Deeper Ground, Darker Shadows is the memoir of Eddie L. Quitoriano, who grew up in a rural part of the Philippine island of Mindanao and eventually became one of the top organizers of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and commander of the party's New People's Army (NPA). Coming to political consciousness as a university student, Quitoriano chooses revolution over the priesthood and embarks on a life of unforeseen danger. Sent abroad as an envoy to seek military assistance from sympathetic governments and other radical factions, he travels from the Sandinistas in Nicaragua to Syria, Libya, North Korea, Peru, Brazil, and Yugoslavia. Quitioriano finds revolutionary life thrilling but dangerous, with secretly arranged meetings and drops, doctored passports, and hastily planned plastic surgery. He wrestles with the global implications of his work, experiences daily struggles to survive in always-changing political circumstances, and is profoundly human in his love and concern for the family he has left behind in the Philippines. What emerges is a view of international revolutionary movements that only an insider could write. Quitoriano provides an essential and unique missing piece of twentieth-century Philippine and leftist history. The book includes a critical introduction by Patricio N. Abinales and Francisco J. Lara Jr., situating Quitoriano's story within the larger context of Southeast Asian political history, as well as a foreword by Patricia G. Steinhoff.
Eddie L. Quitoriano is the managing director of Visus Consulting and an independent consultant on international risk management, conflict resolution, and security. Among other areas of specialization, he is an expert on ancestral domain and Indigenous people's rights advocacy in the Philippines. During the 1980s, he was part of the New People's Army (NPA) General Command, which brought him in contact with revolutionary organizations across the world.
List of Illustrations Foreword by Patricia G. Steinhoff Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction by Patricio N. Abinales and Francisco J. Lara Jr. List of Abbreviations Part I. Walay Sapatos 1 Homecoming 2 Village Childhood 3 High School Life 4 Dominus vobiscum 5 Martial Law 6 Way Sapatos 7 Front Under Fire 8 Child of the Revolution 9 Matchbox 10 Blindfolds and Cold Steel 11 Midnight Express Part II. Deeper Ground, Darker Shadows 12 Officers and Gentlemen 13 First Mission 14 Your Name Is Fuad 15 Dances with Shadows 16 The Kenkoy Affair 17 The Kangaroo Court 18 "Face-Off" 19 Passage 20 End Game Epilogue: Looking Back Appendixes Notes Bibliography Index
"Seminarian-turned-red revolutionary Eddie L. Quitoriano's Deeper Ground, Darker Shadows reads like a political thriller, with elements of the picaresque novel thrown in for good measure. This fascinating insider account offers valuable insights into the inter-Global South solidarity-building efforts of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army." - Caroline Hau, Kyoto University
