Agusan del Norte– If America coughs, the Philippines gets tuberculosis, said Jorge Ka Oris Madlos, the Mindanao spokesman of the National Democratic Front (NDF), described how the current US financial crisis will affect the Philippines.
He was referring to the subprime securities mess in the US that sent the financial markets around the world crashing in October, and which is expected to send the global economy in deep recession next year. Ka Oris said that if America is in crisis, her semi- colonies like the Philippines will suffer more.
The Mindanao Communist revolutionary talked to the media somewhere in the hinterlands of Agusan del Norte on December 26, the 40th CPP anniversary.
The Arroyo government is lying when it said the Philippines will not be affected, he said, The economic recession in the US will affect the Philippines double, triple, and quadruple times.
The head of the CPP-Mindanao Commission who called himself “Ka Puman,” said the deep economic crisis of capitalist countries like the US is a favorable opportunity to strengthen the Communist Party and to raise the people’s struggle to a higher level.
The current crisis in the global economy will increase the number of people suffering from poverty and people will take the final option which is the revolution, according to Ka Oris.
George Ka Oris Madlos, the Mindanao spokesperson of the National Democratic Front.(davaotoday.com photo)
He said the membership of the Communist Party in Mindanao increased by five percent this year compared to last year and so is its armed wing, the NPA.
NPA guerilla units can now be found in more than 2,000 barrios in 200 municipalities and cities in the 19 provinces of Mindanao. NPA guerilla fronts also increased from 35 to 39 this year, he said.
The NPA launched more than 300 attacks last year, seizing more than 200 high-powered firearms, and holding some prisoners of war, from the ranks of soldiers and paramilitary forces.
Ka Oris vowed to ensure one NPA platoon in every town and three platoons (or one company) in every guerilla front.
The government earlier targeted to end the Communist insurgency in the Philippines by 2010 through its Oplan Bantay Laya campaigns. But CPP-Mindanao claimed the AFP failed to wipe out them out.
Ka Oris said, however, there’s no telling yet when the CPP will finally win the war.
It is the real conditions that will dictate, he said. We cannot tell whether the revolution will win in the next 10 years or so, but revolutionaries should continue their work as long as they know that their work is correct, said Ka Oris.
Ka Oris will be turning 60 next year but he belied accusation that he could no longer go on with his work because he’s already old.
As one gets older, one gets weaker but it doesn’t mean that he will lose his capacity to serve the people, he said. I can still go on for many more years. Many Ka Oris will follow, some of them will even be better than the real Ka Oris, he said. (Grace S. Uddin/ davaotoday.com)
