New York, NY – On September 21, BAYAN North East and affiliated organizations rallied and marched to mark the 49th anniversary of martial law imposed by then-Philippines Dictator Ferdinand Marcos and to oppose the repression unleashed by the current President Rodrigo Duterte.

The event began at 4:30 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza near the United Nations, where President Duterte was speaking at the General Assembly. All this was happening as the International Criminal Court was launching an investigation of the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines, which has killed over 26,000 people and resulted in countless human rights violations.

Once the first rally ended, forces marched to the Philippine Consulate where they were joined by even greater numbers. Up 75 people loudly chanted and denounced the horrific dictatorship, martial law and the Duterte regime.

As Duterte’s presidency comes to an end, the national democratic movement and its allies are still faced with his presence looming over. He has launched a vicious red-tagging campaign that targets anyone who disagrees with his policies. He is also running as vice-president in an effort to remain in power.

However, the protesters were not demoralized by Duterte nor his tactics. Instead, speeches recalled the valiant struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, addressed what the national democratic movement is currently doing and noted how repression will always be met with resistance.

Mike Legaspi led a chant, “In 1986 we ousted a dictator! In 2022, we’ll do it again!”

Collin Poirot, a member of the New York Community Action Project, spoke on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild. He said that many times, the legal defense is one of the last strategies when it comes to state repression, and it’s vital that people’s lawyers stand in solidarity with the workers and communities fighting against dictatorship.

While the struggle against Duterte’s regime continues, forces in New York and New Jersey are ready to meet the challenge head on.

#NewYorkNY #Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #RodrigoDuterte #BAYANUSANortheast

State terrorism under the Duterte tyranny continues to intensify under the wrongly named Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL), enacted exactly a year ago today. Duterte’s police and military forces have carried out heightened systematic attacks against civilians as part of his desperate war to suppress the people’s democratic resistance and his scheme to perpetuate himself in power.

The CPP is one with the broad democratic forces of the Filipino people in demanding the repeal of the draconian ATL.

In wielding the ATL, Duterte and his fascist thugs are proving that the widely questioned law is anti-democratic and violates fundamental civil and political rights. The designation of the Party and the New People’s Army (NPA) as “terrorists” was done on the whims of Duterte’s lieutenants on questionable legal grounds.

In designating the CPP and NPA, the real aim of Duterte’s fascist thugs is to use the law and its severe penalties against the legal democratic forces and political opposition who are being red-tagged or accused of consorting with the revolutionary forces.

On the basis of the designation of the CPP/NPA, a number of consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) active in peace negotiations were treacherously designated as “terrorists” by accusing them of being leaders of the CPP. If Duterte will have his way, it is only a matter of time that the ATL will be used against all his critics and rivals.

Emboldened by the ATL, security forces of the reactionary regime have gone on a sustained rampage of extrajudicial killings and massacres across the country targeting primarily peasant and worker mass leaders and activists, as well as peace consultants, human rights advocates and lawyers. Hundreds more have been subjected to unlawful arrests, abductions, harassment, forced “surrenders,” conscription and other forms of abuses by police and military forces.

Most of the victims of violations of human rights have been invariably tagged as supporters of the NPA by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to justify the spate of killings and abuses.

The state terrorist drive of the Duterte regime is in direct violation of prevailing international rules of war which stipulates the protection of the rights of civilians not taking part in armed hostilities. The regime’s attacks against civilians constitute grave war crimes.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalRepression #RodrigoDuterte #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippinesCPP #JunkTheAntiTerrorismLaw

On International Human Rights Day, December 10, the Philippine National Police raided the homes and jailed Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines; Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila; Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila; Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila; Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR); Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC), and journalist Lady Ann Salem, Communication Officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television and editor for the online news site Manila Today. The raids allegedly generated an armory of high-powered rifles and explosives in each of the residences searched.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's repressive regime has killed at least 8,000 people in an alleged “war on drugs” targeting opponents of the regime, including human rights defenders, trade unionists, and land rights activists. In July, Duterte imposed a draconian anti-terror law making it even easier to crush his opponents.

Duterte’s repression has been enabled by supplies of U.S. weaponry and military aid in excess of $500 million since 2016, the year Duterte took power.

We strongly condemn the repression unleashed against leading trade unionists in the Philippines and demand the immediate release of the Human Rights Day 7.

We call on Congress to immediately pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) which would “suspend United States security assistance to the Philippines until such time as human rights violations by Philippine security forces cease and the responsible state forces are held accountable.”

