4 Dawlah Islamiya members killed in Maguindanao shootout with police

From the Philippine Star (Jul 2, 2020): 4 Dawlah Islamiya members killed in Maguindanao shootout with police (By John Unson)

A police team killed Wednesday in a brief shootout in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao four Dawlah Islamiya members out on a bombing mission.

Personnel of the Maguindanao provincial police were forced to neutralize the four bandits riding together a Suzuki pick-up type multicab when they refused to have their vehicle inspected for firearms and explosives while in Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

The fatalities, Rahib Lumenda Esmail, Prati Kuludan, Arsad Ukom Utto and Alifmer Talimbu, belonged to a Dawlah Islamiya faction led by Imam Karialan, who is wanted for deadly bombings in central Mindanao in the past five years.

They died from multiple bullet wounds sustained in a shootout with policemen led by Major Erwin Tabora of the Maguindanao provincial police office.

In an initial statement Thursday, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao said the gunfight erupted when the four men resisted and pulled out guns from underneath the seats of their Suzuki multicab bearing license plates MAK 9062.

The police team that blocked their route, in a supposedly peaceful operation that turned awry, found in the vehicle firearms and materials for improvised explosive devices.

Key Army and police intelligence sources told reporters Thursday the slain Dawlah Islamiya men were to proceed somewhere south of central Mindanao for a bombing mission.

The Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that uses the flag of the Islamic State as banner, has a reputation for bombing business establishments that refuse to shell out “protection money” and public places to avenge deaths of members in encounters with pursuing military Units.

Mayor Marop Ampatuan, chairperson of the Shariff Aguak municipal peace and order council, said Thursday the incident in Barangay Timbangan was isolated.

He said the incident was a consequence of a police law-enforcement activity.

Ampatuan said Shariff Aguak has no known enclave of the Dawlah Islamiya but is near bastions of the group in lowlands in nearby towns

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2020/07/02/2025176/4-dawlah-islamiya-members-killed-maguindanao-shootout-police

Militiaman dead, 2 hurt in Maguindanao grenade attacks

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 3, 2020): Militiaman dead, 2 hurt in Maguindanao grenade attacks (By Edwin Fernandez and Noel Punzalan)



Google map of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Suspected Moro rebels harassed a quarantine detachment and a passenger bus that left a militiaman dead and two others hurt on Thursday, authorities here said.

A member of the Civilian Armed Geographical Unit (CAFGU) was killed while another was injured when two suspects lobbed a hand grenade at a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) quarantine checkpoint in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao at 7 p.m., said Lt. Col. Anhouvic Atilano, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesperson.

Two men riding tandem on a motorbike were seen speeding past the detachment when the back-rider tossed a hand grenade toward a police-Army quarantine checkpoint in Barangay Mother Labu-Labu, killing CAFGU member Aladin Alon.

Another CAFGU member, Joey Moambing, was slightly injured in the attack.

Atilano said the incident was the second attack on law enforcers manning Covid-19 quarantine outposts in Maguindanao.

“We condemn this attack against our front-liners,” Atilano said in an interview Friday. “We will work for the attainment of justice to our slain comrades.”

On May 19, Pfc. Jerome Tahad of the 33rd Infantry Battalion was also killed at a quarantine checkpoint attack in Barangay Zapakan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, an explosion hit a passenger bus plying the General Santos City – Cotabato City route while passing through Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.

A report said one of the passengers, Sgt. Jester Cagatan, was injured in his arm and leg when a rifle grenade hit the bus around 3 p.m. while it was traversing the highway in Barangay Iginagampong.

The bus driver, whose identity was withheld by police, told investigators that he heard an explosion while traversing the road but decided to proceed up to the next town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan to report to the police station.

Military officials blamed the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters for the series of attacks believed to be in retaliation to the series of offensives by government forces recently that left at least six bandits killed in the adjoining towns of Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano and Rajah Buayan in Maguindanao.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1107845

Troops Kill 4 Suspected IS-linked Militants in Southern Philippines

From BenarNews (Jul 2, 2020): Troops Kill 4 Suspected IS-linked Militants in Southern Philippines (By Jeoffrey Maitem)

Moro Islamic Liberation Front members wear facemasks while manning a checkpoint in Lanao del Norte province, Philippines, May 21, 2020.  Richel V. Umel/BenarNews

Philippine security forces killed four suspected pro-Islamic State militants during a clash in the southern province of Maguindanao, an army spokesman said Thursday.

The suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) group were riding in a pickup truck on Wednesday when they ignored a military checkpoint on a highway near the town of Shariff Aguak, prompting a chase, spokesman Lt. Col. Anhouvic Atilano.

“The BIFF fighters identified as Rahib Lumenda Esmail, Arsad Ukom Utto, Prati Kuludan, and Aliofmer Talimbu were wounded in the clash that followed. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, but were later declared dead,” he told BenarNews.

He said the troops had received a tip about possible militants in the region.

“Our troops were informed by our counterparts about the suspicious group of men,” Atilano said, adding that a rifle, grenade launcher and ammunition were recovered from the truck.

The BIFF is a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a former armed separatist group that signed a peace deal with the government in exchange for control of an expanded autonomous region on Mindanao Island. MILF leaders are part of a transitional government in the south and many of its fighters have given up their weapons to join the military.

The BIFF, meanwhile, is one of several groups in the southern Philippines that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS).

BIFF guerrillas, however, did not join other pro-IS militants in taking over the southern city of Marawi for five months in 2017. The siege and an ensuing battle with government forces killed an estimated 1,200 enemy combatants, soldiers and civilians, including Isnilon Hapilon, the IS leader in the Philippines.

Wednesday’s shootout in Maguindanao occurred as President Rodrigo Duterte was expected to sign a strengthened anti-terror bill, which, critics warned, could lead to abuses of human rights. The bill, passed by the parliament, needs Duterte’s signature to become law.

While the military has said the bill has enough safeguards to protect Filipinos from arbitrary arrests and mistaken identities, it imposes stiff penalties and imprisonment against anyone found to be working with local and foreign terrorist organizations. It also authorizes officials to carry out warrantless arrests and hold suspects for up to two weeks.

The latest clash follows an incident on June 26 when government security forces killed four suspected militants linked to the Abu Sayyaf Group during a pre-dawn raid in Metro Manila.

https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/militants-killed-07022020125530.html

Another Army team misses Abu targets after agents’ killing

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jul 3, 2020): Another Army team misses Abu targets after agents’ killing (By: Jeannette I. Andrade, Julie S. Alipala)

They thought intel men were killed by terrorists



SOLDIERS NOT POLICE Army soldiers in uniform and plainclothes are seen in this screen capture of a closed-circuit television footage of the aftermath of the killing of four intelligence agents in Jolo, Sulu, by a group of policemen on Monday. Col. Ramon Zagala, the Army spokesperson, said the soldiers rushed to the site where they found no police officers.

An Army unit awaiting a signal to swoop down on an Abu Sayyaf bomb maker and two suspected female bombers instead received word that four of their comrades had been gunned down in Jolo, Sulu, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.

The team rushed to where the four Army intelligence operatives had been shot near the Jolo police headquarters on Monday afternoon, minutes after they were informed that the group’s leader, Maj. Marvin Indammog, had been killed, Army spokesperson Col. Ramon Zagala told the Inquirer.

Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco and Cpl. Abdal Asula were also killed by a group of policemen who then fled the scene in what was called a “misencounter” by the Philippine National Police which it later called a “shooting incident.”

“They thought it was the Abu Sayaff [who killed the victims] because there was no policeman when they got there,” Zagala said.

A closed-circuit television footage that spread on social media showed members of the Army unit looking at three of the slain soldiers sprawled on the ground outside their sports utility vehicle (SUV), which was near the Jolo police station. Some people had mistaken them for plainclothes police.

“These soldiers were prepared to go after Sawadjaan once Major Indammog tracked down his location,” Zagala said. He was referring to Mundi Sawadjaan, a bomb expert and a target of Indammog’s group.

“We don’t know how close they got to pinpointing Sawadjaan and his cohorts’ location because they were already shot to death and all focus turned to the incident,” Zagala said.

Indammog’s group was returning to Jolo from Patikul when they were stopped at a checkpoint and told to proceed to the Jolo police station despite identifying themselves as Army soldiers.

Near the station, Indammog got out of the SUV for still unknown reasons. Moments later he was shot. The police shot the three others, too, and abandoned the area. A police report said the soldiers had drawn their weapons but were beaten to the trigger by the policemen.

The Army had rejected the police account, saying the intelligence operatives were unarmed.

Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said Indammog’s team was about to conduct a raid on the suspected bombers somewhere in Jolo that Monday afternoon.

“They came from Barangay Mauboh, in Patikul town, on their way to Jolo for this mission. It has been their packet mission for three weeks,” Vinluan said.

Alleged IS leader in PHHe said they were set to capture Sawadjaan and two newly trained female suicide bombers when their plan was stalled after they were stopped at the checkpoint in Barangay Busbus.

“When they were ordered to report to Jolo Municipal Police Station, everything was no longer going according to Indammog’s plan, until they were fired upon by the cops,” Vinluan said.

Sawadjaan, who is in his early 30s, is a nephew of Abu Sayyaf subleader Hatid Hajan Sawadjaan, the alleged leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in the Philippines.

The military said Mundi Sawadjaan was behind a series of deadly blasts in Sulu in 2019. These include the Jan. 27 twin bombings at the Jolo Cathedral, which left more than 20 dead and over 100 wounded; a suicide bombing that killed eight people at an Army camp in Indanan, Sulu, on June 28, in which he fitted explosive vests on the two Egyptian bombers; and a checkpoint bombing also in Indanan on Sept. 8, which killed three people, including the foreign female suicide bomber.

Zagala said that as shown in the video, there were no police officers at the scene.
‘Lapses’

“They were all soldiers. The first thing they did is to verify the identities of the victims and check if there’s anyone alive then secure the equipment,” he said.

What was a planned “takedown” of Sawadjaan “evolved into [a] rescue, but unfortunately it was only recovery by that time.”

Zagala admitted and apologized for some “lapses” committed by the soldiers when they touched the SUV and the bodies of their comrades.

One of the soldiers was a brother of Asula. “He wanted to secure his brother, his belongings. He knew that his brother was the driver of the SUV,” Zagala said.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, a former head of military intelligence and chief of staff, said “my heart bleeds for our soldiers who were slain because I know these people personally.”

