The Communist Party of the Philippines strongly condemns the US military for using civilian vessels and facilities to move and preposition its military vehicles and equipment in Cagayan de Oro, and the subsequent transfer of those vehicles from the city in northern Mindanao to Subic Bay in Zambales using commercial ro-ro ships.

It was reported that the US military brought Humvee military vehicles into the city during the war games conducted last March. Commercial marine vessels were then contracted by the US military to move these vehicles to Luzon to be used in Balikatan exercises scheduled to take place this month.

It is a slap on the face of the people of Cagayan de Oro that war matériel were transported to their city without their knowledge, even after various groups and local government officials expressed sentiments against the presence of US soldiers in their city, who were seen checking in at local hotels.

The transport of American war equipment in the country, and the use of commercial facilities, were done in outright contempt of Philippine sovereignty.

The US military’s use of civilian vehicles deliberately blurs the distinction between civilian and military, which turn civilians and civilian property into military targets. This is a clear violation of the principle of protection of civilians in military conflicts.

The intent of US military is clear. It claims the use of civilian ships is being done at “peacetime” but is clearly a “rehearsal” for wartime, which will expose civilians to acts of reprisal by the US military adversaries.

The Party condemns the 4th ID for colluding with the US military in deceiving the Filipino people, particularly the residents of Cagayan de Oro. It chose to put to risk the people in the city and nearby areas than disobey the orders of their American masters.

It is a gross affront on the patriotic senses of the Filipino people that the country hosts these soldiers who belong to the same military force that carried out the recent brazen attack on sovereign countries, and the killing of thousands of civilians in the month-long bombing of Iran throughout March.

The Filipino people must continue to rise up and resist how the Philippines is being used by the US military as springboard for military aggression around the world.

#Philippines #CPP #International #AntiWarMovement

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) strongly condemns the Marcos regime and its military and police forces for the unlawful arrest of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant for Cordillera Gabriel Kennedy Bangibang and nine others last March 11. They were forcibly taken in simultaneous raids in Tarlac City and Quezon City, and maliciously tagged as members of the Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee.

Joint military and police elements raided the place where Bangibang was staying in Barangay Baras-Baras, Tarlac City. Six others were also arrested. During the operation, the victims were physically and verbally assaulted—struck on the head, beaten on the face and stomach, and slammed to the ground. They now face fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, in addition to trumped-up cases of murder, attempted murder, and qualified trafficking.

Bangibang served as an NDFP peace consultant during the 2016 negotiations with the Philippine government. He provided the NDFP Negotiating Panel with crucial insights into the situation of the Cordilleran and other national minority communities, helping ensure that their voices and interests were genuinely represented in the peace process.

Bangibang’s arrest is a blatant violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which protects peace negotiators and personnel from reprisal. This brazen disregard for existing peace accords further aggravates efforts to revive talks that have remained stalled since the signing of the Oslo Joint Statement in November 2023.

A proud son of the Taluktok tribe of Tanudan, Kalinga, Bangibang also served as an official of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF). Having joined the CPDF in 1987, he has long dedicated himself to addressing the deeply rooted social and economic injustices faced by national minorities—issues central to the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER).

The arrest and continued detention of Bangibang and his companions are clear acts of political persecution meant to punish him for his role in the peace process.

The CPP also joins human rights and democratic organizations in demanding the immediate surfacing of Jess Gamay and another companion who remain missing following their arrest in a separate raid in Fairview, Quezon City. Quezon City police officers claim the two were “released” after no charges were filed. They must be surfaced and safely reunited with their families without delay.

Bangibang and his companions now join the ranks of nearly 800 political prisoners unjustly jailed across the country. Their arrest once again exposes the duplicity of the Marcos regime, which peddles amnesty for “surrenderees” even as it continues to persecute individuals for their political beliefs and social commitments. The arrest came two days before the March 13 deadline for the “amnesty applications.”

The CPP calls on all local and international human rights and humanitarian organizations, as well as peace advocates, to extend solidarity and assistance to Bangibang and his companions. We urge all democratic forces to unite in demanding their immediate and unconditional release.

#International #Philippines #CPP

Over the past week or two, the US-Marcos regime has mounted a frenzied media and social media campaign to intimidate and threaten the Filipino youth, who, more and more are growing disenchanted amid deep and widespread social ills, and are being drawn to question the rotten ruling system and seek radical and revolutionary ways to end corruption, injustice and abuses by those in power.

This campaign to intimidate and threaten the Filipino youth is part of Marcos’ arsenal of fascist tactics to maintain his grip on power and preserve the ruling system, by suppressing the youth’s and people’s aspirations for change.

This blatant assault against the youth is spearheaded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the NTF-Elcac, and their mercenary hacks behind the Marcos government’s propaganda machinery. They have mobilized funds to activate and coordinate their social media troll army to drown out posts critical of the Marcos government in a deluge of spam comments, and throw their weight around to push their narrative in the press and public discourse.

The Marcos psyops campaign heightened after a student researcher from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, 22-year old Jerlyn Rose Doydora, died on January 1 in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro Occidental, amid relentless aerial bombing and strafing by the AFP, following an armed encounter. Another youth, 24-year old Chantal Anicoche, was taken into custody by the fascist soldiers, and illegally detained for a week, before being surfaced amid public outcry. Three Mangyan children were reportedly killed in the aerial bombing which was carried out in the proximity of mountain communities.

These are just the latest of the grave abuses being committed by Marcos’ armed forces in Mindoro and in other parts of the country. In its desperation to cover up their fascist crimes, the AFP imposed an information blackout on Abra de Ilog, using brazen state terrorism and martial law tactics. These include the use of the old Marcosian trick of bussing in civilians to stage “rallies,” to obstruct, intimidate and suppress the efforts of various democratic organizations and human rights groups seeking to conduct an independent fact-finding investigation into the incidents. The fascist regime wants to make it appear that people approve of the military’s control of their communities, or that they support the planned mining operations and “renewable energy” projects of big business operations that will drive them away from their land.