Dian Palmer

President, SEIU Local 73

#UnitedStates #Philippines #SEIULocal73 #RodrigoDuterte #HumanRightsDay7 #Asia

Rampant harassment and terroristic acts by the state towards the people made it clear that the Duterte administration does not aim to resolve all the crises brought out by the pandemic, according to Labor NGO Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER).

EILER firmly stands with all the peasant rights defenders and demands accountability for the brutal killings of Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis, 72; Reken Remasog, 24, and Zara Alvarez, 39.

Ka Randy was a peace consultant and genuine agrarian reform advocate. He was murdered in the wee hours of August 10 in Novaliches, hours after the World Indigenous People’s Day.

Reken was amputated and shot dead by the elements of 62nd IB of the Philippine Army last Friday, August 14, 2020, in Sitio Maluy-a, Brgy. Sandayao, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. Zara, a known peace advocate, peasant rights defender, and churchgoer, was shot dead at 8 PM yesterday in Eroreco, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

Moreover, Reken’s younger brother, Reniel, 17, was illegally arrested with two other minors namely Meriam Benero, 17, and Mary Ann Pesculado, 15. All young rights defenders are currently detained and in the custody of the 62nd IB and are facing trumped-up charges.

The Philippines is considered the deadliest country in Asia, and second-worst worldwide, for environmental and land rights defenders according to Global Witness. Almost half of the activists killed since the President took control were national minorities, farmers, and environmental defenders from basic sectors. Also, for the fourth time in a row, the Philippines is one of the ten worst countries for working people due to numerous labor rights violations, according to the ITUC Global Rights Index. Prior to that, from 2014 to 2016, the Philippines has also been included in the Global Rights Index list of countries with no guarantee of labor rights.

The country is now experiencing the worst economic recession in ASEAN as Philippine economy shrinks 16.5 percent in the second quarter according to Philippine Statistics Authority.

“Using the pandemic as a guise to attack critics, activists and ordinary people is the main response of the Duterte Administration,” EILER Executive Director Rochelle Porras said.

“The reports on the 22.9 percent and 15.8 percent plunge in the industry and services sectors respectively is just a tip of the iceberg—more than 27 million workers are displaced, hundreds of thousands are infected, and the legitimate demands of the people are being tagged as subversive. Ka Randy participated in peace negotiations and was active in advancing the proposal for the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) that is an essential part of the workers’ movement towards national industrialization,” Porras added.

“We are one with the family and friends of the slain rights defenders in mourning. We must put an end to the attacks and violence perpetrated among our rights defenders and workers. We strongly support the demand for justice and accountability,” Porras concluded.

Justice for Randy Echanis, Reken Remasog and Zara Alvarez! End state fascism under Duterte administration!

#Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #RodrigoDuterte

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Chief Political Consultant.

While it is frenziedly engaged in state terrorism and suppression of democratic rights in the Philippines, the Duterte regime has submitted to the UN Human Rights Office a 137-page report entitled “The Philippine Human Rights Situationer May 2020” to achieve two malicious purposes:

1) to make false accusations against the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’ Army and the National Democratic Front; and

2) to slander and vilify the human rights organizations and the victims who have presented well-founded complaints of human rights violations against the regime.

The declared purpose of the malicious report is to accuse the revolutionary forces of committing “crimes and atrocities” against the very people whose support they are relying on and whom they are fighting for. But in fact the real main purpose of the report is to slander and vilify the human rights organizations and victims of human rights violations as mere instruments of the revolutionary movement that is also glibly accused of being adept at “exploiting human rights and democratic spaces.”

The report carries a wild and wanton witchhunt list of alleged communist-created underground, front organizations, alliances, and networks. The list works on the malicious presumption of guilt by association, which makes the legal democratic forces and human right defenders as guilty of terrorism as the victims of human rights violations whom they defend against state terrorism.

The report goes so far as to accuse the human rights defenders of “weaponizing” human rights and using UN platforms and legal spaces to advance anti-human rights and anti-democratic political agenda, as the result of “communists” using sectoral-organizing work “for political manipulation and agitation, influence operations, and as a tool for launching diplomatic offensives against the state.”

The report lacks credibility because it comes from a regime that is accountable for gross and systematic violations of human rights and for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. This regime has not been honestly responsive to the complaints of human right violations and has allowed these to be violated with impunity and without letup. A new law of state terrorism has been adopted by the Duterte regime to realize a full blown fascist dictatorship.

The main line of attack of the report against the CPP, NPA and NDFP is that they are responsible for the “cost of 60,000 lives and destruction of billions of public infrastructure” in the civil war that has been going on between the revolutionary movement of the people and the reactionary government of big compradors, landlord and bureaucrat capitalists.

