Hail the Filipino Revolution Advancing on
the Path of Victory with the Immediate Task of Achieving Strategic Stalemate !
Extend Strong Support to
Filipino Revolution and Filipino People !
Oppose and Condemn Oplan Bayanihan !
Observe Solidarity Week to Filipino
Revolution
from April 22 to 28, 2013
[Oplan Bayanihan is the name of the fascist war that
the American puppet Benigno Aquino regime is unleashing in the country of
Philippines in a bid to eliminate the advancing revolution under the leadership
of the Communist Party of Philippines. The masses of the Philippines and the
New People’s Army are heroically resisting this unjust and barbarous war. On
the occasion of the week of solidarity to the Filipino revolution in India, the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is bringing out this
small booklet as a brief introduction to the Filipino revolutionary movement.
The information given in this booklet has been taken from Philippine magazines
and documents. If there is any difficulty in understanding unfamiliar words or
understanding any portion due to translation, please refer the original
Philippine magazines and documents. 26.12.2012]
The Philippines is a small country in South East Asia
spread in an area of three lakh square kilometers with a population of nine and
a half crores. This is a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country. It is a group of
7,100 islands administratively divided into regions, provinces, cities,
municipalities and barrios. The people of Philippines are separated by language, terrain and religion.
Christianity and Islam are the two main religions that are practiced. Christian
Filipino people being the majority, they are dominant in many aspects. The
Filipino Muslim people are called Moros or Moro Muslims. Apart from these,
there are big national, linguistic minority groups such as Ilocanas, Ibanags,
Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Cebuanos, Waray, Hiligaynons, Tausogs and
Maravaws. The Filipino people have a rich cultural heritage. They have a
glorious history and heroic tradition of sacrifice in the consistent struggle
against colonial rule. The country of Philippines is rich in resources that are
sufficient for a self-reliant society. The core of the toiling masses is a
strong foundation for the country to develop into a free, sovereign, democratic
country. The workers and peasants of the country are the main source for
bringing the exploitation and suppression of the imperialists and their
comprador ruling classes to an end and to achieve genuine democracy and progress
in the society.
The Philippines was thrown under the direct
exploitation and suppression of US imperialism a century ago. Later, the
country turned into a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country and stagnated. The
people of Philippines were forced to depend mostly on agriculture. There is no
land to till for the vast peasant masses. Genuine land reforms have not been
implemented.
With the lack of infrastructure and opportunities for
industries to produce basic metals, chemicals and articles, the condition was
not favorable for the development of a capitalist economic system. So only a
few light industries to manufacture consumer articles and in the mining sector
could develop, and that too depending on the imperialist market. In this
situation, the country was forced to buy machinery, equipment and raw material
with foreign currency earned through the export of raw material and with
foreign loans. Thus, it remained a raw material exporting country serving the
industries in the imperialist countries. The imperialists, imperialist-backed
comprador bourgeoisie and the big feudal class did not allow the rise of a
national bourgeoisie. This led to the stagnation of capitalist development in
the country.
Gradually, capital from the US dominated the economy
of the Philippines. Unequal exchange with the US took the trade deficit of the
country to a serious level. It had to increasingly depend on foreign loans to
overcome this deficit. Thus, the imperialists minted super-profits through
direct and indirect investments in the Philippines and by extending loans.
Due to the implementation of imperialist policies,
inflation is on the rise in the country. In the name of clearing foreign debt,
‘financial reforms’ favorable to foreign investment have been intensified.
Thus, the Philippines has fallen into the tightening iron grip of US
imperialism, IMF, World Bank and Multi National Companies. The US agent Benigno
Aquino, president of the Philippines, have implemented US-dictated neoliberal
policies and opened the doors to all kinds of foreign-made consumer goods,
especially luxury goods. As a result, traditional exports are facing losses and
local industries are undergoing financial strangulation. The dependence of the
economic system of the country on the export of raw materials and
semimanufactured goods have thrown the people into a crisis. The Aquino
government has allowed the reuse of US military bases in Clark, Pampanga, Subic
and Zambles for the deployment of its warships, submarines and spy-planes in
the South China Sea. These military bases were closed down decades back due to
popular protests after the overthrow of the dictator Marcos. This deed has
mortaged the sovereignty and the geographical integrity of the country. US
intelligence activities are on the rise in the Philippines. With the recent
agreement between the New York Police and the Philippines Police, the US
interference has increased even more. Like all previous governments in the
Philippines, Benigno Aquino too is unleashing severe violence on the masses to
serve the interests of the imperialists - particularly US imperialism, which is
inviting strong resistance from the people.
Day by day unemployment is on the rise in the country,
reaching a high rate of twenty-four percent. The real wages of the workers are
declining due to direct and indirect taxes. Workers, especially women workers,
are migrating to foreign countries in a large number, and are forced to work at
dead cheap rates of wage. In the foreign lands they are facing severe
exploitation. Due to the horrible working conditions and atrocities, at least
five dead bodies of the Philippine workers are reaching their home country
every day. There is an increase in the attacks on worker’s rights to attract
foreign investment and cuts in the government budget on welfare schemes. More
and more opportunities are being created to allow the exploitation by the
imperialist monopoly companies and the domestic monopoly capitalists through
subsidies in taxes, facilitating the way for contracts, business and all kinds of
capital investment, privatisation, stock market deregularisation and
denationalisation.
With the economic 'reforms' initiated by the
government, fertile agricultural land is going into the hands of foreign
corporations, big comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and big landlords.
Military and police suppression campaigns are being taken up in order to seize
land from the poor peasants and national minorities. In the name of promoting
the scheme for selling land voluntarily, big landlords are exploiting the
wealth of the country. The lives of the peasantry have become terrible with the
high tenancy rates in agriculture, increased cost of production in agriculture
and hike in the prices of essential commodities.
While speaking of the autonomy of national minorities
on the one hand, their power in political, economic, military and other such
fields is being curtailed by the government on the other. Their rights to land
and inheritance of property are being violated by the foreign corporations in
an indiscriminate manner.
Indiscriminate plunder of natural resources of the
Philippines is going on unabated. The environment is being permanently damaged
due to deforestation for export of timber, excessive fishing and open-cast
mining, etc.
Due to the decline in the living conditions and
deteriorating working conditions of all classes belonging to the exploited
masses, social inequalities have increased while employment opportunities have
decreased, leading to mass discontentment. Social unrest is spreading and intensifying.
The Aquino government has proved itself incapable of mitigating the ever
intensifying economic and social crisis.
Contradictions between the reactionary ruling classes
too are manifesting in violent forms. The ruling-class factions are maintaining
private armed groups, groupings in the reactionary army, police and
paramilitary forces.
Since the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system in the
Philippines has entered a long-term economic crisis and is heading towards
collapse, there is a visible intensification in the fundamental contradictions
of the country. The world capitalist crisis is making a severe impact on the
Philippines in the economic, political and social spheres. This is reflected in
the rate of economic growth, which has rapidly declined since 2010. The crisis
is exposing the economic, social, political, cultural and moral degeneration
and corruption of the ruling classes in the country. The puppet nature of the
rulers is being glaringly exposed, and so is the fact that the Benigno Aquino
government is obediently serving US imperialism like a pet dog.
The Communist Party of Philippines (CPP)
has analysed the socio-economic system of the country and formulated its
general political line in order to destroy the three main enemies of the
people, i.e., imperialism, big feudal class and big comprador class. It is
waging an intense class struggle to liberate the country by successfully
completing the New Democratic Revolution through agrarian revolution under the
leadership of the proletariat on the basis of worker-peasant alliance.
Birth and development of Communist Party of
Philippines
In the 18th century, the Filipino people rose up in
hundreds of armed rebellions against Spanish aggression and colonial rule. Due
to the heroic resistance from the masses, the Spaniards could never take hold
of the entire country. In fact, the people were successful in protecting the
mainland of Mindanavo and Cordilleras areas.
In 1896, the National Democratic Revolution
was initiated under the leadership of Katipunas. This is said to be the first
successful anti-colonial struggle in Asia. In 1899, the Filipino people were
deprived of their national freedom due to US aggression. The workers, peasants
and the toiling masses fought heroically against the mighty military power of
the US. In the 1896 revolution, the factionalistic and deceitful Ilastrado
leadership that represented the local exploiting classes surrendered to the US
colonialists and turned into puppets of the imperialists.
