CPP: CPP reiterates order for NPA to prohibit candidates with armed escorts

From the CPP Website (Apr 23): CPP reiterates order for NPA to prohibit candidates with armed escorts

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today reiterated its order for the New People’s Army (NPA) to enforce the prohibition against the bearing of firearms by election candidates and their escorts while campaigning in areas within the jurisdiction of the people’s democratic government as well as other policies concerning the conduct of the reactionary elections to ensure the protection of the people’s rights and welfare.

The CPP issued this pronouncement after Benigno Aquino III, president of the Republic of the Philippines, called on the state armed forces and police to dismantle the checkpoints being setup by the NPA in various parts of the country. The CPP said “Malacañang and its cohorts are only deluding themselves in making assertions that there is only one political authority in the country.”

The CPP dismissed Aquino’s orders as “empty bluster which the AFP and PNP are incapable of enforcing.” The CPP pointed out that “the armed forces and police personnel of the reactionary government are thinly stretched and cannot possibly cover all areas under the jurisdiction of the people’s organs of political power. As before, the NPA continue to operate in 90% of the Philippine countryside where the state armed forces and police are absent.”

“In accordance with the policies issued by the people’s democratic governnment, the New People’s Army (NPA) can setup checkpoints or roadblocks as part of its retinue of measures to maintain peace and order and ensure the protection of the rights and welfare of the masses against the dirty and violent conduct of the reactionary elections.”

“Commands of the NPA and Party committees at various levels can issue specific policies in order to ensure that these checkpoints and other similar forcible measures are conducted only against the most notorious armed political scoundrels who violently oppose the policies of the people’s government. Furthermore, the NPA can reach deep into its rich experience to employ a broad range of tactics to compel reactionary political candidates to abide by the policies of the people’s government without resorting to the use of armed force,” pointed out the CPP.

“The policies of the people’s government governing the conduct of the reactionary elections in the revolutionary areas have been largely enforced without resorting to armed force through the cooperation and coordination of the political candidates,” added the CPP. The CPP reiterated its call urging all candidates participating in the reactionary elections to coordinate with the local revolutionary forces and adhere to the prevailing policies.

While cautioning against setting up checkpoints that may become fixed targets of the enemy, the CPP said “the NPA can setup checkpoints and roadblocks as part of its strategy to lure in enemy military and police personnel to make them targets of ambuscades or draw them away from points of concentration to relieve pressure from other NPA units.”

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20130423_cpp-reiterates-order-for-npa-to-prohibit-candidates-with-armed-escorts