But he assured the public of a fair investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“We will exact justice and we will make sure that those responsible shall be accountable,” Año said in a televised press briefing on Thursday.

Shot 8 times
He belied former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim that the killing of the four soldiers was a result of “tolerating the EJKs (extrajudicial killings) the past four years.”

“EJK is not a policy of this government,” Año said.

Ferdinand Lavin, the NBI spokesperson and deputy director for forensic investigation, said one of the four soldiers, whom he did not identify, was shot eight times. Two others each had three gunshot wounds. No autopsy was done on the fourth soldier, Asula, who was immediately buried following Islamic tradition.

Medical examiners recovered fragments from a 5.56mm bullet, indicating that rifles had been used against the soldiers.

After the forensic examination, getting witnesses’ statements and reviewing video footage, the investigators will summon the police involved in the shooting, Lavin said.

Vice President Leni Robredo visited the wakes for Indammog, Managuelod and Velasco, expressing her grief over the death of the intelligence operatives and sympathy for their families.

“All of them are young men who died in the service of the country,” she said on her Facebook account. “They had such promising futures ahead of them.”At the Senate, Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution to open an investigation of the shooting.

She noted that the NBI had been tasked to probe the killings, but she said new measures may need to be instituted to reform the PNP.

“Our police should not be so trigger-happy,” Hontiveros said. She said the killing of the soldiers “further feeds the public’s distrust toward the PNP.”

“Extensive reform has to be done to restore the public’s trust in our institutions,” Hontiveros added. —WITH REPORTS FROM NESTOR CORRALES, LEILA B. SALAVERRIA AND NIKKA G. VALENZUELA

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1301095/another-army-team-misses-abu-targets-after-agents-killing

Former AFP chief posts footage of Sulu crime scene, slams PNP 'violations'

From Rappler (Jul 2, 2020): Former AFP chief posts footage of Sulu crime scene, slams PNP 'violations' (JC Gotinga)

(3rd UPDATE) Now head of the National Irrigation Administration, retired general Ricardo Visaya tells Camp Crame to 'stop covering up [for] their abusive men'

BLOOD IN JOLO. Police loiter in the crime scene where cops gunned down 4 soldiers in Jolo, Sulu, on June 29, 2020. Screenshot of CCTV footage from Ricardo Visaya's Facebook

(3rd UPDATE) – Former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Ricardo Visaya on Wednesday, July 1, criticized the police’s handling of the crime scene where cops gunned down 4 soldiers in Jolo, Sulu – saying they committed “many violations.”

Visaya on Wednesday afternoon posted on his Facebook page what appears to be CCTV footage of the aftermath of the incident on Monday, June 29.

The video, reposted above, showed what looked like police investigators loitering in the crime scene, touching the bodies of the victims, opening the door to the driver’s seat of the soldiers' SUV, and appearing to reach for something inside.

“See how the local PNP (Philippine National Police) in the area handled the situation. Many violations were committed at the crime scene,” Visaya said in the caption he wrote for the video.

Police are supposed to immediately cordon off a crime scene to preserve it as closely as possible to the moment the crime happened. Any change to the scene might tamper with evidence.

“How could you serve and protect the people if you have policemen like them? Discipline eroded!” Visaya said.

The former military chief then criticized the PNP leadership, referring to its headquarters, Camp Crame in Quezon City. “There have been ‘habitual violent incidents’ perpetrated by unscrupulous policemen. PNP at Camp Crame should stop covering up [for] their abusive men,” he said.

“If you cannot instill discipline in your organization, it’s time for you to go! Have delicadeza (sense of propriety),” Visaya added.

Other Stories

NBI: 1 Army soldier in Jolo deaths suffered 8 gunshot wounds

The other 2 suffered 3 gunshot wounds. The 4th soldier, a Muslim, was not autopsied as he had to be buried right away.

WATCH: The killing of 4 soldiers in Sulu – what happened before and after

EXCLUSIVE: CCTV clips obtained by Rappler show Army soldiers taking over the crime scene after their intelligence agents died – while policemen stood by

On Thursday, July 2, however, the Philippine Army clarified that the men in the CCTV footage Visaya shared were not policemen but soldiers. Having been on standby as part of the same operation as the 4 victims, more than a dozen Army troopers rushed to the crime scene after hearing the gun shots, to check on their dead comrades.

Army spokesperson Colonel Ramon Zagala admitted lapses in the way the soldiers handled the crime scene. An Army operative whose brother was one of the victims handled the dead man’s body, and appeared to take objects from its pants pocket and from inside the vehicle.

The PNP on Wednesday sacked the chief of police of Jolo.

An Army general, Visaya was President Rodrigo Duterte’s first military chief, from July 1 to December 7, 2016. He is currently chief of the National Irrigation Administration.

What happened?

On Monday afternoon, July 29, 9 policemen accosted 4 soldiers of the Army’s intelligence unit on a roving mission in Jolo to track down suspected Abu Sayyaf bombers. At a checkpoint in Barangay Bus-Bus, the cops asked the plainclothes soldiers to join them going to the Jolo municipal police station to verify their identities, according to a military report.

When the soldiers drove some 50 meters past the police station, they stopped and one of them, Major Marvin Indammog, alighted to talk to the police tailing them. Then the cops shot him and his men, the military report said.

Besides Indammog, also killed were Captain Irwin Managuelod, Sergeant Jaime Velasco, and Corporal Abdal Asula.

The police report of the incident referred to the soldiers as “unidentified armed male persons.” It claimed the soldiers tried to drive away after passing the police station, and pointed guns at the cops when they were cornered.

The police claimed they fired in self-defense, which resulted in a gunbattle that killed the soldiers.

On Tuesday, June 30, Army chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay disputed the police’s claim, saying the incident was not a “misencounter” but a “rubout” and “murder.” He cited CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts, including from other incognito Army personnel.

The AFP backed Gapay’s assertion but said it would defer to the probe by the National Bureau of Investigation.

Gapay pointed out the police’s mishandling of the crime scene, saying it should have been cordoned off right away. Instead, the police who shot the soldiers ran off.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/265419-former-afp-chief-posts-footage-sulu-crime-scene-slams-pnp

NDF/Sison: On Fil-Am Friendship Day: USA as a fake friend

Jose Maria Sison propaganda interview posted to the National Democratic Front Philippines (NDFP) Website (Jul 1, 2020): On Fil-Am Friendship Day: USA as a fake friend



Prof. Jose Maria Sison answers questions from host Anghelo Godino
Tsikahan with Tito Jo, July 1, 2020

1. Could you elaborate more in detail to the younger generation why there are two (important) dates 6/12 and 7/4 to remember? What is the difference between the two of them?

JMS: June 12, 1898 was the date when Aguinaldo proclaimed the national independence of the Philippines and signaled the uprisings that toppled Spanish colonialism on a national scale. But there was an expression in the proclamation that depreciated its value. It described Philippine independence as being “under the protection of the mighty and noble USA”, manifesting the willingness of Aguinaldo to make the Philippines a protectorate. So many of our people prefer August 23, 1896 as the day of independence for the old democratic revolution when Andres Bonifacio declared national independence and started the armed revolution against the Spanish colonial regime.

July 4, 1946 was the date when Manuel Roxas declared national independence and inaugurated the Republic of the Philippines. But this independence was fake or grossly incomplete, preconditioned by the US-RP Treaty of General Relations which made the Philippines a semicolony of the US and the “republic” a puppet one no different from the fake independence bestowed by Japan to the Philippine during the Japanese Occupation. The treaty retained the US military bases, the property rights of US corporations and citizens and US control of Philippine trade and diplomatic relations.

The full independence of the Philippines in the new democratic revolution is still to be decided by the revolutionary party of the proletariat. It could be the date when the current armed revolution started or when the Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government or best of all when the armed revolution will achieve nationwide victory with the overthrow of the counterrevolutionary state of the big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists in the cities.

By the way, the Kabataang Makabayan used to make ceremonial declarations of independence on the birthday of Andres Bonifacio from 1964 onward.

2. Why are we still celebrating on July 4 and calling it Philippine-American Friendship Day?

JMS: It is actually the counterrevolutionary semicolonial state that is celebrating July 4 as Philippine-American Friendship Day. It was worse when the same semicolonial state and puppet republic celebrated July 4 as the Philippine day of independence. The celebration of July 4 as Philippine-American Friendship Day signifies the continuing subservience of the semicolonial state to US imperialism.

3. Why don’t we celebrate the Philippine-American Friendship Day publicly?

JMS: The Filipino people and the revolutionary forces do not celebrate Philippine-American Friendship Day in the same servile spirit and fashion that the Philippine semicolonial state does. But there is no problem for Filipinos and Filipino organizations to convey greetings of solidarity to their American counterparts who value the day as their independence day.
4. Why do NDs say that the Philippines is still not free from the US?

JMS: As I have earlier pointed out, US continues to dominate the Philippines as a semicolony. It has done so since the preconditioning of the grant of national independence with the US-RP Treaty of General Relations. It has encumbered the Philippines with more treaties, agreements and arrangements that subordinate the Philippines as a semicolony or neocolony to US imperialism economically, politically, militarily and culturally.

4. They say the analysis of ND activists about the imperialist countries are already outdated. There is no imperialism any more but rather a multi-polar world, is it true? Is it also true that US is no longer a super power?

JMS: It is not true that imperialism has gone out of existence and that the US is no longer an imperialist superpower. Imperialism or monopoly capitalism exists in the US and several other industrial capitalist countries.

The use of such terms as unipolar, bipolar and multipolar world is anchored on the existence of imperialism. For instance, when there was the Cold War between the two superpowers, US imperialism and Soviet social imperialism, the world was described as bipolar by political analysts. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the US was referred to as the sole super power in a unipolar world.

Since the financial crash of 2008, the term multipolar world has become more than ever frequently used, with the US manifesting a more pronounced strategic decline because of its worsening economic crisis and the heavy costs of its overseas military bases and endless wars of aggression and at the same time with China and Russia rising as new imperialist powers and forming blocs of countries independent of the US, such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Despite its accelerated strategic decline, the US is still an imperialist superpower and maintains hightech military superiority over other imperialist powers. Since 2018 US imperialism has become more wary of Chinese imperialism and accuses China of unfair economic, financial and trade practices and stealing technology from the US and becoming an economic and military rival of the US. The inter-imperialist contradictions between the US and China are sharpening. Thus, certain political analysts say that a new Cold War has arisen and that there is a return to the bipolar world.

