There is no bounds to the cruelty of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in its terrorist black operations.

On January 13, 2021, more than two years ago, armed soldiers belonging to the 79th Infantry Battalion conducting combat operations in Hacienda Ambulong, Barangay San Fernando, Talisay City, raided the home of Edwin and Marlyn Madin at 2 a.m. and snatched then 2-month old Baby Marx Cairo Salino from their care. The soldiers also took the baby’s garments and personal belongings of the baby’s guardians.

In its press statement, the AFP declared that they “recovered” an “NPA child” during the combat operation, as if the infant was a war trophy. Spewing wicked lies, the AFP claimed Baby Marx was “abandoned” by his parents. Baby Marx has since been in the custody of the Escalante City social work department, on orders of the military.

Baby Marx is a hostage being kept by the AFP to force his parents to surrender. His parents, Ka Peeta and Ka Jandy, both Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros, have declared that they will fight for Baby Marx’s rights, and do not have plans to surrender to the AFP nor bring harm to the people. They are determined to continue fighting for the cause of national freedom and social justice.

Baby Marx is a victim of the black operations of the armed agents of the terrorist state. By keeping him away from his family, the AFP is in outright violation of international humanitarian law, especially of its provisions granting special protection for infants, children, and pregnant women. Keeping Baby Marx a hostage constitutes a war crime.

For two years now, Baby Marx’s grandparents have been going through the bureaucratic processes in order to bring him home. Despite having complete papers and documentation, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)  refuses to give them custody of Baby Marx, saying they still have to wait for the decision of “top officers” of the AFP and DSWD. Baby Marx’s grandparents themselves were subjected to state surveillance and harassment forcing them to leave their home and go into hiding.

The CPP supports the demand of the Salino family for the immediate and safe return of Baby Marx to their familial care. We condemn the AFP for targeting infants and children, as well as pregnant women, in its black operations.

In addition to Baby Marx and his family, thousands across the country have fallen victim to the dirty tactics, war crimes of the AFP. Children and infants are not being spared. Military abuses and violations of civil and political rights continue to run rampant under the Marcos regime. Many of these cases have gone unreported especially in the rural areas, where entire peasant villages are placed under the brutal control of the AFP.

These dirty tactics of the AFP form part of its futile effort to crush the people’s resistance. In resorting to such cruel methods, the AFP is succeeding only in exposing its rottenness and inciting the people to fight back and join the armed revolution.

#Philippines #NewPeoplesArmy #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippinesCPP #Asia

Last week, the family of Carlos Dayot, a farmer who hailed from Sitio Salingkubong, Barangay Tayak, Siaton, expressed outrage when they found out that Master Sergeant Borja of the 11th Infantry Battalion’s Alpha “Hunter” Company posted a death threat to Carlos Dayot, in his Facebook page. “Usa nalang ka adlaw ang imong kinabuhi (you have only a day to live),” the post said.

Dayot is the husband of one of the officers of the red-tagged, but legal and duly accredited progressive peasant organization Tayak United Farmer’s Association (TAUFA). As a result, Dayot is now in hiding and his family’s customary simple Christmas gathering eventually canceled.

“It’s already hard to celebrate Christmas when fascist guns are virtually trained on your head. But it’s much more harder when you are constantly threatened, red-tagged and intimidated on mere suspicion of being an New People’s Army member or supporter without any due process. It’s tantamount to a death warrant that will surely lead to tokhang-style execution and unlawful detention,” said Ka Estrella Banagbanag, the New People’s Army-Southeast Negros (Rachelle Mae Palang Command) spokesperson.

Banagbanag lambasted the 11th for being callous and insensitive to people’s traditions. “It only shows that the 11th IB are spoilers of Christmas like the mythological mischievous creature gremlins that wreak havoc and disorder on Christmas eve,” Banagbanag added.

#Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #NewPeoplesArmy

One of the masterminds of the brutal Lianga Massacre of 2015 was killed October 4 in an ambush by the Communist-led New People's Army (NPA) in Surigao del Sur against the paramilitary group Magahat-Bagani.

According to reports, Hawudon Jomar Bucales and with two other paramilitaries were killed in a firefight with the people's army in Sitio Mamsapranon, Barangay Banahao, Lianga town, Surigao del Sur.

According to Marco L. Valbuena, chief information officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines, “The NPA unit in Surigao del Sur deserves the highest commendation. The Party and the Filipino people congratulate them for their success. The broad masses of Lianga celebrate the successful NPA ambush. They feel a deep sense of justice with the death of Bucales.”

A people's court in Surigao del Sur had previously been formed to try Bucales and others for the Lianga Massacre. Investigations conducted by the duly-constituted committees have pointed out to the key role of Bucales and the others in the brutal murder of Emerito Samarca, executive director of the ALCADEV community school, and Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo on September 1, 2015. Bucales was informed of the charges against him but ignored the summons and refused to stand trial before the people's court.

