small-town mayor? More than anything else, the government's failings are what fuels the revolution and all other destabilizing moves. In a manner of putting it, the government does not need external forces to cause its disintegration. Given its utter contempt for law and order, the government cannot expect the revolution to die any day in the future. The (communist) party's not over.