'Strengthen ranks, launch offensives' while working on alliance with Duterte - CPP

From InterAksyon (Jul 8): 'Strengthen ranks, launch offensives' while working on alliance with Duterte - CPP

The New People’s Army has been ordered to strengthen its ranks and continue launching tactical offensives against “enemy units that have committed fascist crimes against the people” amid efforts to forge an alliance with the Duterte administration.

In an editorial in its official publication, Ang Bayan, the Communist Party of the Philippines also urged its armed wing to “disarm and arrest the biggest criminals involved in peddling illegal drugs” and to “launch actions to protect the environment against destructive mining, logging and plantation operations.”

The editorial, written in Filipino, acknowledged that “great potential” of building a “progressive and pro-people alliance between Duterte and the national democratic forces” even as it stressed that its forces are aware of “the limitations of this alliance” and the “dangers of being tied down, sucked up and drowned by this work.”

It recognized that Duterte himself “is working on and pushing this alliance” even as it pointed out that he is also the head of a “reactionary state” that remains dominated by elite and foreign interests.

Nevertheless, it said the current situation “opens a huge political opportunity for the national democratic forces,” with the “people’s agenda” at the center of “national … discourse and debate,” to win the support and cooperation of sectors, organizations, institutions and “even officials of the reactionary government” through a nationwide educational campaign, both in the urban areas and countryside.

It also said the imminent resumption of formal peace negotiations between the Duterte government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines would help “strengthen the progressive aspect of Duterte and the prospects for forging a solid alliance through formal agreements that will serve as the general program of action of such an alliance.”

http://interaksyon.com/article/130114/strengthen-ranks-launch-offensives-while-working-on-alliance-with-duterte---cpp