5. Tito, Duterte had PHP 275B to supposedly provide financial assistance to the marginalized and unemployed due to COVID-19, but through out his press conferences he keeps on saying that he doesn’t have money any more. The Philippines now has 7-8T international debt, where is Duterte using all his money? How is the Philippines gonna pay for this?

JMS: Duterte has used the Covid-19 pandemic to escalate the repressive measures and human rights violations against the Filipino people, butcher people in the guerrilla fronts of the revolutionary movement, deprive the people of livelihood, medical care, food assistance and forms of relief and steal hundreds of billions of pesos or trillions from the public treasury, private company donations and loans and grants from abroad by faking receipts of purchases of medical supplies and overpricing them.

Duterte has bankrupted the Philippine economy and his own government. The bankruptcy is so deepgoing that there is no way the Philippine government can pay back the mountains of foreign debt. He cannot pay for the loans by taking more foreign loans indefinitely because the world capitalist system is now in a severe crisis far worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. The IMF, the World Bank and the OECD have already issued estimates that the global GDP will dive by as much 4.9 per cent to 6 per cent. The impact will be worst on the underdeveloped and debt-laden countries like the Philippines. 

6. There are videos circulating in the internet that the Philippines is surrounded by US and Chinese warships, is there a truth in it? How dangerous is it for the country?

JMS: It is true that the US and China are making shows of strength in the South China Sea. China has made the provocations by intensifying its activities to assert its false claims, fortify its positions and further encroach on the sovereign and maritime rights of the Southeast countries under international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Thus, the Southeast Asian governments, with the exception of the Duterte regime, have protested and the US has demonstrated support for them and asserted freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The US and China are calculating and calibrating their moves, which are essentially demonstrations of naval and air power in the Asia-Pacific region. The US hightech military might is far superior to that China but the US will not attack China because this has enough nuclear power to destroy the US and the US wants to mobilize first the anger of the Southeast Asian countries against its imperialist rival. China is also afraid to attack the US naval fleet in the South China Sea and the Pacific because it will surely be destroyed by US military power and is in fact trying hard to counter the impact of its deteriorating relations with the US.

7. Should Duterte or the Philippines – for this matter, start siding with China instead of US to defeat US?

JMS: It is wrong and traitorous for Duterte to allow Chinese imperialism to build and militarize artificial islands in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea, take control over the rich marine and mineral resources in the West Philippine Sea and take over the Scarborough or Pagan Shoal.

The Filipino people’s struggle for full national independence is chiefly directed against US imperialism but it does not allow Chinese imperialism to violate the sovereign rights of the Filipino people. Fighting Spanish colonialism was never a license for surrendering the country to US imperialism. The revolutionary movement must be consistent in fighting imperialism, whether it is that of the US or China.

8. There is certainly going to be a war in the West Philippine Sea and Duterte is the first to blame, he is not just compromising the safety of the Filipino people but also the neighboring ASEAN countries. How will this affect the already stale relationship of Duterte with the international community? Is it too late to stop this war? What should we do to stop this?

JMS: As I have already explained, there is no certainty of war breaking out in the South China Sea between the US and China at least within the next few years. You cannot blame Duterte for a war that has not yet burst out. We can hold Duterte accountable for allowing and encouraging China to take over the West Philippine Sea in violation of Philippine sovereign rights, the UNCLOS and the 2016 judgment of the Permanent Arbitration Court in favor of the Philippines against China and also for failing to unite with the other ASEAN countries in opposing China’s illegal claim over 90 percent of the South China Sea.

You can hold Duterte accountable for being a traitor and a complete moron. He has failed to bring charges against China before the UN and appropriate courts for violating the sovereign rights of the Philippines, illegally occupying the artificial islands in the West Philippines and damaging the marine environment; and demand payment for rent and damages to the environment in the same manner as the US was required to pay for damages when its boat damaged a part of the Tubbataha Reef. The Philippines can actually sue China in the US and other countries where it has assets to pay for obligations and damages.

But the worst stupidity of Duterte is to allow China to prevent the Philippines from exploring and exploiting the oil, gas and other mineral resources in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea. These resources are worth several tens of trillions of USD (the estimated value of the oil and gas resources is at least USD 26 trillion and that of the marine resources is at least USD 1.5 trillion) which could save the Philippines from underdevelopment and the humiliation of being the eternal beggar of foreign loans from the imperialist powers.

9. It might be hard to believe that Duterte is treading on dangerous waters because of the ongoing tension and the provocation between US and China, thus, can you explain why Duterte is doing this? Why is he putting the lives of the millions of Filipino people in danger?

JMS: Duterte is criminally responsible for allowing and encouraging China to assert its false claim of owning more than 90 per cent of the South China Sea and to take over the West Philippine Sea as its own sovereign property. Because of this, he is also responsible for aiding and abetting the Chinese acts of aggression against the Philippines and other ASEAN countries and for creating a situation in which the US comes into play as defender of the right to free navigation and supporter of the sovereign rights of the ASEAN countries against the Chinese acts of aggression.

10. How is this commotion, affecting the livelihood of the fisher folks in these areas? We’ve seen that in the past and even up to today, in the thick of the pandemic, the fisher folks are being bullied by the Chinese fishing vessels, prohibited to make a living inside our territories. In the thick of the pandemic, the fisher folks are facing demolition and reclamation. How is this new international situation going to affect them?

JMS: I agree with you that in the past and even until today, in the thick of the pandemic, the Filipino fisher folks are being rammed and bullied by the Chinese fishing vessels and prohibited to make a living inside the West Philippine Sea. The fisher folks are facing demolition and reclamation projects in the interest of the Chinese criminal triads engaged in operating casinos and in drug smuggling.

I do not mind if the US uses its naval fleet to stop China from committing acts of aggression in the West Philippine Sea and occupying the artificial islands. The US should also stop continuing to support Duterte just because he made a promise to Trump in 2017 that he would terminate the peace negotiations with the NDFP and destroy the armed revolution through sheer military force.

Duterte cannot stay a day longer in power if the US assets within the reactionary armed forces agree to withdraw military support from him. It is still a puzzle why the pro-US generals in the AFP and PNP continue to support Duterte despite China taking control over the national power grid and telecommunications and putting cell towers in military camps in contradiction with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which allows the US to have its own bases within the AFP military camps.

11. On July 12, 2016, Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines, so what is China still doing in our sovereign waters? Why did Duterte allow the invasion of the Philippines by China? What should the PCA or the international community do?

JMS: I have already pointed out that Duterte is a traitor and complete moron for failing to uphold the 2016 judgment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines against China. Instead, he has condoned and emboldened China to occupy, build and militarize the artificial islands and control the waters that belong to the Philippines. The Philippine can charge China for the violation of Philippine sovereign rights and demand compensation for illegal occupation and damage to the marine environment before the appropriate courts, especially in countries where China has assets that can pay for obligations and damages.

12. Any message to the youth in Europe and in the Philippines?

JMS: I call on the Anakbayan and the entire Filipino youth in Europe and in the Philippines to intensify their common efforts to fight and oust the Duterte regime of butchers and crooks. They must carry out the oust-Duterte movement with the framework of the Filipino people revolutionary struggle for national and social liberation.

Of course, Anakbayan and the Filipino youth in the Philippines have the magnitude and the most potential for intensifying all forms of revolutionary struggle not only for changing the reactionary ruling clique but also for making significant advances in the new democratic revolution against the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system. They contribute to the advance of the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the youth and people of the world and need international solidarity and support.

Anakbayan and the Filipino youth in Europe and elsewhere abroad have the special role and duty of speaking freely and availing of the hightech means of immediate communication to support and coordinate with the Anakbayan and the Filipino youth in real time and at the same time gain the international solidarity and support of the youth of the world for the struggle of the Filipino youth and people for full national independence and democratic rights against foreign monopoly capitalism and the local exploiting classes now chiefly represented by the traitorous, tyrannical, murderous and plundering ruling clique headed by Duterte.###

https://ndfp.org/on-fil-am-friendship-day-usa-as-a-fake-friend/

CPP/NPA-KAGUMA: KAGUMA-Negros: Condemn the worsening state of education!

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): KAGUMA-Negros: Condemn the worsening state of education!

KATIPUNAN NG MGA GURONG MAKABAYAN

KATIPUNAN NG MGA GURONG MAKABAYAN - NEGROS

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES

JULY 02, 2020



Katipunan ng Gurong Makabayan (KAGUMA)-Negros calls out and strongly condemns the US-Duterte regime amid its anti-people policies on education. Duterte and the Department of Education (DepEd) are set on implementing “distance learning” this August 24- a measure that is ironically distanced from the poor who are supposed to be prioritized for education.

While teachers are already horribly underpaid, the modular, online, and TV/Radio-based learning to be implemented as part of the “new normal” are expected to be an additional expense and burden for them. Teachers in the cities are appealing for aid in logistical concerns (gadgets & wifi), and free healthcare due to them becoming frontliners as well. Teachers in mountain barangays are forced to look for signals to attend webinars and enroll their students online, a scene common all over the country. With the Philippines’ internet speed as one of the worst and most expensive in the world, the so-called “digital divide” cannot be addressed with Negros as no exception- and the policy will only make the situation of education worse. Particularly in Negros, the enrollment turnout has been low, reduced by 50% in Bacolod and also deteriorating in other parts of the island.

According to DepEd’s estimates, at least P110.8 billion is needed for this ambitious endeavour compared to a P43.5 billion budget for a soft re-opening of schools implementing social distancing and mass testing for teachers and staff. But since Duterte’s militarized approach does not intend to address this, education will become even more inaccessible to the majority of the Filipino people.