The Communist Party of Philippines emerged
from the anti-feudal struggle of Hakbalahaps (Filipino peasantry) in the early
1930s. This is known in history as the famous ‘Hak struggle’. The Communist
Party formed worker and peasant organisations and led the movement. A few
months after the formation of the Party, US imperialists and their puppet
government banned the Party and the worker and peasant organisations. People’s
leaders were arrested. However, the people’s resistance did not look back. The
formation of Socialist Party of Philippines (SPP) in 1932 gave new energy to
the peasant movement. In 1939, CPP and SPP merged into one Party.
CPP led the anti-Japan people’s army (Hakbo
Nag Bayan Laban Sa Hapan or Hakbalahap) against the Japanese occupation of the
Philippines in the Second World War. Japan lost in the war and retreated. On
July 4th 1946, the namesake Philippines
republic was established with fake independence under the dictates of US
imperialists. In 1950, the Hak (peasant) guerilla army initiated armed struggle
under the leadership of the unified Party. In AUgust 1950 , Hak guerilla units
attacked eleven towns in the Luzon Island and seized a large number of weapons.
While Communists came to power in Eastern Europe and China, revolutionary
struggles emerged in the South East Asian countries. This alarmed US
imperialism and it came out openly to eliminate the "Spectre of
Communism". It extended a big military hand to the puppet Filipino
government in order to eliminate the Communist Hak rebellion. The first
comprador president of the US imperialists, Rokjas, banned the peasant guerilla
army and revolutionary mass organisations. The government unleashed a wave of
attacks on the guerillas and the people in order to suppress the intensified
Hak struggle with a guerilla army of fifteen thousand soldiers. The succeeding president Qurino appointed Raman
Magasaysay as the Defence Minister who had gained reputation as a commander in
the anti-Japan guerilla war during World War II (he later became the
president). He let loose the worst fascist methods in suppressing the Hak
rebellion. He tried to divert the rebellion with fake land reforms. With the
dictates of the Pentagon and CIA, he trained the Philippines Army and deployed
it to suppress the peasant revolution. While the police succeeded in arresting
the main Hak leadership, the Lava leadership in the merged Communist Party
which subsequently led the movement took to right deviation. As a result the
Hak rebellion suffered a temporary setback by May 1954. Since the Communist
Party transformed into a rightist party, the Hak guerilla army too drifted away
from its objectives.
The
revival of the Party
In the first half of the 1960s, a new wave
of New Democratic Revolutions and National Liberation movements emerged many
semi-colonial, semi-feudal countries. Various people’s movements (workers,
students, youth, intellectuals, the black people in America, civil liberties
movement, anti American war movement) came up in the imperialist and capitalist
countries all over the world. In the second half of the 1960s, the Great Debate
taken up by the Communist Party of China under the leadership of Comrade Mao
Tse Tung against modern revisionists Tito, Thore, Togliyati, Krushchev etc. in
the International Communist Movement and the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution (GPCR) in China sent ripples across the world. Naturally, the
genuine communists in the Philippines too were influenced. Genuine communist
revolutionary forces rejected the rightist deviation of the leadership of the
CPP and took up the correct path of revolution.
In this backdrop, the National Democratic
Revolution of the country revived in the 1960s. The people grew more discontent
with the increasing crisis in the country’s economy and exploitation by the US
imperialists, the big comprador bourgeoisie and the big feudal classes. The
propaganda work and organisational efforts of the newly emerging proletarian
revolutionaries and the few veterans of the old merged party gradually started
to show results.
The people’s movement of the country was
inspired by the glorious national democratic revolutionary struggle of Vietnam
against US occupation, the national liberation struggles in the backward
countries, the worldwide protest movements including in the US against the war
of aggresson on Vietnam, increasing radicalism of the students and
intellectuals in the Western countries and Japan, and other such movements.
A patriotic movement was born among the students and intellectuals in towns
like Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanavo. Issues like equal rights, withdrawal
of the US bases, nationalisation of the retail market, role of the Philippines
in the US occupational war on Vietnam and other such issues were raised by this
movement.
By the end of the 1960s, workers rejected
the authority of the fake trade unionists and took up militant strikes. The
revolutionary trade union movement picked up. Moreover, peasant movements for
the right to land and against atrocities of the landlords in the rural areas
gained momentum. The anti-feudal struggle under the leadership of the revived
Communist Party intensified and developed in the direction of armed agrarian
revolution. The armed activities of the Lumad minorities in Agusan, Bukidnon,
Surigao and Mindanavo provinces against land grab and atrocities of the
domestic and foreign capitalists and their armed guards were also on the rise.
Consequently, CPP was reorganised on the
26th of December, 1968. The message of National Democratic Revolution reached
the broad peasant masses. A few revolutionary commanders and fighters of the
old guerilla army that were under the Taruc-Sumulong gangster clique were
influenced by revolutionary propaganda in the towns. They came in contact with
the revolutionary youth organisations and thus gradually established relations
with the Party. New People’s Army (NPA) was formed on the 29th of March 1969
with sixty revolutionary commanders and warriors who split from the remaining
persons of the old peasant guerilla army and with 9 automatic rifles and 20
countrymade weapons. By then, except for the support of eighty thousand masses
in Tarlann second district, a few activists among fifty thousand members of
various mass organizations, a few party cadre and the People’s China as the
International Socialist Base, there was no other support for the new Party. The
new revolutionary leadership studied the experiences of the Filipino revolution
in the light of history and applied Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the Philippine
society depending on its positive achievements. In order to destroy the
obsolete semi-colonial, semi-feudal system, the party formulated the general
political and military line of Protracted People’s War. It also formulated
proper strategy and tactics to bring together and
organise the proletariat, peasantry, students, youth, intellectuals, women,
nationalities and minorities. It started various revolutionary democratic mass
organisations to form the National Democratic Front of Philippines (NDFP).
Gradually the organs of New Democratic Power (People’s Committees) were formed.
This created the basis for the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside
and the secret revolutionary movement and legal mass movement in the cities. On
the other hand, it started efforts together with various Maoist organisations
and parties in the international level for the World Socialist revolution and
to fulfill the tasks of the international proletariat. In this process the
preparatory commission of the National Democratic Front was formed in 1971
under the leadership of the CPP.
At the same time, the people of the Moro
nationality got organised against national oppression, exploitation and for the
right to self-determination. They took to militant actions and initiated armed
struggle.
Soon after the NPA was formed in 1969, it
conducted several attacks in 1970 on the armed forces of the Philippines
government. The party decided to form party committees at the regional level
and NPA commands in 1969 itself, but it could come into practice only during
1970-’72. Thus, regional commands were formed in North Luzon, Central Luzon,
Manila-Luzon, South Luzon, West Visayas, Mindanavo and other areas.
It can be said that the period between 1972
and 1974 was the time during which the NPA spread across the country. Also in
1973, the Party, NPA and NDF preparatory commission was formed. The period
between 1969-’79 was the decade in which the armed revolution was initiated
across the country. And lastly, this was the time during which guerilla fronts,
guerilla zones and guerilla bases were formed in certain strategic areas in the
country. Until 1979, the NPA mainly operated as armed propaganda squads and
guerilla squads. Anyway, it also had a few platoons to conduct attacks on the
enemy and to serve as the centre for mobilising the forces whenever necessary.
In 1979, platoons and company-size units were gradually started. Sparrow units
were formed in the plain areas. Armed partisan units and small guerilla squads
worked secretly in the areas of enemy control. Thus, armed activities spread to
the plain areas.
In the period between January and March
1970, there was a spurt in the protest activities of the militant youth and
student organisations in the capital city of Manila. This was known as the
‘First Quarter Storm’. Around fifty thousand to one lakh people participated in
each of these protests. These spread to the big cities and towns of the
country. These mobilisations developed into a strong political and cultural
movement with a national consciousness. It brought forth the basic problems of
the people caused by US imperialism, feudalism and comprador capitalism. This
mass upsurge propagated the National Democratic Revolutionary task in an
unprecedented scale. It strengthened the revolutionary struggle and encouraged
militancy among the people of the Philippines.
In order to give a blow to the Party and
the NPA, the dictatorship of Marcos started a suppression campaign in the name
of ‘nip in the bud’ between 1968 and beginning of early 70s. ‘Oplan Mamamayan’
was another suppression campaign unleashed between early 1970s and 1986 during
which massacres, shooting s, large scale armed attacks, forcible displacement,
bombing, total burning of villages, intimidation, looting, arrests, detainment
and torture were perpetrated against the people to suppress all kinds of
democratic rights.
As the crisis in the semi-colonial,
semi-feudal system intensfied and the masses were sloganeering for a
revolutionary change, Marcos declared Martial Law (military rule) and brought
forth his fascist dictatorship in a blatant manner. Democratic rights were
denied in an unprecedented level Not only the patriotic and progressive forces
but other factions of ruling classes that criticized the ruling faction were
severely repressed. Around one and half lakh people were massacred. More than
60 lakh people were displaced. Arrests and torture became a daily phenomenon.
