Troops, ASG clash in separate areas in Sulu

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 22): Troops, ASG clash in separate areas in Sulu



Government troops clashed with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in two separate areas as the military sustain its offensive against the group in the province of Sulu, a military official said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) information officer, said the first clash happened around 9:05 a.m. Tuesday in Barangay Latih, Patikul, Sulu.
Besana said troops from the Army’s 5th Scout Ranger Battalion were on security operation when they clashed with a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits in Barangay Latih.

He said the second fighting occurred around 3 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Tugas, also in the municipality of Patikul, when the troops of the Army’s 1st Scout Ranger Battalion clashed with the group of ASG sub-leader Mujer Yadah while conducting a separate security operation.

The ASG bandits were believed to have suffered casualties in both clashes.

“The Western Mindanao Command is committed to sustain its operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu and Basilan. We will not falter until the last bandit will be neutralized,” Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, Westmincom chief, said.

“With the support of the local chief executives, stakeholders, and the community, our campaign against terrorism will soon bear the fruit of lasting peace and prosperity not only in Sulu and Basilan but the entire Western Mindanao,” dela Vega added.

The ASG is still holding 10 hostages, consisting of three Indonesians, a Dutch and a Vietnamese, and five Filipinos.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1045658

Militiaman hurt in Maguindanao roadside bombing

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 22): Militiaman hurt in Maguindanao roadside bombing

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -– A militiaman was hurt in a roadside bomb explosion in Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao, early Wednesday morning.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said a squad of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) was conducting foot security patrol along the national highway near their  patrol base in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao when the bomb went off at 6:15 a.m.

“He is now safe,” Encinas said of the militiaman but declined to identify him until his relatives are informed. After the blast, soldiers shut down for about an hour the section of the highway in Datu Hoffer town while a post-blast investigation was being conducted.

Encinas said the bomb, which was cellphone-detonated, bore the signature style of the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Militiamen and soldiers regularly patrol the highways of Maguindanao, especially in the adjoining towns of Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Datu Hoffer and Datu Unsay due to frequent roadside bombing attempts by the BIFF as part of its diversionary tactics whenever there are major Army operations against them.

Brigadier Gen. Diosdado Carreon, the commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said earlier that the BIFF shifted to the planting of explosive ordnances along the highways to get back at soldiers or civilian communities the radicals eye as “soft targets”.

Only recently, several firearms, including .50 caliber sniper rifles, were recovered by soldiers following clashes with the BIFF in the borders of Datu Salibo and Shariff Aguak towns.

Encinas said the Datu Hoffer bombing was a diversionary tactic following a military artillery offensive during the past two days in Sultan sa Barongis town, where seven BIFF fighters, including a sub-commander, were killed.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1045629

4ID destroys close to 600 firearms seized from NPA

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 22): 4ID destroys close to 600 firearms seized from NPA

AN Army personnel saws off firearms during Wednesday's decommissioning of nearly 600 guns that were either seized or surrendered by New People's Army guerillas inside the Army’s 4th Infantry Division headquarters in Cagayan de Oro City. (Photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Nearly 600 assorted firearms either seized or surrendered by communist insurgents were decommissioned by the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) at its headquarters here Wednesday morning.

4ID inventoried a total of 593 firearms that were captured, confiscated, surrendered and recovered from the New People's Army (NPA) and are part of at least 1,040 assorted guns that are now in the possession of the Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command.

Of the 593, about 79 of these, classified by the military as “non-standard,” were sawn off and set on fire.

Maj. Gen. Ronald Villanueva, the 4ID commander, said the weapons were destroyed so these could no longer pose a threat to the public.

“One firearm may harm a lot of people,” Villanueva told reporters on the sidelines of the decommissioning ceremony at the 4ID grandstand.

Villanueva said the collection of firearms was the result of a series of military operations conducted by the 4ID within its area of responsibility - particularly in Bukidnon and some parts of the Caraga Region – where soldiers engaged NPA units operating in those areas.

Among the destroyed weaponry included AK-47, M-16 and M-1 rifles, M-60 machine guns, shotguns, and various types of side arms. The firearms were cut into pieces and some parts were burned so they could not be used again.

Aside from neutralizing the weapons, Villanueva said many of the firearms that were not subjected for demilitarization were also used as evidence in court or turned over to the police and other law enforcement agencies.

Some, especially those used by insurgents who had surrendered, were placed under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip) of the government.

Meanwhile, Villanueva said the 4ID’s "relentless combat offensives" had resulted in the dismantling of some 300 rebel camps, seizure of weapons, food supplies and medicines, and explosives that were buried on the ground.

The 4ID jurisdiction is the second area in the country with the most number of NPA rebels - with about 800 fighters still engaging government forces.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1045617

NDF/NDF-Panay: A massacre and not an encounter took place in Antique

Posted to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Website (Aug 17): A massacre and not an encounter took place in Antique 

Press Statement
August 15, 2018

NO ENCOUNTER took place at Atabay, San Jose, Antique at midnight on August 15, 2018. It was A MASSACRE planned and executed by the criminal and fascist 301st Bde, 61st IB, Antique PMF and San Jose PNP. More blood is on the hands of the fascist mercenary military and police in Panay.

The brutal massacre of our education and propaganda staff has just reached the office of the CPP and NDF-Panay. They are legitimate personnel of the office of the CPP and NDF in Panay, they are NOT ARMED AND NON-COMBATANTS. They have been conducting researches and investigations concerning the situation of the people in different areas of Panay, not for the purpose of fighting nor to launch tactical offensives but in order to deeply and concretely study the problems and concerns of the masses in the region.

The comrades visited Antique in order to investigate problems brought forward by the people in the province such as demolition, concerns of poor and small fisherfolks, the poverty of workers and sacadas, soaring prices of commodities and expenditures while their income and sources of living decrease and dwindle.

Ka Dudi (Felix Salditos), Ka Ipoy (Eldie Labinghisa), Ka Elton (Peter Mecinas), Ka Liway (Karen Ceralvo) and Ka Mayang (Liezl Bandiola) were veterans and responsible cadres of the Party and the revolution. They gave their ripest and most productive years of their lives to the utmost service to the people and for the advancement of the revolutionary struggle in Panay. It is rather hard to accept that in one fell swoop the revolutionary movement has lost comrades full of ability, talent, intelligence and most assiduous.

Ka Bebe (Jason Talibo) and Ka Jason Sanchez were there to provide technical services to the comrades in order to facilitate their research and study of the conditions of the most backward province in Panay.

The fascist military and police are LIARS, cowards and desperate.

The first lie was that the comrades were allegedly armed and the first to fire. The truth is that the comrades were UNARMED and it was the mercenary troops who fired, sustained their fire and ceased firing when they were sure that all the comrades were dead inside the house.

Most of the blood found were inside the house showing that the comrades were not in firing position but rather the fascist criminals rushed unto the unarmed sleeping comrades and fired upon them.

The second lie was, after nine hours, they showed media and the public the alleged firearms of the people they massacred. The truth is that they planted a few arms (a grenade, a .38 revolver, one KG-9, an M203 grenade but no rifle) that even media has cited that such number could hardly sustain a 30-minute gunfight. Such that at the press conference PRO6’s Supt Bulalacao added an M14 to their planted firearms and the alibi that the one who got away took off with the M203 rifle. However, one can easily see through the yarn.

The third lie was that they intended to serve the warrant of arrest to two comrades. The truth is that their intention was to KILL anyone who was in the house. If their intention was to serve the warrant, why execute it in the middle of the night, under cover of darkness? And to think that 61st IB’s Col and to think that Magbalot and Antique PNP chief Mark Darroca had a hundred men deployed just to capture two personalities.

The fourth lie was the pronouncement of Magbalot and Bulalacao that the comrades were members of RTIG or regional taxation implementing group and were at the place in order to conduct extortion activities. The truth is that the comrades were staff personnel of the CPP and NDF for education, propaganda and research. It is such a bore and a broken record of the oft-repeated enemy claim that the NPA resort to extortion because they are starving. And adding the absurd claim that the NPA was planning to attack the San Jose PNP station.

Duterte’s fascist mercenaries have nothing to brag about in the massacre of unarmed comrades. They should be ashamed of their cowardly and desperate murder of people who could not fight back. This is their retaliation to the military actions of the NPA the past months where the 61st IB and CAFGU suffered casualties. In desperation they pounce upon the unarmed, like the more than 20,000 civilians they have murdered in the name of Tokhang.

True to the orders of their blood-thirsty commander in chief, they have violated with intent and cowardice the rules of war in the Geneva Conventions and CARHRIHL on the prohibition of violence against civilians and unarmed persons. These agreements were signed by the government of the Philippines in 1949, 1977 and the CARHRIHL on August 7, 1998. This just shows the mercenary, cowardly and terrorist orientation of the military and police under their number one terrorist commander.