The country’s shortage of teachers are yet to be addressed. Around 80,000 teachers are needed to address the disparity but the regime only targets around 10,000 to be employed this year. Due to labor-export policy and a nailed salary, bachelors for education are geared to either take a detour on their career to make ends meet or accept their low-waged fate. With all this, the sorry state of Philippine education will crumble down further. Instead of succumbing to neoliberal schemes, meaningful reforms for education that support teachers and students should be implemented. Lack of personnel and classrooms, skyrocketing tuition and other fees, repressive and anti-poor educational policies on top of the ongoing public health crisis have proven that only through the national democratic revolution can this commercial, colonial, and repressive educational system be replaced. KAGUMA-Negros calls on teachers and educational staff to muster up our collective strength to topple the insane dictator from his throne. In our thousands, our marches and our calls should resound and unite with our colleagues, students, and the entire Filipino people. We must arouse, organize, and mobilize the academe to push forward our nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented aim for education in the context of national democratic revolution. ###

https://cpp.ph/statement/kaguma-negros-condemn-the-worsening-state-of-education/

CPP/NPA-Quezon: “Anti-Terrorism Bill”: Libingan ng demokrasya at karapatan ng mamamayan — NPA-Quezon

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): “Anti-Terrorism Bill”: Libingan ng demokrasya at karapatan ng mamamayan — NPA-Quezon

CLEO DEL MUNDO

SPOKESPERSON

NPA-QUEZON

APOLONIO MENDOZA COMMAND

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

JULY 02, 2020

Mariing kinukondena ng rebolusyunaryong kilusan sa Quezon ang kontra-mamamayan at mapanganib na batas na Senate Bill 10830 o “Anti-Terrorism Bill of 2020”. Magdudulot ito ng walang kaparis na pagsupil at paglabag sa mga karapatang tao sa kanayunan at kalunsuran ng lalawigan at saan man panig ng bansa.

Walang binago sa inihapag at inamyendahang batas na Human Security Act – mabangis na instrumento ito ng rehimen laban sa mga sibilyan na tumutuligsa sa palpak na palakad ng gubyerno bilang bahagi ng kanilang demokratikong karapatan – imbes na tunay na tapusin ang terorismo sa bansa na gawa rin mismo ng nakaluklok na gubyerno

Kapag naisabatas, magiging ligal ang pag-aresto ng walang warrant, mahahabang detensyon kahit wala pang kaso ang inaresto, red-tagging, sarbeylans at extrajudicial killing.

Sa lalawigan, wala pa man ang anti-terrorism law ay mahigit isang taon nang umiiral ang kagaya nito dahil sa paglabag sa karapatang tao dulot ng Joint Campaign Plan Kapanatagan ng sundalo at pulis. Ang mga focused military operations at kunwaring community service program ang pamamaraan ng pasistang Armed Forces of the Philippines at Philippine National Police para durugin ang CPP-NPA na itinuturing nilang teroristang organisasyon. Subalit sibilyang populasyon ang naging biktima nila.

Kahit sa panahon ng lockdown at community quarantine dulot ng pandemyang Covid-19, hindi nahinto ang operasyong militar sa kanayunan ng Quezon. Sa halip na ituon ng gubyernong Duterte ang lahat ng makinarya ng kanyang pamahalaan sa pagsugpo sa sakit pinalala lamang nito ang kalagayan ng mamamayan.

Ang inaasahang solusyong medikal laban sa nakamamatay na sakit ay itinuon sa militaristang lockdown sa anyo ng general at enhanced community quarantine na walang anumang siyentipikong batayan at pinangunahan ng sundalo at pulis, at hindi ng mga ekspertong medikal at siyentista.

Noong Mayo, sa mga bayan ng Lopez at Catanauan, nagkakailang insidente ang naitala ng di makataong pamamarusa sa mga residenteng itinuring na lumabag sa lockdown at physical distancing habang ang mga sundalo at pulis na nag-ooperasyon ay walang pangingiming nag-iinuman, nagsasabong, nagsusugal at ni hindi man lamang naka-face mask.

Sa unang linggo ng Hunyo, anim na residente mula sa Barangay Mabini ng Lopez at Barangay Malabahay ng Macalelon ang iligal na inaresto at arbitraryong ikinulong sa kampo militar dahil pinagsuspetsahang kasapi ng rebolusyunaryong kilusan.

Kamakailan lamang ay lantaran ang ginawang surveillance at intimidasyon sa kamag-anak ni Joseph “Ka Ken” delos Santos, kumander ng AMC-NPA. Noong Marso 8, 2018, biktima na ang nanay ni Ka Ken ng pamamaril ng mga elemento ng militar na ikinamatay nito.

Lubhang nakakapangamba para sa sibilyang populasyon ang napipintong pagsasabatas ng Anti-Terror Bill. Siguradong wala itong sasantuhin sa hanay ng mamamayan sa layuning puksain ang di-matalo-talong CPP-NPA. Sinumang tutuligsa sa nakapusisyong pamahalaan, at yaong may kaugnayan sa rebolusyunaryong kilusan, tuwiran man o pinaghihinalaan pa lamang – ang tiyak na target ng panukalang batas.

Ang tungkulin ngayon ng sambayanan ay labanan para hadlangan ang pagsasabatas ng Anti-Terrorism Bill. Nananawagan din kami sa mga kongresista at iba pang lingkod-bayan na totoong kumikilala sa karapatang tao na irehistro ang kanilang pagtutol sa Anti-Terrorism Bill. Hindi pa huli para ipamukha sa rehimeng US-Duterte ang pagiging anti-mamamayan at palsipikado ng naturang panukalang batas.#

https://cpp.ph/statement/anti-terrorism-bill-libingan-ng-demokrasya-at-karapatan-ng-mamamayan-npa-quezon/

CPP/NPA-Quezon: Ilantad at labanan ang pasistang Anti-Terrorism Bill ng Rehimeng US-Duterte! Pagkaisahin ang pinakamalawak na hanay ng mamamayan ng Quezon laban sa tiranikong paghahari ng RUSD! — NPA-Quezon

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): Ilantad at labanan ang pasistang Anti-Terrorism Bill ng Rehimeng US-Duterte! Pagkaisahin ang pinakamalawak na hanay ng mamamayan ng Quezon laban sa tiranikong paghahari ng RUSD! — NPA-Quezon

ELIZA “KA ELI” DE LA GUERRA

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON

APOLONIO MENDOZA COMMAND

NPA-QUEZON

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

JULY 02, 2020

Mariing tinututulan ng mamamayan ng Quezon ang niratsadang pasista’t kontra-mamamayang Anti-Terrorism Bill ng Kongreso. Sa nalalapit na pagpirma ng tiranikong pangulo ng reaksyunaryong gobyerno na si Rodrigo Duterte, lubos nang isasailalim sa pasistang paghahari ng rehimeng US-Duterte (RUSD) ang sambayanang Pilipino. Nilampasan pa nito ang lupit ng Human Security Act ng 2007 at mas lalo pang pinalala ang pang-aabuso at pagsasamantala sa hanay ng maralitang anakpawis.

Nilikha ni Duterte ang mga paborableng kondisyon para mailatag ang batayan ng kanyang sagadsaring tiranikong paghahari sa bansa. Naging testing ground nito ang pagpapatupad ng enhanced at general community quarantine, at ng lockdown sa kasagsagan ng pagkalat ng pandemyang CoViD19 para maikondisyon na ang bansa sa kaayusan ng “new normal.”

Bago pa man ito, taong 2019, naipatupad na sa ilang bahagi ng Pilipinas ang pinagkagastusang Safe Philippines Project na nagpapalakas sa kapasidad ng kaaway na maniktik sa mga pinaghihinalaang kaaway ng pamahalaan. Pinalala ng mga pangyayaring ito ang una nang pagsisikap ng RUSD na wasakin ang rebolusyunaryong kilusan sa pamamagitan ng pagpapatupad ng Joint Campaign Plan Kapanatagan (JCP Kapanatagan), pagbubuo ng NTF-ELCAC at ng Executive Order No. 70 (EO 70). Ang pagpirma ni Duterte sa Anti-Terrorism Bill ang bisperas ng ganap na diktadurang ipapataw ni Duterte sa buong kapuluan na lalo pang magpapatindi sa sitwasyon ng lahat ng pinagsasamantalahan sa lipunan.

Mas lalong pagtitibayin ng Anti-Terrorism Bill ang kultura ng impunidad na bibigyan ng kalayaan ang walang habas na pagpatay, iligal na pag-aresto at pagkukulong, at paninikil sa karapatang sibil ng mamamayan. Walang anumang pananagutan ang mga sundalo, pulis, at opisyal ng gobyerno na magsasagawa ng mga anti-demokratikong hakbangin laban sa mamamayan. Ipinapahintulot ng Anti-Terrorism Bill ang 14 hanggang 24 araw na pagkulong nang walang isinasampang kaso sa mga inaakusahan o pinaghihinalaan pa lamang. Para ito sa lahat ng mga makabayang Pilipino na na madali na lang na mababansagang mga ‘terorista.’ Hindi na pag-iibahin ng gobyerno ang mga kombatant at ang mga aktibistang nasa kalsada at pareho nang ipapailalim sa mapanupil na mga probisyon ng nasabing batas.

Inaapakan ng Anti-Terrorism Bill ang mga karaniwang karapatan ng mamamayan, mula sa karapatang magpahayag ng saloobin hanggang sa karapatang magkapagtipon. Lahat ng mga demokratikong karapatan at mga karapatang sibil ng mamamayan ay wala nang kabuluhan sa panahon na selyuhan na ni Duterte ang pagpapatupad nito.

Kailangang ilantad ng masang anakpawis ang pakanang ito ng RUSD. Hindi dapat bigyan ng puwang ang kahit na anumang hakbangin ni Duterte na mapatagal pa ang kanyang tiraniko’t pasistang paghahari. Dapat na isulong ng sambayanang Pilipino ang pagpapabagsak sa RUSD sa pamamagitan ng pagtataguyod ng demokratikong rebolusyong bayan! Tanging ang pagtatagumpay ng demokratikong rebolusyong bayan ang magtitiyak na mapangalagaan ang karapatan ng mamamayang Pilipino.

Hamon sa lahat ng mamamayan ng Quezon na tiyakin ang pagkakaisa sa kanilang hanay. Kailangang patuloy na pahigpitin ng mga magsasaka at ng mga manggagawa ang kanilang saligang alyansa para isulong ang pambansang pagpapalaya mula sa kamay ni Duterte at sa kuko ng imperyalismong US. Kailangang hamigin ang pinakamalawak na petiburgesyang lungsod para tiyakin ang pagbuo pa ng opinyong publiko laban sa itim na propaganda ng RUSD laban sa mamamayan. Kailangang tiyaking maalyado ang pinakamaraming bilang ng mga pambansang burgesya na magpapalakas pa lalo sa nagkakaisang prente ng sambayanang Pilipino para labanan ang tiranikong paghahari ng RUSD, kasama na rito ang pagbuo ng mga alyansa sa mga lingkod-bayan na pinahahalagahan pa ang konstitusyunal na mga karapatan ng mamamayan.