Anyhow, even before Martial Law was
declared, the people’s war expanded as the revolutionary conditions ripened.
The exploitation and fascist repression reached an intolerable level and so the
exploited masses courageously rejected the dictatorship of Marcos under the
leadership of the CPP. The armed resistance of the people gradually intensified
and expanded. In order to build a stable foundation for the unity of all the
people’s forces that went underground as a
result of the Martial Law, the preparatory commission of the NDF
released a ten point programme on the 24th April 1973. Later, this date was
declared to be the formation day of the NDF.
Since the people’s army and the united
front stood on a strong basis, armed agrarian revolutionary struggle spread
like wildfire in the countryside. The revolutionaries concentrated initially in
the strategic areas in the islands and later in the areas of secondary
importance. From the forest areas the armed struggle spread to the plain areas,
towns and the sea coast. The movement advanced through the anti-feudal
struggles demanding a reduction in the land tenancy, interest on loans, hike in
the agricultural wages and for remunerative prices for crops. The movements of
the workers, students, women, intellectuals and the urban poor intensified.
Open and secret movements developed fast and in a coordinated way.
NDF played an important role in all these
mass upsurges. The Party lent direct guidance to these movements. NDF took a
correct line in the fight against Lava’s rightist, reformist line. It gained
experiences in legal and illegal mass struggles. Through this NDF played a
vital role in forming and consolidating various revolutionary, democratic mass
organisations. It directly led many anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles.
It rallied lakhs of people against the bureaucratic, comprador rulers. It made
efforts to coordinate and strengthen the emerging alternate organs of revolutionary
people’s power in the countryside. With the united efforts of the Party, NPA
and the NDF, guerilla fronts, guerilla zones and guerilla bases were formed and
developed. People’s war advanced to a higher level. Through this experience it
was once again proved that there must be proletarian leadership to the United
Front and that worker-peasant alliance is a must in armed struggle. Thus, apart
from the basic classes, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the vacillating middle
bourgeoisie could also be organised. It was possible to utilise the splits in
the reactionary classes, isolate them, destroy their power and establish
embryonic forms of New Democratic Power. In order to succeed in the NDR, the
experience of the NDF proved that the Party and the United Front must have the
same programme and the same revolutionary class line. The CPP learnt about
Protracted People’s War, the two stage revolution (first the NDR and then the Socialist
revolution), their funamental principles and its concrete application in a
semi-colonial, semi-feudal condition from the experiences of the victorious
revolutions in China and Vietnam as well as their own past struggles.
At the same time, the Party guided the mass
organisations through the bureaus under the organisation department. They
faced the problem of maintaining their
secrecy in the towns during the raids of the enemy. However, in general secrecy
was successfully maintained even during the bureaucratic rule of Marcos as is
clear from the fact that the NDF brought out the Liberation bulletin
soon after the declaration of Martial law. It also started the 'Free
Philippines News Service' with the help and cooperation of the ‘National Press
Bureau’ of the Party. It sent to the guerilla zones a large number of cadre and
people’s activists who came under the vigilance of the enemy in the towns.
In 1975 and ’76 there was a spurt in the
worker and student movements. Legal peasant organisations were initiated in the
area outside the guerilla zones. As the legal progressive people’s movement
gradually developed, the ‘Christians for National Liberation’ (CNL) played a
great role. Thus, the NDF was much more strengthened and the comprador Marcos
government failed in suppressing the revolutionary movement in 1976-’77. Rather, the movement developed and expanded
in the period.
In these favorable conditions the tactical
counter offensives of the NPA reached great heights in the first half of the
1980s. In the period between 1980-’83, guerilla fronts were formed in various
provinces. The minimum programme of armed agrarian revolutionary reforms was
implemented. The organs of political power were formed. By 1985 the NPA became
an army with seven thousand rifles.
The Moro people in the South formed an army
against the fascist rule of Marcos and waged armed struggle. The Moro
Revolutionary Organisation (MORO) became a partner in NDF. NPA consolidated it.
The Cordillera people strongly resisted the building of a dam on the River
Chico that would destroy the environment and the Cellophil Corporation in Abra.
They became part of the formation of the People’s Army and the revolutionary
front to achieve the right to self-determination. The revolutionary movement
developed in the other areas of the
country, especially in the Lumad nationality region in Mindanavo. In 1981, the
Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) was formed and joined the NDF. In
1980, NDF together with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) took up a
planned struggle against the dictatorship of Marcos in front of the Permanent
People’s Tribunal in the city of Antwerp in Belgium. Thus, NDF was successful
in organising moral and material support from other countries for the
revolutionary movement in the country.
In 1981, the secretariat of the NDF was
formed. In 1984, secretariat was formed in the whole of the Visayas area and
then in Paane, Negros, and the Samar islands.
In 1982, NDF formulated the new Katipunan
draft programme and sent to its friendly organisations and other progressive
organisations. By early 1985, this gained popularity in the country and abroad. In 1983, when Senator Benigno Aquino
was murdered, there were unprecedented protests by the people. The National
Democratic movement made a great leap forward. New people’s organisations,
United Fronts, sectional, multiple sectional organisations and open movements
in many forms, long marches and large demonstrations were organised. With the
integration of the open movements with the armed struggle, big mass upsurges
took place in the period between 1983-86.
There was a speedy decline in the social
conditions of the people and contradictions among the ruling classes
intensified. The People’s War gave severe blows to the government armed forces.
There was a huge protest from the people against the assassination of the
Senator Benigno Aquino. All these led to the expansion of the anti-fascist
movement. More than a thousand mass organisations came together to form a
United Front called Bayan in May 1985. It was mainly based on the strong will
and strength of the workers, peasants and a majority of the exploited masses.
This had a membership of nearly ten lakhs comprising of women, youth, students,
the urban poor, national minorities, church workers, teachers and
professionals. It struggled for national freedom and democracy. A few sections
of the ruling classes also became part of it. There was also a rebellion in the
most powerful instrument of the ruling classes, the army. The protest of the
masses took the form of a general insurrection. There was growing discontentment
in the reactionary camp as well. As a result, the dictatorship of Marcos
collapsed in February, 1986.
In the early 1980s, carried away by the
growing favorable conditions and fast advancing revolutionary struggle, the
party leadership went for quick victory which was reflected in military
adventurism, combined with an urban insurrectionary policy. As a result, left
adventurism became dominant in the party. This contributed to the subjective
assessment in Mindanavo and other areas that enemy agents infiltrated into the
Party and the revolutionary organisations. This led to an anti-infiltration
hysteria (Kampanyang Ahos) and also certain bureaucratic trends. All these
factors hampered the advancement of the revolutionary forces. NPA could not
counter the tactics of the enemy. It suffered severe losses. At that time, when
compared with the counter-revolutionary armed forces, the People’s War was in
the stage of strategic defensive.
During this period, the people’s struggle
against the fascist dictatorship intensified in the countryside and the urban
areas in various forms. The loss resulting from the party's drift away from the
line of People’s War was slightly mitigated by this struggle.
After Marcos, Corazon Aquino came to power.
She immediately held talks with NDF and made a ceasefire agreement. This
continued for sixty days. But the government violated this agreement and
indulged in a killing spree called the Mendiola massacre. It also started a
very big cruel suppression campaign. While Corazon Aquino came to power with
attractive and democratic slogans, she took up the policy of ‘complete war’ and
‘gradual organisation’ against the people since 1987. In the middle of 1987,
the government unleashed ‘Oplan Red Buster’ and in 1988 it conducted ‘Oplan
Delta Buster’ which inflicted severe losses to the Party and the NPA.
The Ramos government that succeeded the
Corazon Aquino government took up continuous Internal Security Operations – ISO
in the form of ‘Oplan Lambat Bitug – 1, 2, 3, 4’. All these operations were in
accordance with the US-dictated Low Intensity Conflict (LIC). On the one hand,
psychological war tactics were implemented and on the other, cruel armed
attacks were intensified. The government adopted the tactic of ‘clear, hold,
consolidate’. Secret murderous gangs like Alsa Masa, Pulahan, Putiyan,
Decolores etc. were formed. These were later rechristened as the Civil
Voluntary Organisation (CVO) and the Citizen’s Armed Force Geographical Unit
(CAFGU). The country was thus strangled by fascist terror. This gradually led
to a situation of undeclared Martial Law. Though the people for a while had
some illusions about Corazon Aquino due to the bitter hatred against the Marcos
dictatorship, the new government too was isolated from the people soon after
coming to power. It tried to eliminate the revolutionary movement but failed to
do so.
