79th IB narrative is a desperate piece of fiction

The Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of the New People’s Army (AGC-NPA), alongside the revolutionary forces of Negros Island, offers its highest tribute to the martyrs of Barangay Salamanca, Toboso. Their names are now etched into the long history of the struggle for land and justice on this island. While the 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) attempts to bury their identities under a mountain of black propaganda, the Negrosanon people will remember them as they were: patriots and revolutionaries who understood the plight of the marginalized and chose to defend the peasantry even at the cost of their lives.

The military’s account of the encounter is a study in calculated exaggeration. Of those who fell, only a small squad was composed of revolutionary fighters led by Roger “Ka Jhong” Fabillar. The rest were civilians documenting a peasant activity, standing alongside farmers who are consistently pushed to the margins by land-grabbing and systemic neglect. Among the casualties were local and foreign journalists and human rights advocates who only carried notebooks, cameras, and the grievances of the poor — tools far more threatening to the status quo than any rifle. Notably, the victims included Roel Sabillo, a local farmer from Toboso, who was working at his uncle’s business during the incident, and RJ Ledesma, a Bacolod-based journalist.

Amidst the narratives circulating through communities and social media, one can easily recognize the 79th IB’s script for what it is: a desperate piece of fiction. They were quick to parade a tally of 19 casualties, claiming each was an armed combatant. To bolster this claim, they presented 19 firearms allegedly recovered from the site. This appears mathematically convenient but logically bankrupt; it is a clumsy attempt to paint a picture of a proportionate firefight where none existed.

To believe the military’s account is to ignore their well-documented history of “planted evidence” and “fabricated encounters.” This has become the standard operating procedure to meet liquidation quotas and secure promotions. We must not forget the Sagay 9 massacre, where murdered farmers were paraded as “Red fighters,” or the Negros 14, where civilians were similarly touted by the AFP as armed rebels. In both instances, the military presented firearms with serial numbers already linked to previous operations, or weapons in such disrepair they could never have been fired.

What the military labels a “battlefield success” was, in reality, a cold-blooded assault on individuals whose only weapons were their convictions and an unwavering commitment to the rural poor.

The soil of Negros has been watered with the blood of the brave, and from that soil, the revolution will only grow stronger. The fascist state and its military instruments see only a body count, but the people see a reason to keep fighting.

#Philippines #International #NPA #Negros #Toboso

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #Environment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA

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

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

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

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

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

It is marked by:

• military occupation of several hundred rural villages

• brutal aerial bombings and shelling of communities

• imposition checkpoints to restrict people’s movements

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

• food blockades and restrictions on commerce

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #NDFP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long live the New People’s Army!

Long live the National Democratic Front of the Philippines!

Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!

Long live the Filipino people!

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

Brussels, Belgium – A packed house of several hundred people witnessed a dramatic legal proceeding this past weekend. May 18 and 19. An International People’s Tribunal was held, initiated by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle.

In its conclusion, the tribunal named Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former President Rodrigo Duterte, U.S. President Joe Biden and the U.S. government all guilty of charges of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Over two days, testimony was presented by activists and victims from different parts of The Philippines about violence, torture and murder committed by the Armed Forces of The Philippines (AFP), or by paramilitary groups working under the direction of the government.

The organizers of the tribunal described these violence acts as war crimes. Experts opened the weekend explaining that there is, in fact, a war taking place in the Philippines. The government in Manila is carrying out a counterinsurgency strategy, and even using a counterinsurgency guide designed in Washington against the guerilla New People’s Army (NPA).

International legal experts, occupied communities combine efforts

The tribunal included distinguished attorneys with expertise in international law. Some acted as jurors, others as prosecutors. Heading the panel of jurors was Professor Lennox Hinds. Formerly the U.S. attorney for Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Hinds also represented Assata Shakur, and was a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The other jurors included Suzanne Adely, President of the National Lawyers Guild (U.S.); Severine De Laveleye of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium; Julen Arzuraga Gumuzio of the Basque Parliament; and Archbishop Joris Vercamen, former member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Much of the two days consisted of emotionally jarring testimony of torture, extrajudicial killings, mutilation of the bodies of political activists, and attempted murder of other activists.