The death of Jerlyn and the illegal military incarceration of Chantal has put to spotlight how growing numbers of young intellectuals today have become disillusioned with the reactionary government’s lies and deception, and critical of its policies. This has become particularly conspicuous over the past few months as thousands of young people walked out of their university campuses and joined street marches in outrage over cases of large-scale corruption.

They have lent their voices to the Filipino peoples’ clamor for justice. While Marcos, his fellow bureaucrat capitalists and their big bourgeois comprador accomplices amass hundreds of billions of pesos from rigged government contracts, majority of the Filipino people toil day in and day out to survive increasingly intolerable social and economic conditions.

The burgeoning youth rebellion is bound to grow. Like many young people around the globe, the Filipino Gen-Zs are breaking out of their digital shells and establishing real world networks with their fellow youth, as well as with the broad masses of the people. Amid corruption, injustice and abuse of power, many young intellectuals are adopting a socially critical mindset and have become acutely aware of the gross social ills plaguing the country, of the iniquitous ownership and distribution of the country’s resources, and the oppressive conditions suffered by the masses of toiling people under the minority ruling classes who hold economic and political power.

They are critically aware how workers wages are being kept low despite the rise in the cost of living, how millions are idled by the lack of jobs and forced to eke out a living as contractual, outsourced, gig or platform workers, how peasants suffer from landlessness, dispossession and militarization, how fisherfolk are deprived of their fishing grounds by big capitalist trawlers, how jeepney drivers are being dislocated by corporate takeover of their routes and franchises, and how all other oppressed classes suffer from myriad other forms of injustices. They youth themselves suffer from these conditions. Millions are denied their right to education. The small percentage who make it to universities suffer repression and face the bleak prospects of decent employment. Under the priorities of the Marcos fascist regime, the only certain prospect is to join the police, military or paramilitary forces, to serve as spies, foot soldiers or cannon fodder against their fellow oppressed people.

Fueled by heightening imperialist hegemonism in all parts of the world, and US military intervention in the Philippines, rising numbers of young Filipinos are breaking free from the colonial mindset—imposed on every Filipino since childhood—and embrace patriotism in its stead. They are growing indignant over the imperialist US support for the genocide against Palestine and its military aggression against the sovereign state of Venezuela. They are enraged especially by barefaced US military intervention in the Philippines and armed provocations in Asia, dragging the country to the possibility of war which serves US strategic geopolitical, falsely portrayed as “defense of Philippine freedom.”

They are finding themselves reconnected with the country’s history as a colony and semicolony of foreign imperial powers, who plundered and condemned the country to a permanent state of economic backwardness and dependence. The Filipino people’s aspiration for genuine national freedom and social justice burns steadily in their hearts. More and more young Filipinos are united with the broad masses in the fervent desire to change the course of the country’s history, in the resistance to end the reign of corruption, abuse, injustice and foreign domination, and determination to usher in a new era of sovereignty, progress and modernity.

The Filipino people and youth have witnessed in past weeks how Marcos is using the whole range of state power to preserve the system of corruption and abuse, even amid the people’s uproar. Some lower-tier thieves have been scapegoated and turned to sacrificial lambs, even as high-ranking bureaucrat capitalists continue to rake in in billions of pesos in kickbacks, pork barrel and other forms of corruption.

Many young intellectuals have become keenly aware of the limits of their social and political power to change society. They seek to build solidarity with the millions of workers, peasants, the semi-proletariat in both cities and countryside, the fisherfolk, the indigenous people and other oppressed and exploited classes who comprise the majority of the people.

The Marcos fascist regime, especially its armed forces, holds the socially critical youth in complete contempt and a threat to their rule. They malign young intellectuals as “victims of ideological grooming,” as if they are mindless sheep. To deflect blame for their crimes, they have gone to the extent of intimidating the parents of victims of state terrorism, coercing them to depict their own children as lacking the agency for independent and critical thought, or the ability to commit themselves to something greater than themselves–the people’s cause for genuine freedom and democracy.

The Filipino people and their young intellectuals will have none of fascist intimidation and threats. History has shown that attempts to suppress intellectuals have succeeded only in further stimulating their critical and inquisitive minds. There is bound to emerge a strong current of young students, teachers, academics, scientists and other intellectuals flowing to urban poor and rural communities to investigate, see for themselves the concrete problems of the people, and learn from the masses the crucial importance of getting organized and waging collective struggle as a way of fighting for their interests.

Not a few academics, researchers, journalists, students, scientists, even lower officials of the government agencies have visited units of the New People’s Army to gain a deeper understanding of revolutionary views, and the reasons that compel ordinary people to wage armed revolution. Many continue to be drawn to the path of resistance not because of some scheme of “deception” and “manipulation,” rather because the revolutionary ideas promoted by the CPP and NPA reflect the people’s desire for national freedom and democracy. The people and the youth will embrace only those ideas that express their hopes and aspirations. Many from the current generation of young Filipinos see the revolution as the only path towards attaining the people’s aspirations for a free and prosperous future, and have committed themselves to face all the hardship and sacrifices to march along this difficult road.

More and more people see Marcos, along with the AFP, the PNP, NTF-Elcac and other repressive agencies, as the epitome of government corruption, injustice, abuse and subservience to foreign powers. As in the past, it is the oppression and intolerable conditions under Marcos that rouse the people to join the NPA and wage revolution. Indeed by negative example, Marcos has virtually become the number one recruiter of the New People’s Army.

We call on the Filipino youth to continue sharpening their scientific minds and reject attempts to stifle their critical thinking. Deepen your understanding of the country’s history and the current concrete conditions of the broad masses of the people under semicolonial and semifeudal system. Study and learn from the masses, and determine for yourself, the profound necessity of waging the people’s democratic revolution.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement

Zaldy Co is a thief who has amassed wealth from bureaucrat capitalism while holding the reins of the congressional appropriations committee in most of the years since 2016—both under Duterte and Marcos. Like all the lower rung bureaucrat capitalists, Zaldy Co could only have carried out his large-scale plunder of the people’s money since 2016, with the direct authorization from the top of Malacañang—Duterte then, Marcos now.

