The Philippines government is tapping celebrities to fight the communist insurgency in the country.
The Anti-communist task force is recruiting beauty queens alongside actresses and female media stars in an operation called “Magdalena Mission” aimed at “promoting peace and development in the country and stopping the atrocities perpetrated by the communists”.
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The celebrities are being used as weapons against the world’s longest-running communist insurgency and as part of the ‘Magdalena Mission’ they are using their social media clout to lure young ladies away from the temptations of armed revolution.
From the 1970s the government forces have been fighting the Communist Party of the Philippines and its paramilitary arm the New People’s Army, who are seeking to redistribute the land back to the country’s farmers. This has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and is seen as a big threat by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to the country.
The stars with large followings like Miss Globe Philippines Michele Gumabao (over 835k social media followers), actress Arci Munoz, journalist Pia Roces Morato, and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration deputy executive director Margaux “Mocha” Uson are also helping encourage communist defections and to prevent young women from taking up arms.
Critics have however said that recruiting beauty queens is not only “objectifying women”, but exploiting them to glamorize the state’s counter-insurgency methods.
Recently the Philippine army claimed that the New People’s Army is on the brink of collapse from mass surrenders. (AW)