One dramatic video statement came from Brandon Lee, a U.S. citizen who survived an assassination attempt by members of the AFP in 2019. Multiple gun shots left Lee paralyzed from the chest down. He recounted how the military threatened him over the course of several years to end his advocacy for the rights of the indigenous Cordillera people he was working among. Like his adopted countrymen, Lee refused to back down in the face of tyranny.

Another witness was Eufemia Cullamat, an elected member of the House of Representatives from the Bayan Muna slate, and a leader of the indigenous Manobo tribe.

Her daughter, Jevilyn Cullamat, was killed by the AFP in 2020 in Surigao del Sur, Mindanao. Eufemia Cullamat learned about it on Twitter, when soldiers used photos of Jevelyn’s dead body like a trophy, posing her with a rifle in her hands. Her daughter was reportedly a medic with the NPA.

Cullamat also reported how in 2015, the AFP carried out the Lianga massacre of their community. Jevelyn witnessed the killing of her Uncle Dionel and Grandfather Jovillo.

After the first day of testimony, reflecting on the activists who struggled through their anguish to get on the historic record, Professor Hinds commented, “What we see is a community resisting.”

Background: Two figures from Philippines revolutionary history

To put the human rights violations in context, testimony was presented by Juliet De Lima, head of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel for the stalled peace talks with the government in Manila. De Lima noted that there is an underlying objective for the heinous crimes of the regime in the logic of counterinsurgency: to “Drain the water to expose the fish.”

The NDFP is the revolutionary united front organization of the Filipino people fighting for national freedom and for the democratic rights of the people. It includes the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. The AFP typically justifies the atrocities it commits against civilian activists they have targeted by claiming they are members of the NPA.

Early on in the tribunal, Connie Ledesma, also a member of the negotiating panel for the NDFP, explained why the national democratic movement has committed to a peace process with the government in Manila. For almost four decades the government and the NDFP have been engaged in peace negotiations. “From the perspective of the NDFP this could be a viable arena to achieve basic social, economic and political reforms in Philippine society,” Ledesma explained, and noted that the negotiations have resulted in 38 major agreements and joint statements.

Tribunal: Justice through solidarity

Prosecutors and jurors explained that while they use the laws that govern war and international human rights, the impact of the tribunal is political. The tribunal has no power to sentence Marcos, Duterte, or Biden to prison.

On the other hand, as has been seen in the case of the Gaza genocide being carried out by the U.S. and Israel, the court systems – whether in the Philippines, the U.S., or in existing international accountability structures like the International Court of Justice – are influenced by imperialist interests.

The International People’s Tribunal gives a voice to the oppressed Filipino people and can be used to help the national liberation movement, the peasants, indigenous people and workers to exact accountability on their oppressors. The national democratic forces know that it is the solidarity of those groups, along with youth and students, that will hold accountable the bureaucrat capitalists.

But a story from the solidarity movement with South Africa is worth recalling. Edward Said, the Palestinian intellectual, wrote in his 2000 book, The End of the Peace Process, about a visit with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1991.

Said had gone to see them to learn about using international boycott, divestment and sanction tactics against apartheid. Speaking with Sisulu, at that time the head of the ANC, Said writes, “He paused for a moment and then said something that I shall never forget as long as I live: ‘Every victory that we registered in London, or Glasgow, or Iowa City, or Toulouse, or Berlin, or Stockholm gave the people at home a sense of hope, and renewed their determination not to give up the struggle.’”

The International People’s Tribunal in Brussels is a victory for the people in Bicol, Cota Bato, Panay, Surigao del Sur. The legal process of collecting and presenting evidence of international human rights abuses and war crimes will be a tool to end the repression that emanates from Manilla.