Titiyakin naman ng AMC-NPA-NQ ang patuloy na pagbigwas sa mga pasista’t mersenaryong sundalo na gumugulo at nagpapahirap sa buhay ng mamamayan ng Hilagang Quezon at lansakang lumalabag sa mga karapatang tao. Ilulunsad ng mga yunit ng NPA ang mga taktikal na opensiba na aalisan ng inisyatiba ang kaaway sa kanilang pagsasagawa ng focus military operations at ng retooled community support program operations (RCSPO). Nakahanda ang AMC-NPA-NQ sa pagsuong sa buhay-at-kamatayang pagsasakripisyo para harapin ang lalo pang tumitinding militarisasyon sa buong Hilagang Quezon. Gayundin, handa ang mamamayan na harapin ang kahit na anumang pakana ng RUSD. Hindi magpapatinag ang pagkakaisa ng NPA at ng masang anakpawis.

Tanging ang pagkakaisang ito ang bubuo sa matibay at matipunong bisig na bibigwas at magpapabagsak sa nag-aastang siga na si Duterte. Kailangang paghandaan ng RUSD ang dumadagundong na boses at bisig ng sambayanang Pilipino. Natitiyak na ang pagbagsak ng administrasyong Duterte na nakakapit na lamang sa dulo ng damit ng kanyang among imperyalismong US.

IBASURA ANG ANTI-TERRORISM BILL!

ILANTAD ANG PASISTA’T TIRANIKONG REHIMENG DUTERTE AT ANG PAGIGING TUTA NITO SA IMPERYALISMONG US!

IBAGSAK ANG REHIMENG US-DUTERTE!

https://cpp.ph/statement/ilantad-at-labanan-ang-pasistang-anti-terrorism-bill-ng-rehimeng-us-duterte-pagkaisahin-ang-pinakamalawak-na-hanay-ng-mamamayan-ng-quezon-laban-sa-tiranikong-paghahari-ng-rusd-npa-quezon/

CPP/NPA-Quezon: Huwad na pamamahagi ng Relief Goods, gamit ng 80th IBPA sa pwersahang pagpapasuko sa mamamayan

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): Huwad na pamamahagi ng Relief Goods, gamit ng 80th IBPA sa pwersahang pagpapasuko sa mamamayan

ELIZA “KA ELI” DE LA GUERRA

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON

APOLONIO MENDOZA COMMAND

NPA-QUEZON

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

JULY 02, 2020

Nagpapatuloy na panlilinlang ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa mamamayan ng Hilagang Quezon

Mariing kinukondena ng Apolonio Mendoza Command – NPA – North Quezon (AMC-NPA NQ) ang tuluy-tuloy na panlilinlang ng pasistang rehimeng US-Duterte (RUSD) at ng sunud-sunuran nitong mersenaryong tropa ng AFP-PNP sa mamamayan ng General Nakar.

Sa kabila ng nararanasang krisis ng mamamayan dulot ng pandemyang COVid-19, nakakita naman ng gintong pagkakataon ang AFP-PNP upang ihasik ang kanyang kontra-rebolusyonaryong pakana, tulad ng pekeng pagpapasuko. Noong ika-2 ng Hunyo, nilinlang ng pinagsanib na pwersa ng AFP-PNP ang mahigit sa 100 masa ng Brgy. Umiray at inilunsad ang malawakang interogasyon sa kanilang hanay. Ipinatawag ang mga masa sa tabing ng pamamahagi ng relief goods ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Ganito rin ang pakana ng AFP sa buong sityo ng Singawan sa Brgy. Umiray kung saan akala ng mga masa ay pamamahagi lamang ng relief goods ang dahilan ng pagpapatawag sa kanila. Kinuhanan ng mga larawan ang mga dumalo at iprinesenta bilang mga sumukong kasapi ng NPA, kasama na inihapag ang mga baril na galing lang din naman sa armory ng AFP.

Sanay sa panlilinlang ang 80th IBPA. Sa katunayan taong 2018, iligal na inaresto ng tropa ng 80th IBPA sila Dandoy Avellaneda at Rocky Torres, mga sibilyang Dumagat na sa katunayan ay katatapos lang na bumoto noong mga panahong iyon. Inakusahan silang mga kasapi ng NPA at pinilit pa ang dalawa na magpaputok ng baril para maging positibo sila sa paraffin test, dagdag na gawa-gawang ebidensya para gipitin ang dalawang sibilyan. Taong 2019, patuloy pa rin ang panloloko ng reaksyunaryong gobyerno at ng AFP-PNP sa mga masa ng General Nakar lalo na sa hanay ng mga katutubong Dumagat at Remontado. Sa simula pa lang ng huling kwarto ng 2019, ipinagmalaki ng 2nd ID ang ‘pagsuko’ ng mahigit na 30 mga masa mula sa mga barangay ng Magsikap, San Marcelino, Maligaya, at Masanga bilang mga NPA ‘di umano. Disyembre naman ng kaparehong taon, muling iprinisenta ng kawatang 2nd ID ang pagsuko ng dagdag na mahigit sa 15 na mandirigma raw ng NPA. Naitala rin nitong kasalukuyang taon, buwan ng Marso, ang parehong media circus na 2nd ID pa rin ang promotor nang mapasuko raw nila ang mahigit 50 na masa bilang mga NPA sa buong CALABARZON.

Mayroong komun na karanasan ang lahat ng fake surrenderees. Pinangakuan sila ng 60,000 hanggang 65,000 piso para sa kanilang pagsuko, labas pa ang mga ipinagmalaki ng pamahalaan na mga pabahay at iba pang panlipunang serbisyong ilalaan sa kanila. Hanggang ngayon, nananatiling hangin ang ipinangakong halaga na ito at nagmistulang bula ang bahay at serbisyong panlipunang ibibigay raw sa kanila. Kung may ibibigay man, aabot lamang sa ilang kilong bigas (3 kilo hanggang 20 kilo) at ilang goods ang kanilang matatanggap, gamumo lamang sa bilyun-bilyong pondong inilaan para sa Balik-Loob Program ng RUSD. Sapat na itong patunay ng patuloy na katiwalian sa pondong inilalaan sa Enhanced Comprehensive Localized Integration Program (E-CLIP) na nagpapalaki pa lalo sa tiyan ng mga heneral ng AFP at PNP.

Sa bahagi naman ng Polillo Group of Islands, tuluy-tuloy ang harrassment ng mga elemento ng AFP at PNP sa mga masa ng buong 5 bayan nito. Inaakusahan na mga NPA ang mga masang mapayapang naninirahan sa mga nasabing bayan. Sa bahagi naman ng Infanta at Real, tuluy-tuloy ang paghihigpit ng kaaway sa tabing ng enhanced community quarantine para raw itaboy ang CoViD19. Ang hindi inilalantad ng mga pusakal na sundalong ito ay ang nagpapatuloy na operasyong militar para protektahan ang pagtatayo ng anti-mamamayan at pro-imperyalista na proyektong Kaliwa Dam na sila rin namang nambubulabog sa ilang komunidad ng mga katutubo’t mga magsasaka.

Desperado na ang 80th IBPA sa pagdurog sa lalo pang lumalakas na pwersa ng NPA sa North Quezon. Sa nagpapatuloy na pagkakaisa ng hukbong bayan at ng masa, hindi masawata ng 80th IBPA ang nakaugat na sa kasaysayan na pakikibaka ng mamamayan. Naghahabol ng oras ang AFP-PNP para abutin ang target nilang kitlin sa ubod ang rebolusyunaryong kilusan bago bumaba sa kanyang trono ang hayok-sa-dugong pangulo ng reaksyunaryong gobyerno na si Duterte. Tiyak na nanginginig na sa takot ang 2nd ID dahil alam nitong paghihigantihan ng NPA ang panlalansi nito sa masang anakpawis.

Ang tanging niloloko ng RUSD at ng AFP-PNP sa mga pagkakataong pinapasuko nila ang mga sibilyan bilang NPA sa ngalan ng Joint Campaign Plan Kapanatagan ay ang kanilang mga sarili. Pilit nilang kinukumbinsi ang kanilang mga sariling mahina na ang rebolusyunaryong kilusan, kahit na nangangatog na ang kanilang mga tuhod sa katotohanang walang signipikanteng resulta ang kanilang mga hakbangin laban sa nagkakaisang mamamayan.

Napatunayan na ng kasaysayan ang lakas ng mamamayan sa pamumuno ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas. Ang lakas ng isang porsyentong naghahari-harian ay walang laban sa lakas ng 99% na pinagsasamantalahan. Anumang gawing panlilinlang na gawin ng kaaway, lalo lang tumitindi ang galit ng sambayanang lumalaban. Ang apoy ng paglaban ay hindi kailanman mawawalan ng ningas hangga’t nagkakaisa ang mamamayan at ang NPA. Anumang pasukuan ang isagawa ng pamahalaan, hindi bibitawan ng masa ang pagsusulong ng demokratikong rebolusyong bayan.

Anumang pakana ng reaksyunaryong gobyerno na wasakin ang rebolusyunaryong kilusan, idagdag man ang anti-mamamayan na mga ahensya at ang mersenaryong armaduhang tropa nito, ay bibiguin ng mamamayan ng North Quezon. Mabibigo lamang ang RUSD na busalan ang bibig ng masang anakpawis. Tanging ang demokratikong rebolusyong bayan ang magtatagumpay at tunay na gagapi sa nabubulok na tiranikong paghahari ni Duterte.

BIGUIN ANG JOINT CAMPAIGN PLAN KAPANATAGAN!
IBAGSAK ANG REHIMENG US-DUTERTE!
ISULONG ANG DEMOKRATIKONG REBOLUSYONG BAYAN HANGGANG SA GANAP NA TAGUMPAY!

https://cpp.ph/statement/huwad-na-pamamahagi-ng-relief-goods-gamit-ng-80th-ibpa-sa-pwersahang-pagpapasuko-sa-mamamayan/

CPP/NPA-Central Negros: Madinalag-on nga Operasyon Militar sang SPARU Unit sa Centarl Negros, Sabat sa Padayon nga Pasismo sang Oplan Kapanatagan

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): Madinalag-on nga Operasyon Militar sang SPARU Unit sa Centarl Negros, Sabat sa Padayon nga Pasismo sang Oplan Kapanatagan

JB REGALADO

NPA-CENTRAL NEGROS

LEONARDO PANALIGAN COMMAND

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

JULY 02, 2020

Madinalag-on nga gintigayon sang SPARU unit sang LPC-NPA ang operasyon batok sa mga pasista nga tropa sang 62nd IBPA sa Sitio Compound Brgy. Luz, Guihulngan City, Hulyo 2, 2020 sa takna nga alas 5:00 sang hapon. Sa amo nga operasyon direkta nga Killed in Action si Corporal Mark Anthony Quiocson samtang ang duha pa niya ka kaupdanan nga katapu man sang militar nga pareho niya nakasakay man sa motorsiklo nga nagasunod sa iya gilayon kag madasig nga nagbalik sa ila ginhalinan palayo sa erya sang insidente. Ini sila naghalin pa sa Libas 62nd IB HQ sakop sang Brgy. Libas Isabela, Negros Occidental nga magapadulong sa ila Duty sa unit sang CSP (Community Support Program) sa Brgy. Banwagi, Guihulngan City. Natigayon man nga nakumpiska sa posisyon ni Corporal Quiocson ang 1 ka kalibre 45, 2 ka magazine kag 21 ka mga bala sini.



Ining mga CSP unit sang AFP nga ara sa madamu nga mga baryo sa Central Negros naga tuga sang madamu nga mga paglapas sa tawhanon nga kinamatarung. Nagahatag sang perwesyo kag pagkabalaka sa seguridad sang pumuluyo ilabi na sang mga mangunguma sa kaumahan. Madamu sang pumuluyo nga nalimitahan ang ila pagkadto sa ila mga uma tuga sang pagpamahug nga gina bansagan ang ila lugar nga pula kag sila mga suporter sang NPA. Madamu man sang ginapabalik-balik patawag sang ini nga mga tropa kag ginaimbistiga, ginapilit nga pasurenderon bisan sila wala sang armas kag mga ordinaryo nga sibilyan kag lihitimo nga mga mangunguma. Ginapilit ang pumuluyo kag mga baryo opisyal para ideklara nga persona non grata ang CPP-NPA.

Ginahimo man sang CSP nga detatchment ang mga Brgy. Hall, eskwelahan sa Baryo, Health Center kag mga Plasa Publiko. Sila man ang responsable sa mga pagpangsunog sa mga pamalay, motor kag iban pa nga mga kagamitan sang mga mangunguma sa Brgy. Luz, Brgy. Buenavista kag Brgy. Trinidad tanan sakop sa Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. Ang ila mga kalakasan sa pumuluyo nagatuga sang madamu nga kabudlayan sa pumuluyo sa kaumahan ilabi sa sa ila palangabuhian.

Sa pihak sang gina atubang nga pagkabalaka sang pumuluyo sa COVID 19 nagtuga pa ini sang paggamay sang ila income tungod sa limitado kag barato ang pagkompra ang ila mga produkto nga mga utanon kag kasapatan, mas pa nga dugang ang ila pagkabalaka sa seguridad tungod sa presensya sang CSP sa ila mga baryo. Madamu na sang mga nabiktima nga mangunguma sa pagpamatay, iligal nga pag aresto kag pangpangkastio nga sila mga ginabansagan nga mga NPA kag NPA supporter.

Ang LPC-NPA nagapadayon sa pagtungod sa mayor nga tahas sini sa panahon sang pandemya nga amo ang hilikuton pang ikaayong lawas kag pagpauswag sa produksyon sang mga mangunguma apang indi magahulat kag maglantaw lang sa kahimtangan sang pumuluyo nga nagaagum sang pasismo sa kamot sang mapints nga militar. Ang LPC-NPA nagakondina man sa militarista nga tikang sang rehimeng Duterte sa pag atubang sa krisis sang pandemya. Iya gindali-dali ang anti-terrorism bill gamit ang iya kalahi nga mga kawatan kag utok militarista nga mga kongresista kag senador para tabunan ang kainutil sang gobyernong Duterte sa pagsulbad sang ginaatubang nga krisis sang pumuluyo sa panahon sang pandemya. Ini man iya paagi tungod sa paglalaway sini sa daku nga pundo kag makahugakom pagid sang superganansya paagi sa pagpangutang gamit ang pangalan sang COVID 19 nga ang matuod wala sang maathag nga plano para sa mass testing kag serbisyo pang ikaayong lawas kag pagkaon para sa pumuluyo.

Bisan sa pagpaninguha sang rehimen nga pahipuson kag tapnaon ang rebolusyonaryo nga paghimakas sang pumuluyo paagi sa iya pasistang tropa, apang indi niya mahimo punggan ang unos sang kaakig sang pumuluyo sa iya mapiguson kag mapintas nga mga tikang. Indi mahimo nga maghipos kag magpahimuyong ang pumuluyo sa pihak sang gutom kag kawad-on tuga sang kakulang kag pagkaguba sang iya palangabuhian. Ilabi na sa panahon subong sang tiempo muerto sa Negros segurado nga magalupok ang mabaskog nga rebolusyonaryong paghimakas sang pumuluyo para sulbaron ang iya mapait nga kahimtangan sa duta sang kalamay.

Mabuhay ang rebolusyonaryong armadong paghimakas!
Mabuhay ang sahing pigos!



https://cpp.ph/statement/madinalag-on-nga-operasyon-militar-sang-sparu-unit-sa-centarl-negros-sabat-sa-padayon-nga-pasismo-sang-oplan-kapanatagan/

CPP/NPA-Central Negros: Madinalag-on nga Operasyon Militar sang SPARU Unit sa Centarl Negros, Sabat sa Padayon nga Pasismo sang Oplan Kapanatagan

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 2, 2020): Madinalag-on nga Operasyon Militar sang SPARU Unit sa Centarl Negros, Sabat sa Padayon nga Pasismo sang Oplan Kapanatagan

JB REGALADO

NPA-CENTRAL NEGROS

LEONARDO PANALIGAN COMMAND

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

JULY 02, 2020

Madinalag-on nga gintigayon sang SPARU unit sang LPC-NPA ang operasyon batok sa mga pasista nga tropa sang 62nd IBPA sa Sitio Compound Brgy. Luz, Guihulngan City, Hulyo 2, 2020 sa takna nga alas 5:00 sang hapon. Sa amo nga operasyon direkta nga Killed in Action si Corporal Mark Anthony Quiocson samtang ang duha pa niya ka kaupdanan nga katapu man sang militar nga pareho niya nakasakay man sa motorsiklo nga nagasunod sa iya gilayon kag madasig nga nagbalik sa ila ginhalinan palayo sa erya sang insidente. Ini sila naghalin pa sa Libas 62nd IB HQ sakop sang Brgy. Libas Isabela, Negros Occidental nga magapadulong sa ila Duty sa unit sang CSP (Community Support Program) sa Brgy. Banwagi, Guihulngan City. Natigayon man nga nakumpiska sa posisyon ni Corporal Quiocson ang 1 ka kalibre 45, 2 ka magazine kag 21 ka mga bala sini.

Ining mga CSP unit sang AFP nga ara sa madamu nga mga baryo sa Central Negros naga tuga sang madamu nga mga paglapas sa tawhanon nga kinamatarung. Nagahatag sang perwesyo kag pagkabalaka sa seguridad sang pumuluyo ilabi na sang mga mangunguma sa kaumahan. Madamu sang pumuluyo nga nalimitahan ang ila pagkadto sa ila mga uma tuga sang pagpamahug nga gina bansagan ang ila lugar nga pula kag sila mga suporter sang NPA. Madamu man sang ginapabalik-balik patawag sang ini nga mga tropa kag ginaimbistiga, ginapilit nga pasurenderon bisan sila wala sang armas kag mga ordinaryo nga sibilyan kag lihitimo nga mga mangunguma. Ginapilit ang pumuluyo kag mga baryo opisyal para ideklara nga persona non grata ang CPP-NPA.

Ginahimo man sang CSP nga detatchment ang mga Brgy. Hall, eskwelahan sa Baryo, Health Center kag mga Plasa Publiko. Sila man ang responsable sa mga pagpangsunog sa mga pamalay, motor kag iban pa nga mga kagamitan sang mga mangunguma sa Brgy. Luz, Brgy. Buenavista kag Brgy. Trinidad tanan sakop sa Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. Ang ila mga kalakasan sa pumuluyo nagatuga sang madamu nga kabudlayan sa pumuluyo sa kaumahan ilabi sa sa ila palangabuhian.

Sa pihak sang gina atubang nga pagkabalaka sang pumuluyo sa COVID 19 nagtuga pa ini sang paggamay sang ila income tungod sa limitado kag barato ang pagkompra ang ila mga produkto nga mga utanon kag kasapatan, mas pa nga dugang ang ila pagkabalaka sa seguridad tungod sa presensya sang CSP sa ila mga baryo. Madamu na sang mga nabiktima nga mangunguma sa pagpamatay, iligal nga pag aresto kag pangpangkastio nga sila mga ginabansagan nga mga NPA kag NPA supporter.

Ang LPC-NPA nagapadayon sa pagtungod sa mayor nga tahas sini sa panahon sang pandemya nga amo ang hilikuton pang ikaayong lawas kag pagpauswag sa produksyon sang mga mangunguma apang indi magahulat kag maglantaw lang sa kahimtangan sang pumuluyo nga nagaagum sang pasismo sa kamot sang mapints nga militar. Ang LPC-NPA nagakondina man sa militarista nga tikang sang rehimeng Duterte sa pag atubang sa krisis sang pandemya. Iya gindali-dali ang anti-terrorism bill gamit ang iya kalahi nga mga kawatan kag utok militarista nga mga kongresista kag senador para tabunan ang kainutil sang gobyernong Duterte sa pagsulbad sang ginaatubang nga krisis sang pumuluyo sa panahon sang pandemya. Ini man iya paagi tungod sa paglalaway sini sa daku nga pundo kag makahugakom pagid sang superganansya paagi sa pagpangutang gamit ang pangalan sang COVID 19 nga ang matuod wala sang maathag nga plano para sa mass testing kag serbisyo pang ikaayong lawas kag pagkaon para sa pumuluyo.

Bisan sa pagpaninguha sang rehimen nga pahipuson kag tapnaon ang rebolusyonaryo nga paghimakas sang pumuluyo paagi sa iya pasistang tropa, apang indi niya mahimo punggan ang unos sang kaakig sang pumuluyo sa iya mapiguson kag mapintas nga mga tikang. Indi mahimo nga maghipos kag magpahimuyong ang pumuluyo sa pihak sang gutom kag kawad-on tuga sang kakulang kag pagkaguba sang iya palangabuhian. Ilabi na sa panahon subong sang tiempo muerto sa Negros segurado nga magalupok ang mabaskog nga rebolusyonaryong paghimakas sang pumuluyo para sulbaron ang iya mapait nga kahimtangan sa duta sang kalamay.

Mabuhay ang rebolusyonaryong armadong paghimakas!
Mabuhay ang sahing pigos!

https://cpp.ph/statement/madinalag-on-nga-operasyon-militar-sang-sparu-unit-sa-centarl-negros-sabat-sa-padayon-nga-pasismo-sang-oplan-kapanatagan/

CPP/NDF-KM: KM-Negros: Frustrate and oppose the worsening neoliberal policies on education!

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 1, 2020): KM-Negros: Frustrate and oppose the worsening neoliberal policies on education!

KABATAANG MAKABAYAN

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES

JULY 01, 2020

Kabataang Makabayan (KM) – Negros unites with the broad masses of students, parents, and teachers in opposing the burdening program of DepEd in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The alternative mode of education pushed by DepEd, with online, modular, and TV/Radio based learning is untimely, costly, and inaccessible alternative especially to the toiling masses in the farms, countrysides, and urban poor.

Education remains to be a privilege and not a right in the Philippines especially after the policy of “distance learning” of the Department of Education (DepEd). The bogus and fascist Duterte regime has consistently situated the exploited classes in dire hunger and poverty upon the imposition of anti-people policies that only serve his reign and the ruling class of despotic landlords, big bourgeois compradors, and bureaucrat capitalists.

In the neoliberal design as dictated by Duterte’s imperialist US masters, solutions of his neglectful regime remain to be business and not service-oriented in answering the people’s demands during the crisis and emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The intolerable and anti-people “distance learning” of DepEd further proves the continuing colonial, commercial, and fascist system of education in the country.

A huge part of the youth will be deprived of their right to education especially because their families have not yet recovered from the negative effects brought about by the pandemic and the militarist lockdowns that have dislocated their families’ livelihoods. Many of them will be forced to quit school because they cannot afford to purchase gadgets (computers, tablets, or smartphones), a TV or a transistor radio. Other than that is the requirement of a good signal, internet load, electricity, expenditure for those availing piso-net, and even transportation. A proof of this is the 50% decrease in enrollment in Bacolod City alone.

This educational program further ecposes the negligence and abandonment of the government in answering the perennial problem of education in the country in where it is still not free, of low quality, lacking in facilities, and passes the burden to the parents’ to shoulder fees. Instead, this program focuses on serving capitalists and the few who can afford that can be educated and finish school.

Today, that the worsening socio-economic and public health crises brought by the harmful pandemic and of the bloody Duterte virus in society, continue to prey on the youth and the masses through widespread landlessness, unemployment and systemic attacks and violations of human rights. The Negrosanon has been enslaved for centuries because of the hacienda system in where they experience semi-feudal and fascist exploitation from the landlords and big hacienderos.

As revolutionary youth with a historic role in society, it is only just that we take part along with the wide masses to uphold the national democratic revolution that carries with it the program for genuine land reform and national industrialization that can solve the roots of the nation’s problems.

As a special sector that penetrates all classes in society, we have a significant duty in making history and that we need to strengthen and expand our ranks along with the exploited classes to launch widespread struggle based on the line of the national democratic revolution. Push for a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education- the type of education that teaches the abolition of land monopoly and one which serves the broad masses! Overcome and topple down the corrupt, neglectful, inutile, and tyrannical reign of the US-Duterte regime!

Youth and students, serve the people!
Take part in the making of history!
Join the New People’s Army!

https://cpp.ph/statement/km-negros-frustrate-and-oppose-the-worsening-neoliberal-policies-on-education/

CPP/CIO: Open letter to the owners and workers of ABS-CBN

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jul 1, 2020): Open letter to the owners and workers of ABS-CBN

MARCO VALBUENA
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES

JULY 01, 2020

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) joins you in these difficult times as you confront the slew of questionable legal attacks which have prevented ABS-CBN from exercising press freedom and denied the people their right to information; as well as infringe upon your commercial prerogative to provide entertainment to the Filipino people.

We stand in solidarity with the workers of ABS-CBN who are now facing the prospect of losing their jobs as the company starts to shutter its programs and other broadcast operations. We sincerely hope that ABS-CBN will address the needs of its workers and provide them all-out assistance as the entire Filipino working class face an unprecedented crisis of joblessness.

The Party denounces the new order of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) which compelled you to stop broadcasting over SkyCable and TV Plus, in addition to the previous order which stopped you from airing over free television. As pointed out in congressional hearings, this latest NTC order against ABS-CBN already goes beyond the congressional franchise question.

This order comes on top of the relentless congressional harassment against ABS-CBN and abuse of powers to grant broadcast franchises. These non-stop attacks against ABS-CBN clearly seek to force it to completely shut down its operations.

In our view, the situation you are confronting goes beyond the congressional franchise question. The NTC orders and the congressional harassment reveals the real motive of the Duterte regime and his minions in congress which is to put a complete end to the broadcast operations of ABS-CBN. This forms part of the Duterte’s political vendetta against ABS-CBN which he perceives to have supported his election rivals in 2016, in the hope of forcing it to sell. The ultimate aim is to pave the way for one of his cronies to control the media network.

The Party supports the view that the orders for ABS-CBN to stop free air, cable and digital TV broadcast are an affront against press freedom. It is an attack not only against ABS-CBN but against the entire media industry. It aims to terrorize news reporters, broadcasters, journalists, opinion writers and all media workers. The objective is to cow them to submit to Duterte’s official line and suppress criticism in the vain hope of obscuring the regime’s failures, especially in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Party extends its support to the Filipino people’s call for ABS-CBN to be immediately allowed to resume broadcast over all platforms. We urge all democratic-minded people to come together and support ABS-CBN as well as all journalists and media workers in the country.

The struggle against the suppression of ABS-CBN will be fought effectively in line with the overall clamor of the Filipino people for Duterte’s ouster or resignation.

https://cpp.ph/statement/%ef%bb%bfopen-letter-to-the-owners-and-workers-of-abs-cbn/

CPP: Duterte is set to surpass the monstrosities of all past reactionary regimes

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jun 30, 2020): Duterte is set to surpass the monstrosities of all past reactionary regimes

COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES
JUNE 30, 2020

Even after only four years in power, the Duterte regime is set on surpassing all the past reactionary regimes in terms of corruption, abuse of authority, suppression of democratic rights and national treachery. Under his tyrannical rule, Duterte, his ilk, and their foreign masters have accumulated power and wealth, causing the sharp worsening of the basic problems of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism and resulting in unprecedented sufferings on the Filipino people.

Over the past four years, the socio-economic conditions of the people, especially of the toiling masses of workers, peasants and semiproletariat, have steadily degenerated as a result of the Duterte regime’s anti-people neoliberal economic policies. These conditions have further nosedived under Duterte’s arbitrary imposition of a militarist lockdown in the name of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. The people suffer from mass unemployment, low wages and income, landlessness, rising prices, burdensome taxes on the people, homelessness, disease and lack of social services. Duterte has perpetuated dependence on foreign debt, allowed foreign big capitalists to plunder the country’s human and natural resources and carried out policies which prevent the economy from standing up on its own two legs. The Philippines remains non-industrialized even as agricultural production continue to wallow in backwardness.

For four years now, the Duterte regime has waged a relentless war of terror against the poor, in the form of mass killings in his fake war against drugs, the siege and continued military occupation of Marawi City and the war against the Moro people, the brutal war of suppression against the peasant masses and curtailment of democratic rights. After the nearly 1000-days of martial law in Mindanao, Memorandum Order 32 and Executive Order 70, Duterte is now set on completing his martial law regime with the Anti-Terror Bill. He has used the full arsenal of the reactionary state to perpetuate himself and his factotums in power.

Under Duterte, the country’s state of national sovereignty has deteriorated with his failure to stand for the country’s rights amid heightened military presence and economic plunder of rival imperialists China and the US.

On the one hand, he has virtually surrendered Philippine territorial seas and economic resources in the West Philippine Sea by allowing China to reclaim land to build seven military facilities, station its Coast Guard and paramilitary vessels in the area, destroy and take away the country’s mineral resources and ride roughshod on Filipino fishermen. He has kowtowed to China in exchange for promises of several billion dollar anomalous loans to fund corruption-ridden infrastructure various roads and infrastructure projects.

On the other hand, Duterte has allowed the US to station its aircraft carriers in both the West Philippine Sea and the Philippine Sea (east of the country) and build military facilities inside at least five AFP camps around the country. The Duterte regime has not abrogated the Visiting Forces Agreement, which he made a show to terminating last January, much less the Military Defense Treaty and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, all unequal military treaties heavily favoring the US. Hundreds of US military forces continue to operate in the country under the Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines. Duterte remains ultra-dependent on US arms and alms, which in turn keeps the AFP’s fascist generals happy and in line. In exchange for arms, he has promised US President Trump to allow US troops and equipment in every inch of Philippine soil and waters, as well as grant US companies unrestricted access to Philippine resources.

For four years, Duterte has flaunted the reactionary constitution and has aggrandized wealth and power. He has ingratiated himself with the military and police through increased budgetary allocations, appointment of a number of generals in the Cabinet and other juicy positions in the bureaucracy and giving the military and police unprecedented martial law powers in the name of fighting the armed revolution. The country is now under a civil-military junta in the form of the National Task Force (Duterte-Lorenzana-Año-Esperon), which has accumulated ever greater powers under the military-led Covid-19 pandemic response. He has abused his powers to silence and intimidate critics, take over the operations of rival big business in favor his crony oligarchs, take control of the smuggling of drugs and other contraband, and pocket billions of pesos from cuts in government contracts. With control of the Comelec and the TIM-Smartmatic, he has manipulated the outcome of the 2019 elections to dominate the Senate, congress and local governments.

Duterte’s failed response to the Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed its militarist and anti-people orientation and is rousing more and more people to stand up and resist. Not only did the Duterte regime fail to prepare and strengthen the public health system, it has also plundered billions of pesos in people’s money, and caused widespread economic devastation and destruction of people’s jobs and livelihood. In the face of rising Covid-19 infections and delayed and incompetent response, it has become clear to the Filipino people that it is Duterte himself who is the biggest threat to their safety and survival amid the pandemic.

Drawing lessons from history, the Filipino people are ever determined to end their sufferings, remove Duterte at the soonest possible time, and hold him accountable for all his crimes. The Filipino people are being roused and are becoming increasingly vocal and active in their demand for Duterte’s resignation or ouster from power. A widening array of forces are ranging themselves in a broad united front against his tyrannical regime. The Duterte clique is becoming increasingly isolated the more it accumulates power and money and the more viciously it attacks the people.

The unprecedented sufferings of the people under the Duterte regime is a clear manifestation of the country’s chronic state of crisis. It underscores the urgent need to wage national democratic revolution in order to put an end the moribund semicolonial and semifeudal system, attain national independence and people’s democracy and build a progressive and modern socialist future.

https://cpp.ph/statement/duterte-is-set-to-surpass-the-monstrosities-of-all-past-reactionary-regimes/

Kalinaw News: Commander Dons Rank to a Newly Promoted Officer

Posted to Kalinaw News (Jul 2, 2020): Commander Dons Rank to a Newly Promoted Officer (By 11th Infantry Division)



Sulu Province – A newly promoted officer of the 11th Infantry Division was donned to the next higher rank by Major General Corleto S. Vinluan Jr., Commander of Joint Task Force Sulu and 11th Infantry Division at Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista, Brgy. Busbus, Jolo, Sulu around 9 o’clock in the morning, June 29, 2020.

The promoted officer is Lieutenant Colonel Thomas B. Bawayan Jr., Deputy of the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel, G1. Lieutenant Colonel Bawayan is a member of Philippine Military Academy “BANYUHAY” Class of 2002, born in Baguio City.

He emphasized that the rank awarded to him is commensurate to the responsibilities expected for him to perform. Furthermore, his family and fellow soldier are among his motivators to perform his best in the service.

Major General Vinluan Jr. thereafter gave appreciation and guidance to Lieutenant Colonel Bawayan. “As new endeavour awaits you, may you stay firm, because this promotion brings all kinds of new challenges and opportunities. Continue your competent service and at the same time, enthusiastically give hope and help the people you served with. Congratulations and good luck to your well-deserved promotion,” he said.

[Kalinaw News is the official online source of information on the pursuit for peace in the Philippines This website is a property of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment, Philippine Army located at Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Contact us: kalinawnews@cmoregiment.com]

https://www.kalinawnews.com/commander-dons-rank-to-a-newly-promoted-officer/

Kalinaw News: LOOK | Zamboanga del Sur ELCAC Project to deliver farmer’s products, govt services better, faster

Posted to Kalinaw News (Jul 2, 2020): LOOK | Zamboanga del Sur ELCAC Project to deliver farmer’s products, govt services better, faster (By 53rd Infantry "Matapat" Battalion)



Guipos, ZDS – Construction and Rehabilitation of three farm-to-market road (FMR) ELCAC projects in Lakewood town will soon come into realization after the Groundbreaking Ceremony held in Barangay Dagum, Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur, Thursday.

The FMRs are the rehabilitation of 5.925-kilometer Poblacion-Baking-Dagum Road; construction of 4.745-kilometer Dagum-Matalang Road; and the construction of 4-kilometer Dagum-Tiwales Road.

In partnership with the 53rd Infantry (MATAPAT) Battalion, the said FMRs are priority projects of the ZamboSur Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) chaired by Gov. Victor J. Yu in collaboration with the local government of Lakewood and Lakewood Municipal TF-ELCAC chaired by Hon. Mayor Domingo Mirrar, also with the support of the Office of ZamboSur 1st District Rep. Hon. Divina Grace Yu.

In his remarks, PTF-ELCAC Chairperson Gov. Victor Yu said that the construction of these roads is the prerequisite to eradicating insurgency.

“I have always said, we first build roads then everything else will follow.” Gov. Yu said.

“Having roads will also translate to the delivery of basic and government services to far-flung areas,” Gov. Yu added.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Mayor of Lakewood and Lakewood MTF-ELCAC Chairperson Hon. Domingo Mirrar thanked the Provincial Government and the Army for helping in the realization of said FMRs.

“This year 2020, forty-three years after Lakewood was founded in 1977, is the first time our constituents here in Barangay Dagum will be able to see four-wheeled vehicles,” said Hon. Mirrar with enthusiasm.

“This means that the people of Brgy Dagum will now regularly see the transport of their harvest to the market, the entry of basic and government services, and hopefully, the end of insurgency,” added Hon. Mirrar.

For 43 years, four-wheeled vehicles cannot enter Brgy Dagum because of the unpaved roads, and became a safe haven of NPA terrorists due to lack of access to basic and government services.

Meanwhile, 102nd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Leonel Nicolas, who has operational jurisdiction over the Province of Zamboanga del Sur, lauded the efforts of the Provincial and Municipal Task Forces ELCAC and 53rd IB for putting into action their commitment to end the insurgency in Lakewood town.

“The good governance practiced by our local government will not only put insurgency into an end, but will also sustain our future efforts of delivering services to the people,” said Col. Nicolas.

Meanwhile, 1st Infantry Division’s Assistant Division Commander Brig. Gen. Bagnus Gaerlan, Jr. said that the construction of these roads hopes to open the eyes of NPA terrorists still in the hinterlands.

“We hold this ground breaking ceremony and construct these roads with the hope that more NPA terrorists will abandon the armed struggle and return to the folds of the law,” said Brig. Gen. Gaerlan.

“The [NPAs] are also our brothers and sisters who were deceived with the wrong ideology,” added Brig. Gen. Gaerlan.

In addition, Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera, 53rd IB Commander who has tactical control over Lakewood town, said that these roads will form part of conflict resolution as the people will now receive the services they are so longing for.

“What we are building now are the roads that lead to progress, roads that will deliver basic and government services to the people such as health, education, and job opportunities,” said Lt. Col. Herrera.

Also present in the Groundbreaking Ceremony were ZamboSur PNP Provincial Director Police Col. Rhode Espero; Lakewood town Vice-Mayor Hon. Ronaldo Looc; Tiwales Brgy Captain Hon. Jonh Montesan; Baking Brgy Captain Hon. Rolando Langgas; Bulalawan Brgy Captain Hon. Rudy Tillo; Poblacion Brgy Captain Hon. Ivangelen Looc; Dagum Brgy Captain Hon. Felino Galgan.

[Kalinaw News is the official online source of information on the pursuit for peace in the Philippines This website is a property of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment, Philippine Army located at Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Contact us: kalinawnews@cmoregiment.com]

https://www.kalinawnews.com/look-zamboanga-del-sur-elcac-project-to-deliver-farmers-products-govt-services-better-faster/

Kalinaw News: Army seizes more CNT Anti-Personnel Mines in Agusan Norte

Posted to Kalinaw News (Jul 2, 2020): Army seizes more CNT Anti-Personnel Mines in Agusan Norte (By 23rd Infantry (Masigasig) Battalion)



Buenavista, Agusan del Norte – The 23rd Infantry (Masigasig) Battalion recovered three (3) Anti-Personnel Mines (APMs) planted by the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army Terrorists (CNTs) in the hinterland of Buenavista town in Agusan del Norte last June 28, 2020.

In response to the report from the local populace of Sitio Bulak, Barangay Lower Olave, Buenavista that an armed group was planning to conduct extortion activities, the government troopers conducted a combat patrol in the vicinity of the area.

The prompt action of the troops resulted in the discovery of three (3) CNT Anti-Personnel Mines that were planted along the trails where the farmers and civilians usually use when going to their respective farms.

It can be recalled that last June 23, 2020, 23rd IB troopers discovered an APM depot of the CNTs buried in the hinterland of Barangay Maasin, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.

Eleven (11) containers of Ammonium Nitrate used to make bombs and landmines, NPA assorted garments and subversive documents were seized by the troopers in the area.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Colonel Julius Cesar C Paulo, Commanding Officer of 23IB expressed gratitude to the concerned citizens of Barangay Lower Olave for providing timely information to the Army.

“The series of discoveries of APMs, including the materials that the CNTs used in making landmines show that residents in villages are now tired of the intimidations, harassments, and extortion activities of the communist rebels,” Paulo said.

Paulo also condemned the CTGs for putting into danger the lives of the residents in the area.

He noted that around two to three trails being utilized daily by local residents, especially in going to their farms, are near the spot where the CTGs planted the said three APMs.

“It could have been a disaster for the ordinary farmers if one of these APMs exploded. Lives will be lost. The families of the victims could suffer from such an irresponsible act of the CTGs and on their complete disregard on the lives and welfare of the ordinary civilians in the area,” Paulo said.

“The civilians who reported on the presence of the CTGs were even shocked upon knowing that three APMs were concealed near the trails where they usually pass every day”, he added.

Paulo further emphasized that ordinary civilians are now aware of the importance of informing the Army on the sinister activities of the CNTs that have long plagued their communities and hinder the development initiatives of the government.

“The courage of the people to provide the Army with detailed information on the activities of the CTGs in their communities are manifestations of their direct participation and cooperation in the whole of nation approach to end the local communist armed conflicts,” Paulo said.

He once again urged the remaining CTGs in the hinterlands of Agusan del Norte and Misamis Oriental to consider the offer of the government to renew their lives.

“You still have time to decide for the betterment of your lives and your families. Your soldiers, particularly the 23rd IB, are always willing to help and assist you to avail of all the programs and privileges offered by the government,” Paulo said.

[Kalinaw News is the official online source of information on the pursuit for peace in the Philippines This website is a property of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment, Philippine Army located at Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Contact us: kalinawnews@cmoregiment.com]

https://www.kalinawnews.com/army-seizes-more-cnt-anti-personnel-mines-in-agusan-norte/