His “part 1” revelation yesterday—made to protest the prospect of being turned into a sacrificial lamb—that Marcos himself ordered him to insert P100 billion worth of infrastructure projects and unprogrammed appropriations, confirms what the Filipino people have believed all along—that Marcos, himself, is the King of Bureaucrat Capitalists and Lord of Thieves.

His bombshell has sent shockwaves through the ruling Marcos regime. It has further roused the Filipino people already outraged by the massive corruption involving top officials of the Marcos government.

Attempts by Marcos and his supporters to minimize the impacts of Co’s bombshell—by flat denial or calls for him to come home (as if he could not make the revelations and provide the evidence from where he is sitting), are bound to fail to placate the people. They demand that all the corrupt thieves in government be made to account and punished for all their crimes against the people.

Calls for the ouster of Marcos, Sara Duterte and the entire corrupt government are set to reverberate in protest actions across the country, as more and more sectors are convinced that the entire government must go, even as they reject talks of a US-sponsored civilian-military junta or other non-democratic rule.

In the end, it is only by putting an end to the semicolonial and semifeudal system, by waging a thorough-going national democratic revolution and establishing a people’s democratic government, can the Filipino people put a decisive end to the rule of all corrupt officials. Only by overthrowing imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism will the reign of thieves be put to a close.

#International #Philippines #CPP

The entire membership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) extends deepest sympathies to the hundreds of thousands of victims of massive flashfloods and landslides triggered by torrential rains brought by typhoon Tino in areas devastated by mining and failed flood control projects in scores of towns across islands in the Visayas, especially in Cebu, as well as in Negros island, Panay and Palawan, and in the northern provinces of Mindanao.

More than 110 people died and around 130 remain missing, even as homes and property were destroyed and swept away. Majority of the victims come from working class communities, pushing them on the brink of an ever greater disaster of worse poverty and suffering.

The Party joins the Filipino people in demanding justice for the victims of the recent disasters, even as it commends various cause-oriented agencies and people’s organizations, including forces of the National Democratic Front (NDF), for linking arms to organize and mobilize all possible resources to extend assistance to the survivors.

In the wake of the massive devastation, the Filipino people are indignant over the grossly anemic response of the Marcos regime. Aside from a few meals worth of “food packs,” there is practically no government as victims are left on their own to fend for themselves, recover from the disaster, and rebuild their lives. It is just for them to denounce and protest the insufficient and inefficient actions of the Marcos government.

More importantly, the Filipino people must express their outrage and protest against the Marcos regime for conniving with the profit-hungry big comprador owners of mining and quarrying operations, and benefiting from several billions of pesos worth of anomalous flood control projects.

This is especially stark in Cebu, which next to Bulacan, is the province with the most number of corruption-ridden flood control projects, since 2017. One of the biggest contractors in Cebu, the Quirante family, is known for having contributed millions to the Marcos-Duterte election campaign in 2022.

The flood control disasters show clearly how corruption kills and devastate lives. The protests over the past few months must continue to surge forward to demand justice, and call for an end to bureaucratic capitalism and the oppressive semicolonial and semifeudal system.

#International #Philippines #CPP

The attempts by the U.S. military to whitewash its heightened presence in the Philippines through “disaster training” are utterly despicable. The U.S. imperialists, in collusion with the Marcos regime and the U.S. mercenary officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) must be condemned by the Filipino people for exploiting the recent climate disasters to mount another publicity stunt that camouflages the brazen violations of Philippine sovereignty.

The “disaster training,” which is nothing but another U.S. military air show and maneuver exercises, purportedly to support the AFP’s “rapid response,” serves as another occasion for the U.S. to display its military power.

It is shameless how Marcos’ top military and defense officers grovel and beg for the Philippines to have access to the facilities within the camps of the AFP—the so-called “agreed locations” under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)—supposedly to help them distribute relief items to disaster victims.

These U.S. – supplied water bottles, relief assistance and deployment support are mere token responses to Philippine disasters. In return, U.S. military forces are granted even greater access to Philippine air, sea and land territories. Recall how the US deployed one of its biggest aircraft carriers, the USS George Washington, to the vicinity of Leyte Gulf in 2013, carrying superficial amounts of water, food and medical supplies, but which was used by the U.S. military to put boots on the ground in various parts of Eastern Visayas.

The militarization of disaster response, especially by a foreign military power like the U.S, undermines the humanitarian principle of neutrality and serves political and military objectives of the military power. While the delivery of relief assistance may appear altruistic and benign, the real priority of the US and AFP “disaster partnership” is to strengthen U.S. hegemonism over the Asia-Pacific region and serve US imperialist war preparations by expanding US military presence.

The Filipino people must sharply recognize and expose the imperialist aims of the U.S. and the subservience of the Marcos regime in these so-called “disaster trainings.” These must be denounced for serving the strategic aims of the U.S. military in the country, which is to continue using the Philippines as a staging ground for its wars of aggression against other nations in the region.

The Filipino people must stand against this imperialist subterfuge behind the veil of “disaster training,” and demand an end to U.S. military intervention, deployment of troops, stockpiling of U,S. weapons, endless war exercises and provocations.

#International #Philippines #Marcos #AFP #NDFP #CPP

“By summoning Marcos, Trump aims to secure U.S. economic and military interests in the Philippines,” said Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP. Valbuena said Trump wants assurances that U.S. exports to the Philippines will not be met with counter-tariffs in response to his push to raise tariffs on all imports to the U.S., and that the U.S. military will be allowed greater and expanded presence in the Philippines.

The planned visit was first announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the ASEAN Regional Forum and the U.S.-Philippines-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meetings held July 9 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was later confirmed by Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro.

“Trump plans to use the recently announced 20% tariff on Philippine exports as leverage to exact even bigger deals with the Philippines in favor of U.S. interests,” added Valbuena. “It is certain that Marcos’ state visit to the U.S. and scheduled talk with Trump will shape his policy declarations that are to be delivered during his upcoming SONA.”

“Consistent with his record of subservience to the U.S., Marcos will undoubtedly assure Trump that American electronics and so-called green energy investments in the Philippines will be given favorable policies including tax-free operations and the zero-tariff importation,” added Valbuena. “In his SONA, Marcos is sure to declare more programs and policies on liberalization, privatization, deregulation and denationalization as dictated by the U.S.”

