CPP/Ang Bayan: Advances in people’s war in Rizal and Southern Tagalog as a whole

From the English edition of Ang Bayan, the official news (propaganda) organ of the CPP (Apr 7): Advances in people’s war in Rizal and Southern Tagalog as a whole

People’s war has been steadily advancing in Rizal, a province adjacent to Metro Manila. In this province, which is a mere 25 kilometers from the gates of Malacañang, the New People’s Army (NPA) has been gaining strength, the mass base has been expanding and the revolutionary political influence of the Communist Party of the Philippines is being consolidated through its army.

Almost a company has been added to the number of NPA guerrillas in the province in the past two years. It has contributed a platoon of forces for other NPA units in Southern Tagalog, where it is one of ten provinces under the leadership of the Party Committee in the region. The number of people’s militia units grew by 38% from last year. This expansion has strengthened the NPA’s capability to launch tactical offensives.

In the past fifteen months, the NPA in Rizal was able to launch 16 annihilative and attritive tactical offensives, or an equivalent of one a month. It was able to inflict the equivalent of almost a platoon of casualties on the AFP. The NPA dealt blows on the fascist enemy troops, including the 16th and 59th IB and the 22nd DRC.

The NPA also punished exploitative and environmentally destructive quarrying companies owned by big comprador bourgeoisie, such as Pacific Concrete Products Inc.

The number of villages covered by the Party and the NPA’s area of operations has increased, with a mass base in the thousands throughout the province. The organized mass base grew by 64% in two years, and the number of full-fledged peasant mass organizations has doubled in the province.

Party membership in Rizal grew by more than 40%. The ideological, political and organizational leadership of the Guerrilla Front Party Committee and the Urban Party Committee in the province have been strengthened among the people in the villages, communities, factories, mass organizations and alliances and NPA units. More than 94% of Party members in the NPA and 38% of members of Local Party Branches have finished the Basic Party Course. Cadres at the guerrilla front and section levels and a number from the Party branches have likewise taken the Intermediate Party Course.

Meanwhile, in Southern Tagalog as a whole, the NPA has achieved not a few gains in the face of extremely difficult circumstances. In the past three years, the NPA was able to launch 105 tactical offensives, killing 91 killed and wounding 70 enemy troops. These tactical offensives yielded 131 firearms comprising two light machine guns (a K3 and an M60); four grenade launchers (three M203s and an M79); 66 high-powered rifles (37 M16s, four M14s, two cal .30 Carbines and 23 shotguns); five machine pistols; and 54 pistols and revolvers.

The NPA meted punishment on persons proven to have committed crimes against the people and destructive foreign mining companies such as Citinickel in Palawan. Even in the provinces suffering from severe concentration of military forces like Quezon, the NPA was able to mete punishment on enemy operatives who betrayed the guerrillas numerous times and owed blood debts to the people.

The Danding Cojuangco-owned V.I.L. Mines was also punished. In Quezon, where Oplan Bayanihan’s attacks were most intense, a platoon of peasants, women and youth have joined the New People’s Army.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20130407/advances-in-people-s-war-in-rizal-and-southern-tagalog-as-a-whole