On the contrary, unlike the fascist troops who conceal their casualties we are proudest to acknowledge and claim Ka Dudi, Ipoy, Elton, Liway, Mayang, Bebe and Jason. We boast of them as among the best sons and daughters of our motherland. We are proud of their productive work and contribution to revolutionary education, propaganda, culture and research. They were smart and diligent comrades who shared their learning and knowledge to the younger generation of revolutionaries. They gave color, music, energy and life to revolutionary propaganda and culture for the exploited and oppressed, for genuine freedom, justice and peace.

Our grief will not end in merely shedding tears. What our revolutionary martyrs would have wanted is to show our grief transformed into courage by bravely raising our fists and shouting out loud to carry on the revolutionary struggle! We salute you beloved comrades!

The blood on the fascists’ hands will never be forgotten.

Concha Araneta
Spokesperson
NDF-Panay
15 August 2018

https://www.ndfp.org/a-massacre-and-not-an-encounter-took-place-in-antique/

NDF/Sison: Fight fascist attack on the people

Jose Maria Sison propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Website (Aug 20): Fight fascist attack on the people  

Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International League of Peoples´ Struggle

August 20-21, 2018

Message to the 5th National Congress of Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People´s Rights




Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International League of Peoples´ Struggle


Dear Fellow Advocates of Human Rights,

It is an honor and privilege for me as chairperson of the International League of Peoples´ Struggle to convey to you most heartfelt greetings of solidarity to the leadership and membership of KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People´s Rights) on the occasion of its 5th National Congress.

We congratulate you for all your achievements in the advocacy and defense of human rights and for your current success in convening the delegations from your chapters and member-organizations. We agree with you that your congress is being held at a critical juncture of the Filipino people’s struggle for national freedom and democracy against fascism and tyranny under the Duterte government.

You are absolutely correct in adopting as the theme of your Congress: “Fight the Fascist Attack on the People!” You must raise higher your unity, strength and fighting spirit by having a common understanding of the situation, your experience, your current level of strength and the tasks in advocating and fighting for human rights and people´s rights.

Fascist Dictatorship and Federalism Pretext

 Duterte is obsessed with establishing a fascist dictatorship under the guise of federalism. His scheme of fascist dictatorship is well laid out and discernible from his speeches during and after the 2016 elections. He and his followers have packaged federalism as the solution to all major problems of the Filipino people and have tried in vain to conceal the evil purpose of fascist dictatorship behind the shibboleth of federalism.

In the name of decentralizing or devolving power and revenues from the center of a unitary form of government, he is scheming to concentrate absolute executive, legislative and judicial powers in his hands. Under his authoritarian rule, the regional and lower levels of the pseudo-federal system would be ruled by his hand-picked dynasties and warlords.

Having experienced and fought the Marcos fascist dictatorship, which Duterte is trying to emulate and copy, the Filipino people cannot accept the comeback of a fascist dictatorship under someone like Duterte who by his notorious psychology and track record is far more prone to brutality and corruption. As Duterte frenziedly lays the ground for fascist dictatorship, the people will intensify their struggle to stop him and to oust him.

It is to be expected that he will further run amok using the brute force of the official military and police and the unofficial death squads to quell the people´s resistance. Now and in the coming months, KARAPATAN has the noble and heroic duty to defend the human rights of the people, in terms of civil and political rights as well as in terms of social, economic and cultural rights of individuals, organizations and entire communities.

Problems of Pseudo-Federal Scheme

 By all current indications, charter change for pseudo federalism will be carried out this year or next. But Duterte and his minions have problems to face in this regard. The biggest problem is the opposition of the people to chacha for federalism and for the shift to federalism as a pretext for fascist dictatorship and as an unnecessary overcostly and unaffordable scheme prone to the control of dynasties and warlords. Even Duterte´s own followers raise questions and disagreements.

Shall the overhaul or junking of the 1987 Constitution be done by a constitutional assembly? But Duterte has at the most only 17 votes in the Senate, one vote less than the required two-thirds majority. Shall there be elections in 2019 to increase the Duterte followers in the Senate? When the Con-Ass shall be convened, which of the three constitutional drafts shall be the working draft of the assembly?

Key members of the Duterte regime, including his economic managers, publicly declare that the Duterte federalism scheme is unaffordable. They say that if 50% of the national tax revenues are funneled to the regional or federal states the national government would not be able to pay the national debt. Also, for the first year alone of federalism, 120 to 151 billion pesos would be required to pay the costs of organizing , staffing, equipping and operating the regional states. The costs would generate inflation, high interest rates and mass layoffs.

Even defense secretary Lorenzana has publicly complained that federalism is confusing to him. There are also questions about the physical and mental health of Duterte and the growing possibility of his assassination or coup coming from his armed force upon the advance of the legal democratic mass movement and the armed revolutionary movement. But of course, the people have always to rely on their own strength and struggle and must not depend on the internal contradictions within the US-Duterte regime.

As Duterte faces obstacles for his federalism scheme from the people and from within his own regime, he can be driven by his own greed for power and plunder to proclaim martial law or a state of emergency in order to arrange his own process of making chacha for federalism. But then he would be facing an overwhelming and powerful opposition from the broad united front and broad masses of the people. Such an opposition is well manifested by the mass mobilization of 40,000 people in Quezon City and hundreds of thousands all over the country against the US-Duterte regime during his SONA last July 23.

Whichever way Duterte succeeds in pushing through the pseudo-federal constitution as pretext for fascist dictatorship, we can be sure that there would be provisions in said constitution to allow Duterte to remain a tyrant during the transition period and thereafter, facilitate the violations of civil and political rights, transgress the economic sovereignty, national patrimony and all vital parts of the economy previously reserved to the extent of 100% or majority ownership to Filipino citizens.

Duterte has long tried to present himself as a strongman and a power player who loves to employ brute force but who has no interest in corruption and self-enrichment. That cannot be true. In exploitative class society, the reactionary politicians seek the highest political office in order to amass wealth through bureaucratic corruption, even when they do not take the risk of becoming a dictator. Duterte´s admiration for his idol Marcos is complete. When absolute power is already in the hands of the dictator, unbridled corruption follows.

False Promises Regarding Illegal Drugs, Crime and Corruption

 Duterte has touted himself as the leader who can fix problems quickly through sheer violence. He has promised to kill 100,000 people to fatten the fish in Manila Bay in order to solve the problem of illegal drugs together with crime and corruption in three to six months. He has already incited and caused the mass murder of 27,000 poor people tagged as drug suspects.

He has always sought to popularize and make acceptable the notion and line that mass murder and mass intimidation can solve problems. But even after two years in his presidential office the drug problem has become far more widespread and worse. According to the Drug Information Agency, there were 1.8 million drug addicts before Duterte became president. Now there are more than four million.

Duterte has failed to stop the spread of illegal drugs not because of incompetence but because of the most vicious kind of self-interest. He has deployed his death squads to abduct and murder poor people in the urban and rural poor communities under the perverse logic of destroying the demand for the drugs.

He has ordered the murder of only a few mayors who try to run their own independent kingdoms and backed out of going after drug protectors at the level of governors and generals. The truth is now completely out that Duterte has aggravated the problem of illegal drugs because his own compadre Peter Lim and his own son Paolo and son-in-law Manases Carpio are now the chief operatives of Duterte as the supremo of drug lords.

The mass murder of 27,000 poor people in the so-called war on drugs has three objectives: 1) for the drug empire of Duterte to prevail over rival drug lords; 2) to ensure the loyalty of police officers through complicity in the commission of mass murder and through the system of rewards in cash and promotions in rank; and 3) the most important, to use the mass murder to effect mass intimidation.

Duterte´s promise to solve criminality and corruption is as false as his promise to solve the drug problem. Criminality has worsened because Duterte has emboldened his police officers to arrest people without any judicial warrant and to kill people with impunity. The police officers share with Duterte contempt for due process and have extended the scope of their crimes, including murder for hire, extortion, robbery and kidnapping for ransom.

Duterte´s anti-corruption drive has been a farcical joke from the beginning because his election and rule are buttressed by his alliance with the most corrupt dynasties of Luzon like those of Marcos, Arroyo and Estrada. The Commission on Audit has exposed the fact that corruption runs rampant from the level of the president and his cabinet to all levels and agencies of the reactionary government.

All Out War against the Filipino People and the Armed Revolution

 Since the beginning of his rule, Duterte has been in close collaboration with his pro-US and militarist security cluster and has agreed with them to carry out an all-out war policy against the revolutionary movement first in the name of Oplan Bayanihan until the end of 2016 and Oplan Kapayapaan from January 2017 onwards. The regime´s objective has been principally to intensify offensives against the revolutionary forces and secondarily to try converting the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations into surrender negotiations at the expense of the revolutionary forces and the people.