“The incoming 20th Congress lorded over by bureaucrat capitalists, and representatives of big bourgeois compradors and big landlords, are set to applaud and welcome Marcos’ U.S.-dictated policy declarations, and pass legislation to support U.S. imperialist interests,” the CPP officer said.

“These policies will deepen the neocolonial economic status of the Philippines and cause the dispossession of more and more Filipinos as plunderous American and other multinational corporations take away their land and sources of livelihood,” said Valbuena.

“The Marcos state visit to the U.S. will also serve to assure the U.S. of unimpeded access to the Philippines, in line with its aim of using the country as a war logistics hub, playground for war exercises, and springboard for military operations in the region,” Valbuena added.

He pointed out how tens of thousands of U.S. troops are now almost permanently stationed in U.S. military facilities in the Philippines, conducting successive and non-stop military maneuvers in line with its Indo-Pacific Strategy of “containing” China’s growth.” He noted, “U.S. military presence and war exercises heighten tensions in the region and impede the peaceful resolution of maritime conflicts between the Philippines and China.”

“In the face of U.S. war instigations that endanger the lives and safety of the Filipino people and violate the country’s national sovereignty, it is incumbent upon the Filipino people to unite and stand up against Marcos’ puppetry to the U.., imperialists,” he added

#Manila #Philippines #International #Marcos #Trump #CPP

To: Communist Party of the Philippines, National Democratic Front of the Philippines

From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization

The memory and contributions of Ka Louie Jalandoni will live forever!

Dear Comrades,

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Ka Louie Jalandoni, an outstanding revolutionary who made great contributions to the struggle to end exploitation and oppression. We extend our condolences to his comrades, family and friends. Ka Louie was known throughout the world for his integrity, commitment and intelligence. He will be missed by many.

Ka Louie worked tirelessly to strengthen the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and he achieved much during that effort. He was a living example of what it means in the real world to serve the people. All of us can learn from his cheerful tenacity as he carried out his work.

The leadership and members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization appreciate Ka Louie’s keen interest in the progress our organization has made inside the United States, and in him we found a genuine comrade and friend. He was a living example of what proletarian internationalism means in practice. The people of the Philippines and the people of the U.S. share a common enemy in U.S. imperialism.

The revolution in the Philippines has produced a host of leaders who have made great contributions to the struggle to liberate all of humanity, and the Communist Party of the Philippines has done much to advance the fight for national and social liberation. Revolutionary leaders, like Ka Louie, are respected wherever communists are found fighting for a new world.

At this difficult moment, we share the grief of all comrades in the national democratic movement of the Philippines. And we will always cherish the memory and contributions of Ka Louie.

With communist greetings,

Mick Kelly

For the Standing Committee of the Central Committee,

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#International #Philippines #Opinion #Remembrances #FRSO #Statement #CPP #NDF

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) strongly condemns the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for its reckless and brutal strafing operations carried out using helicopter gunships under the cover of darkness past midnight yesterday in the areas between La Paz, Agusan del Sur, and Cabanglasan town, Bukidnon. These operations, purportedly intended to support ground troop actions against the New People’s Army (NPA), have inflicted trauma and fear upon civilian communities in the vicinity.

The AFP also deployed FA50 fighter jets that carry 250-lb or 500-lb bombs. However, according to reports, their mission was aborted when one of the jet fighters went missing on its way to Mindanao.

Such actions constitute a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which mandates the protection of civilian lives during armed conflict. The indiscriminate use of aerial bombardment and strafing, particularly when there are no clear military targets, is a flagrant use of excessive force. This not only endangers the lives of civilians but also reflects a gross disregard for the principles of proportionality and distinction in warfare.

This incident follows similar aerial assaults and rocket firings on March 1 in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, and February 19 in Pola, Oriental Mindoro. In each case, the AFP put civilian communities in danger, exacerbating the sufferings of peasant and Mangyan communities.

Such actions constitute blatant violations of international humanitarian law, which mandates the protection of civilian lives during armed conflict. These are carried out indiscriminately without clear military targets. These are a flagrant use of excessive force which not only endangers the lives of civilians but also reflects a gross disregard for the principles of proportionality and distinction in warfare. The use of aerial strafing and bombing also inflicts damage to the environment and wildlife.

These recent strafing and aerial bombing operations underscore the AFP’s the brutal and violent attacks directed against civilians in the course of its counterinsurgency operations. These are aimed at instilling fear among the peasant communities that it routinely accuses of supporting the New People’s Army. The AFP continues to intensify these attacks despite its repeated declarations that the New People’s Army is “a spent force” and has only “one weakened guerrilla front.”

The CPP calls on all peace-loving individuals and organizations to denounce the continued use of aerial bombing and strafing by the AFP and demand an immediate cessation to the use of excessive force that endanger the lives of civilians, causes widespread trauma and terror among the people, and violates international humanitarian law.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement

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

The tactical offensive of the New People’s Army (NPA) against the 80th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Antipolo, Rizal yesterday is a bold action that responds to people’s demand to put a stop to destructive quarrying, mining and dam construction in the Rizal province.

The 80th IB is notorious for gross violations of the rights of peasant and indigenous people communities in Antipolo and other towns in Rizal who have resisted the construction of the Wawa-Violago megadam. Several communities have been displaced by these projects.

The military battalion also provides armed security to mining and quarrying operations which have caused grave destruction of the environment. These operations have resulted in devastating floods and landslides that have affected not only the local communities but also neighboring towns in Rizal, as well as low-lying areas in Metro Manila.

The Marcos regime continues to use the armed forces to serve the interests of these destructive companies, providing them with security and allowing them to continue their operations with impunity.

The NPA’s action is a just response to the people’s clamor for social and environmental justice. It is a testament to the determination of the people to defend their rights and the environment and resist the reactionary government’s policy that favor big business interests.

The NPA tactical offensive is a blow to the claims of the Marcos fascist regime and its armed forces that the country is now “insurgency-free.” This false narrative is a key component of the government’s vain attempt to demoralize the people and discourage them from further resisting fascism and imperialism.

