Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Condemn U.S. intervention over re-inclusion of CPP and NPA in US-FTO

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the U.S. government for political and military intervention in the country’s national affairs over the recent re-inclusion of the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA) in the list of so-called “foreign terrorist organizations” maintained by the U.S. State Department.

The re-inclusion of the CPP and NPA, as well as other Moro and domestic Islamic groups, was made in a July 6 resolution signed by US state secretary Anthony Blinken and published yesterday in the US federal register.

We denounce the US for the “terrorist-labelling” of the CPP and NPA. This is baseless and merely serves its war-craving. Far from being “terrorists,” the CPP and NPA are revolutionary organizations that advance the cause of democracy and national freedom, and work to lead the Filipino people in the struggle for liberation from the clutches of U.S. imperialism.

The U.S. government has included the CPP and NPA in its so-called FTO list to pressure the Philippine government against conducting peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). In October 2017, then US president Trump personally delivered the message to former president Duterte, who weeks later issued a proclamation terminating the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations and declaring the CPP and NPA as terrorists. On the advice of the U.S., officials of the newly installed Marcos regime have already declared it will not resume the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations.

The U.S. opposes the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations because it wants the armed suppression of the patriotic and democratic forces that oppose US intervention and domination. The U.S. government is also pushing for the so-called “localized peace talks” to carry out a widespread war of pacification to allow the unimpeded entry of American multinational corporations which are aiming to control around 300,000 hectares of plantation land and mining areas in Mindanao.

The U.S. imperialists also want a perpetual war in the Philippines to ensure a steady market for U.S. bombs, jet fighters, artillery, rifles and bullets. To unload itself of surplus military supplies, the U.S. has been pushing the Philippine military and government to carry out a costly and brutal aerial bombardment campaign in counterguerrilla operations.

The U.S. inclusion of the CPP and NPA in its FTO list is being used to justify the deployment of US military forces in the Philippines.

Since 2017, an undetermined number of American soldiers are operating in the Philippines under the Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines (OPEP). Many of these are based in U.S. facilities inside Camp Navarro in Zamboanga, as well as other military camps across the country. They are protected and given extra-territorial rights under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and other unequal military agreements.

US military forces advise, train and join the AFP in conducting counterguerrilla operations, including the operation of surveillance drones in the country. The U.S. is known for conducting its own aerial surveillance within the country’s sovereign airspace.

The U.S. “FTO” list is being used to justify the extension of military aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The US feeds the corrupt generals of the AFP and security establishment with millions of pesos of kickbacks from the so-called “modernization” program.

Experts have denounced the U.S. “foreign terrorist organizations” list as arbitrary and without legal basis under international law. While the US labels revolutionary organizations such as the CPP/NPA as “terrorists”, it does not apply the same label to fascist groups such as the notorious Azov Battalion in Ukraine, which the U.S., in fact, helps arm and train.

The CPP demands the US government to stop its political and military intervention in the country. The Party denounces the Philippine government for allowing the US to trample on the country’s sovereignty and for bowing to US dictates.

We urge the American people to demand the U.S. government to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Philippines and to stop supplying bombs, jet fighters, and other weapons being used by the Philippine military and police against the Filipino people under the Marcos regime. Human rights abuses perpetrated by the AFP and PNP in the course of US-supported counterguerrilla operations run rampant.

The American people can demand the revocation of the so-called FTO list which is being used as an instrument of intervention in the Philippines and across the world.

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