“It is farcical for the AFP to claim hundreds of ‘neutralizations’ after Marcos himself declared victory over the NPA last year,” said CPP Chief Information Officer Marco Valbuena. The military’s claims that 548 surrendered, that 49 were killed, 28 arrested, 25 NPA encampments captured, in fact, “all point to the fact that the NPA remains widespread and active.”

“If the NPA were as decimated as they claimed last year, where did all these hundreds of fighters and supporters spring from?” asked Valbuena, adding that these numbers are all made up as part of the counterinsurgency corruption scheme.

“How much do AFP generals and officers pocket for every ‘rebel’ they claim to have ‘neutralized’?” asked Valbuena. He said that these figures are shielded from independent verification and scrutiny. “It’s all just a scheme for corruption. The bigger the number, the bigger kickbacks for AFP leadership,” he said.

The CPP reiterated its long-standing criticism of the AFP’s “surrender” program (E-CLIP), noting that the military routinely rounds up civilian farmers and residents of rural communities, and forcing them to pose as “former NPA.” This practice, Valbuena noted, constitutes a gross violation of civil rights and of protection under international humanitarian law.

While acknowledging the loss of several red fighters in recent months, calling them the “best sons and daughters of the people,” Valbuena clarified that the actual number of martyrs is significantly lower than the 49 “killed in action” reported by the AFP.

“A number of these are civilians and non-combatants who were summarily executed by AFP soldiers, but portrayed as fighters who died in battle,” said Valbuena. “The AFP has a bloody record of murdering civilians, captured and wounded red fighters instead of treating them as prisoners of war. These are grave war crimes,” Valbuena said.

He cited the recent killing of 19 people in the “Toboso Massacre” in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, last April 19, which included at least nine unarmed individuals. Valbuena suspects that the AFP’s claims of 49 killed include the civilians and non-combatants it killed in Toboso.

The party concluded that as long as the fundamental roots of the armed conflict – landlessness, poverty and foreign subordination – remain unaddressed, no amount of manufactured AFP statistics can declare victory over the people’s resistance.

#International #Philippines #CPP

The entire Party and all revolutionary forces nationwide salute the heroism of the 10 fallen Red commanders who fought the fascist attackers in Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19. The people mourn the deaths of their beloved children who selflessly gave their entire lives to advance the interests of the oppressed masses in Negros and the entire people’s struggle for genuine freedom and democracy.

They also grieve the death of nine other unarmed individuals, including two children, who were mercilessly killed by the unhinged soldiers of the 79th IB. They include youths from the cities and other countries who went to Toboso to support the peasant and farm worker masses in their struggles to defend their right to land and livelihood.

In solidarity with the loved ones of those killed in Toboso, the people strongly clamor for justice. The memory of the lives of the nation’s best and finest children is forever etched in the consciousness of entire nation.

The broad masses of Negros demonstrated how they love and cherish their fallen Red commanders when hundreds of fellow villagers joined the funeral, defying fascist soldiers’ intimidation. Such a display of affection for the NPA further strengthens the Red commanders’ determination to continue their sacrifices in wholeheartedly serving the broad masses of the people.

The NPA suffered a heavy setback in Toboso. However, this is temporary and one which the masses and the people’s army will overcome by drawing bitter lessons. In memory of the martyrs who fell in Toboso, the NPA’s determination grows even stronger to ceaselessly strive along the shining yet arduous and winding path of revolutionary armed struggle. The NPA is fully resolved to take action to achieve justice for the victims of the Toboso massacre and for the thousands of other victims of the AFP’s fascist suppression in Negros and other parts of the country. From the land nourished by the Toboso martyrs’ blood will spring even more fighters who will rise and take up arms in various guerrilla zones and fronts throughout the country.

Although a dark chapter, the Toboso massacre sheds light on worsening conditions, the ongoing feudal oppression, the state’s fascist violence, and the extreme suffering of the peasant and farm worker masses in Negros, which impel them to rise and wage armed resistance. It further highlights the reasons why the masses must advance the armed revolution to defend against the oppressive ruling classes and their fascist attack dogs.

It further inflames the desire of even more youth, especially rural youth who directly suffer feudal oppression and fascist violence, to join the people’s army and contribute to the people’s struggle for national and social liberation. It also calls on urban intellectual youth to go to the countryside to learn from the masses and join in advancing the people’s war.

The NPA is steadily regaining strength throughout the country. It continues to expand and multiply the number guerrilla zones and areas to carry out mass work and launch tactical offensives. Wherever it expands in the countryside, the Red commanders are warmly welcomed and tightly embraced by the masses who are deeply desirous to defend their interests and rights. They know the NPA is their weapon against their class oppressors and exploiters. They eagerly join the people’s war as village self-defense forces, militias, or soldiers of the people’s army.

Class contradictions in the countryside are extremely sharp. Landlords employ worsening forms of taking away the resources created by peasants. There are widespread cases of land grabbing and eviction of peasants, as well as dispossession of fisherfolk’s fishing grounds. Corporations in mining or plantations of big foreign capitalists and comprador bourgeoisie relentlessly plunder and destroy the environment. The military imposes martial law to crush wherever the masses resist oppression.

For the oppressed masses, armed struggle is just and necessary. They can defend their lives and livelihoods only by arming themselves and fighting.

Revolutionary armed struggle is the primary form of struggle in advancing the protracted people’s war to end the oppressive and exploitative ruling system. Armed struggle advances alongside the various forms of people’s resistance, open and secret, legal and illegal, urban and rural. The people’s war is a peasant war since it mainly focuses on implementing the revolutionary program for land reform.

The people’s war is also a patriotic war aimed at opposing and overthrowing the neocolonial state and the mercenary AFP. It must advance even more now amid the US imperialists’ war preparations and the resultant intense crisis in the Philippines. In collusion with the Marcos puppet regime, the US and its allied imperialist powers’ military forces is turning the entire country into a springboard for imperialist war. They are now paving the way for American monopoly capitalists to take over exclusive control of the country’s land and minerals.

It is become ever clearer to the Filipino people that there is no other path towards salvation from imperialist domination and plunder other than the path of revolutionary armed struggle.

Let us set ablaze the path of the people’s war. Let us amplify the call for young workers, peasants, and intellectuals from the cities, and even overseas, to join the New People’s Army. Let us echo our call for the people to take part in carving the country’s a new history towards a future of freedom and prosperity.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #AngBayan #TobosoMassacre #Negros19

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