The CPP commends the NPA Red fighters who carried out the military action in defense of the people’s interests and the environment. They are true people’s warriors who are dedicated to serve the people, defend their rights and protect the environment.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #Environment

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) views the recent 90-day suspension of funding for programs of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Trump government as a manifestation of the deepening political crisis in the United States, in which the new regime aims to take control of the entire bureaucracy and realign the budget to service its own oligarchic interests and ultra-conservative agenda.

The USAID programs around the world have long been used as a tool for soft power projection, aimed at maintaining US global hegemony. Behind the veil of humanitarian or economic assistance, USAID has been instrumental in promoting neoliberal economic policies, strengthening US cultural influence, exploiting natural resources of its semi-colonies, pushing infrastructure projects that benefit US corporations and advance US security and military interests.

The US government spent around $30 billion for USAID in 2024, a puny amount (around 3%) compared to $886 billion in overall defense spending. The USAID programs in the Philippines amount to around $300 million annually since 2001. These are, as US officials declare, “strategic investments” to maintain US dominance and control of the Philippines. The economic, political and military returns are much greater than the investment, from access to the country’s natural resources as well as being granted extra-territorial rights to maintain US military forces and weapons stockpile in the country.

The US government uses these programs to portray it as a “friend, partner and ally” of the Filipino people and cover up the truth that US imperialism is the enemy of Philippine freedom and democracy. Funding for USAID has gone to programs that promote US investments in the country, covering-up the role of US imperialism in perpetuating poverty and underdevelopment. The USAID portrays the US as a benevolent donor of aid and assistance. In reality, the US has long perpetuated economic backwardness in the Philippines, through unequal trade and economic agreements and neoliberal economic policies that hinder the country’s industrial development, prevent it from achieving self-reliance, and keep it dependent on foreign debt and capital.

The programs of the USAID hypocritically claims to promote “freedom,” “democracy”, “human rights,” “gender rights” and other “causes” in the Philippines. In reality, the US has been instrumental in promoting state terrorism through military aid, training, and indoctrination of the armed forces along its counterinsurgency ideology. The US has provided the Philippine military with funding and equipment used to suppress people’s resistance, targeting progressive and patriotic groups and individuals critical of US imperialist domination and its local stooges.

It buttresses the US imperialist objective of reinforcing its military domination of the country, especially in the face of its efforts to strengthen its military bases and facilities in the country. The suspension of the USAID program will merely serve the broader effort to reconfigure US foreign policy in line with the Trump regime’s aggressive push to seize control of sources of raw materials, wider markets and spheres of investments.

With the 90-day suspension of the USAID, the Party calls on all patriotic forces to expose the machinations of US imperialism and to strengthen the people’s resistance against US economic and military domination and against the Marcos reactionary puppet regime.

The Party calls on the Filipino people to be critical and expose US imperialism’s tactics, whether through USAID or other means. We urge the people to intensify their struggle against US economic, political, cultural and military domination, and to struggle for genuine independence and self-determination.

#International #Philippines #USAID #Trump #CPP

By the strength of 215 votes, the Marcos-dominated House of Representatives today impeached Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, setting the stage for a trial before the Philippine Senate.

The vote came after more than two months since the first of several impeachment complaints were filed. Marcos had publicly opposed these complaints for being useless and untimely, fearing that this would ignite a bigger political crisis while the ruling system is rocked by a deep-seated economic crisis.

The impeachment comes amid growing clamor of broad democratic sectors to hold Duterte accountable for corruption over the anomalous use of hundreds of millions of “confidential and intelligence funds,” as well as her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, for crimes against humanity. It is a victory for the democratic mass movement, whose protests over the past weeks added to mounting pressure on Marcos and the House of Representatives to push the impeachment.

The impeachment of Sara Duterte marks a significant escalation of the conflicts between the Marcos and Duterte cliques. It further exposes the deep divisions within ruling reactionary classes, where rival factions and cliques jostle against each other over spoils of bureaucrat capitalist privilege and power.

The move follows efforts of the Marcos regime to consolidate political power, especially within the military, police and defense establishment, through “loyalty checks” and the reorganization of the National Security Council. Marcos further secured the support of the US imperialists by further heightening anti-Chinese propaganda and collaborating with the US government and military in naval operations in the West Philippine Sea, under the guise of “defending Philippine sovereignty.”

The Filipino people welcome the impeachment of Sara Duterte as the first step to hold the vice president accountable and remove her from office by way of meting out justice for her crimes of corruption. However, the impeachment was secured and transmitted to the Senate just as congress was set to adjourn its sessions. As such, the people must further intensify and expand their mass actions to compel the Senate to convene promptly as the impeachment court and see the trial of Sara Duterte commence at once.

The impeachment of Sara Duterte also serves to heighten the urgency of the people’s demand for the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte and trial before the International Criminal Court, where he is facing charges for having ordered the wave of killings under his sham “war on drugs” and brutal counterinsurgency campaign.

The impeachment, furthermore, emboldens the Filipino people to hold Marcos himself accountable for even bigger crimes of corruption. The Filipino people are outraged by the even greater amounts of confidential and intelligence funds that Marcos has allotted to himself in the 2025 budget. In addition, they protest the ₱26-billion pork barrel fund under the guise of the AKAP “cash-assistance program,” the ₱500-billion Maharlika Investment Fund, the anomalous remittance to the national treasury of ₱60 billion Philhealth funds, the dismissal of ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcos estate worth at least ₱202 billion and other anomalies.

The broad masses of the people are roused to heighten their protests against the Marcos regime, especially with Marcos and his officials using public money to satiate their desire for luxury and high living, while the Filipino people suffer from high prices, low wages, widespread unemployment and economic dispossession both in the cities and rural areas.

The worsening socioeconomic conditions of the Filipino people are rousing them to more vigorously resist the anti-people neoliberal policies and corruption of the Marcos regime and protest against the oppressive bureaucrat capitalist system, that serve to perpetuate the semicolonial and semifeudal system. Steady efforts to build and strengthen their organizations are bound to result in even greater protests in the coming future.