Bucales was leader of the so-called Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group in the Surigao del Sur and received guns, funding and publicity support from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and mining companies operating in the area.

On behalf of the military, Bucales has recently been issuing renewed threats against the leaders of the ALCADEV community school, which has been active in promoting and defending the Lumad people's ancestral lands and raising their community's social, economic and cultural life.

Lianga and other towns in Surigao del Sur are located in the Andap Valley, an area rich in mineral resources. In recent months, the people of Lianga have been subjected to intense militarization, aerial bombings and gross human rights abuses, in an attempt to break the people's resistance to the further aggression of mining operations in their areas.

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #NewPeoplesArmy #Asia

According to reports, the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA) successfully ambushed a platoon of the 15th Infantry Battalion last Wednesday afternoon, July 8, in Brgy. Pinggot, Ilog Town, Negros Occidental, killing at least 12 AFP soldiers and wounding four others.

In a statement, red fighters of the Armando Sumayang Jr. Command (ASJC) of the New People’s Army’s Southwest Negros Front said that the NPA action was in response to the clamor of peasant masses in Southwest Negros seeking redress from the growing cases of arson, destruction of crops, illegal arrest, fake surrender and other rights abuses and criminal acts perpetrated by the elements of the 15th Infantry Battalion and the 32nd DRC, which have intensified military operations in the rural communities of Kabankalan City, Ilog, Hinobaan, Candoni and Cauayan since April this year.

The U.S.-backed government of President Duterte is facing growing opposition from the rural- based people’s war, spearheaded by the Communist Party of the Philippines, and a host of national democratic mass movements.

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #NewPeoplesArmy #Asia

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) command in South Mindanao (SMR) has ordered its units to closely monitor and immediatly report of cases of COVID-19 infection in their respective areas of responsibility. The NPA-SMR command covers Davao City and other Davao regions which are dominated by the Duterte family dynasty. Cases of local transmission have been reported recently in the region.

In an April 1 statement, Rigoberto Sanchez, NPA-SMR spokesperson, ordered all NPA units in the region “to assist all organs of political power and revolutionary organizations in addressing the health crisis in their areas of operation.”

Sanchez continued, “Red commanders and fighters, especially medical officers, are ordered to launch widespread information dissemination, undertake health and sanitation campaigns, and draw up preventive measures.”

The revolutionary movement in SMR is no stranger to coping with natural tragedies. In 2012, it led the reconstruction of communities after the region was hit by super typhoon Pablo. For decades, the NPA in the region has consistently stood for the welfare and interests of the masses, especially during times of calamity and crisis.

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #NewPeoplesArmy #NPA #Asia

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

Dear Comrades:

We convey our warmest revolutionary greetings on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Your achievements are many and we stand with you in your struggle to liberate the Philippines from the yoke of U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. We are sure you will win many more victories in the coming period.

The Communist Party of the Philippines is in the leadership of a great people’s war that is inspiration to working and oppressed people everywhere. The people's democratic revolution, with socialist orientation, will triumph over reactionaries of all types.

We condemn the murderous regime of President Duterte and brutal wave repression that he has unleashed against the trade unions, mass organizations and all democratic and revolutionary forces. This repression is a sign of desperation. Like President Trump in the U.S., Duterte is a political representative of moribund system that is facing extinction.

We demand that the U.S. government end all aid to the reactionary and repressive government of the Philippines.

The people of the U.S. share a common enemy with the people of the Philippines: the U.S. monopoly capitalists. Every advance of the revolutionary movement in Philippines, like every advance of the revolutionary movement in U.S., brings closer the day of our common liberation.

Marx spoke long ago of working and oppressed people having nothing to lose but our chains. We place great value on the militant friendship between our organizations and our shared view that proletarian internationalism is a vital weapon in our common effort break the chains of monopoly capitalism that bind the peoples of our counties.

Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines! Long live the unity between the people of the U.S. and the people of the Philippines! Together we will win!

With communist greetings,

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#USA #Philippines #Socialism #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #frso #NPA #NewPeoplesArmy #Asia

Immediately release Ka Diego!

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the arrest of Jaime “Ka Diego” Padilla, spokesperson of the New People's Army (NPA) -Southern Tagalog (Melito Glor Command).

Ka Diego, who is in his senior years, is suffering from heart problems and various physical ailments. With the material support and various assistance of friends and allies of the CPP and NPA, he was brought to Manila to undergo diagnostics and medical treatment. He was confined in a Manila hospital when he was arrested last night.

The CPP demands the immediate release of Ka Diego and his three companions and the dropping of all trumped-up criminal charges filed against him to prolong his detention. He must be given full access to his lawyers as well as doctors and medical care services. The Party demands that he be accorded full respect which he deserves as a revolutionary activist and humble servant of the people.

Indeed, the toiling masses and people of Southern Tagalog consider the arrest of Ka Diego as a setback to their revolutionary cause. In the past three years, the NPA spokesperson has ably represented the NPA forces in Southern Tagalog in his interaction with the media and the public in general. He has consistently expose