In fact, more than 90 percent of the lives lost in the civil war have been snuffed out by the reactionary armed forces and police in campaigns of military suppression waged against the civilian population in areas suspected of being under the people’s democratic government, especially after successful tactical offensives by the people’s army.

The people’s army is carrying out guerrilla warfare and is not destroying any public infrastructure. What is destructive to public interest and economic development is the pork barrel corruption involved in the overpricing of real or imaginary infrastructure projects by the office of the president and his political stooges in Congress.

Since the time of Marcos, the Duterte regime has been the most destructive to economic development because of its extreme corruption, military overspending, cheap sale of natural resources to foreign companies and the mounting foreign debt due to growing trade and budgetary deficits. Superprofits have been taken away from the country through the extreme exploitation of workers and through land seizures from poor peasants and indigenous peoples by logging, mining, plantation and real estate companies.

Duterte has terminated the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations despite the landmark Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the substantial advance in the drafting of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, featuring mainly a program of genuine land reform and national industrialization that would have been financed by income expected from the development of oil and gas resources in the West Philippine Sea (with estimated value of at least USD 26 trillion) if not for Duterte’s sell-out of Philippine sovereign rights to China.

But the traitorous, tyrannical, genocidal and corrupt Duterte has been hell-bent on gunning for a fascist dictatorship, on getting US military assistance under the Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines (beyond the human rights oversight of the US Congress), on laying aside the sovereign rights of the Filipino people over the exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea and on obtaining graft-laden loans from China at high interest for overpriced infrastructure projects worth USD 24 billion. Thus, he has terminated the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations since 2017 by scapegoating the CPP, NPA and NDFP.

In its report, the Duterte regime boasts of being capable of destroying the revolutionary movement of the Filipino people but is anyway asking for the support from the international community for a scheme of state terrorism and fascist dictatorship, a brutal scheme that is now so notorious and well exposed to the people of the world. In fact, the regime is far more incapable of destroying the armed revolutionary movement than any previous reactionary regime.

Duterte has bankrupted the Philippine economy and his own government. His regime has aggravated the crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system. It imposes the most intolerable forms of oppression and exploitation on the people. Thus, it has incited the people to join the armed revolution at a time when the revolutionary forces are far stronger nationwide than during the Marcos fascist dictatorship which Duterte emulates in his futile drive to destroy the revolutionary movement.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #JoseMariaSison #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #JunkTerrorBill

Wage all forms of protest and resistance to junk Duterte's Terror Law and end the regime of state terrorism

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) joins the rest of the democracy-loving Filipinos in condemning Rodrigo Duterte for the signing of Republic Act 11479, inappropriately titled Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. Duterte signed the law in contempt of widespread opposition by broad democratic sectors of Philippine society as well as international human rights advocates.

In the guise of fighting terrorism, Duterte has appropriated powers that contravenes basic civil and political rights and extends the authority of the president as stipulated by the reactionary 1987 constitution. He and his Anti-Terror Council have impinged on judicial powers and can now subject anyone it designates a “terrorist” to arrest and 16-24 day detention.

Duterte and his security officials have peddled the law on state terrorism on claims that it will help their fight against the New People’s Army, which is a revolutionary army, not a terrorist organization. In fact, there is nothing in Duterte’s state terror law that will stop the growth of the NPA which continues to gain in strength because of widespread social injustice and national oppression, especially landlessness, poverty and military abuses in the countryside. On the contrary, worsening state terrorism will only drive more and more people to join the NPA.

The real aim of Duterte’s terror law is to terrorize and cow the people. It will serve as an instrument of widespread state terrorism. Providing a vague and overly broad definition of terrorism, the law gives Duterte vast powers and prerogative to designate as “terrorist” or “terrorist supporters” anyone who criticizes, opposes, defies or challenges his regime. This will put on steroids the red-tagging campaign against progressive and democratic forces, including unionists, peasant leaders, social activists, human rights advocates, stalwarts of the Moro people's rights, environmentalists, opposition parties, journalists, lawyers and others. Duterte’s law on state terror is bound to further worsen abuse of power by state forces which are notorious for committing extrajudicial killings, surveillance and unlawful arrests and other gross violations of human rights under Duterte's fake drug war, war against the Moro people and war of suppression in the guise of anticommunism and counterinsurgency. In the countryside, Duterte's fascist terrorist forces have committed murders and massacres, aerial bombings, abductions and other abominable crimes. With the signing yesterday of Duterte's Terror Law, the last brick of his House of Tyranny is complete. Through legal fiat, the entire country is now under Duterte's complete dictatorial rule. It bolsters Duterte's scheme of fascist dictatorship and ambition of extending his now 4-year rule to an eternal reign of state terrorism, corruption and national treachery.