#International #Philippines #CPP

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

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines has directed its entire membership and the New People’s Army to frustrate the AFP’s all-out war in a statement issued today, December 26, to mark its 56th founding anniversary.

“We are determined to frustrate the enemy’s all-out war, recover from our losses, gain new victories and advance the Filipino people’s revolutionary resistance,” it declared. The Party credited the ongoing internal rectification movement for its current strength in overcoming errors and shortcomings in the past years.

Earlier, the CPP belied the AFP’s claims that the NPA is down to “one weakened front.” While acknowledging “grave losses and reversals in some regions and guerilla fronts,” the Central Committee said NPA units have “quickly reorganized and redeployed in line with the rectification movement” and have made gains in recovering and expanding the mass base.

The CPP said that guerrilla units of the NPA are now “creatively and wisely exercising flexibility,” and frustrating much of the enemy’s strategy of gradual constriction and sustained military operations.

“The Party’s rectification movement has inspired the Red fighters of the New People’s Army to persevere along the arduous path of the protracted people’s war to rebuild and expand the mass base, defend the people against state terrorism, preserve and strengthen the NPA, and frustrate the enemy’s strategic offensives,” it declared.

It directed the NPA to “take the initiative to mount tactical offensives, selecting targets that it can defeat.” To deepen its ties with the masses, the Party directed the people’s army to “render economic, health and education services to the peasant masses, while guiding them in waging anti-feudal struggles.”

At the same time, the Party called on members to “conscientiously build or rebuild the underground movement” as these are the “ready pool of Party recruits.”

“The underground movement must be expanded in order to help conceal and secure the leading Party cadres and organizers. At the same time, it must carry out widespread revolutionary propaganda to broadcast the call for people’s war to rouse the people to support and join the New People’s Army,” it said.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA

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

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army cannot declare a holiday ceasefire in the face of the Marcos regime’s relentless war of suppression, offensive military operations and imposition of martial law in the countryside.

In its desperation to crush the people’s resistance, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is presently undertaking military operations across the country against the Party and NPA. To boost its public image, the AFP has intensified its war of disinformation by making the ludicrous claim that the New People’s Army has only “one weakened” guerrilla front. This is, however, belied by their own actions. Billions of pesos are currently being squandered in large-scale military deployments and offensives of the AFP across all regions in the country.

Behind the façade of its “insurgency-free” propaganda declarations, the Marcos regime, through the AFP has imposed virtual martial law in many interior villages in Ilocos Norte, Abra, Kalinga, Cagayan, Isabela, Bulacan, Aurora, Laguna, Quezon, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Capiz, Aklan, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar, Surigao provinces, Agusan provinces, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Lanao provinces, and elsewhere.

This war of suppression being waged by Marcos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is characterized by wanton violation of political and civil rights, as well as of international humanitarian law.

It is marked by:

• military occupation of several hundred rural villages

• brutal aerial bombings and shelling of communities

• imposition checkpoints to restrict people’s movements

• preventing peasants from tending to their farms resulting in economic losses

• food blockades and restrictions on commerce

• the active promotion of soldiers of drug use, pornography and other anti-social vices among the community youth

• night-long drinking sessions of AFP soldiers and indiscriminate firing of weapons when drunk

• involvement of AFP soldiers in increasing number of incidents of sexual molestation and rape of women

• forced recruitment in the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGU)

• forcing people to render labor and service (such as fetching bath water) for soldiers in their detachments

• incessant house-to-house harassment of the peasant masses on the pretext of the AFP’s “surrender drive”

• rising number of cases of abductions and extrajudicial killings, massacres, unlawful arrests, torture of civilians; and

• land grabbing and economic displacement of peasants and minority peoples in favor the destructive mining operations, plantations and infrastructure projects.

Millions of people suffer from all forms oppression under the Marcos regime’s war of suppression. In addition, they suffer from Marcos’ gross neglect of the welfare of millions of victims of recent calamities. They are to set to suffer even more next year with the budgetary cuts on health and education, and increased budget for fascism (with the further rise in the budget of the AFP and the NTF-Elcac) and corruption (with the bloated budget for the DPWH and Marcos’ anomalous infrastructure projects).

The situation compels the New People’s Army to firmly wage armed resistance and stage tactical offensives, especially against the most detested fascist troops responsible for the extrajudicial killings, massacres and all forms of terrorism. This is by way of defending the people and responding to their growing clamor for justice and an end to martial law in their areas.

In anticipation of the holidays and the upcoming 56th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, units of the NPA and local peasant mass organizations in the countryside are busy preparing meetings and small assemblies in order to celebrate past victories, take stock of weaknesses and strengths, and reaffirm their resolve to wage greater struggles in the coming year.

The successive “insurgency-free” declarations over the past weeks by Marcos officials and military officers are mere smokescreen for the virtual imposition of martial law in the countryside. These only strengthen the resolve of the Filipino people, the Party and the New People’s Army to spread the flames of the people’s war. With their indomitable spirit of resistance and determination to fight, the revolutionary armed struggle is invincible and will not be defeated, this year or ever.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #NDFP

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the Filipino people express the strongest outrage at the inhuman treatment and acts of humiliation against political prisoner Tomas Dominado. Dominado, who is 74 years old, has long been known as a revolutionary activist and fighter in the Panay island. He has served as consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in peace negotiations.

He survived a stroke last year. He suffers from hypertension and heart enlargement, neurological deficits and other serious medical issues. He needs a wheelchair to move, and requires the constant assistance of a caregiver. Putting him in jail is outright inhuman. It is a virtual death sentence.

On orders of Marcos and his top police and military officers, Dominado was arrested, along with his caregiver “Jofel,” last December 5 from his place of residence in Iloilo City and brought to the police station where conditions worsened his health condition. For two days, he has been complaining of difficulty in breathing.

Dominado’s legal representatives and medical doctors insisted that he be brought to a medical facility. Following a call and medical certification from the Iloilo Doctor’s Hospital, the police provided an ambulance to transport Dominado. But instead of bringing him to the hospital, he was brought to the Regional Trial Court of Mambusao, 100 kilometers away.

