The chief imperialist predator Donald Trump is set to arrive in the country next month. With blood stained sharp claws and outstretched wings, he brings Pax Silica to fully seize the country’s land and wealth in the interest of American capitalists. Bringing oppressive schemes, he is certain to be met by the Filipino people with vigorous protest.

In various parts of the country, most especially in the vast countryside, resistance breaks out amid the worsening oppression of the broad masses of the people. Their suffering, hardship, hunger and plummeting living standards intensify as a result of the Marcos regime’s programs and policies that favor the interests of the ruling class and big foreign capitalists.

“Economic and security hub” in Tarlac, railways under the Luzon Economic Corridor, mining operations from Nueva Vizcaya, Mindoro, Romblon, Samar, to Caraga and Saranggani, “solar farm” in Nueva Ecija, airport in Bukidnon, “bamboo plantation” in Lanao. There is a push to accelerate, increase and expand logging, mining, plantations, tourism and energy projects, and infrastructure that grab hundreds of thousands of hectares and drive out tens of thousands of farmers and indigenous peoples from their land, and fisherfolk from their fishing grounds.

This worsens the widespread problem of peasant landlessness. The reactionary government’s four decades of land reform is a fraud. Seven out of 10 tillers still do not own land. This is most glaring in rice fields, sugarcane lands and vast haciendas and plantations, where the worst forms of feudal and semifeudal exploitation prevail. Day-long, back-breaking toil brings no promise of a better life amid high production and living costs, and losses due to low-balling and price manipulation of agricultural products. Farmers are drowning in debt to usurers and banks that exploit their desperate situation.

Intense militarization and fascist repression by military and police forces magnify these suffering. Where logging, mining, plantations or other land-grabbing enterprises encroach, there repression is most brutal. Martial law under the framework of “counter-insurgency” is imposed on barangays in the form of limiting people’s movements, including prohibiting peasant masses from working their fields, even during planting or harvest season.

Widespread fear comes with the approaching Super El Niño, which will devastate agriculture, cause further losses to peasant masses, and bring severe hunger in the countryside. The people’s anger rages amid the Marcos regime’s meaningless measures in the face of the impending disaster.

Frequent military exercises of the US and AFP also bring fear in the countryside. Beyond disrupting the livelihoods of peasant masses and fisherfolk, they also endanger their lives and destroy the environment that sustains them.

The widespread suffering in the countryside is the suffering of the entire nation. Peasant masses make up the majority of the Filipino people. They are the biggest productive force in the country. They are entire families who till the land, generating wealth, despite many of them being “invisible” in the reactionary state’s statistics.

The widespread conversion of agricultural lands destroys food production, deepening import dependence, causing the prices of rice, vegetables and other food products to further rise. The cost of living in the country relentlessly rises, while wages and incomes of the majority of the people remain low.

The severe situation in the countryside reflects the persistent crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal system. There is no genuine land reform and national industrialization. Agricultural production remains backward, productive jobs are severely lacking, especially amid mass displacements. More and more peasants become landless, and become farmworkers or semiproletarians in the countryside. To survive, they settle for seasonal work tied to agricultural production and commerce.

The deepening crisis and sharpening contradictions of the international monopoly-capitalist system further worsen the social and economic crisis in the country. The crisis in the countryside is particularly severe, driven by the push of American and transnational corporations to monopolize the plunder of the country’s natural resources, and pull down the prices of export products.

Driven by the aspiration for genuine land reform, enshrined in the program of the Party and of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the peasant masses have embarked on the struggle for national-democratic social change. Along this path, they unite to advance their immediate demands: for lowering of land rent in the form of changing the share in harvest and costs in favor of the peasants, wage increases for farmworkers and agricultural workers, elimination of usury and giving fair farmgate prices.

The anti-feudal struggles of peasant masses are linked with the struggle of the entire people to defend land rights against intensifying land-grabbing and plunder of the country’s wealth and patrimony. Thus, people in both cities and rural areas must unite. The countryside is virtually blanketed in tinder. The sparks of resistance will surely ignite a great fire of resistance.

Workers, semiworkers, young students, and other sectors in urban areas are challenged to head to the countryside and join hands with peasant masses in the struggle to advance their land rights, fight exploitation and defend the country’s patrimony.