#International #Philippines #Duterte #Marcos #NPA #IADL #FFPS #Belgium #Feature

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Mach 29 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today directed the New People’s Army (NPA) to mount tactical offensives that it is capable of winning as it wages a war of active defense to frustrate the brutal campaign of encirclement and suppression being waged by the US-Marcos regime, and shatter the reign of terror of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the countryside.

The Party’s directive was contained in a statement by the Central Committee issued today on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the New People’s Army.

According to the CPP Central Committee, all regional committees of the Party and NPA commands at levels have welcomed the call for rectification movement issued by the Central Committee last December, to correct past errors in order to strengthen the people’s resistance against worsening oppression under the US-Marcos regime.

In fulfilling the directive of mounting tactical offensives, the NPA takes military and political initiative by way of rectifying past errors and overcome the problem of military passivity which resulted from the intertwined problems of conservatism, complacency and self-constriction.

The CPP said the NPA, along with the people’s militias, must carry out all possible kinds of tactical offensives employing all kinds of weapons in the hands of the guerrilla forces and the people, from rocks, machetes, booby traps, rifles and land mines and all sort of weapons that the people can craft.

Units of the NPA and the people’s militias can lay out an ambush against the enemy’s reconnaissance units, perimeter defense or supply lines, attack his isolated outposts, carry out disarming, sniping, demolition, partisan and arrest operations, impose sanctions, mete out justice on counterrevolutionaries and criminal antisocial elements, and so on.

In mounting these tactical offensives, the NPA must aim to seize the enemy’s rifles and war matériel, destroy its supply and communication lines, immobilize their land, air and sea assets, disrupt its plans or blocking its advance, and drawing away its attention from the main direction and plans of the main forces of the NPA.

The CPP underscored that the NPA favors launching basic tactical offensives that weakens the enemy by annihilating its armed forces piece by piece, and takes away its weapons in order that we can arm more recruits and mount even bigger tactical offensives in the future.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #Marcos

Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns in the strongest possible terms the U.S. State Department decision to keep the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army on its list of designated “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” This is an example of confounding facts with fiction, and it is an attempt to criminalize international solidarity.

The real terrorists in the Philippines are to be found in the U.S.-backed regime of President Marcos. Jails in the Philippines are filled with political prisoners. Trade union federations, like the May First Workers Movement, face constant government repression. In the countryside, the military is carrying out a savage campaign of murder. The Philippine air force, flying in U.S.-supplied planes, drops American-made bombs of rural villages.

For its part, the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the New People’s Army, which fights under it leadership, have done nothing wrong. They have been waging a people’s war for more than half a century to free the Philippines from U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. These revolutionaries represent the hopes and aspirations of the Filipino people for a just society and a better way of life.

The State Department list of designated “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” should be scrapped, as should the laws dealing with “material support for terrorism.” What the laws do is to put the terrorism label on movements that are fighting for national liberation. For example, almost every organization that is working for the liberation of Palestine is on the list. The material support laws then serve to criminalize people in this country who express solidarity with these movements.

This legal architecture was developed during the Clinton presidency and has been used to launch tens of thousands of federal investigations into Arab and Muslims. Material support of terrorism laws were also used to carry out a wave of FBI raids and grand jury investigations of anti-war and international solidarity activists – including a number of FRSO members.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People’s Army are standing up to the U.S.-backed terrorism of the Marcos regime. Their cause is just one. We are against any and all laws that try to make proletarian internationalism a crime. Specifically, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 should be repealed or overturned, as it treats solidarity a crime.

It’s past time for the U.S. to get out of the Philippines. U.S. troops need to come home. Military and other aid to the Marco regime should cease. Fighting for freedom and national liberation is not a crime, no matter what the U.S. government says – it’s the right thing to do. And the people of the Philippines are sure to win.

