DAVAO CITY — We become large and strong.
This was how the North Central Mindanao Region of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army described their gains as they celebrate their 47th founding anniversary.
For 47 years, the NPA has served as the leading revolutionary mass organization in the countryside tasked to building and preserving the people’s democratic government in the countryside, according to Ka Norsen Manggubat, spokesperson of CPP in North Central Mindanao Region.
Manggubat said the government’s counter-revolutionary campaigns and operations have failed to crush the NPA.
“We have correctly grasped the basic guerrilla tactics of concentration, dispersal and shifting. For several years now, our Red army learned warfare through warfare, earned the overwhelming support of the people and thus, grew from being small and weak to become large and strong.”
“Let us celebrate the victories we have earned in advancing the revolutionary armed struggle, in agrarian revolution to dismantle the monopoly of land ownership and in liberating the peasant and Lumad masses from feudal and semi-feudal exploitation, in the struggle against multinational plantations and in resisting militarization,” Manggubat said.
NPA says mass base gained by 8.5%
Manggubat claimed that they have launched 56 episodes of “anti-feudal struggles” wherein majority of these are found in inter-cluster of barrios.
“More than 150,000 peasants and their families have benefited from the increase of wages of the farm-workers, in bringing down the pay of rice and corn mills, in raising the prices of their farm produce, in attaining potable drinking water, in resisting the health-hazard operations of mechanical dryers and in raising the share of rice field maintainers.”
He, however, noted that despite the increasing support from the people, peasants are still suffering from several “unsettled” problems such as landlessness, displacement of peasants from their communities, and proliferation of imperialist seeds damaging environment-friendly insects and traditional seeds.
‘Steady increase in members, rifles, offensive operations’
In terms of its members, Manggubat said that their group has achieved “19 % increase in the number of full-time guerillas, 29% increase in the number of new platoons and 23% increase in high-powered rifles.”
“We have launched 132 different types of military actions in which 36 assorted firearms were seized, including two K3 light-machine guns,” Manggubat noted. “The people’s militias have maintained 20% share in the total NPA military actions. The four guerrilla fronts have launched command conferences for the municipal and cluster commands of the people’s militias.”
NPA honors revolutionary martyrs, heroes
Manggubat said that NPA gave a tribute to honor the 11 revolutionary martyrs and heroes since March 2015 up to this date, including two NPA commanders and two members of the people’s militia.
He urged the members of the NPA to “persist in accumulating victories and sustain the advance of the armed struggle and fulfil the requisites of the strategic stalemate.”
NPA calls for ‘socialist revolution’
With the upcoming elections, Manggubat has called for a “socialist revolution” to end the problems of the country.
“With the upcoming reactionary elections in May 2016, the masses must not be swayed in their focus to revolution. No presidential candidate can resolve the three basic problems of the Philippines. The real solution is to end the semi-feudal and semi-colonial system and replace it with the genuine people’s democratic government which would proceed to the next stage of socialist revolution,” he stressed.
He added: “We must prepare for the counter-revolutionary plot of the succeeding regime which will impede the continuous advance of the national-democratic revolution.” (davaotoday.com)
