Philippines: “Terrorist designation” of Ka Louie et al is outrageous
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following June 15 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The improperly named “Anti-Terrorism Council” today announced that it issued a resolution last May 25 (Resolution No. 31) which “designated” the former chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Ka Louie Jalandoni and five other people being associated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as “terrorist individuals.”
The Party and the revolutionary movement firmly denounces the ATC for the shameless, baseless and outrageous claim that Ka Louie et al are “terrorists.” This forms part of the the continuing effort of the Duterte fascist regime to malign the revolutionary movement and vilify revolutionaries, patriots and progressives who have long advanced the Filipino people’s aspirations for national liberation and democracy.
Ka Louie Jalandoni, who is 87 years old, is publicly known as a peace negotiator, and is a highly regarded revolutionary and stalwart of the national democratic cause. The “terrorist label” being foisted by the ATC against him and others is a gross perversion of the truth. It was made without basis and cites no specific judicable facts. It aims to slander them and restrict their democratic rights.
Jalandoni, like the broad forces of the NDFP, the CPP and New People’s Army, enjoy the support of the broad masses of workers, peasants and other oppressed and exploited classes in the Philippines.
We strongly condemn the Duterte regime and its “terrorist labelling” which aims to obscure the deep economic, social, political and cultural roots of the national democratic cause that is being advanced through revolutionary armed struggle and other forms of collective people’s resistance.
The Duterte regime uses “terrorist labelling” and the draconian Anti-Terrorism Law, combined with “red-tagging” to threaten the lives and curtail the democratic rights of people and organizations who stand against its corruption, puppetry and militarist rule.
It is the US-supported Philippine reactionary state that is, in fact, the biggest terrorist as it carries out its campaign of suppression and pacification against the people. Its armed forces and police carry out extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, hamletting of communities, imposing curfews, food blockades and conducting aerial bombing, strafing and shelling of civilian communities.