Duterte's Terror Law tears away whatever is left of the ruling state's trappings of democracy. With a rubberstamp Congress, a compliant Supreme Court, a puppet Comelec/Smartmatic, and now with extraordinary power, Duterte has now placed the entire reactionary government under his virtually unquestioned authority and limitless power.

Duterte signed the Terror Law while the country faces Covid-19 pandemic and the regime's failed militarist response. This has justly roused the Filipino people's indignation, especially the workers, the urban semiproletariat and pettybourgeoisie, who have suffered the most from Duterte's militarist lockdown measures and lack of health response. Duterte has displayed utter lack of concern and utter incompetence in leading the country to overcome the pandemic. By prioritizing the Terror Law, Duterte has caused his further isolation.

With the Terror Law, Duterte is poised to use the full powers of the fascist state against the people, in the same manner that Marcos used martial law to suppress all democratic forces. In the face of these threats, the people must be ready to defend their legal rights. At the same time, they must be prepared to fight wisely. They can employ clandestine methods to protect and preserve the people’s organizations, as well as online precautions to fight and defeat state terrorist surveillance and all-out attacks once the full force of the law is unleashed. Undoubtedly, however, Duterte’s acts of state terrorism will only ignite greater resistance.

The Party is one with the Filipino people in their fight against Duterte's Terror Law. It urges all well-meaning people in the bureaucracy, military and police to abandon the rotten regime. The Party calls on the international community to withdraw recognition of the Duterte's regime of state terror.

The Party encourages the Filipino people to stand up, get organized and unite in a broad front, and vigorously resist Duterte's Terror Law and fight for their democratic rights. The time to be quiet and timid is over. They must wage street marches and protest and all other forms of resistance in their numbers in order to muster enough strength to clamor for the scrapping of Duterte's Terror Law and demand his resignation and the ouster of his regime of state terrorism.

The Party also directs the New People's Army to support the people's resistance against Duterte' Terror Law by defending the people against the state terrorist forces. While the NPA continues to exert efforts at extending health and economic services to the people amid the Covid-19 pandemic, its units and Red fighters must heed the people's aspiration for justice and mete out punishment against the fascist terrorists.

Junk Duterte's Terror Law! Oust the US-Duterte regime!

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #AntiTerrorBill

“The Party calls on local and international environmentalist and human rights advocates to look into the escalating incidents of abuses perpetrated by the Duterte fascist regime against anti-mining communities while fast-tracking the enactment of the fascist Anti-Terror Bill (ATB),” stated Marco L. Valbuena, Information Officer, Communist Party of the Philippines.

The victims were arrested during the conduct of a raid by the joint elements of the police, military and local barangay officials in the said community at around 3:30 a.m.

Ayuma and his companions are not members of the New People's Army (NPA), contrary to the claims of the military and police.

Arrested with Ayuma were Lumads Pablita Hilogon, Glenn Hilogon, Bambi Hilogon, Toto Hilogon, Jun-Jun Ayoman, and Jesson Langka, all members of the Kalumbay Lumad Organization. The victims were originally from Sitio Camansi, Barangay Banglay in Lagonglong town, and were among residents who evacuated from the said community in 2018 due to intense military operations and attacks against them.

The victims have long been subjected to red-tagging and harassment by the regime's National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), because of their leading their community's opposition against expansion plans of multinational companies in the area.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersAndGlobalization #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #PoliticalPrisoners #EnvironmentalJustice #PoliticalRepression #RodrigoDuterte #AntiTerrorBill

According to Marco L. Valbuena, Information Officer, Communist Party of the Philippines, “The killing spree clearly aims to terrorize the peasant masses amid growing political and socioeconomic unrest across the country. These were perpetrated at a time that the Duterte fascist regime is fast-tracking the enactment of the fascist Anti-Terror Bill. It forms part of the efforts of the regime to establish its unquestioned military and police powers under its undeclared martial law rule.”

On Saturday, farmers Zaldy Meraya and Bebe Tobino were killed by joint elements of the 20th IB and the Northern Samar Police Mobile Force Company. At around 10 a.m., soldiers and police indiscriminately strafed their hut in Barangay Bagacay, Palapag, Northern Samar. Meraya's wife and two children were injured in the shooting. Later that evening, Harold Tablazon and Glenn Bunda were ambushed and killed by suspected state agents at Sitio Passi, Barangay Mayang in Tubungan town, Iloilo province. Tablazon was a member of the Federation of Iloilo Farmers Association, an affiliate of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. Bunda, was Sangguniang Kabataan Chairman in their village. Both worked as solar panel installers.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) have recently been stepping up its attacks against rural communities. The attacks have heightened specifically in Samar and Bicol marked by rising numbers of killings and incidents of massacres,” states Valbuena.

