The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today issued the following statement:
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and all revolutionary forces express their deepest sympathies for the hundreds of thousands of victims of the recent tropical storm Pablo. Among the hardest hit by the strong winds, rains and resulting floods are the poor peasants especially in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, as well as others in Southern, Northcentral and Northeastern Mindanao, and Leyte, Cebu and southern Negros who lost their homes and livelihood.
The CPP expresses profound grief over the death of at least a hundred residents of New Bataan after a wave of mud and water descended from the denuded mountains of Compostela Valley. Tens of thousands of people in several isolated towns of Compostela Valley are in dire need of assistance after being cut off from communication and transportation lines. The reactionary Philippine government should be put to task for its continued failure to address the clamor of the poor peasants and farm workers who suffer grave socio-economic conditions as a result of worsening oppression and exploitation. The acute poverty of tens of millions of toiling people in the Philippines make them vulnerable to ever-worsening calamities brought about by the ruthless plunder of the environment.
Big foreign capitalists and their local business partners have long plundered Compostela Valley of timber and minerals. The Aquino regime continues to allow big mining operations to continue despite the widespread damage these have caused on the environment which subject the people in lowlands to calamities. The CPP urges all revolutionary forces to heed the clamor of the calamity victims for immediate relief. The CPP calls for the mobilization of resources and forces to extend assistance to the victims of the calamity. The CPP likewise appeals to the international community to course their assistance to the various people’s organizations directly engaged in calamity and disaster work to ensure that this reaches the people and is not diverted by corrupt officials.
Because units of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the affected areas work daily with the people, they are among the first to carry out rescue operations and assist the people in confronting the calamity. In light of the urgent humanitarian considerations, the NPA can suspend offensive military operations against the AFP for a period of time. The responsible organs of the Communist Party, the NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) will issue more authoritative and detailed orders on this matter.
Let's get real here. What resources can the CPP/NPA bring to the table. They can offer nothing except what they have been able to extort and extract from ordinary poor Filipinos. Instead of engaging in fantacy propaganda statements and calls for assistance from their forces in the field, the CPP/NPA should just step aside and let the real saviors of those affected by Pablo, the Philippine military, do their work.
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