Despite being clearly unfit for incarceration, Dominado was ordered by the court to be remanded to a local jail, which has no health facility. A local doctor issued a medical certificate without even taking vital signs. His daughter was not allowed to accompany him. His bags containing his medical effects were not allowed inside the Pototan prison facility.

The treatment and acts of humiliation by the police and courts against Dominado grossly violates his basic democratic rights. We join the family and friends of Dominado for him to be brought to a hospital and be immediately released.

The charges of murder against Dominado are clearly manufactured to depict him as a criminal. They desperately want to obscure the fact that he is a revolutionary who has dedicated his entire life to the people’s national democratic aspiration, and punish him severely for serving the oppressed and exploited masses.

The inhumane treatment and humiliation of Dominado over the past days is testament to the gross state of human rights in the Philippines under the US-Marcos fascist regime. This is what Marcos has to offer today as the Filipino people mark International Human Rights Day.

In its desperation to silence the people and suppress their democratic struggles, Marcos is unleashing state terrorism all over the country, perpetrating extrajudicial killings, abductions and unlawful arrests against civilians who are being persecuted for being supporters of the revolutionary movement.

We join Tomas Dominado’s family, friends and lawyers in demanding that he and his aide, be immediately released from prison and brought to a medical facility where he could be given the necessary care that he fully deserves.

#international #philippines #cpp

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Marcos regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the arrest of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Porferio Tuna last October 2 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. We demand that all his rights be respected, including his right to a lawyer of his own choosing, and that he be immediately released.

Tuna served as peace consultant of the NDFP during negotiations with the Philippine government in Norway in 2016. He provided the Negotiating Panel of the NDFP with valuable information regarding the situation of the peasants, plantation workers and minority people in the Southern Mindanao, in order for the NDFP to effectively represent and advance their interests in negotiating and crafting an agreement on comprehensive socioeconomic reforms.

The arrest and detention of Tuna clearly aims to punish him for having served as peace consultant of the NDFP. His arrest is a brazen violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), an agreement between the Philippine government and the NDFP which prohibits either side from committing acts of reprisal against each other’s peace negotiators and personnel. His arrest does not help build confidence in efforts to further peace negotiations.

While in jail, he is being ganged up by military officers as well as by traitors turned military agents, to force him to turn his back against his principles and the people’s national democratic cause. He is being subjected to intense psychological torture, with threats against him and his loved ones, if he does not surrender to the fascists.

The charges against Tuna are bogus, and like the experience of around 800 political prisoners, are concocted with the aim of keeping him in jail for a long time.

We call on all local and international human rights organizations, peace advocates and democratic groups to help secure Tuna’s release, in order to allow him to continue his work as a peace consultant and serve the people, especially the plantation workers and peasants of Davao region.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NDFP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and all revolutionary forces condemn the U.S. government and military for reneging on its earlier declaration to withdraw its Typhon missile system from the Philippines by September. The CPP also condemns Marcos and his defense officials for making excuses for the U.S.’ failure to keep its promise.

Based on reports and satellite images, the Typhon system remains positioned at the Laoag International Airport in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. The airport is not even on the list of “agreed locations” under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The CPP condemns the U.S. for using the Philippines as a strategic military base to deploy weapons that can be used for aggression and attacks against its enemies and rivals. This is a brazen display of contempt for, and a flagrant violation of Philippine sovereignty. This is similar to how the U.S. used the Philippines to launch wars of aggression in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the past.

By strategically placing the Typhon missile system at the northern part of the country, the U.S. is already using the Philippines to threaten China with strikes. The Typhon system is capable of launching cruise missiles with ranges exceeding 1,600 kilometers. This is in line with the U.S. “first-island chain” strategy to contain China.

The Typhon missile system, along with all U.S. military bases, vessels and facilities in the Philippines, are all magnets of attack. The Chinese and Russian governments have made explicit statements about this. This makes the Philippines a likely target of U.S. enemies in the event of an armed conflict, which absolutely runs counter to the interests of the Filipino people.

The U.S. military forces’ permanent presence in country the prevents the Philippines from pursuing an independent foreign policy. This hinders the country from establishing peaceful and friendly relations with China and all other countries based on mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty.

The CPP reiterates the Filipino people’s demand for the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. Typhon missile system along with all US troops and weapons in the Philippines. All US military bases and facilities must be dismantled. The Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and all other unequal military treaties must be abrogated to allow the Philippines to stand up as a self-respecting sovereign country.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement #AntiWarMovement

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) gives its highest tribute to Maria Concepcion Araneta-Bocala (Ka Concha), Vicente Hinojales (Ka Hadjie/Ka Emil) and the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay. They are Party cadres and Red fighters of the New People’s Army who died resisting the Marcos fascist regime, defending the rights of the oppressed masses of workers and peasants, and fighting alongside the Filipino people to attain their centuries-long aspirations for genuine freedom and democracy.

Ka Hadjie, Ka Concha, along with Aurelio B. Bosque (Ka Zarco/Baijan/Rio), Jose Jerry Tacaisan (Ka Miller/Bronze), Bemjamin Cortel (Ka Amor/Ruby/Mamang), Romulo Iturriaga Gangoso (Ka Reagan/Biboy/Pedik), Jielmor Gauranoc (Ka Doc/Tango/Baron), Juvylene Silverio (Ka Kaykay/Purang), Armando Savariz (Ka Nene/Kulot), Rewilmar Torrato (Ka Minerva/Mara/Moray) and John Paul Capio (Ka Ronron) were killed in a series of armed encounters with the bloodthirsty fascist troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from August 5 to 15 in Calinog and Lambunao towns, Iloilo province, and last August 24 in Valderrama, Antique.

They are martyrs of the broad masses of the Filipino people, and heroes of the Philippine revolution. They devoted their lives to the interests of workers, peasants and all democratic classes, in their struggle against all forms of oppression and exploitation in the country, and to attain national and social liberation.

The Party honors the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay with the highest distinction. Their deaths are a great loss to the masses of Panay and the Filipino people and weigh heavily on our hearts. We express our deepest sympathies to their families, the revolutionary forces and the oppressed and exploited people of Panay, and share with them profound grief. At the same time, we express our indignation at the Marcos fascist terrorist regime that continues to wage a brutal war of suppression against the Filipino people.