In 1986, NDF started its activities in
South Luzon and formed its two Municipal Councils in South Tagalog Region. In
late 1986 and early 1987 its regional councils were formed. Subsequently all
the mass organisations held congresses and became more active. Thus, by the end
of 1980 NDF could bring unity among the revolutionary forces. Internationally
it enhanced relations with anti-imperialist forces and came into contact with
certain foreign governments and various interstate (international)
organisations.
The National Congress of NDF was held in
July 1990. In this Congress, according to the main revolutionary principles and
the policy of the Party on United Front, basing on its successes and principled
criticism against wrong ideas about United Front, it formulated the Programme
and Constitution. It elected the National Council and the Secretariat.
The NDF primarily worked as the preparatory
force for the organs of state power from the municipal level to the top and
also as a form of organisation. The Conferences and Councils of NDF paved the
way for the building of organs of people’s democratic power. But NDF was not a
people’s government. It was a preparatory force for the formation of such a
government. It conducted certain duties officially on behalf of such a people’s
government. It represented the revolutionary movement and the organs of the
people’s state power. It represented the national, democratic rights and
interests of the broad masses and protected the same. NDF inspired the secret
mass organisations and the open democratic forces in intensifying and expanding
the agitations against foreign monopoly capitalist forces and domestic
reactionary forces in all the main fields of struggle and main issues emerging
in national and social life. It played a vital role in enlightening the masses
and organising them with the demand to close down the US military bases. Thus,
it represented the broad masses countrywide. It participated in the peace talks
with the government between 1990 and 1992. Both sides signed the Hague
Declaration on the 1st of September 1992 and agreed to continue the talks.
NDF and its fraternal organisations are
strongly committed to the general line of New Democratic Revolution. It
believes that stable and just peace is possible only by fulfilling the
objective of the people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy. NDF
always criticised the government’s peace slogan whih was raised whenever it
wanted to unleash a total war and cruel repressive policy. NDF strongly stuck
to the stand that for genuine talks there is a need for a neutral foreign
government or any international organisation as the third party and that the
talks should be held in any neutral foreign country. The attitudes, actions and
representations of NDF and its fraternal organisations in the Philippines and
at the international level greatly contributed to the advancement of the
revolutionary movement. Since the formation of the NDF the credit of all its
successes go to the revolutionary cadre, activists, the hard work of the
masses, their agitations and their sacrifices.
Meanwhile, the movement under the
leadership of the CPP suffered a setback in the last phase of 1988 due to the
mistakes and wrong trends within the party. The party suffered severe losses in
the leadership and also the subjective forces. The Party, NPA, mass
organisations and the mass base became significantly weak. Areas of struggle
were diminished. Even in suh an adverse situation, the revolutionary forces
stood strongly in favour of armed struggle and fought against the wrong
adventurist line. In 1992 the great rectification movement was taken up and a
deep two line struggle was conducted. The party was strengthened as a result.
NPA too was strengthened. The people became united. The mass organisations and
the NDF expanded. The mass base was enhanced and strengthened. The people of
the country were organised into powerful struggles against US imperialism and
the country's puppet government. Thus, the loss due to the wrong trend was
gradually overcome.
Due to the ideological and political
weakness of a section of the party leadership, there was an over-emphasis on
the favourable objective conditions in the country and a wrong assessment of
the prevailing class contradictions. The party rectified these mistakes by
strongly committing itself to the general political line and the line of
Protracted People’s War. This formed the necessary basis for future advancement
and successes. The party continued to struggle against the persons responsible
for the wrong trends. Die-hards, renegades and opportunists were thrown out of
the Party. All the revolutionary forces were unified and the rectification
campaign proved to be a great success. The party expanded its mass base all
over the country, strengthened it and intensified the guerilla war and the
People’s War to the best of the capabilities of the revolutionary forces and
the favorable conditions.
By 1998-99 they successfully completed the
second great rectification movement with which the Party, NPA and the entire
revolutionary movement achieved
significant successes. They advanced the People’s War according to their
subjective strength by conducting the armed agrarian revolution as its axis.
After Joseph Estrada came to power as the
president, another suppression campaign was taken up against the revolutionary
movement between 1998 and 2001 under the name ‘Oplan Makabayan’. This continued
with the aim of giving an irrecoverable blow to the revolutionary forces. The
tactics of ‘Clear, hold, consolidate, develop’ was implemented, concentrating
initially in South Tagalog and Bycol areas and later in North Mindanavo.
Anyway, this repressive campaign too failed to suppress the people’s
revolutionary armed resistance.
The next president Gloria M Arroyo took up
repressive campaigns from 2001 to 2010 under the banner of ‘Oplan Bante Laya –
1’ and ‘Oplan Bante Laya – 2’ as per the diktats of the US imperialists. The
aim of these campaigns was to eliminate the NPA or to weaken it. These attacks
became synonymous violence and terror unleashed on the Filipino people.
However, the countrywide Tactical Counter
Offensive Campaigns by the NPA and a strong people’s movement defeated ‘Oplan
Bante Laya – 1’ by mid 2005. The general staff of the Philippines army admitted
this failure in 2006.
But the government covered up its failure
and once again prepared to defeat the NPA strategically and eliminate it. Its
failed scheme was revived under ‘Oplan Bante Laya – 2’ in the name of ‘improved
national internal security’. As a part of this scheme the revolutionary
activists were branded with ‘sedition’, they were kidnapped by the murderous
gangs, tortured and murdered. It shamelessly propagated that the Communist
Party of Philippines and NPA killed them. Though the colleagues, friends and
relatives of the deceased proved with evidence that the army was responsible
for these murders, the army continued its
Goebblesian propaganda. The Party called upon the masses to launch a
full-fledged struggle to bring down the exploitative government, to intensify
the guerilla actions and to advance the struggle for national liberation and
democracy. Observing the atrocities committed by the enemy forces the
International Human Rights organisations, religious organisations, governments
of certain countries, the UN human rights committee and journalists conducted
fact-finding campaigns. They demanded that the Philippines government bear
responsibility for its cruel acts.
The areas in Mindora, East Visayas and
Central Luzon were strangled by the fascist attacks of the cruel military
officer Major General Jovito Palparan. It was a campaign in which many
activists and agitators were picked up and murdered. More than a thousand died
in the attacks of the murderous gangs of the Philippines army. False cases were
foisted on the activists who were branded as the ‘enemies of the state’, on the
mass leaders and those who criticized the government uncompromisingly. There
was no difference between legal-illegal, open -secret and armed-unarmed forces.
Patrolling became a general phenomenon in the towns including the capital city
of Manila.
Strategically the ratio of the NPA forces
and the Philippines army is 1 to 10 (one NPA guerilla for every ten policemen).
But the NPA in the present stage of strategic defensive is capable of
conducting tactical counter offensives against the Philippines army in the
ratio of 10 to 1, i.e., ten guerillas for one policeman.
At any particular occasion, the Philippines
army is in a position to concentrate its forces in only a few areas. So the NPA
gained initiative in conducting its TCOCs. NPA conducted many actions in the
form of raids, ambushes, sabotage actions, sniper attacks and arrest
operations. The broad masses were educated and organised in protest
demonstrations and resistance struggles in a more decisive manner.
Due to the successful guerrilla attacks of
the NPA, the Philippines army suffered huge and unprecedented blows. The morale
of the army and the police was on the low. The regular police forces were angry
with their officers for ill treatment, for deceiving them in the supply of food
articles and allowances, for sending them blindly to dangerous patrols and for
conducting countless suicidal operations.
With frequent defeats, fear and tension,
discontent and hopelessness, the military officers and the regular police
forces indulged in attacks on the people and large scale repression was
committed. Similarly, they also created ‘encounter tell-tales’ to boast about
their successes in war and also to cash in on the sale of arms and ammunition
by falsely claiming that they were lost in encounters.
The Philippines government and its military
forces fabricated wrong stories that they killed many NPA warriors, that many
NPA units had surrendered, that they occupied many NPA camps and that they
destroyed many guerilla fronts. In fact, it was the Philippines army that faced
many losses. Ordinary people were described to be surrendered NPA guerillas. They occupied
villages and boasted of having occupied NPA camps. In fact, they could not
destroy a single guerilla front. In fact, the NPA is paving way for the
construction of many more guerilla fronts. Out of the total 7,100 islands, the
guerilla fronts are being constructed in 170 districts.