#UnitedStates #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #CPP #NPA #Asia

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

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

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following march 8 statement from Rubi del Mundo, Spokesperson, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Southern Mindanao

8 March 2018 The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Southern Mindanao and all revolutionary forces in the region celebrate the International Women’s Day with women of all classes and sectors around the nation and across the globe. We especially congratulate all women revolutionaries who are serving the interest of the Filipino people by arousing, organizing and mobilizing other women in the line of the national democratic revolution. We are likewise inspired by the examples of the great women who have been martyred in our struggle against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.

Women’s struggle for emancipation have come a long way since the historic Petrograd mobilization of 1917 where tens of thousands of women marched in the streets, demanding “Bread and Peace” against the Russian Tsar’s war and campaign of suppression. Barely two years in power, GRP Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is reeling back more than a century of social progress with his regressive views on the value of women and their struggle for emancipation. From sexist jokes and misogynistic threats to government and social policies, Duterte has proven himself the enemy not only of women but of the entire Filipino people.

Today, Filipino women are rising up to the call of undertaking militant action against the US-Duterte’s despotic regime and wars against the Filipino people. In Southern Mindanao, thousands of women are becoming invaluable mobilizers for armed struggle, agrarian revolution and base building. Significantly, despite Duterte’s sexist threats, more and more women are joining the ranks of the New People’s Army in the region. Most of them opt to become medical officers while others are commanders or political instructors of NPA units. Even more encouraging is the marked involvement of women in the establishment of organs of political power where many of them are becoming leading members of barrio and municipal revolutionary councils. All of leading Party units across the region also have many women cadres in their ranks.

In the face of the US-Duterte regime’s outright subservience to the interests of imperialists and oligarchs, thousands more women are participating in mass actions against feudal exploitation, imperialist mining and agri-plantations in the guerilla bases. In towns and cities, women comprise more than half of the forces who are militantly confronting Duterte’s refusal to end contractualization among workers, his regime’s sell-out of the country’s economic sovereignty, his anti-poor TRAIN Law, and other issues.

Under the semi-colonial and semi-feudal system which the US-Duterte regime now resolutely consolidates through dictatorship and fascism, Filipino women of the exploited class find their rightful place in their struggle for emancipation. In the revolutionary movement, under the guidance of the Communist Party of the Philippines, women know that in order to emancipate themselves, they must immerse their struggle in the national democratic revolution.

Long live all toiling and revolutionary women! Long live the national democratic revolution!

#MindanaoPhilippines #Mindanao #Philippines #InternationalWomensDay #NPA #Asia

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Feb. 18 statement from the New People’s Army, Regional Operations Command, Southern Mindanao Region.

The Regional Operations Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Mindanao commends the 1stPulang Bagani Battalion for carrying out revolutionary justice and inflicting heavy casualties against AFP (Armed Forces of Philippines) troops following three coordinated tactical offensives in Paquibato and Calinan Districts, Davao City on February 16. At least 12 AFP soldiers were killed while more than 20 more were wounded. In unrestrained fury over the toll, AFP troops manning the checkpoints after the successful NPA attacks retaliated by taking aside two civilians and summarily killing both of them.

A company of Red fighters attacked the detachment of the 72IBin Sitio Binaton, Brgy. Malabog in Paquibato District at around 5:30 in the morning. The military action was in response to the masses’ demand to punish the mercenary enemy troops, especially in perpetuating and protecting the illegal drug trade in the district and in neighboring areas. In exchange for monthly payola, the detachment ensured unhindered traffic of drugs between the city’s districts and provided security for notorious drug operator Neptali AlfredoPondoc, who was executed by the NPA on January 23. A Red fighter was martyred in the engagement. One enemy was killed while several others were wounded.