Failing to achieve the impossible, Duterte has found it convenient to terminate the peace negotiations with his Proclamation 360 and to designate the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations through Proclamation 374. He needs the termination of the peace negotiations to scapegoat the CPP and NPA and lay the ground for the declaration of a state of emergency or martial law nationwide. This is meant to ensure the suppression of dissent and opposition, the false ratification and enforcement of the pseudo-federal constitution.

Since the declaration of martial law over the entirety of Mindanao in May 2017, despite the fact that only Marawi City was affected by the uprising of hundreds of Maute and Abu Sayaff members and sympathizers, provoked by Duterte himself, it has become clear that he has declared martial law all over Mindanao mainly to open the way to atrocities and the bloody suppression of communities which are suspected as the mass base of the revolutionary movement, especially the Lumad communities, and clear the ground for the expansion of mining, logging and plantation operations of foreign and big comprador corporations.

Duterte and his military cohorts have calculated that the fascist dictatorship and the pseudo-federal constitution can be rammed through if in fact the CPP, NPA and the NDFP and all the legal forces of the democratic movement can be defeated or at least contained and the broad masses of the people can be intimidated and silenced through campaigns of mass murder and mass intimidation.

In the urban areas, Oplans Tokhang and Double Barrel, which are explicitly directed against low-level drug users and pushers, have been extended to Oplan Tambay, which is directed against loafers who stay on streets because they are jobless or because they seek relief from their humid shacks. It is obvious that Duterte is consistently engaged in mass intimidation and violations of human rights.

Oplan Kapayapaan is far worse than any of the previous strategic campaign plans for the suppression of the revolution. Barangay officials are used to draw up lists of alleged NPA supporters and encourage people to enlist in order supposedly to be cleared from punitive action of the military and police and to receive dole outs.

But the lists are also used as lists of surrender and as lists for fulfilling kill quotas. Right now, the military keep on claiming so many NPA fighters as having surrendered or having been killed. The number surpasses by several times what has been claimed by the same mendacious military officers as the number of NPA fighters of being only 2000 to 4000 Red fighters.

The so-called Human Security Act ( euphemism for anti-terror law) is now in the process of being amended to make it easier for the military and police to arrest and imprison people, whether martial law is declared or not. People can be placed under surveillance, arrest or detention on mere suspicion. Anyone can be detained for 30 days without any charges and the police officers have nothing to worry about being prosecuted and penalized for false arrest or illegal detention of a person.

A national ID system has been signed into law by Duterte not for facilitating government services, which are in fact paltry or absent for most people but for the purpose of population control by the military and police, political classification of the people, zone control and random checks of people in private homes and public places and the dissemination of fascist propaganda. People are required to spend time and money to get their IDs for facilitating their own subjugation, loss of privacy and control by a fascist dictatorship.

The People Have no Choice But to Resist

 Under conditions of the most intolerable oppression and exploitation, the broad masses of the people have no choice but to resist. Like Marcos, Duterte is obliged by his own greed for power and plunder to escalate mass murder and mass intimidation in the face of the rising resistance of the people. Even while he is still in the process of pushing the pseudo-federal constitution, he is already engaged in gross and systematic violations of human rights.

It is necessary for KARAPATAN and the entire people to fight the fascist offensive of the Duterte regime. To do so is to avail of the chance to stop on its track an increasingly blood-thirsty regime and discover and develop the ways of fighting such a regime even when it succeeds to become a fascist dictatorship with a pseudo-federal constitution.

If you recall, the Marcos fascist dictatorship imprisoned, tortured and murdered so many people and forced entire organizations and thousands of individuals to go underground in order to escape the barbarities of the fascist regime. But the armed resistance of the people spread and grew in strength. Soon enough the people found various ways of exposing, opposing and isolating the dictatorship. Ultimately, even the US and the exploiting classes considered Marcos more of a liability than an asset of the ruling system.

What is most advantageous to the Filipino people is that the legal forces of the national democratic movement are far more experienced and developed than they were in 1972 when Marcos proclaimed martial law. Right now, there is a broad united front of patriotic and democratic forces capable of stopping the wannabe fascist dictator on his track, Furthermore, the NDFP has a comprehensive array of well-developed mass organizations tested and tempered in underground work and in people´s war.

It is foolish for Duterte to trifle with the already existing legal democratic forces and the armed revolutionary movement. Even at this moment, he is already isolated and hated by the people. He is personally more violent than Marcos but he is definitely too crude and vulgar to approach the wiliness of Marcos. And Duterte is now too old to go farther than four years in power to guarantee his minions their impunity for their bloody crimes and corruption.

Duterte himself is an easy target for a coup by his own adversaries within the ruling system and within the military. However, should there be a successor similar to or worse than him, he will likewise not last long because of the well-developed mass movement of the people.

What is most important for the Filipino people is to resist every monster that arises as the chief oppressor and exploiter and in the process build their revolutionary strength for changing the rotten and bankrupt ruling system. The reappearance of Marcos in the current crimes of Duterte is a sure sign of the moribund character of the semicolonial and semifeudal social system and the irrepressible rise of the people’s resistance under the banner of national and social liberation from US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.


Long live KARAPATAN!
Fight against the fascist attack on the people!
Long live the Filipino people!

 https://www.ndfp.org/fight-fascist-attack-on-the-people/

NDF/Sison: Comment on Reports Pertaining to Duterte Being Sick

Jose Maria Sison propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Website (Aug 20): Comment on Reports Pertaining to Duterte Being Sick

Prof. Jose Maria Sison

August 20, 2018

I have never stopped to presume that Duterte is still alive and capable of doing more mischief, mass murder and mass intimidation, as you can read from my message to the 5th National Congress of KARAPATAN today.

If you read carefully the following text, you can see that that I qualified the report that Duterte had gone into coma was still to be verified or negated:

Below is a photo of Duterte attending the national conference of his San Beda Law fraternity Lex Talionis last night Saturday in Davao City. Those who saw him reported that the darkness of his face had become aggravated from its appearance the other day and that his walk and handshake had become more unstable. The latest report (still to be verified or negated) is that Duterte has gone into coma since the afternoon or evening of today, Sunday, August 19. The report is still being verified by the press from the palace. People are awaiting the personal appearance of Duterte and medical bulletin from his office.



One more report circulating is that Sara Inday and key cabinet men have formed a caretaker committee to run the government while Duterte is indisposed. This report needs to be verified or negated by Duterte´s public appearance. We do not know the original source of the reports. The Duterte ruling clique itself might be the source to deflect attention from the raging issues against Duterte.

https://www.ndfp.org/comment-on-reports-pertaining-to-duterte-being-sick/

NDF/Sison: Great achievements of the CPP in 50 years of waging revolution

Jose Maria Sison propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Website (Aug 22): Great achievements of the CPP in 50 years of waging revolution

 

By Jose Maria Sison
Founding Chairman
Communist Party of the Philippines

August 23, 2018

Prof. Jose Maria Sison

[Author´s Note: As founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, I have been asked by academic, journalist and activist friends and many other people to evaluate the CPP in the last 50 years and describe its current situation and prospects. All of them are anticipating the fast approaching golden anniversary of the CPP. I write this article on the basis of my previous experience and on the basis of publicly available documents.]

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was founded on December 26, 1968 as the revolutionary party of the Filipino proletariat and people under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) in order to continue the unfinished revolution started by the Katipunan in 1896 and to fight for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism and the local reactionary classes of big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists.

Since then, the CPP has scored great ideological, political and organizational achievements. These are inspired by all previous revolutionary struggles of the Filipino people and surpass the achievements of the Katipunan against Spanish colonialism and the Communist Party of the Philippine Islands and the Merger Party of the Communist and Socialist Parties (MPCSP) in the periods of the US colonial regime, the Japanese fascist occupation and the neocolonial regime of local reactionary classes servile to US imperialism.

In applying the revolutionary theory of the proletariat to the concrete conditions and practice of the Philippine revolution, the CPP has generated so many volumes of documents and bylined works that constitute a major contribution to the treasury of said theory and have correctly and successfully spread and raised revolutionary consciousness of all aspects of Philippine society and in all fields of revolutionary work: economic, political, military and cultural.

The CPP has systematically strengthened itself ideologically, politically and organizationally. It arose with only a few scores of cadres and members from the revolutionary mass movement of the 1960s. It has become nationwide and has become even more deeply rooted among the toiling masses of workers and peasants. It continues to draw strength from the revolutionary mass movement. It has grown into tens of thousands of cadres and members who have been tested and tempered in revolutionary armed struggle and other forms of struggle.