The Arroyo government and the army
frequently boasted in the past that they would destroy NPA or disintegrate it
by mid 2010. In ‘Oplan Bante Laya – 2’ - second campaign of the government -
they stationed large forces in schools in the town areas and churches, arranged
check posts in the streets of the towns, conducted large scale operations to
terrorise the workers and the poor people in the towns and to suppress the
national democratic movement in the cities. This campaign, however, was an even bigger failure. The chief of the
general staff General Victor Ibrado had to admit in June 2010 that the Arroyo
government failed to suppress the armed revolution and the mass movements.
Thus, the NPA gained unprecedented strength
in all fields as the biggest revolutionary army by conducting tactical counter
offensives in the present stage of strategic defensive of the People’s War. The
TCOC was aimed at defeating the counter-revolutionary campaign of the exploitative
ruling classes by extensively mobilising the masses and integrating them with
the NPA.
The NPA has been tempered in many battles.
At present, it is capable of giving strong blows to the enemy across the
country through tactical counter offensives in a short span of time. It has
gained experience and confidence in the struggle against the enemy, in
propagating revolution, in campaigning for the national and democratic rights
of the people and in organizing them extensively. It has achieved great success
in gaining the support of the peasantry and other masses for the armed
movement. Tens of thousands are in the people’s militia forces which are
working as the local police and a reserve force, replenishing the losses and
meeting the emerging needs of the NPA. A full-fledged command system has been
developed in the NPA in the sub-regional and provincial level or in areas
(sub-regional, front) where there are three to five guerilla fronts. The
military command also extends from the local forces to the militia, the barrio
self-defense core and the partisan or sparrow units engaged in special
operations in the urban centers.
NPA expanded its activities to thousands of
barrios in the seventy provinces of the country and hundreds of towns and
cities. A 33 percent rise has been achieved in seizure of weapons from the
enemy forces during tactical counter-offensives. The number of guerilla fronts
have grown to more than a hundred. While big guerilla fronts cover 60-100
barrios, small and medium level fronts cover 40-59 of them. New guerilla fronts
are developing at a fast pace in new areas. It has a base of lakhs of masses.
Lakhs of people are organised in around 1600 towns and 800 cities.
CPP is expanding and organising its
revolutionary mass base by forming People’s Committees that are the new organs
of peoples power, mass organisations and local party branches. The organs of
people’s power are being formed and developed with the active support of
workers, peasants, women, youth, cultural activists and children’s
organisations. Under these organs of people’s power the working committees of
mass organisations, as well as departments such as education, land reforms,
finance, employment, production, health, defense, cultural affairs, legal
affairs etc. are functioning. The local party branches are leading the local
organs of state power. NPA has emerged as a strong weapon in the hands of the
revolutionary organs and organisations of the people’s democratic government.
People’s militia is working as local police
in each barrio starting from squad to platoon formations. It is also conducting
surveillance and occasional raids against the armed forces of the government.
The organs of state power and the mass organisations have an well-knit network
to observe and report about the movement of the government forces and its
activities. The people’s militia and the defense committees are uniting with
the local self-defense units and are playing an important role in developing
the guerilla war extensively.
The main feature of this stage of the
people's war is building the Party, the People’s Army and the revolutionary
people’s movement in a big way. The revolutionary mass base is ceaselessly
expanding and deepening. The people’s army is being organised in the formation
of a company in each guerilla front and a platoon in each guerilla zone as
standard force. Other platoons cover a broad area. The districts covering
guerilla fronts consist of a platoon in each municipality.
The organs of political power are being
formed in organisationally strong areas in the barrio, municipality and
district levels. Efforts are being made to enlighten the people of the rural
and urban areas and to organise them. United Fronts are being constituted
locally and in the higher levels. There is more recruitment in the rural areas.
There is a rise in the recruitment in the urban areas too.
As a result of regular recruitment,
training and the intensified tactical counter-offensive, the number of red NPA
warriors have increased in thousands. Their morale is high. In some areas there
are temporary difficulties due to the concentrated attacks by the enemy.
Anyway, the people are resisting the cruel deeds of the enemy forces. So the
peasantry and the activists are inevitably joining the people’s army.
The NPA is also concentrating on carrying
out genuine land reform that is the vehicle for New Democratic Revolution. It
is uniting and organising the main force of revolution, the poor peasantry and
the agricultural workers. The local party branches and the peasant
organisations are being coordinated and the NPA units are taking up the
programme of minimum land reforms (reduction of tenancy rates, elimination of
exploitation by usurers, hike in the wages of agricultural workers,
remunerative market prices for crops, encouragement to the agricultural and
agriculture-related products) in the maximum possible areas. Wherever possible
it is also implementing the maximum land reform programme (occupation of land,
returning the lands to the peasantry from the landlords, land redistribution,
technical, financial and other kinds of help to the poor peasantry, etc.). The
people’s army is standing in support of the peasantry and is taking up land
reforms according to the laws of the people’s democratic government. The people’s
army which has been united with the peasantry has become a decisive force in
advancing the armed agrarian revolution.
‘Oplan
Bayanihan’
From the first president of the Philippines
Rokjas to Gloria Arroyo, all the comprador ruling governments considered the
revolutionary movement under the leadership of CPP as a threat to their
exploitative rule. So they unleashed ‘Internal Security Operations’
(suppression and extermination operations) to eliminate the movement under the
direct or indirect supervision of the US imperialists. Under the leadership of
the CPP, NPA defeated all these past campaigns and took the People’s War to new
heights.
The comprador Benigno Aquino government
that came in place of Arroyo in 2010 could not digest the fact that the Filipino
people were advancing on the path of revolution under the proletariat
leadership (CPP, NPA, NDF) to put an end to imperialist exploitation,
oppression and control and the semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. US
imperialism and its comprador ruling classes are afraid that if the Philippine
revolution gathers more strength, their exploitative interests would not be
sustained. They are trying to deceive the people and to give a blow to the
revolutionary movement by tarnishing the revolutionary movement. They are
propagating that the violence of the Communists is the sole reason for the
backwardness, poverty and other social problems of the country. With the aim of
suppressing the Filipino revolutionary movement they have now taken up another
extensive, multi-pronged, comprehensive counter-revolutionary war called ‘Oplan
Bayanihan’ under the guidance of the US counter-insurgency establishment.
The Philippines government claims that
‘Oplan Bayanihan’ is a ‘strategy centered around the people’ and that it is a
counter-insurgency operation taken up under the framework of human security
operations. It also claims that this campaign would strengthen the role of
‘non-combat’ military operations and that it would include civil military
operations (CMO) and development activities. Moreover, it is also claimed that
the campaign will reduce combat operations and bring peace and prosperity to
the villagers through good administration, creation of basic services, economic
reconstruction and stable development and reforms.
In fact, there is no fundamental or
qualitative difference between ‘Oplan Bayanihan’, ‘Oplan Bante Laya – 1, 2’ and
other earlier suppression campaigns of the Philippines army. The only novelty
is that the old Oplan has now adorned a new veil. The government is propagating
in every nook and corner of the country that it is nothing but a massive scheme
for the promotion of peace-development-human rights. It is parroting the slogan
of ‘peace’, portraying this cruel military repressive campaign as a pure ‘peace-development’
initiatve and is mystifying the real character of these three-pronged (combat,
intelligence, civil-military) operations.
The Aquino government has announced that
‘Oplan Bayanihan’ would concentrate on a three-pronged strategy to defeat the
danger posed by the communists. This is a revelation of the operation's true
essence. Combat and non-combat (intelligence, civil-military) operations are
being conducted in a coordinated manner under this repressive campaign. In
order to deceive the people, to give a blow to the revolutionary movement, to
incorporate civil agencies and public organisations in the
counter-revolutionary war and to prevent any protest against the Philippines
army, the Philippines government is experimenting on these two fronts. The
objective of the non-combat military operations is to strengthen the
intelligence network and to supply accurate information for combat operations.
‘Oplan Bayanihan’ claims to be in favour of
peace and justice. But no commitment to peace is visible in the agenda of this
campaign. The Benigno Aquino government has made no serious effort to hold
peace talks with the NDF. Till date, there is no indication that the government
wishes to or is ready to do anything
other than demanding the surrender of NDF. All the officers and bureaucrats who
represent the government in the peace talks do
not get tired of spilling venom against the communists. They and their
government have no respect for the revolutionary movement and the masses.
In reality, the Benigno Aquino government
is intent on intensifying the mopping-up operations in the rural and urban
areas, red as well as white areas through ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ and to expand the
drag-net against the revolution continuously.
The Aquino government is taking up massive
‘scour and wreck havoc’ campaigns in the guerilla fronts, guerilla zones and
guerilla bases in order to destroy the Party and the New People’s Army by
concentrating its military, police and civil administration in the rural areas.