#Philippines #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CPP #Socialism #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #peasant

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the arrest of 76 activists and relief volunteers by police elements in Metro Manila and Iloilo on Labor Day.

“The Duterte regime marked Labor Day with mass arrests to stifle dissent and muffle criticism in its desperation to cover up its ineptness and failure to address the hunger and plight of the working class amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” said CPP Chief Information Officer Marco L. Valbuena.

“Using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse, Duterte is flexing his martial law muscles to impose an undemocratic ‘new normal’ of heightened repression, accelerated implementation of neoliberal policies and unchecked corruption,” Valbuena added.

Ten volunteers were arrested in Marikina while conducting a feeding program for urban poor residents. Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro ordered the release of the victims asserting that they observed physical distancing. The police, however, refused to comply and continued to detain the victims.

In Quezon City, eighteen youth volunteers were arrested while conducting a feeding program in Barangay Central. Four activists were also arrested for protesting at home and posting their demands on social media. Two others were arrested in Rodriguez, Rizal.

Forty-two individuals were arrested in Jaro, Iloilo City while preparing for a caravan to condemn the recent killing of relief worker Jory Porquia. The police is set to charge Porquia’s daughter, colleagues and seven journalists with various criminal charges.

Meanwhile, elements of the 202nd Infantry Brigade illegally arrested 16 Coca-Cola workers in Santa Rosa, Laguna on April 30. The victims were brought to Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba City and were then presented before the media as “surrendered” members of the New People’s Army on Labor Day.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #MayDay #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) vigorously condemns President Rodrigo Duterte for threatening the imposition of martial law against the Filipino people to force them to comply with his disastrous anti-people policies in his alleged combating of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On television on April 16, 2020, he made this threat declaring that the people had better comply because he is ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take charge of enforcing his lock down in the whole of Luzon and forcing the people to follow his orders on the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). He has assigned the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assist the AFP.

President Duterte in his lock down order on Metro Manila and the whole Luzon, has caused more than 700 companies to close. Millions of workers are rendered jobless. He has also ordered a transportation shut down. Hundreds of thousands have to walk to their work. A man had to walk several kilometers from the hospital to his home, carrying the dead body of his son.

Hungry residents of San Roque who came out to protest because they were hungry were arrested and put in jail. Yesterday, former House Representative Ariel Casilao and five others who were bringing relief goods to residents in Norzagaray, Bulacan were stopped at a police checkpoint. They and seven residents who met them to receive the goods were also arrested. Up to now they are in police custody.

President Duterte should be reminded that his idol, President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law in 1972 was finally overthrown by a mass uprising of millions, and escaped only with the help of the United States. He was brought to safety in Hawaii. We also remind President Duterte when Marcos started on the ill-fated track of fascist dictatorship, he was far younger than the current president in his mid-70s. And the social and economic conditions are now far worse.

The NDFP believes that President Duterte has another option. Instead of intensifying his oppression of the Filipino people to the extent that his overthrow becomes a possibility, he could issue an extension of the unilateral ceasefire that expired on April 15. This would heed the call of the United Nations Secretary General for a global ceasefire to combat the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the call of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP). The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has extended its unilateral ceasefire until April 30 “to prioritize the fight against the pandemic and ensure the safety, health and well-being of everyone.”

President Duterte could also heed the call of Michelle Bachelet, the Chairperson of the UN Human Rights Commission, to release all political prisoners. This will significantly improve the atmosphere for the resumption of peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP.

Luis Jalandoni

Member, Executive Committee and National Council

National Democratic Front of the Philippines

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #NationalDemocraticFrontOfThePhilippines #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #martialLaw

“The arrest shows the Duterte regime’s perverse priorities even amid the pandemic and utter contempt for the plight of the Filipino people. Instead of focusing on efforts to ensure the welfare of the people suffering under the restrictive lockdown, it has intensified the fascist clampdown against activists even when they are conducting relief work,” stated Valbuena.

“The arrest of the activists is clearly the handiwork of Duterte’s military-led National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which is also the real core behind his COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force. The one-track minded militarists are anti-democratic zealots who want every aspect of society under the control of the military and are intolerant of people’s initiatives. These are the same generals who have criminally bungled the Philippines' anti-COVID response due to their ineptness, inefficiency and fascist mindset,” continued Valbuena.