 

The CPP leads the New People´s Army (NPA), which it founded on March 29, 1969 in the second district of Tarlac. Now, this army operates in more than 110 guerilla fronts covering substantial parts of 73 out of the 81 Philippine provinces in 17 regions outside of the national capital region. It is assisted by the people´s militia and self-defense units of mass organizations. It follows the strategic line of protracted
people´s war, carries out agrarian revolution and guarantees the building and functioning of the people´s democratic government.

The CPP leads the national united front whose most consolidated embodiment is the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) founded on April 24, 1974. The national united front relies mainly on the revolutionary basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry, wins over the middle strata of the bourgeoisie and takes advantage of the conflicts among the reactionaries in order to isolate and defeat the enemy, which is the worst reactionary clique.

The united front is effective in reaching and rallying the people in their millions. It has demonstrated that it can overthrow the fascist dictatorship of Marcos in 1986 and the corrupt regime of Estrada in 2001. It is necessary to defeat one reactionary clique after another and thus increase the strength of the revolutionary movement for overthrowing the entire semi-colonial and semifeudal ruling system, accomplishing the people´s democratic revolution and laying the basis for the socialist revolution.

Ideological Achievements of the CPP

 The CPP has a comprehensive and profound understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It has published the classical works of Marx, Engels, Lenin Stalin and Mao Zedong as well as its basic documents and the works of its leading cadres on the basic principles of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory in various fields. By adopting this revolutionary theory of the proletariat as theoretical guide, the CPP has integrated it with the history and concrete circumstances of the Filipino people and proletariat.

The CPP has traced the major strands of Philippine history: communalism and patriarchal slavery in the pre-colonial period, feudalism under Spanish colonialism, semifeudalism under US colonialism and the semicolonial and semifeudal society since after the 1946 US grant of nominal independence to the Philippines. Based on the analysis of Philippine history and concrete circumstances, the CPP has defined the character of Philippine society, general political line of struggle, motive forces, adversaries, stages and future of the Philippine revolution.

The CPP has put forward the general line of people´s democratic revolution, with a socialist perspective against the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions. This is a revolution led by the proletariat and no longer by the bourgeoisie in keeping with the global era of modern imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Under the leadership of the proletariat, with the CPP as vanguard party, the Filipino people can proceed from the basic completion of the new democratic revolution (the overthrow of the semicolonial and semifuedal ruling system) to the start of socialist revolution.

The CPP has applied Marxism-Leninism to define the new democratic and socialist stages of the Philippine revolution. It has also applied Maoism to combat modern revisionism and guarantee a future of consolidating socialism and preventing the restoration of capitalism. For some years, from 1963 onwards, the founders of the CPP were enlightened by the Marxist-Leninist line against modern revisionism centred in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the revisionist character of the MPCSP.

In breaking out of the MPCSP, they launched the First Great Rectification Movement in 1966. This criticized and rectified the subjectivist and the ¨Left¨ and Right opportunist errors from 1942 to 1966, the year when a scion of the Lava family imposed his revisionist line and grabbed leadership in the MPCSP. The proletarian leaders who developed from the workers and youth mass organizations pursued the rectification movement and cleared the way for the foundation of the Communist Party of the Philippines from 1966 to 1968.

The CPP has established, clarified and developed the principles and policies for winning the new democratic revolution with a socialist perspective by wielding the three major weapons of the Filipino people: the revolutionary party of the proletariat, the people´s war and the united front policy. It has practised criticism and self-criticism of errors and shortcomings in the course of assessing and evaluating current work. It has therefore always improved the mode and style of work and thus have achieved better results.

The CPP has waged rectification movements to overcome major errors in ideology, politics and organization. It successfully waged the Second Great Rectification Movement from 1992 to 1998 as an education movement in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to criticize and repudiate major subjectivist and ”Left” and Right opportunist errors in the period of 1981 to 1992.

It debunked the subjectivist notion that the Marcos fascist dictatorship had made the Philippine economy industrial capitalist. This subjectivist error gave rise to Right and ¨Left¨ opportunist errors. The Right opportunists advocated a united front without the leadership of the revolutionary proletariat and kowtowing to the anti-Marcos reactionaries, The ”Left” opportunists rejected Mao´s strategic line of protracted people´s war and promoted adventurism and the premature regularization of the NPA at the expense of mass work.

Currently, the CPP is subjecting to criticism and rectification among others the phenomenon of conservatism, which overly stresses mass work, unwittingly favors the style of roving rebel bands and neglects the need to intensify guerilla tactical offensives in order to annihilate the enemy forces and seize the weapons from them and to bring about the full development of the strategic defensive and reach the strategic stalemate in the people´s war.

The CPP has educated tens of thousands of Party cadres and members in the theory and practice of MLM by providing them with three levels of Party study courses: basic, intermediate and advanced. These cadres are the ever growing hard core of the revolutionary mass movement, institutions of various kinds and specialized fields of work. Party education is meant to enlighten and inspire the Party cadres and members among the toiling masses of workers and peasants as well as among the middle social strata of the bourgeoisie.

The basic Party course provides Party cadres and members with a knowledge of Philippine history, the basic problems of the Filipino people and the people´s democratic revolution; the intermediate Party course on building the Party, the people´s army and the united front with a comparative knowledge of successful revolutions led by the proletariat; and the advanced Party course with a comprehensive knowledge of materialist philosophy, political economy, scientific socialism, the strategy and tactics of proletarian revolution and the international communist movement.

The CPP has contributed greatly to the world treasury of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism by issuing ideological and political documents and bylined works written by CPP leading organs and cadres for declaring the position of the Party on theoretical and practical issues, for building and developing the Party, the people´ army and the united front, for criticizing and rectifying errors and shortcomings and for analyzing and opposing imperialism and reaction in the Philippines and abroad. Many of such works have attained the level of texts for theoretical or doctrinal study.

On a national and global scale, the CPP has been outstanding in being steadfast against modern revisionism, reformism and opportunism and in upholding the socialist and communist future of mankind. It has contributed to the analysis of modern revisionism up to the full restoration of capitalism in former socialist countries and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the years of 1989 to 1991. The written stand of the CPP for socialism against modern revisionism is an avidly studied and cherished text in the international communist movement.

The CPP has analyzed and opposed the ideological offensives against Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the monstrosities of the US-instigated neoliberal economic policy and the neoconservative policy of full-spectrum intervention and aggression. These have accelerated the strategic decline of the US since this superpower appeared to have won the Cold War in 1991 upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US has undermined its position as sole superpower and is sliding from the peak of its global power. It is still a major capitalist power and is desperately and vainly trying to maintain overall hegemony in a multipolar world.

The CPP has defined the current world situation as one still in the era of modern imperialism and proletarian revolution and in a period of intensified inter-imperialist contradictions, social disorder and wars of aggression in transition to a world of resurgent proletarian revolution and national liberation movements since the full restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe.

The documents and articles of the CPP central leadership on Philippine and international issues are highly respected domestically and internationally because they are the products of the growing revolutionary movement in the Philippines which has overcome the most brutal onslaughts by US imperialism and local reaction and which has successfully waged ideological struggle against imperialism, revisionism and reaction. Such struggle has been in pursuit of revolutionary change in the Philippines and in the spirit of proletarian internationalism and anti-imperialist solidarity among peoples.

Political Achievements of the CPP

 The CPP has correctly described Philippine society as semicolonial and semifeudal and formulated the program for a people´s democratic revolution with a socialist perspective in the era of modern imperialism and proletarian revolution. The leading class of the revolution is the working class. It relies mainly on its basic alliance with the peasantry, wins over the urban petty bourgeoisie and further wins over the middle bourgeoisie in order to isolate and defeat the ruling classes of big comprador bourgeoisie, landlord class and bureaucrat capitalists subservient to US imperialism

The CPP has built itself as a strong revolutionary party of the proletariat by successfully implementing the general line of people’s democratic revolution through protracted people´s war. It has become nationwide and is deeply rooted among the toiling masses of workers and peasants. And it has built the people´s army and the national united front in order to wield them as weapons of the revolution and the people. Thus, it has aroused, organized and mobilized the people in their millions to form a strong revolutionary mass movement of workers, peasants, national minorities, youth, women, professionals, cultural workers and other sectors in all regions of the country.

The CPP has built and led the New People´s Army (NPA). This is the strongest people´s army built since the defeat of the Philippine revolutionary army by US imperialism in 1902 and since the backbone of the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan was broken in 1952. The current armed strength of the NPA in terms of high-powered rifles is bigger than the 5,600 recorded in the 1985 Plenum of the CPP Central Committee.

This is contrary to the claim of the enemy that the NPA had 25,000 in the mid-1980´s and that it has only 2000 to 4000 now. And yet the tyrant Duterte and his military minions claim to have caused the surrender and death of more than 7000 Red commanders and fighters, victimizing the civilian population and privately collecting reward money for the purpose.