The aim is to cut off the people’s support to the movement and its mass base in
order to give a final blow to the fighting capability and the aspirations of
the masses. Through ‘peace and development team operations’, it is
concentrating on creating white terror – kidnapping, torture, murders,
pressurising people to become informers, keeping vigilance, recruiting them in
counter-revolutionary organisations, conducting psychological operations,
destroying the mass base by ‘divide and deceive’ tactics, and so on. The government's
military and police gangs are carrying out surveillance operations to identify
the guerilla units, party cadre, members, people’s militia, leaders of mass
organisations and activists in order to eliminate them through combat
operations. They are kidnapping, killing or putting people in jails. They are
also utilising these operations to pressurise the masses to turn against the
revolution. The combat operations are concentrating on ‘relentless pursuit and
repression’ to destroy the regular guerilla units.
The armed forces of Philippines are taking
up the tactic and method of gradual constriction. They are deploying an
operational command at brigade level with one or two battalions to take on each
guerilla front. They are conducting ‘clear, hold, consolidate and develop’
campaigns. The mopping-up operations in the Caugar 69 IB red areas in Central
Luzon, which is based on the experience of ‘Oplan Bante Laya’, is a model for
these operations.
The war front is divided by the armed
forces into three different kinds of areas - area of combat operation, area of
intelligence network, extended area - and different methods of operation are
applied for them. Intense combat operations are conducted in the guerilla bases
under the leadership of the Philippines army. This is called the key-hole
approach. In this method, the government armed forces chase down the guerilla
units in the guerilla zones into the area of informer network. These are called
areas of intelligence operations. Then they search the residential areas and
carry out attacks in a planner manner. This combination of combat and
intelligence operations are being taken up extensively to stop the expansion of
NPA to the extended areas where the intelligence operations of the Philippines
army are weak.
The Philippines government and its army
claim to be working for peace. But this is a white lie. Rather, it is working
to destroy the revolutionary and progressive organisations of the country. On
the one hand, it is unleashing white terror and fascist repression to mop-up
the areas where the influence of revolutionary and progressive ideas is
visible. On the other, it is pretending to be the champion of peace and human
rights. Moreover, it is portraying the common masses who are organising
resistance through collective action as violent criminals and terrorists. Thus,
the government is trying to justify the targeting of the masses through fascist
violence of the state. Not only the underground activists, but also the leaders
and activists of legal and progressive organisations are being murdered with
impunity. The Philippines army is justifying its fascist crimes as legal deeds.
The government agencies create false evidence to frame the revolutionary and
democratic forces. They foist on them one criminal case after another. They
utilise all the methods that lay in the armoury of the corrupt courts and
lawyers. They indulge in torture, threat and assault.
The special feature of Oplan Bayanihan is
that it is concentrating on Civil and Military Operations (CMO). It involves
civil agencies, civil organisations, NGOs, government officers, employees,
church-related persons, mass media (electronic, print) and people from other
fields in the society. It is intensifying anti-revolutionary propaganda and
psychological war operations. Thus, by using pressure, fear and isolation, it
is trying to make the NPA and the revolutionary organisations surrender.
The government has claimed that the attacks
on the NPA are legal and is trying to prove that the Philippines army is clean.
It is giving utmost importance to CMO operations and intelligence-gathering and
trying to conduct military attacks with precise information. As a part of this
strategy, it is forming reactionary organisations (civil and voluntary
organisations, barrio protective system, sector protective system, etc).
Extensive intelligence network (barrio intelligence network, technical
intelligence network, school intelligence network, factory intelligence
network, etc.) and other such networks are being formed. People’s meetings,
anti-communist rallies, employment schemes, community development programmes
and such other things are being conducted by the reactionary government. It is
taking up extensive counter-revolutionary propaganda through radio, TV
broadcasting, audio-video programs, literature and cinema.
The government's armed forces are also
taking up White Area Clearing Operations in the white areas with CMO
battalions. They are particularly targeting the cities where revolutionary and
progressive organisations are active. In this way, it is conducting mopping-up
operations to eliminate the revolutionary forces in the cities, towns and plain
areas that are under the control of the exploitative ruling classes. The target
of the CMO operations in the cities is to destroy the revolutionary,
progressive parties and organisations, to isolate and suppress them, to control
revolutionary propaganda and struggles and in which the masses are involved. It
also organises sector-wise counter-revolutionary organisations and activities.
As a part of it, sector defense system, anti-communist organisations and
parties and intelligence networks are set up. They mainly target the
revolutionary cadre, leaders and activists of the legal democratic movement.
The
Aquino government militarises the country
Though the dictator of Philippines Marcos
was brought down by a countrywide wave of people’s movements, the process of
militarising the country to suppress the revolutionary movement and the
people’s and national liberation struggles under the directions of the US
imperialists did not change. The militarisation is taken up with the objective
of protecting the rotten semi-colonial, semi-feudal society. So the supremacy
of military power that started under the US-Marcos dictatorship is still
continuing in the country. It means that the country is under undeclared
Martial Law.
There were one lakh soldiers in the
Philippines army when Marcos declared Martial law. Now this number has been
doubled. The number of police personnel has increased from one lakh fifteen
thousand to one lakh forty thousand. The number is much higher for paramilitary
forces and the armed forces under the control of the army. The Philippines army
is being modernised under the guidance of US military advisers. Key officers of
this army are sent for advanced training to the West Point Military Academy,
Annapolis Naval Academy, Port Bening and other institutes in the US. They
return as CIA agents. The Philippines government is taking up
counter-revolutionary campaigns according to the US military strategy. The
present ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ is a part of it.
The poor peasantry and the national
minorities are the main targets of the Philippines army. This militarisation is
only for repressing the people’s resistance, to destroy the developing people’s
democratic power and to protect the foreign commercial interests. The
rural poor are being subjected to undeclared military rule to facilitate
foreign mining, commercial plantations and big commercial agriculture. Also,
militarisation is going on in areas where mega dams are being built for the
serving foreign companies and where destructive ‘development’ projects are
being taken up.
The repression under Oplan Bayanihan is
most cruel and barbaric. Murders, kidnapping, torture, patrolling, arrests,
detainment, violation of civil and democratic rights are going on in an
indiscriminate manner. Bomb attacks, shoot outs, massacres are becoming the
norm. This military operation is destroying the people’s livelihood, homes and
properties. People are leaving their ancestral land in thousands and migrating
for safety. Villagers are forcibly inducted into the mercenary paramilitary
groups and vigilante gangs.
It is since 2011 that cruel the military
operations in the name of Oplan Bayanihan are being carried out under the
pretext of ‘peace and development’. Villages are brought under the control of
the army teams in the name of Community Organizing for Peace and Development
(COPD) through ‘special operations’. Schools, community halls and other public
buildings are being converted into army camps. The soldiers are forcibly
occupying peasant’s houses and property.
The army is also liberally spending public
funds to win over the women and youth in particular. It is promoting the
consumption of drugs, liquor and other harmful practices to divert the youth
from the revolutionary struggle. Lumpen elements among them are identified and
recruited into the army’s intelligence network.
There is an increased vigilance on the
activities of the villagers. The soldiers visit every house in the name of
collecting population statistics and try to identify individuals and
organisations that are against the government. Curfew and other repressive
measures are being frequently resorted to, as if Martial Law is the order of
the day. The people suspected to be against the government are slapped fake
criminal charges to prove that they are members of the NPA.
The army is spreading rumours in order to
break the unity among the people and to weaken their resistance. The military
is implementing counter-revolutionary activities like schemes of direct cash
transfer to the people and sham agricultural reforms.
Fake
reforms to divert the masses
The Aquino government’s claim that
development for the people through various schemes is the real purpose of
‘Oplan Bayanihan’ is an outright lie. In fact, 1.9 billion Pesos allotted for
these schemes were spent on psychological warfare in the Samar province in East
Visayas and other strongholds of the revolutionary movement. The military,
police force and the local government units are initiating these schemes in a
coordinated manner to suppress the NPA. These schemes were introduced in
Balangiga and Maslog town in East Samar, Laoyang, Mandragon and San Rok in
North Samar. Not only the government authorities but the military too is
implementing these schemes through CMO battalions. This is clearly an integral
part of Oplan Bayanihan.
Along with these, propaganda activities and
intelligence networks too are being coordinated by the armed forces. They are
gathering comprehensive and wide-ranging area-wise intelligence. For example,
in the name of a drinking water project, information about all the water
sources in the areas of the revolutionary movement was collected and maps were
prepared. In the month of September 2012, when the governmenmt tried to
photograph the villagers in Lete barrio, the villagers fiercely resisted. They
exposed the conspiracy of the army through radio. In 2013, the government is
constructing a US-financed highway in the border of North and East Samar to facilitate the speedy movement
of the army against the revolutionary forces. The aim is to crush the people’s
resistance against the entry of big mining companies into the region.
The Benigno Aquino government is trumpeting
a poverty eradication programme with much fanfare called ‘conditional money
transfer scheme’. Through this, the government authorities would give money to
the rich peasants and sponsor poor families. The real aim of this project is to
buy off the obidience of certain communities within a short time. This scheme
is mainly implemented in the guerilla fronts. The objective is to help the
counter-insurgency plan ‘Oplan Bayanihan’.
Counter
insurgency plan for the protection of eco-tourism and interests of heavy mining
The environment and the fishing industry of
the country are facing a serious threat from eco-tourism and under-sea mining
that brings a lot of money to the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and other
imperialists. Fisher-folk and peasants are displaced from thousands of hectares
of land to make way for exploiting black sand, gold, copper, lead and zinc and
also for the exploration of natural gas and oil. The Filipino fisher-folk are
taking up agitations against these projects. The Aquino government is
channelising its counter-insurgency campaign Oplan Bayanihan to suppress these
struggles as well. As a part of it, vigilance and intelligence operations are
conducted against poor fishing communities, mainly in the Bycol region and West
Mindanavo regions.
While the Aquino government is facilitating
the loot of mineral wealth of the country and destruction of the environment,
its fascist army is continuously attacking the leaders and activists of the
Lumad minority who are opposing the heavy mining. The Lumad people are
demanding that the 52,000 hectares of hereditary land should not be given to
the mining companies and plantations. But the people of the Lumad minority are
being forcibly displaced. There is no respect for their rights. The murderous
‘New Indigenous People’s Army for Reform’ - a paramilitary force - was
constituted by the planners of Oplan Bayanihan to forcibly displace the Lumad
minority. Many counter-revolutionaries were armed. As a result there is terror
in this area. Atrocities are committed on the peasantry, especially on women
and children. Recently the armed agents of the government attacked the
protesters against mining. Seventy four Lumad activists were arrested and
charged with conspiracy cases alleging that they were in contact with NPA.
Thus, the government is depriving the people of their hereditary lands and are
indulging in wanton attacks on the old and the young. The Lumad leaders who are
vocal against these atrocities are being murdered. The leader of the Lumad nationality
Kagayan De Oro was murdered in October 2012. Gilbert Paborada, the president of
‘Panagalasag’, a frontal organisation of ‘Kalumbe’ (the regional united front
of the Lumad organisations in North Mindanavo) that is opposing heavy mining,
was shot dead. The Lumad people of the Tigvahanan tribe agitated for six
months. Their barrio captain and the leader of the movement Jimmy Liguyan was
murdered by the New Indigenous People’s Army for Reform in order to chase the
people away from this area.
Jenasque Enrikwij, general secretary of
‘Kasalo’ organisation that has been fighting against turning the Karaga region
into a military hub and opposing the attacks on Mamanva minorities, Katribu,
the vice-president of the local People’s Party, and 36 others were foisted with
false cases and arrested. Earlier, 37 leaders of ‘Mapasu’ organisation were
arrested under the pretext that they had weapons and explosives. It is not
surprising given the fact that ‘Mapasu’ has been opposing the transfer of the
hereditary land of the Manoba people in Liyanga, San Agustin, Marihatag and
Tago of Surigavo Del Sar to big mining companies.
Benigno
Aquino’s deceptive posture towards people’s rights
Benigno
Aquino has unleashed fascist repression on the Filipino people on one hand and
has extended support to the human rights declaration of the Association of
South East Asian Nations – ASEAN, on the other hand. This only exposes his
duplicity. Such drama is only to mislead the international society. This human
rights declaration was agreed on 20th of November 2012 in the ASEAN summit in
Cambodia. In the same period of October-November 2012, the Philippines army
massacred pregnant women and children. In the same month the army beheaded a
barrio officer. Peasants and tribal women in the Rizal area of Samar were
kidnapped. In Compostela Valley the army indulged in indiscriminate arrests. It
created a hit-list of 28 citizens in two towns which the Cordillera Human
Rights Alliance brought to light. The president of the Alliance too is in the
hit-list. In the same November, the government increased the booty on the heads
of revolutionary leaders. This has led to more violations of peopele's rights.
The Philippines government, as usual, is hiding facts, telling lies and
covering up its fascist crimes.
As a part of the peace talks
between the Philippines government and the NDF, a Joint Agreement was signed
guaranteeing th3e safety and immunity for both sides. According to this
agreement, consultants on behalf of the NDF could not be arrested. But till
date no one has been held guilty for consultants who were under protection but
went 'missing'. Moreover, 114 persons have been murdered so far by the
government's forces in the last two years of Oplan Bayanihan. Attempts were
made to murder 127 more persons. Dozens of persons have been tortured. Twelve
persons are still missing.
Counter-revolutionary
propaganda war of Benigno Aquino
Benigno Aquino has brushed
aside all the allegations of violation of people’s rights and atrocities
against them as the ‘propaganda of the Communists’. The government is spending
millions of Pesos for this psy-war. He and his military officers are churning
out fabricated statistics and surveys to
cover up the intensity of poverty, unemployment, high prices, low wages,
hunger, housing, landlessness and other such acute social and economic
problems. He is openly threatening the dissenting mediapersons and
intellectuals. In this way, Aquino reminds the people of the dictator Marcos.
After putting seventy thousand individuals in jail under the Martial Law,
Marcos claimed that there were no political prisoners in the country. In the
last two years of Benigno Aquino's government, 170 out of the 385 political
prisoners are still languishing behind bars. It is a brazen lie that there are
no political prisoners in jail.
‘Oplan
Bayanihan’ is against ‘Peace’
The government is planning to
keep away from the peace talks. It is treating the revolutionaries and the
leaders of the movement as ordinary criminals and subjecting them to brutal attacks.
It is threatening that if the revolutionaries do not surrender by the third
anniversary of Benigno Aquino government, there would not be any peace talks.
On the other hand, the government and its bourgeoisie intellectuals are
enthused that if ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ military repressive campaign is successful,
there would not be any need for peace talks. In fact, the peace talks failed to
conclude even a ceasefire agreement so far. The government is asking the
revolutionaries to surrender unconditionally. It has refused to release the
individuals under the protection of JASIG and the 350 political prisoners. It
is opposing fundamental economic change and even political and constitutional
reforms. The situation reveals that the drama of peace talks might be stopped
at any moment.
The peace talks that the
Benigno Aquino government held with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front too were
a failure. Since the agreements were not implemented, the Moro rebels decided
to take the path of struggle for their right to self-determination.
NPA, NDF, many independent
peoples' organisations and civil liberties organisations are taking up
resistance struggles in armed, unarmed, secret and open forms against Oplan
Bayanihan under the leadership of the CPP for the last two years. They are
seriously opposing the conversion of the country into a military hub in the
name of peace and development. They are demanding a stop to the counter
revolutionary war that is going on in the interest of the imperialists,
especially US imperialists. They are working determinedly to defeat the
counter-revolutionary war ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ that opposes the armed revolution
and the national and social liberation of the people.
Resisting
Oplan Bayanihan, the Filipino revolutionary movement advances towards achieving
higher aims
The CPP has traversed the initial stage of
Protracted People’s War - the stage of
strategic defensive - in 2011 and is working towards entering the stage of
strategic equilibrium. The domestic and international situation is favorable
for this. The Party has a correct line to achieve the same. It has called upon
the party cadre and the masses to advance the People’s War to fulfil the
aspirations of the people for national liberation and democracy.
The Party has concretely formulated a five
year programme to reach the stage of strategic equilibrium. It is clear that
advancing the People’s War is the only path to achieve the goal of revolution.
The Communist Party of Philippines took up the following tasks to reach its
goal – the party must be prepared ideologically, politically and
organisationally. It must lead the New Democratic Revolution and develop
efficiency to advance the People’s War from the present stage to a new stage.
It is clear that following
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the party, NPA, NDF and other people’s revolutionary
forces will fulfill great tasks and achieve great successes. The party has
taken up the task of enhancing its membership from tens of thousands to a
minimum of two and a half lakhs. In order to reach this target, they are
developing people’s movements in the towns and rural areas. It has planned to
send party members among workers and educated youth to the People’s Army, mass
work and organisational work of party branches, mass organizations and organs of
state power in the rural areas. The people are being roused with the politics
of New Democratic Revolution. The anger of the masses towards the exploitative
rule is being organised into a revolutionary upsurge.
In the same way, the emphasis
is to expand the patriotic and progressive mass organisations. The CPP plans to
train them to work as militant organisations in order to take up the acute
problems afflicting the people’s lives, to enhance the militancy of the masses
and to bring pressure on the exploitative government. Similarly, efforts are
being made to strengthen the urban people’s movement.
The situation in the
Philippines is very much favorable for the advancement of the revolution. Sharp
hike in oil prices, essential commodities, rural poverty, rising unemployment,
landlessness and homelessness, lack of healthcare, cuts in welfare services and
other problems are increasing the people's sufferings. The CPP is aware that
the people must be roused against these issues and must be mobilised into political
struggles. The mass movements in the towns are working with the aim of bringing
the broad urban masses into the struggles.
The Filipino people have
enormous experience of struggle. If Benigno Aquino attacks the protester, if he
tries to suppress them, as it happened in the history of Philippines, as it is
happening in various countries, the people would rebel en-masse. A strong legal
democratic movement in the towns would compliment the struggle of the masses
and revolutionary forces in the guerilla fronts.
The NPA is the principal form
of organisation of the Party to rouse, mobilise and consolidate.the people. It
is entrusted with the task of conducting mass work, constituting organs of
state power and mass organisations, local militia and self-defense units in
mass organisations, and so on. With the intensification of the war, the
responsibility of organising the masses is being gradually handed over to the
local party branches and mass organisations. The objuective is to allow of the
People’s Army to concentrate more on political and military training and combat
tasks.
The People’s Army has the task
of intensifying and expanding the guerilla war basing on the continuously
expanding and deepening its mass base. NPA is increasing its participation in combat
duty, mass work and production activities in specific periods. Relentless
tactical offensives are being planned to seize more weapons. There are also
plans to increae the few thousand red warriors to many thousands in order to
take on Oplan Bayanihan. It set for itself the aim of gathering twenty five
thousand rifles to move into the stage of strategic equilibrium.
The NPA is striving to enhance
higher-level fighting capacity to advance from the stage of strategic defensive
to the stage of strategic stalemate within one or two five-year plans.
Increasing the flexibility in implementing the tactics of centralization,
decentralization and shifting of forces is aimed at. All the present 110
guerilla fronts or most of them are being developed into company fronts and new
guerilla fronts are being formed. NPA aims to increase in the coming five years
the number of the guerilla fronts to at least 180. All the above measures and
plans would create opportunities to attack, defend and to develop guerilla war in
a fast pace, for the construction of full-fledged strong local guerilla forces
and people’s militia of the NPA consisting of regional forces.
The CPP aims to
expand the revolutionary movement to all the rural districts in the next five
years. It wants to integrate the armed revolutionary movement with agrarian
revolution and the establishment of revolutionary base areas. This is because
the peasantry would join the People’s War and support it only if their land
problem is solved through the minimum and maximum land reform programmes.
The Party and
the NPA will definitely develop and expand by bringing together and utilising
the friendly forces directly or indirectly through the efforts of the United
Front. While strengthening the people’s movement on the basis of the alliance
of workers and peasants, the urban petty bourgeoisie can be unified with the
basic classes in an alliance of progressive forces. The national bourgeoisie
can also be unified with this alliance of progressive forces. The national minorities struggling for liberation such as the Moro
people can play a major role in the United Front against American imperialism
and the reactionary Manila government.
Countrywide people’s resistance and
intensifying tactical counter-offensive of NPA against Oplan Bayanihan
In the present
situation of crisis while the Benigno Aquino government is increasingly proving
to be anti-people, anti-national, anti-democratic, corrupt and cruel, the
revolutionary force too are increasing in strength. The rocketing prices of
oil, food and other essential commodities signal the upcoming political storm.
The issue of corruption is going to become one more bane for the Aquino
government. People are putting forth severe criticism of Aquino in his failure
to investigate Arroyo for corruption and violation of peoples' rights. They are
also dissatisfied with the government for its failure in dealing with the
financial crimes of Eduardo Ko Jwanko, Lucio Tan and other such persons who
gave large amounts of money for the election campaign to Benigno Aquino in
2010. Recently various scams came into light that is tearing the
anti-corruption veil of Aquino.
The armed forces
of Benigno Aquino are shaken by the hundreds of small, medium and large scale
tactical counter-offensives of the NPA. The army has a tough time facing these
actions taking place in a large scale. The heroic resistance is gaining the
form of People’s War with the active participation of lakhs of masses.
The Philippines
army has turned into an instrument in the hands of multinational companies, big
comprador bourgeoisie and the landlords. So the movement against government's
militarisation drive has become an inevitable part of the anti-imperialist,
anti-feudal struggle. The masses are intensifying their movement for protection
of civil and democratic rights, for agrarian reforms, for the advancement of
democratic movement and for the right to self-determination. The recent attacks
of the NPA on the heavy mining companies in Surigao and Batuwan and on the
Sumitomo plantation inspired the people and revolutionary forces across the
country. Workers in the factories, poor people in the towns, rural communities
and school students are coming on to the roads carrying demonstrations. The
workers are resisting capitalist exploitation and state repression through
strikes and other forms of struggle. Apart from struggles for occupation of
land, protest demonstrations, submitting of memorandums in a big way and street
fighting, the peasantry is participating in armed actions. They are resisting
the feudal, semi-feudal exploitation, land occupations and fascist atrocities.
The urban poor
people are resisting the atrocities of Benigno Aquino government. The United
Front of the town poor in Quezon, the ‘September 26th movement’ is leading the
people. The people are facing in person and chasing away the police when they
come to arrest their leaders like the chairperson of Kadame, Jocy Lopez. In the
city of Quezon, the people got down to agitation when the colonies of the poor
people were destroyed for the construction of district trade center. The
government was forced to issue orders suspending the eviction. The people in
the cities are fighting the police forces in the cover of barricades in protest
to the eviction of slum areas and the shifting of town people to distant places
for the sake of various anti people constructions.
Thus the
Filipino people are fighting militantly in the towns, villages, factories,
slums, universities and offices and with arms too, thus inspiring the exploited
masses across the world.
Oppose ‘Oplan Bayanihan’! Build solidarity
movement across India in support ofthe revolutionary movement in the
Philippines!
Oppose the
counter revolutionary ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ that is indulging in murders,
atrocities, arrests, torture and displacement on the Filipino masses and
creating terror, for the protection of the interests of the American
imperialists, big comprador bourgeoisie and big feudal classes! Demand the
withdrawl of all the American military bases in Philippines! Demand immediate
stop to the war of Benigno Aquino on the people! Demand the withdrawal of the
army, police and paramilitary forces from the areas of struggle and the attacks
of the same! Demand the unconditional and immediate release of all political
prisoners in the Philippines jails! Extend support to the heroic Filipino
revolution going on against the fascist regime of Benigno Aquino. Expose the
multi-pronged repressive attack in the Philippines through meetings, seminars,
street and group meetings, campaigns, posters, pamphlets and other such forms
among the broad masses! ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ is very cruel but the history of
Filipino people and the history of the revolutionary movement in the world
reveal that it would certainly be defeated. Finally the imperialists and
reactionaries will be defeated. The People shall win.
Dear Revolutionary masses of the
Philippines!
CPI(Maoist) and all the revolutionary
masses of the country are extending their strong support and revolutionary
solidarity to all of you. Both parties are waging revolutionary wars in India
and the Philippines with enormous sacrifices to achieve their immediate and
ultimate goals. We promise that we would continue the revolutionary war with
indomitable determination, not hesitating for any kind of sacrifices in order
to make success the New Democratic Revolution. We also pledge to be a strong
co-combatant to the Filipino revolutionary movement as an inseparable part of
world socialist revolution. We would thus contribute our bit, with proletarian
internationalism to serve the world proletarian revolution and stand firmly in
support of the success of NDR in Philippines. The great people of Philippines,
CPP and NPA are invincible. The working class and oppressed nationalities and
people of the world are with you. Advance ! Ultimately, victory would be yours!
Defeat would be to the US imperialists and their Philippine lackeys !
Oppose
Oplan Bayanihan !
Long
Live Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) !
Long
Live New People’s Army (NPA) !
Long Live
National Democratic Front (NDF) !
Long
Live New Democratic Revolution !
Long
Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism !
Workers
of all countries, Unite !
Fight
and Defeat Revisionism of all Hues !
Down
with Imperialism !
Long
Live World Proletarian Revolution !
Long Live Proletarian Internationalism !
Central Committee
CPI (Maoist)