Casilao and five other volunteers were set to deliver relief goods to farmers when they were apprehended at a checkpoint at 10:15 a.m., April 19. They were brought to the Norzagaray police station, along with seven residents who were supposed to receive aid, and were detained there for two hours. They were then brought to the Bulacan Police Provincial Office in Malolos where they are being held until today.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Asia #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #PoliticalRepression #RodrigoDuterte #COVID19

Over the past few days the Armed Forces of the Philippines (APF) has stepped up in its propaganda drive against the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army (NPA) in a desperate attempt to discredit the ongoing public health and economic campaign of the people's army and the mass organizations to help the efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an April 11, statement from Marco L. Valbuena, Information Officer, Communist Party of the Philippines, “The AFP's anti-NPA propaganda drive smacks of pure lies and accusations based solely on AFP-manufactured information. What we know is that the broad masses who are gripped by fear of the COVID-19 welcome the NPA's public health campaign. They feel empowered because their awareness and understanding is raised by the information drive. They are enabled to plan and implement the necessary public health measures in their communities to prevent the spread of the disease.”

Valbuena continued, “In the face of the increasing threat of food shortage and hunger, they are also encouraged by the Party’s call to carry out emergency food production through cooperation to help them tide over the lockdown. All NPA units will continue to observe the Party's unilateral ceasefire which remains in effect until April 15 in order to concentrate its energy to attend to the urgent public health and economic needs of the people.”

The stepped-up psywar drive of the AFP shows that it has refused to be diverted from its costly counterinsurgency campaign, even when the country is being confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AFP aims to prevent the New People's Army from providing the people in the revolutionary territories with all forms of assistance in order to surmount the COVID-19 crisis.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Asia #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #NewPeoplesArmy #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #COVID19

The communist-led New People’s Army (NPA) inflicted more than 1000 casualties of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in 2019.

“The NPA continues to reap victories in the field despite massive and intensified combat operations by the AFP,” CPP Chief Information Officer Marco Valbuena announced today, March 29, on the NPA’s 51st founding anniversary.

Quoting the annual anniversary statement released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Valbuena said that the NPA carried out 710 military actions of varying scale in 2019, which include harassment, disarming, demolition, sapper and partisan operations, to punitive actions, raids on enemy detachments and ambuscades.

Valbuena pointed out that the AFP and other government forces suffered the equivalent of 30 platoons or two battalions. “At least 651 enemy troops were killed, while more than 465 were wounded in action,” said the Central Committee, citing reports of the NPA's National Operations Command.

The NPA is currently on ceasefire, in response to the call of the UN Secretary General for a global ceasefire. The Central Committee issued a unilateral declaration ordering all NPA units to cease and desist from launching offensives during the period effective March 26 to April 15, while remaining vigilant in the face of AFP offensives and maneuvers.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA are spearheading a massive effort to alleviate the spread and impact of the pandemic.

The NPA, especially its medical units, are working in coordination with revolutionary village health committees to help contain the disease, give special attention to the elderly and pregnant women, help care those who have been infected and promote personal hygiene and community sanitation.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Asia #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #NewPeoplesArmy #Socialism #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the Senate and the House of Representatives for railroading last night the bill that grants authoritarian powers to Rodrigo Duterte in the guise of emergency response to the threat of a Covid-19 epidemic.

Duterte is unscrupulously and shamelessly using the rising public health emergency to further reinforce his tyranny. Instead of strengthening the public health infrastructure, and mobilizing health personnel, he has placed Luzon and other parts of the country under military lockdown and gave the military and police additional powers to impose restrictions against the people.

By granting Duterte emergency powers, the Senate and House of Representatives, dominated by Duterte's minions, once again proved itself the tyrant's rubberstamp. It is a brazen and sickening act of obsequiousness.

If enacted, the bill will give Duterte powers similar to those of Marcos when he declared martial law in 1972 wherein he took over control of private establishments for his own aggrandizement, using the military and police to impose his authoritarian will.

Duterte's extraordinary powers will give him and his military and police cohorts a much wider latitude for corruption, while leaving the people shortchanged of necessary public health service.

The granting of extraordinary powers underscores Duterte's gross incompetence and failure to address the emerging public health emergency. Having cut the budget of the Department of Health, he has rendered the public hospitals and public health facilities incapable of carrying out mass testing, isolation and treatment of the growing number of patients infected by the Covid-19 disease.

