REVOLUTIONARIES. Members of revolutionary groups under the National Democratic Front of the Philippines wore masks of the late New People’s Army commander in Davao City, Ka Parago to during a lightning rally along Crossing Elpidio Quirino Street, Davao City on Wednesday, March 29. The protest marked the 48th founding anniversary of the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines’s armed wing. (davaotoday.com file photo)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered its military wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to strike in the cities and towns nationwide to punish those involved in counter-revolutionary actions.
Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP, said these special armed units will strike at the weak points of the State’s forces and to those individuals who have blood in their hands for betraying the movement through their counter-revolutionary actions.
“The enemy has erased all distinction between combatants and civilians. It arbitrarily accuse people of being communists or communist supporters and for using the Anti-Terror Law (ATL) to justify gross violations of people’s rights and freedoms,” Valbuena said.
Valbuena said the CPP has also ordered the NPA to train rifles and develop weapons against military aircraft citing lessons and inspiration from Vietnam where the US aerial bombardment in the 60s was defeated by revolutionaries using hand-carried surface to air missiles and the experiences of the anti-Soviet mujahideen who used US-supplied Stinger missiles and the recent success of the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan against the US drones and aircrafts.
He said there have been about 200 incidents of aerial bombardment, aerial strafing and artillery shelling since 2017 which mostly affected communities and farm and mountain villages especially of the indigenous peoples (IPs).
Losses, setbacks in Red areas
Valbuena said the Party debunked the claim of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that it has crushed the Communist insurgency.
He said Duterte has failed to stop the growth of the revolutionary movement despite the losses and setbacks in some areas of the guerrilla zones.
“The Red fighters and commanders of the NPA, and the Party cadres leading the NPA, have displayed great tenacity and determination to bear heavy sacrifices, surmount all adversity and limitations, and exert all efforts to defend the people against fascism and state terrorism,” Valbuena said.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement released on March 28 said the NPA anniversary only reminds of the lives lost due to atrocities in the communists have sown in its terror activities.
Lorenzana criticized the NPA for sowing lawless activities such as extortion, destruction of private properties and undermining the government.
Lorenzana has also urged the remaining insurgents to surrender and avail of the programs the government has been offering to former rebels like its Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) and for the government to heighten its anti-insurgency actions and programs to put an end to the decades long communist insurgency.
Duterte to face ‘people’s court’
Valbuena also said Duterte will be held to account on the deaths of Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos and Menandro “Ka Bok” Villanueva, the top NPA leaders killed in 2021 and 2022 respectively as the military claimed Madlos and Villanueva died in military encounters.
“Madlos and Villanueva were captured. They were in the custody of the military, but Duterte’s policy to ‘take no prisoners’ and to murder revolutionaries even if they were unarmed and sick to engage in combat,” he said.
The lumad communities in Mindanao and other IP groups in the country targeted by state terrors following Duterte’s orders could also file class suit against Duterte.
In a few months Duterte will end his term of office, Valbuena said the people will demand for his prosecution for the countless crimes Duterte has committed citing the International Criminal Court (ICC) probing Duterte’s alleged crime to humanity to his “illegal drugs war” campaign.
“Not only that, Duterte has to answer for the massive corruption under his term, for his failure to defend the marine resources and for allowing both the US and China to install their military bases within the country’s sovereign territory. There is the people’s court which can try Duterte’s crime against the people,” Valbuena said.
Valbuena also urged families and friends of revolutionaries who died in Duterte’s murderous spree to file cases against Duterte in the ICC and in the revolutionary courts. (davaotoday.com)
