CPP/CIO: Duterte promised peace, but delivered war

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 25, 2021): Duterte promised peace, but delivered war

MARCO VALBUENA

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES

JULY 25, 2021

In his first state of the nation address, then newly-elected president Rodrigo Duterte promised the country peace, and emphatically added, “not the peace of the dead, but the peace of the living.” It was an epic lie.

Not a year into his term, he delivered all-out war from Luzon to Mindanao, against the poor, against the Moro people and against the oppressed and exploited Filipino masses.

Duterte wasted months of peace negotiations with the NDFP by refusing to sign the prepared draft agreement on land reform and national industrialization. Instead, he pandered to the military and his US imperialist master by pledging “to crush” the revolutionary movement and declaring the CPP and NPA as “terrorist organizations.”

Duterte’s peace rhetoric faded fast. Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao as dress rehearsal to nationwide imposition of fascist rule. Indeed, soon after, he issued Memorandum Order 32 which place Bicol, Negros and Samar under emergency rule and ordered large military deployments.

He issued Executive Order #70 which established the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to declare “counterinsurgency” as his central policy to give the military full control over the entire government.

Duterte displayed insatiable thirst for blood and mass murder and ordered his men to “kill, kill, kill.” Duterte’s reign of terror is marked by widespread military and police abuses and violations of human rights of unarmed civilians.

Under Duterte, the AFP and PNP have resorted to the dirtiest methods in their desperate attempt to stop the people from supporting the NPA. The main tactic is to attack civilians and make them bow to Duterte’s power. He has resorted to the use of aerial bombs and artillery shelling to effect maximum fear.

Duterte’s declaration to crush the CPP/NPA through all-out war is a massive failure. In fact, Duterte has become the NPA’s No. 1 recruiter by showing the oppressed and exploited masses that there is no better way to fight back and defend their rights other than taking up arms and joining the armed resistance.

The demand for an end to Duterte’s reign of state terror and tyranny reverberates across the country. The people want him removed from power as soon as possible and take back their democratic rights. Duterte is a malignant outgrowth of the rotten semicolonial and semifeudal system who should be excised immediately.

https://cpp.ph/statements/duterte-promised-peace-but-delivered-war/