He is using the Covid-19 threat to deny the people the right to travel and work, impose a curfew, leave millions of workers without wages and income, prohibit mass assemblies, and other measures that violate the people's civil and political rights.

The Filipino people are justly enraged and distrustful of the Duterte regime's militarist and antipeople response to the spread of the Covid-19. They are especially disgusted at how government officials were given priority in Covid-19 testing in the face of the scarcity of testing kits.

In the face of Duterte’s criminal incompetence, the call for his resignation or ouster is resonating among the people. The Filipino people must unite and act collectively in the face of the spread of the Covid-19, demand mass testing and other necessary public health measures to contain the spread of the disease, hold Duterte accountable for undermining the public health system and failing to act swiftly, and fight Duterte's emergency powers using the Covid-19 as pretext to impose authoritarian rule.

#Philippines #OppressedNationalities #Asia #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #COVID19

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Duterte regime's incompetence in providing concrete solutions in addressing the spread of COVID-19 in the country and using the scheduled lockdown to camouflage its intensified martial law in the national capital.

Rodrigo Duterte announced yesterday that the region will be locked down starting March 15 purportedly to stop the spread of the COVID-19. Around 12 million people will be barred from traveling to and from the region, whether by land, air or sea. Up to 3 million more workers from nearby provinces will have their movements restrained.

Failing to make restitution for cuts in the health budget and its failure to take decisive action at the onset of the disease outbreak, Duterte disregarded the deployment of health practitioners and setting up of adequate testing centers to contain the virus by providing accessible and immediate aid in affected areas. Instead, he ordered the massive deployment of armed state forces across the region. The Philippine National Police earlier announced its plan to dispatch around 40,000 cops should a lockdown be implemented. As per reports, police forces and soldiers are already stationed in key areas of Metro Manila for the lockdown.

In line with this, Duterte ordered his state forces to arrest anyone who will not abide by “their rules.” This marching order and the massive deployment of troops are reminiscent of martial law in Mindanao and under Marcos wherein cases of warrantless arrests and arbitrary detention were pervasive. The lockdown will be weaponized to silence dissenters,curtail the people's right to protest and just demands to address the spread of COVID-19.

Duterte’s approach to the pandemic reflects his militarism in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), whose warmongers spearhead his “counterinsurgency” campaign and at the same time comprise the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID), which was formed and tasked by Duterte to address the public health emergency.

Apart from this, Duterte has not presented concrete plans for Filipino workers who will be gravely affected by the said lockdown. Millions of Filipinos in the capital will be forced to live with pressed down incomes and under threat of COVID-19 infection. As of today, the virus has infected more than 128,000 people worldwide and has caused at least 4,717 deaths. The Duterte regime officially claims 52 local cases with five deaths.

The CPP calls on the Filipino people to vigorously protest the inutile and incompetent handling of the COVID-19 issue by the regime. They must demand adequate testing centers and accessible health services, and the pullout of state forces deployed even prior to the lockdown’s onset. They must stand against the implementation of the lockdown and condemn the Duterte regime for using it as pretext to justify intensified fascist attacks against civilians. They must defy martial law in Metro Manila. ###

#Philippines #OppressedNationalities #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) notice of termination takes effect after 180 days. The people cannot be sure that Duterte will not change his mind within that lengthy period. Previously, Duterte postured about terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement but after a few months allowed Balikatan exercises under VFA.

In the meantime, there are other military treaties with the US: Mutual Defense Treaty, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The EDCA allows the US military to rotate more of its troops in the Philippines and build facilities in Philippine military camps, using the Filipino puppet troops as security guards.

Duterte is beggarly dependent on US military supplies and advice. One telephone call from Trump can fix Duterte. His own pro-US military officers trained in US military forts and organized as assets of the US DIA and CIA will tell him to comply with US orders or else.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #NationalDemocraticFrontOfThePhilippines #JoseMariaSison #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #DonaldTrump

The Communist Party of the Philippines challenges GRP President Rodrigo Duterte to walk his talk and actualize the termination of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). For decades, the Filipino people have demanded the abrogation of the VFA which has allowed for the trampling of Philippine sovereignty by US military forces, as well as numerous human rights violations including rape and murder.

However, the Filipino people are keenly aware of Duterte's tirades against the US government while playing up China and Russia with the aim of being prized with economic and military aid. Now, Duterte traitorously dangles Philippine sovereignty as a bargaining chip for more US weapons and military funding to be used in his counterinsurgency and fake drug war. His recent histrionics are aimed at securing these funds currently being held off amid widespread condemnation of his regime's gross human rights violations.

For many decades, US military forces have dominated the country through unequal pacts as the Mutual Defense Treaty, the VFA, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines. These have allowed the US military to exercise operational control over the Armed Forces of the Philippines and maintain secret facilities and stockpile weapons within military camps which are off-limits even to the top brass of the AFP.

Duterte has for several times now, declared his intention to abrogate the EDCA or the VFA only to recant soon afterward. The Filipino people must vigorously push Rodrigo Duterte to finally scrap the VFA and other unequal military treaties. They must also call for the pullout of all foreign troops from Philippine territory. The Filipino people must express outrage at another Duterte backtrack.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #VisitingForcesAgreementVFA

According to reports, among those arrested in the raids were 40 members of the militant labor movement Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)/May First Movement. Leaders of the KMU have toured the U.S. in the past, speaking of their struggle for justice and a better way of life. They need our solidarity now. Also arrested were members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, women’s groups, patriotic movements, and organizations of the urban poor. The Duterte regime is trying to justify these raids and arrests with planted ‘evidence’ and attempts to whip up anti-communism.

Duterte’s raids and arrests in Negros, Samar and Metro Manila are signs of the regime’s weakness and growing isolation. In the cites and the rural areas, the broad masses of people are tired of a tyrannical, corrupt government and its foreign backers.

We stand with the national democratic movement in Philippines, which is fighting with all its strength for a country that has true democray, land reform, and better way of life for the broad masses of people.

We demand that U.S. troops get out of the Philippines and that all assistance to the corrupt Duterte regime come to and end.

Say no to the repression! Support the labor movement in Philippines! Support the just struggle of the Filipino people!

#UnitedStates #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #PoliticalRepression #RodrigoDuterte #Asia

New York, NY – Several dozen organizers and community members gathered outside the Philippine Consulate on 5th Avenue, November 4, to demand that the government of the Philippines release the 62 organizers of legal, mass organizations who were arrested Negros and Metro Manila.

The emergency rally was called as the Duterte Regime amped up its repression. On October 26, the military dropped 500-pound bombs on Samar Island to further crackdown on organizing. This was followed by raids on the regional offices of GABRIELA, BAYAN MUNA, and the National Federation of Sugar Workers on October 31. During these raids, 60 activists were arrested. There are reports that on November 4, a new slew of activists were also raided and arrested.

The NYC rally was organized by BAYAN North East and had speakers from various organizations in solidarity with the alliance, such as The International Action Center, NY Boricua Resistance, and the New York Community Action Project.

The protesters were out there for well over an hour and a half and ensured that the streets of New York not only heard their demands but heard their chants to oust the U.S.-Duterte regime!

#NewYorkNY #NewYorkCityNY #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #BAYAN #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #NationalFederationOfSugarWorkers

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns in the strongest terms the mass arrest of activist workers, peasants, women, and media practitioners over the past few days in Bacolod, Escalante and Manila. Police arrested and detained more than 60 people belonging to various sectoral organizations. More than five children were also accosted.

The CPP condemns the statement issued by Malacañang which makes the patently false claim that the arrested activists in Bacolod City were members of the New People's Army (NPA). This brazen lie aims to conceal the martial law crackdown on mass-based organizations.

The mass arrest marks a heightening of the Duterte regime's fascist drive against all democratic forces. It is a brazen display of force and abuse of state powers. It seeks to terrorize the people and their democratic forces. It aims to silence the broad masses against worsening oppression under the Duterte regime.

The mass arrest is an unbridled exercise of military and police power in Negros, which together with Bicol and Samar, are under Duterte's Memorandum Order 32. This is combined with Executive Order No. 70 through which Duterte has established a virtual civil-military junta and placed the entire country under undeclared martial law. The mass arrest is a dress rehearsal for a nationwide crackdown against all democratic forces.

Duterte's all-out campaign of suppression are driving the broad masses to join the revolutionary underground. In the face of Duterte's brutal fascist drive, many are encouraged to join the New People's Army or seek its protection.

The Party calls on the Filipino people and the broad democratic forces to condemn the Negros mass arrest and demand their immediate release. They must firmly oppose the attempt of the fascist regime to take away completely the people's democratic rights. They must rise up in protest, continue to defend their democratic rights, especially their right to organize and to oppose government treachery, corruption and tyranny.

The Party urges the NPA in Negros and across the country to heed the Filipino people's demand for justice against Duterte's abuses. They must exert all effort to mount tactical offensives against the AFP and PNP units, especially those behind fascist crimes.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #NewPeoplesArmy #PoliticalRepression #Socialism #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte