Press Statement
31 March 2013
Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth) in Southern Mindanao deeply salutes the New People’s Army (NPA) in its 44 years of ever-growing existence. We extend our highest respect and honor to our comrade Red fighters who heroically offered their lives for the masses. We also give the same salutation to those who continue in service. In the armed struggle of the NPA, numerous victories have been attained by the people against the oppression of the US-Aquino regime and the ruling class.
When the Martial Law was declared under the fascist Marcos regime, a number of KM members trooped to the countryside to organize the farmers to establish the proletarian army and to put up guerrilla bases. They left the comforts of the urban and selflessly served the people through armed revolution.
Since the Marcos years, there has been no essential change in the condition of the poor. In fact, the Aquino regime’s shortcoming has become more evident. Aquino denied the bloating number of starving and unemployed Filipinos. But his National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that 7.1 percent or more than three million of the 40 million in the labor force are unemployed. Moreover, the illegal ownership of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan over Hacienda Luisita still persists.
Aquino remains a puppet on the issues involving national sovereignty especially in allowing the liberal entry of US warships and other war machines. In the recent crisis in Sabah, Aquino even played as an apologist of Malaysia. Instead of rescuing the families of over 100 Filipinos massacred by Malaysian Special Forces in Sabah, Aquino commanded the Philippine Navy to arrest Filipinos who are going to Sabah.
For more than three years now, the imperialist United States of America and its puppet Noynoy Aquino implemented the Oplan Bayanihan, which aimed the total collapse of the burning revolutionary fervor of the people. The reactionary government has deployed in Southern Mindanao Region the largest block of the AFP. Twenty-one battalions under four divisions of the fascist AFP continue to bring fears and burdens to the poor peasants in the countryside of Davao.
But, like the previous counterinsurgency plans, Oplan Bayanihan is a huge failure. Instead of being shaken, the mass bases in the hinterlands expand even wider, the number of enlisted NPA soldiers grows, and the agrarian revolution intensifies in Southern Mindanao.
The barricade staged last February by typhoon survivors in front the regional Office of DSWD XI was a historical one. Almost 5,000 typhoon survivors from the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental who joined the barricade were not only victims of the storm. They were furthermore enslaved by the corruption involving the DSWD and some local politicians. The DSWD refused to distribute to the starving typhoon survivors the 10,000 sacks of rice previously promised by DSWD secretary Dinky Soliman. Because of this, the people were driven by the circumstances to express their rage as a rational necessity and went on to seize relief goods to register their need of humanitarian relief and rehabilitation services.
The US-Aquino regime, through the AFP, employed fascism as its response to the legitimate woes of the people. A few days after the victorious barricade of the typhoon survivors, their leader in the group Barug Katawhan, village councilwoman Cristina Jose, was shot dead by the elements of 67th IB in Baganga, Davao Oriental.
Another victim of state-fascism was the 16-year old Kristel Tejada, a student of the University of the Philippines-Manila. She was killed by the rotten educational system in the Philippines.
The state is supposedly responsible in providing free and quality education for the people, but Aquino perpetuates the commercialized, colonial, fascist and elitist character of the educational system. This rotten state of education in the Philippines is a result of the neoliberal policies of the United States imposed on the economy and politics of our country.
As the hope of the nation, and in order to effect social transformation, the youth carry the challenge of continuing the national-democratic revolution of the people long started by our heroes such as Gat Andres Bonifacio. The lessons of our history must remind the youth and students of the importance of intensifying the democratic movement in solidarity with the broad masses even outside the schools, just like in the First Quarter Storm in the 1970s. The key to this movement is the strong and expansive membership of Kabataang Makabayan under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The youth sector, especially the Kabataang Makabayan, is one of the effective providers of revolutionary cadres of the New People’s Army now and in the years to come. In solidarity with the soldiers of the poor in their 44 years of service and commitment to the people, Kabataang Makabayan will continue to foster its ranks and enliven their passionate spirit as what the KM activists of the First Quarter Storm did. Above all, Kabataang Makabayan urges all Filipino youth to directly take part in the armed struggle as the decisive form of resistance against the oppressive forces.
As an active revolutionary force, the youth will strongly uphold the national democratic revolution in all forms of struggle. Together with the Red fighters, the NPA and the CPP, the youth will heed the call to stand for the liberation of the Filipino people from extreme poverty brought by oppression.
(Sgd) Maria Liyab Magtanggol
Regional Spokesperson
Kabataang Makabayan