The NPA is the main weapon of the people for defeating the enemy and winning the revolution. Without it, the people have nothing. It carries out three integral tasks: revolutionary armed struggle, agrarian revolution and mass base building. It carries out a war of fluid movement and avails of the tactics of concentration, dispersal and shifting as circumstances require. It follows the strategy of protracted people´s war, with three probable strategic stages: defensive, stalemate and counter-offensive. It carries out a[missing text]

The NPA applies the principle of centralized ideological and political leadership and decentralized operations, which is very appropriate to the archipelagic character of the Philippines even as the Party central leadership issues operational guidelines for the national, regional and lower levels to implement. Currently, the NPA is victoriously carrying out extensive and intensive guerilla warfare on the basis of an ever widening and deepening mass base in order to advance from the strategic defensive to the strategic stalemate.

The NPA has an effective national operational command, with several departments and with lower levels of command down to the basic level. It has thousands of Red fighters who are disciplined and have high fighting morale. They have undergone political-military training at various levels, armed with high-powered rifles, tempered in the armed struggle and have various capabilities in the service of the people.

They are a force for fighting, politico-military training, propaganda and agitation, mass organizing, production, medical care, cultural work, environmental protection and disaster relief. But they relinquish nonmilitary functions to the local organs of political power and mass organizations in order to be able to wage tactical offensives and open new guerrilla zones.

The NPA is assisted by tens of thousands of men and women in the people´s militia and hundreds of thousands in self-defense units of the mass organizations. It operates in more than 110 guerrillas fronts which occupy substantial parts of 17 regions and 73 out of the 81 Philippine provinces. It is increasingly capable of annihilating units of the military, police and paramilitary forces of the ruling system in order to increase the strength of its fighting units and to weaken and dismantle the enemy forces.

US imperialism and its puppets have unleashed all kinds of military onslaughts, excluding an outright US war of aggression but including the 14-year fascist dictatorship of the US-Marcos ruling clique and the US-instigated strategic operational plans from the Marcos fascist regime through the pseudo democratic regimes of Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Macapagal-Arroyo and Aquino II regime to the current Duterte regime, all propped up and armed by US imperialism.

The Marcos fascist regime could not destroy the NPA when this was still small and weak but unwittingly succeeded in generating the conditions for people´s war even more fertile. Marcos the despot became known as best recruiter and supply officer because through his oppressive and exploitative polices and acts he unwittingly incited the people to join the NPA and because he sent his armed minions to attack the NPA, they ended up being ambushed and yielding their arms and supplies to the NPA. Thus, the NPA grew in strength and succeeded in contributing significantly to the weakening and fall of the fascist regime. It continues to contribute significantly to the weakening of the entire ruling system.

The highest praise that has been accorded to the NPA comes unwittingly from the rulers of the reactionary system who have always considered the NPA as the No. 1 security threat to their counterrevolutionary state. But in another categorical way, the neocolonial republic of the Philippines has recognized the NDFP as the representative of the CPP, NPA and other revolutionary forces and people and has found it necessary to engage the NDFP in peace negotiations .

In developing the alliance of the working class with the peasantry in the antifeudal untied front, the CPP has correctly taken the line of relying mainly on the poor peasants, winning over the middle peasants, and neutralizing the rich peasants in order to isolate and destroy the power of the landlord class. The CPP and NPA have taken the key role in carrying out agrarian revolution as the main content of the democratic revolution.

Depending on the circumstances, they have carried out the minimum and maximum land reform programs. The minimum program involves rent reduction, elimination of usury, setting of fair farm-gate prices and promotion of agricultural production and sideline occupation through independent households and rudimentary cooperation. The maximum program involves the confiscation of land from the landlords and land grabbers and free land distribution and agricultural cooperation in stages.

While encouraging and giving due course to the peasant movement for land reform, the CPP leads the NPA to guarantee that the landlord class and the reactionary state cannot frustrate the land reform; to defeat the despotic landlords and distribute the land to the tenants; and to dismantle the landholdings grabbed by the corporate and bureaucratic plantation owners and effect the restitution of the land to the indigenous peoples and poor settlers. The NPA has also the duty to enforce the laws of the people’s government, especially on enterprises that lessen the area available for land reform and that damage agriculture and the environment.

Because of the people´s army and advance of the people´s war, the CPP has been able to build the local organs of political power nationwide, from the barangay level upwards. At the barangay level, the barangay organizing committees are appointed and then eventually the barangay revolutionary committees are elected. The local organs of political power constitute the people´s democratic government of workers and peasants in opposition to the reactionary government of big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists.

They are composed of the representatives of the Party cadres, the masses and technically capable persons. They oversee and supervise mass organizing, public education, production, finance, self-defense, health and sanitation, cultural affairs, environmental protection, disaster relief and rehabilitation and the settlement of disputes. They are in charge of the people´s militia and the people´s court at the pertinent level.

Two conflicting governments exist in the Philippines. The reactionaries are talking nonsense whenever they say that the revolutionaries have not accomplished anything in 50 years by not being able to seize the presidential palace in Manila. They are even more absurd when they try to deny the existence and belligerent status of the people´s democratic government and dismiss it as a mere nonstate actor.

In fact, this government, duly constituted by the workers and peasants, is growing and advancing wave upon wave until it shall be able to overthrow every level of the reactionary government. At certain levels and in many areas in the Philippines, the reactionary government cannot function without its enlightened local officials obtaining the permission or cooperation of the revolutionary government.

As it now stands, the people´s democratic government has millions of people under its governance and influence. It is mindful of the class line in the national united front and in the anti-feudal united front in being able to govern the revolutionary mass organizations and the broad masses of the people. The policy of the united front guides the people’s war as well as the various forms of legal struggle in the urban areas in order to promote the armed revolution and attract the support of the people in their millions.

The CPP has built the united front as a weapon of the people for armed as well as for legal struggle. The united front is embodied in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as the largest and most consolidated united front organization. The NDFP consists of 18 allied organizations bound together by patriotic and progressive principles and policies. And it has the flexibility to become the base for an even broader united front that takes advantage of the contradictions among the reactionaries in order to isolate and defeat the current enemy, which is the most reactionary clique in the country.

Under the direction of the CPP, the broad united front has twice succeeded in overthrowing the reactionary regime. First, it succeeded in fighting, undermining and overthrowing the Marcos fascist dictatorship from 1972 to 1986 and in ousting the corrupt Estrada regime in 2001. Even without as yet deploying units of the people army in the cities aside from armed city partisans, the broad masses of the people rose up to show their hatred for the ruling clique and subsequently the reactionary armed forces refused to follow orders to attack the people but decided to withdraw support from the hated ruler.

To score its political achievements, the CPP learned well from the periodic and timely summings up of experience and learn from positive as well as negative lessons. It has followed the general line of people´s democratic revolution and the strategy and tactics of protracted people´s war. Accomplishments and exemplary models of achievement have been recognized to inspire further successes in revolutionary work and struggle. Major and minor errors and shortcomings have been criticized and rectified in the normal course of criticism and self-criticism.

A rectification movement of longer duration and with the appropriate degree of intensity has been carried out to confront major errors of Right and ¨Left” opportunism that are long persistent and threaten the very life of the entire Party or a major part of it. The CPP has learned from the First Rectification Movement which criticized and repudiated the Right opportunism of Vicente Lava from 1942 to 1946, the ¨Left¨ opportunism of Jose Lava from 1948 to 1950 and the Right opportunism of Jesus Lava from 1950 onwards.

The Second Great Rectification Movement criticized, repudiated and rectified the Right opportunist error of taking out the leadership of the communist party and the working class from the national united front supposedly to attract more people and make the united front the main weapon of the struggle; and several trends of ¨Left¨ opportunism, the most damaging of which overstressed the verticalization of the NPA at the expense of horizontal deployment of the NPA for mass work and which upon failure resulted in blaming those tagged as deep penetration agents as causing the failure and subjecting them to punishment without due process.

As a whole, the CPP has learned well from the Second Great Rectification Movement by developing the balance between armed struggle and mass work and the center of gravity in a relatively concentrated force (e.g., command platoon of a company or the command squad of a platoon) and the relatively dispersed force for mass work (two-thirds of a formation deployed on a wider scale). The line for the NPA is to wage intensive and extensive guerilla warfare on the basis of an ever widening and deepening mass base. But the erroneous currents of conservatism and roving rebel bands, which neglect the waging of guerilla tactical offensives by overemphasizing mass work by armed propaganda teams, has afflicted some regions for extended periods, especially in Luzon and the Visayas.