We give our highest honors to Ka Hadjie, member of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Panay Regional Party Committee. He was among the younger cadres of the Party who have assumed important roles in leading the revolution in the past years. He assumed leadership of the Panay region in 2016, after having played an important part in the comprehensive growth of the revolutionary struggles in Northeast Mindanao from 2006 to 2016. Over the past years, Ka Hadjie and cadres of the Panay Regional Committee have led the revolutionary forces in the region in resisting the relentless and brutal campaign of the Marcos fascist regime. He was 55.

We also pay special tribute to Ka Concha, who dedicated her long life to the revolutionary cause. She started to work full-time as a cadre organizer in 1972. Other than serving as a key official of the Party’s Regional Committee in Panay, she was also assigned as consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in peace negotiations. Ka Concha abandoned all the comforts and privilege of the landlord class, and joined the oppressed peasant masses and Tumandok people in their struggle for land and justice. She would have turned 74 this August 26.

The names of the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay will forever be etched in the collective memory of the Filipino people. Their contributions to the people’s democratic revolution will never be forgotten. Their lives of revolutionary service will always serve as inspiration to the people.

We call on all revolutionary forces of Panay and the entire Filipino people to remember the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay. Let us conduct memorial meetings to pay tribute and honor their revolutionary deeds. Let us draw courage and determination from their examples and pledge to commit ourselves to continue the people’s struggle and armed resistance to achieve the people’s aspiration for genuine freedom and democracy.

While some Party cadres and revolutionary leaders in Panay have fallen, other leaders of the Party in the region are now picking up the mantle of leadership. Amid the worsening crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal system, aggravated by the anti-people and anti-national policies of the Marcos regime, more and more young workers and people, from both cities and rural areas, are heeding calls to join the Party and the New People’s Army. They are driven by the urgency of fighting back against the fascist and oppressive regime.

The broad masses of Filipino people have no option but to fight back against the abuses and ruthless war of the Marcos regime directed against them. Marcos uses the AFP to serve the interests of multinational corporations, their local big bourgeois comprador business partners, big landlords and bureaucrat capitalists. Peasants and minority people in their millions are being dispossessed of their land and driven away by Marcos and the AFP to make way for mining operations, plantations, dams, tourism and crony infrastructure projects.

Marcos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are fooling only themselves when they claim that they can crush the armed revolution this year or next. Despite having experienced setbacks, the New People’s Army, under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is resolute in its determination to wage armed resistance relentlessly.

Inspired by the rectification movement, and driven by the desire to fight for the interests of the broad masses, Red fighters and commanders of the NPA are giving their earnest to surmount all obstacles, face all difficulties, overcome past errors, wage guerrilla warfare and launch tactical offensives, carry out mass work, help advance the peasant struggle for genuine land reform and build the organized strength of the masses. With the boundless support of the masses, it is only a matter of time that the NPA will recover from losses and regain strength.

No amount of state terrorism will stop the broad masses of the Filipino people from advancing their national and democratic cause. They are unwavering in their resolve to defend their rights and resist the Marcos puppet and fascist regime, the current most concentrated expression of the oppressive and exploitative ruling system.

Imbued with the spirit of selflessness and courage of the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay, they will wage all forms of struggle against the US-Marcos fascist regime, advance the people’s war, and carry forward the struggle for national and social liberation until victory.

Let the memory of the August Heroes and Martys of Panay live forever! Inspired by their sacrifices, persevere in the national democratic revolution!

Long live the New People’s Army!

Long live the National Democratic Front of the Philippines!

Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!

Long live the Filipino people!

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement #NDFP #NPA

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) calls on the Filipino people to expose and condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), specifically the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, for unlawfully imposing a military lockdown on the peasant communities of Northern Samar, and subjecting thousands of people to onerous policies and measures. People of barangays Hitapian and San Vicente in Catubig town, as well as Barangay San Jose in Mapanas town have been placed under lockdown since July 19.

In the guise of counterinsurgency, the military treat the peasant masses like prisoners in their own communities. The presence and abuses committed by soldiers have devastated people’s livelihood. The military forbids the people from leaving their homes without first obtaining permission from the soldiers and signing a logbook. They are permitted only a limited time to work on their land. They are forbidden from bringing rice to their fields or swidden farms, for fear that people will give these to the NPA. Even small store owners are forced to log every purchase.

Soldiers brandishing their weapons occupy barangay civilian structures. They engage in and promote anti-social activities such as gambling, drinking, and selling and using shabu. They fire their weapons in the middle of the night to strike fear among the people.

The AFP employs state repression and terror tactics to stop people from supporting the New People’s Army. They expose the falsehood of their claims that the NPA no longer enjoys the broad support of the people. In doing so, however, they are only succeeding in rousing the people’s revolutionary outrage and stirring them to further tighten their bonds with the people’s army.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement

The unjust guilty verdict handed down by the Tagum Regional Trial Court against Rep. France Castro, former Rep. Satur Ocampo and several other individuals, is a direct attack of the fascist US-Marcos regime against the democratic and patriotic forces of the Filipino people. We join the broad masses of the Filipino people in roundly condemning this grave act of political persecution.

It is a gross political and historical distortion that Castro, Ocampo et al are being painted as criminals for rescuing and providing safe haven for lumad Manobo children and their teachers amid the attacks by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against their community in 2018. The military occupation of the villages in Talaingod was carried out on direct orders by then president Duterte himself to shut down more than 200 Lumad community schools, purportedly for being part of the education program of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army for Lumad communities. The indigenous villages of Talaingod and many other towns in Mindanao are still under military rule to this day.

The conviction is obviously an opening shot of the fascist Marcos regime against the Makabayan coalition of patriotic and democratic parties, which has recently announced plans to vie for senate seats in the upcoming elections. This forms part of the Marcos regime’s campaign to stifle the people’s dissent. This will surely backfire against the US-Marcos regime as it will only rouse further the indignation of the masses of the Filipino people who are suffering from gross oppression, exploitation and political repression under their rule.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement