CPP/Ang Bayan: Production platoon: Partner in building guerrilla bases

Ang Bayan article posted to the CPP Website (Jan 21): Production platoon: Partner in building guerrilla bases

In one of Southern Mindanao’s subregions, the production platoon serves as one of the machineries being used to build and invigorate guerrilla bases. It is a special platoon of the New People’s Army (NPA) whose particular role is to ensure that the production programs of barrio revolutionary committees (BRC) and full-fledged mass organizations are implemented.

The production platoon is composed of fulltime NPA members, most of whom come from the people’s militia and local Party branch. Aside from their rifles, the platoon members always carry as their secondary weapon their lagaraw—long single-edged machetes with bent tips usually used to clear fields and underbrush. They help build communal farms and advance the practice of mutual exchange of labor. They are also active in encouraging communities to maintain vegetable patches in every yard.

Since the platoon was formed six months ago, it has built a six-hectare demonstration farm in order to teach the masses progressive farming techniques such as multi-cropping and organic farming. It has also planted up to 20 hectares of land to banana, pineapple, corn, sweet potato, cassava and fruit trees like durian, mangosteen and marang.

Up to 130 farmers helped in building the first demonstration farm. Animal dispersal is also practiced in the communal farms.

After tilling and planting the demonstration farm, the platoon transferred its management to the Pambansang Katipunan ng Magbubukid (PKM).

The revolutionary government also utilizes the production platoon to provide services to the masses, such as building schools. Its members have also played a major role in revitalizing mass organizations through sustained production activities, which is a key factor in advancing other campaigns and in building and operating organs of political power.

Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that it is only the production platoon that engages in production. It has been a practice in the entire region for other NPA platoons to purposely allot time for production and to open farms in every place they base themselves in. Whenever there are activities such as big gatherings for consolidation, they allot 30 minutes a day for production. The only difference is that the production platoon’s task puts particular stress on sustained production work.

On the other hand, the production platoon is not limited to production work. From time to time, it also launches tactical offensives and conducts propaganda work, especially on the importance of building a self-reliant economy and developing economic work for people’s war as the framework of the democratic people’s government’s current economic work.

It also engages in education work. Ideological, political and organizational work is alive within the platoon, with the Party branch exercising dynamic leadership. Wherever its work takes it, the production platoon always leaves behind the seeds it has sown.                            

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20140121/production-platoon-partner-in-building-guerrilla-bases