Even mass work is prejudiced and ultimately disappears when squads or armed propaganda units think and act like roving rebel bands because the Party leadership and NPA command do not plan and launch tactical offensives to take initiative in people´s war and do not increase the armed strength of the people´s army. Without a center of gravity and being deployed in an overextended way, the squads and armed propaganda teams can easily be put into a purely defensive and losing position by the enemy forces. It is fine that conservatism and roving rebel band mode are being criticized and rectified.

The CPP has excelled in leading the armed revolution that is among the longest running, strongest, and continuously growing armed revolutions for national liberation, democracy and socialism in the world. This armed revolution has proven correct Mao´s theory and practice of people´s war as well as the development of this theory and practice by the CPP leadership in accordance with the specific characteristics of the Philippines in terms of social and physical terrain, with the peasant population as the most numerous class in the mountainous archipelago.

What makes the Philippine revolution most outstanding currently is that it has overcome a long running fascist dictatorship and a long series of strategic operational campaign plans of US-lining pseudo-democratic regimes to destroy it. The revolutionary forces and people have become strong precisely by fighting all the series of strategic operational plans that have been undertaken by the US with the collaboration of the Filipino puppet regimes. They have also combated and prevented all attempts of modern revisionism, reformism and opportunism to undermine and weaken the armed revolution.

The line of development and advance for the people´s war is from the strategic defensive to the strategic stalemate and ultimately to the strategic counteroffensive for accomplishing total victory. The ruling system is in chronic crisis, keeps on rotting and making the ground ever more fertile for people´s war. Under the leadership of the CPP, the NPA must annihilate more and more of the enemy forces in order to strengthen itself, demoralize the enemy as a whole and raise the fighting morale of the people and cause the disintegration of the reactionary and its armed forces.

Because of the success of the people’s war in the Philippines, the CPP enjoys high prestige in the world and is proactive in spreading information about the Philippine revolution in order to inspire other peoples and to seek international solidarity and support. The millions of Filipinos who have sought jobs abroad are a major target of mass work to support the revolutionary movement in the motherland and also serve as a wide base for the CPP´s international political work. The CPP is active in strengthening the revolutionary core in the mass formations and movements of overseas Filipinos and also in international organizations of communist and workers´ parties and international solidarity organizations among the people.

The Philippine revolution led by the CPP has served as a torch bearer of the world proletarian revolution and the movements for national liberation, democracy and socialism in various countries in the current period of intensified contradictions among the imperialist powers, wars of aggression and escalating oppression and exploitation in all imperialist-dominated countries. The CPP is playing an outstanding role in leading a revolution in the period of transition to the worldwide resurgence of revolutionary movements of the proletariat and people. Only by fighting and defeating imperialism and all reaction can the people of the world advance towards socialism and the communist future,

Organizational Achievements of the CPP

 The CPP has succeeded in leading the Philippine revolution because it has built itself as a solid organization. At every stage in this development, it has followed the principle of democratic centralism under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the general line of people´s democratic revolution through protracted people´s war. This is centralized leadership on the basis of democracy.

The entire Party follows its Central Committee and lower organs follow the higher leading organ. But at every level of decision-making democratic processes are followed, with the leading organ taking into account the reports and recommendations of lower organs and with the majority prevailing over the minority by voting. Those in the minority have the right to reserve their opinion but must follow the majority vote as a matter of discipline. Such a decision may be vindicated, modified or entirely changed on the basis of further revolutionary practice.

The CPP could be established in 1968 because it was preceded by the development of a resolute and militant mass movement, which started among the workers and youth in the period of 1959 to 1962 even if the proletarian revolutionary cadres had to join first the MPCSP from 1962 to 1966. When the proletarian revolutionary cadres from the youth movement and the labor and peasant movement joined up in 1962 onwards, they were able to form in quick succession the proletarian revolutionary organization within Lapiang Manggagawa (Workers´ Party), Malayang Samahan ng mga Magsasaka (Free Peasant Association) and the Kabataang Makabayan.

As a comprehensive mass organization of the youth devoted to the new democratic revolution and to the leadership of the working class, the Kabataang Makabayan was able to expand its organization nationwide from 1964 onwards and was also able to stimulate the formation of other types of organizations of various classes and sectors . The KM had for members the young men and women from the working class, peasantry, students, young professionals and other sectors of society. It facilitated the national spread of the CPP because its core of proletarian revolutionary cadres educated an ever increasing number of mass activists both on the national democratic revolution and on the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

The KM availed of its cooperation with Lapiang Manggagawa and its trade unions in order to recruit members from the working class and initiate the building of new revolutionary trade unions in the national capital region and nationwide. Likewise, it availed of the cooperation of MASAKA in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog regions to recruit KM members from the ranks of the young peasants but it proceeded to form peasant associations in other regions.

By the time that its Founding Congress was held, with scores of Party cadres and members represented by twelve delegates, the CPP could rely on a nationwide mass base and start to strike deeper roots among the toiling masses of workers and peasants. At the same time, it had gained national prominence as having a significant mass following among the educated youth, including students, young teachers and other professionals.

In the entire second half of the 1960s, the KM spearheaded the mass movement on national issues as well as on international issues, especially the US war of aggression against Vietnam. After the CPP was founded in 1968, it could exercise effective leadership in the mass movement immediately. Thus it directed the upsurge of the open mass movement in 1969, the First Quarter Storm of 1970 and the further protest mass movement up to September 21, 1972 when Marcos proclaimed martial law and imposed fascist dictatorship on the people.

Since its founding, the CPP has exerted efforts to recruit its members from the various types of mass organizations and create Party groups within them at every level. It also formed Party organizations within factories, institutions and in urban and rural communities. When the CPP founded the NPA, it constituted this under the absolute leadership of the CPP through the Central Committee, Political Bureau and Military Commission. At the same time it built the Party organization within the NPA at every level.

The CPP is now in a position to increase its membership from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in keeping with its increasing responsibilities. It has successfully built itself in all 18 regions of the Philippines and has also created regional operational commands of the NPA in 17 regions. It has encouraged the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and all its 18 allied organizations to build themselves as underground revolutionary mass organizations. These are different from the legal mass organizations of BAYAN and other legal national democratic alliances.

At various stages in the organizational development of the CPP, various regional party organizations have gained national prominence because of the conspicuous strength of the revolutionary masses and the victorious NPA tactical offensives under CPP leadership. Central Luzon, particularly Tarlac, stood out in 1969 onwards; Cagayan Valley, particularly Isabela from 1971 onwards; Southern Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol provinces from 1972 onwards, Western Visayas, particularly Panay and Negros islands from 1973 onwards; Ilocos-Montañosa-Pangasinan region, particularly Ifugao from 1974 onwards; and Eastern Visayas, particularly Samar, and Mindanao from 1975 onwards.

The various regional Party committees can sum up their respective historical experiences to show how the Party, NPA and the united front began and expanded in their respective areas and nationwide. They can narrate their relations with the Party Central Committee and the experience of having inter-regional commissions and cooperation to relieve or lessen the burden of the Central Committee in dealing with regional committees.

The CPP central leadership has made sure that stronger regional Party organizations serve as a base for assisting weaker regional Party organizations in terms of education, training, competent cadres and commanders and resources. It has always tried its best to give direction to any part of the revolutionary movement under concentrated enemy attack to solve its own problems and to urge other regional Party organizations to intensify their own offensives in order to relieve the comrades under attack in other regions and to make the enemy pay dearly for its attacks in other regions.

The CPP has been alert to and has overcome the occurrences of bureaucratism, sectarianism and ultra-democracy. Centralized leadership and the hierarchy of leading organs are respected but the CPP criticizes and repudiates the imposition of sheer authority without a basis in facts and reasoning laid out through the democratic process. The CPP also eschews sectarianism, which is merely in the interest of the entirety or part of the Party, without due consideration of the legitimate interests of other political forces and the broad masses of the people. The CPP shuns ultra-democracy, liberalism and anarchy because these break the unity and discipline needed to strengthen the ranks of the revolution and confront the enemy,

Despite its great organizational achievements, the CPP can improve its work and style of work. Prolonged and delayed meetings have adverse consequences and detract attention from the prompt solution of problems. When a higher level of leadership engages in prolonged and delayed meetings, lower levels tend to follow the style and thus so much time for revolutionary work is lost. The most thoroughgoing meetings, with the best of possible conclusions and documents, can also be ineffective if the leading organ concerned does not issue the needed urgent directives on the basis of current circumstances and developments between such meetings.

The CPP is organizationally strong because it builds on its previous strength and seriously examines its organizational errors and shortcomings which it is ever determined to criticize and rectify. The current strength of the CPP in the tens of thousands can move up to the level of hundreds of thousands. These are needed to respond to the growing demand for Party cadres for various types of work in the revolutionary struggle. The previous stock of Party cadres and members is the base for the expansion of the Party in consonance with the accelerated advance of the revolution.

There is nothing arcane or too complicated for leading Party organs and specific units to plan and carry out the expansion of the Party membership. The field for recruitment is the mass movement. A mass activist becomes a Party candidate-member by accepting the Party Constitution and Program and becomes a full Party member by the time he or she finishes the basic Party course of education. The Party has competent and conscientious political instructors. Study materials are in print and audio-visual forms that are available to people with various levels of prior formal education. Education and mass w2ork ensure the high quality and durability of Party membership.

The ideological and political education and work of all Party members and candidate-members can be accelerated and amplified. More Party educators can be trained and put to work in coordination with the accelerated recruitment of Party candidate members from the mass movement. The Party can take full advantage of the available technology to produce educational materials that are printed and audio visual.

As early as 1969, the CPP central leadership authorized the formation of the US Committee to build the CPP and mass organizations among Filipinos in the US. By 1971 the delegation of the Central Committee of the CPP was based in Beijing in order to relate to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and to connect with proletarian revolutionary parties and national liberation movements on a world scale. In 1976 the CPP supported the establishment of NDFP offices in Europe and the Asia-Pacific in order to organize the overseas contract workers and resource centers as well as form solidarity organizations with the host people.

The CPP and NDFP have been successful in their international work. They have been instrumental in forming organizations of migrant Filipino workers, resource centers on the Philippines and solidarity organizations with the host peoples in many countries. They have initiated as well as joined anti-imperialist and democratic struggles abroad in defense of the rights and welfare of Filipinos and other peoples.

The CPP has a wide range of bilateral relations with other Communist and workers´ parties. These range from comradely relations with Marxist-Leninist parties to friendly relations with anti-imperialist and democratic parties, organizations and movements. The CPP assumed a key role in the building of international communist organizations, such as the international Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations from 1992 onwards and the Brussels Communist Seminar. It has also participated in multilateral conferences and seminars organized by other fraternal parties and revolutionary movements in various countries.

To the extent possible, the CPP has engaged in practical cooperation with other revolutionary parties in order to exchange experiences and views and engage in mutual support and assistance. It has received comrades and friends from abroad who desire to learn first hand the activities of the Philippine revolutionary movement. It has also dispatched CPP representatives and delegations to exchange experiences with and learn from fraternal parties, organizations and movements on their own homegrounds.

Purpose of Celebration Amidst the People´s War and Crisis of the Ruling System
The Communist Party of the Philippines can proudly celebrate its great achievements in the last 50 years. The celebration can take many forms: accelerated recruitment and development of new Party members, vigorous mass work and intensified tactical offensives, mass meetings, seminars and forums, book publications of archival and timely materials, films on the history and current status of the Party nationwide and in the regions, stage plays and musicals, art exhibits and so on.

The purpose of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the CPP is to take stock of the great achievements of the Party, to honor the entire Party, the revolutionary heroes and martyrs, the Party cadres and members, the Red commanders and fighters, the mass activists and the people, especially the toiling masses of workers and peasants.

Most importantly, the purpose is to inspire the entire Party, the people´s army , all other revolutionary forces and the people to frustrate and defeat current attempts of the enemy to destroy the revolutionary movement and to win greater victories towards the total victory of the people´s democratic revolution.

The US-Duterte regime is seeking to scapegoat the CPP, NPA and the revolutionary mass movement of the people in order to establish a full blown fascist dictatorship. It is using the most brutal and deceptive tactics in the vain attempt to destroy the revolutionary forces. These tactics used by Oplan Kapayapaan are akin to those used in Oplan Tokhang and Double Barrel.

The barangay officials are coerced to list down suspected revolutionaries in the communities supposedly to make them participate in fake surrenders and to receive payments. The list also serves as a death list because military officers get higher payment for those killed in fake encounters. Like the police in the war on drugs, military officers are turned into butchers and corrupted more than ever before.

The Party, the people´s army and other revolutionary forces exist and operate on a national scale and in depth through clandestinity and countryside basing. The enemy forces do not have the precise knowledge and capability to attack and destroy the revolutionary forces all at once even under martial law and fascist dictatorship. They are liable to rob, abduct, torture and murder many people as they are already doing on an expanded scale.

The people´s army can launch tactical offensives against the increasingly more vulnerable points of the enemy forces whenever these are overstretched and spread thinly in campaigns of suppression. The enemy armed forces does not have enough armed strength to concentrate on and destroy the Party and the people´s army in any region, without those in other regions. Whenever one or several guerrilla fronts are the focus of concentrated enemy attacks, they are capable of winning battles of counter-encirclement and the other guerrilla fronts of the same region can intensify their tactical offensives. When the NPA forces in certain regions are under enemy attack, it can manage to fight and win battles while the other regions can intensify their own offensives.

As of the latest report, 75 of the total 98 maneuver battalions of the reactionary armed forces are concentrated in Mindanao under conditions of martial law. Forty-four battalions are deployed against the NPA areas and 31 against Bangsamoro groups. Meanwhile, the guerrilla fronts in Luzon and the Visayas have even better opportunities for launching and winning offensives against the overstretched 21 maneuver battalions that are deployed against them.

As it has been able to do repeatedly, the NPA can take advantage of gaps in the enemy encirclement operations and conduct counter-encirclement operations and annihilate the vulnerable parts of the enemy forces in Mindanao. The Party and the NPA can use the basic tactics of guerrilla warfare as well as more complex tactics against both the military and police forces of the enemy.

The Party has a strong basis for the confidence in winning greater victories in the battlefield. The more the US-Duterte regime deploys and overstretches its military, police and paramilitary forces against the NPA the more will it make these forces available for NPA tactical offensives and provide opportunities for the NPA to seize weapons and other supplies from these forces.

The combination of wastage of public funds for military equipment and operations, corru[tion among the officers, unbridled human rights violations and the soaring prices of basic commodities and services are goading more people to join the people´s army and help to hasten the advance of the people´s war for nationwide liberation and democracy against the US-Duterte regime.

The crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system and the world capitalist system is rapidly worsening. It is escalating the conditions of people´s oppression and exploitation and at the same time driving the revolutionary forces and the people to wage revolution. On the basis of the ideological, political and organizational strength that it has already attained, the Party can make bigger strides forward and win greater victories.

So long as the oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people by US imperialism and the local exploiting classes persist, the Communist Party of the Philippines has fertile ground for leading and waging the people´s democratic revolution. As the oppression and exploitation escalate under the US-Duterte regime, the CPP and the Filipino proletariat and people can win ever greater victories in the revolutionary struggle and realize a new Philippines that is truly independent, democratic, prosperous, socially just and progressive in an all-round way.###

 

https://www.ndfp.org/great-achievements-of-the-cpp-in-50-years-of-waging-revolution/

MILF: Bangsamoro Government, a change for the better – Iqbal

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Aug 16): Bangsamoro Government, a change for the better – Iqbal



“The Bangsamoro Government is a change for the better”, Moro Islamic Liberation Front Peace Implementing Panel Chairman (MILF-PIP) Mohagher Iqbal told the participants of the Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Assembly at Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex, ORG Compound, Cotabato City on August 14, 2018.
The activity was organized by the Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Regional Darul-Iftah – ARMM, ARMM Development Academy, and the Department of Interior and Local Government – ARMM.

During his presentation on Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), Iqbal emphasized that change is inevitable and could sometimes be hurting. However, there are changes that may be painful but are needed for the better, much like the Bangsamoro Government.

He explained that the BTA will commence upon the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). It will be composed of 80 parliament seats which will be appointed by the President of the Philippines. The parliament will also be joined by the 25 elected officials of the ARMM Regional Government including the Regional Governor, Vice Regional Governor, and the Regional Legislative Assembly until the end of their term on June 30, 2019.

The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) along with the current ARMM government will serve as care takers of the Bangsamoro government immediately after the ratification of the BOL and until the BTA is established to ensure an uninterrupted service delivery.

According to Iqbal, the MILF already started a long list of possible members of the BTA which will be trimmed down into a shorter list for submission to the President in preparation for the BTA, hopefully after the ratification of the BOL or even before.

“The BTA will create offices and organize bureaucracy during the transition period,” Iqbal said. “Offices and institutions of the ARMM shall be subjected to a phase-out plan”, Iqbal added. A human resource audit will also be conducted by the BTA to ARMM employees that will be absorbed in the Bangsamoro.

