CPP/NDF-Bicol: Day-long aerial strikes and military attacks in Samar, vile face of state terrorism

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Aug 20, 2021): Day-long aerial strikes and military attacks in Samar, vile face of state terrorism

MA. ROJA BANUA

SPOKESPERSON

NDF-BICOL

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES

AUGUST 20, 2021

Read in: Pilipino

At a time when the Filipino people has to beg for ayuda and dies of hunger with their eyes open, it is extremely unacceptable for the military to launch a day-long aerial bombing operations as well as land and sea military onslaught, in Dolores, Eastern Samar. That these murderous military even had the gall to pronounce their incessant and overkill destruction of lives and livelihoods of the Samarenyo masses as a victorious operation is a huge slap in the public’s face. This operation does not differ from the devastation and harm that came to the lives and communities of the masses in Caramoan when forces of the 83rd IBPA, PAF TOG 5 and Joint Task Force Bicolandia shelled and strafed Sityo Gogon, Brgy. Lidong, Caramoan last August 13, 2019. More than 230 families from Caramoan and Garchitorena were forced to evacuate their homes and lost their livelihood.

It is the public’s hard-earned money that the mercenary army wastes away in their destructive wars who victimize no one but the masses who are already downtrodden by crises. In an hour of flight of an average attack helicopter such as an MG-520, the military throws P53,714 away. This is aside from the cost of bullets and bomb warheads, logistical needs and combat pay of the operating troops. In an hour of JTFB’s bombing operations in Lidong, Caramoan, more than P1.5 million was spent. How much more was exhausted in the more than 12-hour aerial attack in Samar? Hundreds of families and frontliners could have benefitted from this much wasted funds.

More than anything else, these attacks that pose utmost harm to the civilian population and countless communities are vile faces of state terrorism. Large-scale military operations on land, air and sea such as these spare no one. There already is an endless list of cases where civilians were affected and harmed by excessive bombing and aerial strafing – from aerial bombings in Ilocos Norte, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Eastern Visayas up to Mindanao.

It is the butcher Duterte’s mark to burn the house down just to kill a mouse. This is the reflection of his desperation to persist until the end, even in the midst of interminable crisis, in his already failed and wasteful counterrevolutionary war. It is certain that because of the ever strengthening and broadening mass struggle and revolutionary movement, Duterte faction’s attacks will also escalate. The masses must prepare for far more worse and destructive attacks and the concurrent worsening of societal conditions. Decisively brave and defeat Duterte’s war against the people. Even the most vicious of bombs and any terror attack of the state will never be able to break the people’s steadfast and decisive struggle for genuine development, societal justice and peace.

https://cpp.ph/statements/day-long-aerial-strikes-and-military-attacks-in-samar-vile-face-of-state-terrorism/