At around 4:00 in the afternoon, the 5-truck reinforcement of the 3IB was hit in Brgy. Lamanan in Calinan District. Three of the five KM450 trucks were blasted and upturned when several command-detonated explosives were triggered by Red fighters, killing at least 7 and severely wounding more than 10 enemy troops. Thirty minutes later, another 3IB reinforcement onboard 2 military truckswasagain blocked down by command-detonated explosives in Brgy. Lacson, Calinan District, killing 2 and wounding 17 AFP troopers.

While cordoning off the highway to the clash sites, AFP soldier stook aside for no reason civilian commuters Roel Satingasin of Brgy. Tamugan and Ariel Gelbero of Brgy. Lamanan and summarily killed both of them in Calinan. AFP troops, by their very disposition, are incapable of resisting the fascist nature sto take it out on hapless civilians when they suffer heavy casualties in the battle field. The NPA assures the families that revolutionary justice will be meted out against the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

The tactical offensives were carried out by the NPA as fitting punishment for the AFP’s numerous human rights violations of extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests, harassments and artillery bombardments that resulted to thousands of displaced Lumads and peasants during and after their so-called unilateral ceasefire. The heavy casualties inflicted against these fascist troops serve as revolutionary justice long demanded by the masses who continue to fall victim to state-sponsored terrorism.

Despite their supposed millions in intelligence resources, the top honchos at the 10ID are beside themselves in rage that a series of tactical offensives have been successfully carried out by the NPA in broad daylight in Davao City. They are fuming at the mouth that the all-out war they so bullheadedly declared has completely backfired and is costing them men and means in the face of coordinated NPA offensives not only in the region but across the country.

RIGOBERTO F. SANCHEZ Spokesperson Regional Operations Command NPA-Southern Mindanao

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According to a statement from Rigoberto F. Sanchez, spokesperson for the New People’s Army (NPA), in Southern Mindanao, Red fighters under the Mt. Apo Sub-Regional Command arrested Police Inspector Menardo Nisperos Cui, Philippine National Police (PNP), Badge No. 0-28281, on Dec. 28, 2017, in North Cotabato and subsequently declared him NPA Prisoner of War.

The Regional Operations Command of the NPA in Southern Mindanao also condemns the illegal arrests of farmers Jarold Adiaton, Jean Solis and Datu Maylan Andas, on Jan. 9.

POW Cui, age 48, is the designated Deputy Police Chief of Pres. Roxas Municipal PNP. A 9mm pistol was seized from his possession during his arrest. He is currently being investigated for his counterinsurgency activities and possible crimes against the masses and the revolutionary movement. As a legitimate exercise of belligerent political authority on behalf of the People’s Democratic Government, the NPA is tasked to arrest, detain and investigate personnel of the reactionary armed forces who are actively engaged in the armed conflict.

POW Cui, as with other previous prisoners of war, is being given political education that includes short courses on the history and problems of Philippine society and the need for people’s war while under the custody of the NPA. Under guerilla conditions, he is treated with leniency and provided with all basic needs in accordance to NPA rules of discipline, the CARHRIHL and other international conventions.

In a video released by his custodial force, POW Cui shared his experience regarding the commendable treatment of his custodial force. He also reflected on the people’s war, the need for armed struggle and why the counterinsurgency campaign Oplan Kapayapaan is bound to fail in the face of the people’s contempt of the Duterte regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). POW Cui appealed to President Duterte to resume talks with the NDFP and for the AFP to suspend military operations to make way for his safe release. He also assured his family of being treated well by the New People’s Army.

The mettle of discipline that the NPA demonstrates with regards to its prisoners of war stands in stark contrast to the reactionary armed forces’ deplorable treatment of political prisoners languishing in various jails around the country. The abject conditions which these political prisoners are being made to suffer, notwithstanding the fabricated charges that supposedly led to their arrests, bear witness to the state of injustice that continues to victimize the Filipino people, especially under the fascist U.S.-Duterte regime.

The NPA in the region calls on all peace advocates and human rights defenders to join the demand for the unconditional and immediate release of the three farmers and all political prisoners in the country.

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