Affected employees which will opt to retire or be separated will receive a special package depending on the number of their years in service. For employees serving more than 1 year to less than 5 years, they will receive 100% of their monthly salary per year of service. Employees with 5 years up to less than 10 years of service will receive 150% of their monthly salary for every year in service and those that served for 10 years or more will be compensated with 200% of their monthly salary for every year in service.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1458/bangsamoro-government--a-change-for-the-better-----iqbal

MILF: GPH-MILF JNCs Coordinate with AFP, PNP Headquarters in Mindanao in Preparation for the Normalization Track

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Aug 19): GPH-MILF JNCs Coordinate with AFP, PNP Headquarters in Mindanao in Preparation for the Normalization Track



Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao-- The Joint Normalization Committee (JNC) of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has started coordinating with key military and police headquarters in Mindanao to prepare the parties in embarking on the normalization track of the peace agreement.
The normalization tract includes the decommissioning of MILF fighters and the setting up of a composite security team to support peace and security work during the transition period before the formal establishment of the government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2022 following the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and signing by President Rodrigo Duterte on July 27, 2018.

The first itinerary was the Zamboanga Peninsula Region led Dickson P. Hermoso, Assistant Secretary for Peace and Security Affairs of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and co-chair of the JNC. He was accompanied by his MILF counterpart, JNC Co-Chair Architect Edward Guerra.

They were welcomed by Zamboanga Peninsula Police Regional Director C/Supt Billy Beltran and Western Command Deputy Comdr. B/Gen Cirilo Thomas Donato, Jr.

They discussed with military and police officers concerned on the “areas of partnership and implementation on the normalization program” with the security forces.

A report by the OPAPP on August 16 said that among the members of the group were GPH Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC) Co-chair and chief of PNP Peace Process and Development Center, Police Chief Superintendent Gerardo Rosales; JPSC member and chief of AFP Peace Process Office, Colonel Cesar De Mesa; MILF JPSC Co-chair Von Al Haq, MILF Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) OIC-Chair Almendras Rinabor, MILF Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) OIC Anwar Alamada, and MILF JNC Secretariat Head Toks Ebrahim.

Earlier the team visited major military and police camps in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Central Mindanao, and Camp Darapanan, the Administrative and Military Headquarters of the Moro Front.

The Annex on Normalization is part of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro ((FAB), and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by the GPH-MILF Peace Panels in 2012, and 2014, respectively.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1460/gph_milf_jncs_coordinate_with_afp__pnp_headquarters_in_mindanao_in_preparation_for_the_normalization_track

MILF: MILF welcomes 6ID commander to its camp

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Aug 22): MILF welcomes 6ID commander to its camp



MILF Chairman Alhaj Murad Ebrahim gladly received 6th Infantry Division Commander Brigadier Gen Cirilito Sobejana who was in Camp Darapanan on Sunday (August 19) for a courtesy visit the latter described as “milestone” in their military careers.

With almost all the brigade commanders and senior military officers of the otherwise known Kampilan Division, BGen Sobejana told Chairman Ebrahim and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) General Staff that they come to reaffirm their commitment and support for the peace process between the Government of the Philippines and MILF.

BGen Sobejana, said to be waiting for his next “star”, stated that he brought the “full force” of 6th ID to express their support for the MILF in attaining meaningful peace and progress for the Bangsamoro.

“This historic visit is a great pleasure to the Kampilan family for us to be able to listen to your future programs and development, because as far as you know I have been in this long journey after I graduated from the Academy. I have experienced fighting with different groups ….. but then there is a saying that difficult roads lead to beautiful destination,” Sobejana said.

“We might have been struggling those difficult roads before but we are looking forward to what the MILF Chairman referred to as “light at the end of the tunnel”, he further added.

On their part, Chairman Ebrahim said that having one of the highest military figures in the region being present in their camp has significant positive manifestations as far as the peace effort between the Moro front and the AFP is concerned.

He made known that “the MILF and the AFP will soon be partners in building our communities and attending to the welfare of our people… This partnership will last until we achieve peace and prosperity in the Bangsamoro region in general.”

BIAF Chief of Staff Sammy Al-Mansoor described the visit as “a product of our peace efforts, for peace can produce many things, like trust and friendship”.

“Your visit is a clear indication that the relationship of between AFP and MILF is now in the state of harmony,” Al-Mansoor stated.

He also stressed that they “would like to believe that we have a common interest on the future progress of the people, but we were not able to talk in a negotiating table before. Knowing now that in a war we cannot get enough, but in talking we can get more than what we expect,” he added.

Among those who accompanied BGen Sobejana were BGen Juvimax Uy (ADC), 601BDE Commander BGen Diosdado Carreon, 602 BDE Commander Col. Alfredo Rosario, Col. Wilbur Mamawag (DBC 603BDE), Col. Robert Dauz (1st Mechanized BDE), and Col. Eugenio Hernadez (1st Marine BDE).

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1462/milf_welcomes_6id_commander_to_its_camp

MILF: Editorial - Appeal to political leaders

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Aug 17): Editorial - Appeal to political leaders

The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) should not be viewed as a political issue. For us, it is beyond politics. While in short term, it negates any immediate ambition vis-à-vis current regional political landscape, but in long term, the opportunity to become leader of a wider region and bigger population is in the pipeline. Not only these, the government enshrined in BOL has more power and resources at its disposal. These factors can make good leaders, whom we can be proud of.

It is on these premises that we anchor our appeal to our leaders to consider the following: The higher interest of people must be pursued at all times, and between common good and individual good, the former must be prized. The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is good for the greatest majority of the Bangsamoro and other inhabitants of the region. It is not a perfect law but if nurtured, cared, and is allowed to grow, it will put our region at par with others or even surpasses them. Progress and development surely will not happen in a flash, because nations emerged great for decades or even centuries.

Of particular notice in the law is the parliamentary system, which reminisces the tradition of our people during the heyday of the sultanates, jibes with the current practice of the MILF and MNLF through the committee system or group leadership, and showcases what Islam prescribes: “The affairs of the community is by consultation.” A study shows that more developed states are found among federal states rather than from unitary states.

The change, immensely a good one, courtesy of BOL, is incomparable. What then is better for all? The answer has already been prescribed above – and we earnestly say: Comes plebiscite day either in December or January next year, we appeal to our leaders especially local government executives to support the ratification of the BOL.

The BOL is President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s prime project and he is committed to deliver it in full, not just by signing it on July 27. Like what he did during the deliberation of BOL in Congress, we expect him to put his weight for the ratification of the law. He should be supported in this regard; he is the president!

We call our political leaders to join together and help one another to push for the ratification of the BOL. Be statesmen and set aside any stigma of politics in this regard. As usual, always stay truthful in serving the people.

Moreover, BOL is a menu of peace in Mindanao. Its ratification gives way to the decommissioning of 30 percent of MILF weapons and combatants. In addition, massive rehabilitation and development interventions are underway for Bangsamoro. On the other hand, its rejection means there is no law at all and the status quo remains. Do we want ourselves to be at the mercy of uncertainty? The choice is ours!

Lasting peace is in our doorstep. This peace will be sealed if the BOL is ratified.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1459/appeal-to-political-leaders

DWDD: COURTESY CALL | Com, 6ID attends Cotabato POC Meeting

From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Aug 20): COURTESY CALL  |  Com, 6ID attends Cotabato POC Meeting

CAMP GONZALO SIONGCO, Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Magundanao (DWDD) – 6th Infantry Division Commander Brigadier General Cirilito E. Sobejana with his Brigade Commanders attended the Cotabato City’s Peace and Order Council Meeting held at Southseas Mall Complex, Cotabato City presided over by Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi on August 14, 2018.





The agenda are the following: Updates on the city’s peace and order situation, campaign against illegal drugs and current situation. 6DPAO / MCAG

http://dwdd.com.ph/2018/08/16/courtesy-call-com-6id-attends-cotabato-poc-meeting/

DWDD: PROUDLY AFP | 2018 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos – Top Soldiers

From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Aug 20): PROUDLY AFP  |  2018 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos – Top Soldiers

 

CAMP GEN EMILIO AGUINALDO, Quezon City (DWDD) – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) presented this morning, August 20, 2018, during the Regular Monday Flag-Raising Ceremony, the three (3) soldier-recipient of this year’s Metrobank FoundationTen Outstanding Filipinos.

The awardees are Major Francis Señoron PA, Assistant Division Chief, Logistics Management Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, OJ4, Armed Forces of the Philippines (Camp Gen Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City); Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Facundo PN(M), Director, Mobile Training and Exercise Unit, Marine Corps Force Development Center (Philippine Marine Corps, Taguig City), and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Ryan R. Seguin PA, Squadron Commander, 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 5th Fighter Wing, Basa Air Base Philippine Air Force (Floridablanca, Pampanga).

 

Each awardee will receive a cash prize of PhP 1 million each (net of tax), a gold medallion, and a trophy during the formal conferment ceremonies on September 7, 2018 at the Metrobank Plaza, Makati City as part of Metrobank’s 56th anniversary celebration. AES / Photos – Video by Lovely Guillermo / MCAG

http://dwdd.com.ph/2018/08/20/proudly-afp-2018-metrobank-foundation-outstanding-filipinos-top-soldiers/