All democratic classes and sectors are called to join the New People’s Army and take part in the peasant war, which is a major component of the people’s war. In the countryside, the NPA is continuously strengthening itself by tirelessly deepening and expanding its ties with the peasant masses. In the face of intensifying oppression, the NPA is determined to advance the armed struggle to support the struggles of peasant masses and the whole people.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines bestows the highest honors to Julia Cagadas-Lastimosa, revolutionary leader of North Central Mindanao Region (NCMR). The thousands upon thousands of workers, peasants and Lumad people knew her as Ka Rida, Ka Toyang, Ka Kayuka, Ka Tanya―whom they deeply loved for her simplicity, determination and dedication to serve all the oppressed and exploited.

Last Saturday, September 12, Ka Rida, 66, breathed her last. She fell in combat along with three other Red fighters of the New People’s Army, in an armed encounter with the fascist troops of the 26th Infantry Battalion, in Barangay Bakingking, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to the children, relatives and loved ones of Ka Rida. We also offer our sympathies to the friends and families of Ka Maki (Rocha Mae Bihag), Ka Doydoy (Tiloy Basahon) and Ka Kikoy (Ringo Lindayo). For having dedicated their lives to the cause of national liberation and true democracy, they are all heroes of the Filipino people. Their names are now forever etched in the walls of the people’s pantheon.

We extend our deepest condolences to the revolutionary forces of NCMR, many of whom crossed paths with Ka Rida as she mentored and guided countless young revolutionary activists and cadres. Ka Rida was among the leading cadres of the Regional Party Committee who led the growth of the revolutionary movement in NCMR over the past two decades.

Ka Rida hailed from a middle-peasant family in Barangay Bugo, on the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro City. She finished secondary school. She joined the Party in 1979 at age 19, and served as an organizer among workers and student youth. She later served as secretary of an armed partisan unit during the 1980s.

She was twice imprisoned by the enemy, but never for one moment bowed before the oppressors. In August 1989, she was arrested during the height of workers’ struggles in the country. Less than two months later, she joined others in a jailbreak, and swam across the mighty Cagayan River to freedom. She was arrested again by the enemy in 2003. She spent two years in the enemy’s prison, organizing fellow detainees to fight for their rights. She gained freedom as trumped-up charges against her were dismissed one after another.

Ka Rida firmly upheld the Second Great Rectification Movement in the 1990s to correct errors of military adventurism and urban insurrectionism. She later assumed the role of secretary of a front committee, and later served as secretary of a subregional committee (covering Misamis Oriental and parts of Agusan provinces).

In the early 2010s, she was elected to the Regional Committee and its Executive Committee. Along with other cadres, she conscientiously studied Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and assiduously applied it to revolutionary practice. It was during this time that the revolutionary forces in the region grew steadily, reaching historic levels of strength.

In 2016, she attended the Second Congress of the CPP. She was elected to the Central Committee and subsequently participated in its inaugural plenum. In October 2023, she assumed the position of secretary of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee. In 2024, she was designated as a member of the CC’s Political Bureau.

Over the past decade, the revolutionary forces in NCMR and other regions across the country suffered losses as a result of internal weaknesses and shortcomings, amid a sustained armed offensive of the reactionary armed forces since 2017. As in the 1990s, Ka Rida firmly upheld the call for a rectification movement to correct errors and shortcomings.

In recent years, she personally led the revolutionary forces in conducting mass work to deepen and expand the reach of the Party and NPA. Under her leadership, the NPA conducted political education and propaganda to rouse the people to wage revolutionary struggles amid heightened fascist attacks and threats of imperialist war and plunder.

For close to a decade, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has spent billions of pesos on widespread armed offensives in NCMR, occupying peasant and Lumad communities and placing these under military rule. Employing its armed minions, the Marcos regime has subjected the local population to psywar and disinformation, surveillance and harassment, and carried out combat operations combined with relentless aerial bombardment. The objective of the AFP and the puppet Marcos regime is to crush the people’s resistance in order to pave the way for the entry of foreign capital.

#International #Philippines #Statement #CPP

“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 schedul