Correspondence reports:
The triumph of the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

(The following article was drawn from the document "Assessment of Revolutionary Work in 2002 and the Tasks of the Revolutionary Forces in Southern Tagalog" released in March 2003. The article highlights only some of the factors behind the region's success in parrying off the AFP's attacks.)

For the last five years, the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog (ST) has faced relentless attacks from reactionary government troops.

From the time of the ousted Estrada regime up to the Arroyo regime's term, the AFP has considered the entire Southern Tagalog region a "national priority." Massive, relentless and brutal military operations began in the province of Laguna in 1988. Then they shifted to Oriental Mindoro, later encompassing the entire island in 2001. At the same time, the AFP carried out "containment operations" in other provinces. In the first quarter of 2003, the military force in Southern Tagalog comprised an equivalent of 38 battal-ions�19 AFP battalions, seven PNP battalions and 12 CAFGU battalions.

Since 2001, the enemy has further built up its forces and used the most brutal forms of terrorism at the basic level to destroy the mass base in the countryside and paralyze the legal democratic mass movement. This intensified further from the close of 2002 to 2003.

The regime has raised planning to the brigade and area command level and broadened the scope (the smallest being a guerrilla front) of its military operations, using large numbers of troops and �swarm tactics� (taktikang dumog).

The enemy also used far heavier weaponry such as mortars and howitzers and air support in firefights. Aside from the usual helicopters, it also employed jet fighter-bombers in one defensive incident in Batangas.

The most vicious and murderous military officials have been assigned to the priority areas. Col. Efren Orbon, former commander of Task Force Makiling has been appointed to the 202nd Bde., and Col. Jovito Palparan, former commander of Joint Task Force Banahaw, to the 204th Bde.

The psychological operations (psy-ops) of the Reengineered Special Operations Teams (RSOT) have also been stepped up. The RSOT spreads deception and sows fear and terrorism among the people. Many have been abducted and murdered in the most brutal manner to create the most intense terror effect. Others have been killed in front of their families. Corpses have been beheaded, desecrated or burned.

The military picks on even members of legal mass organizations, church people and human rights advocates. A prominent example was the abduction and murder of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy.

In the face of the enemy's intense and brutal operations, the revolutionary movement and the people have successfully prevailed. Not only have they succeeeded in preserving themselves, they continue to gather strength despite the losses sustained. The majority of the provinces and guerrilla fronts have advanced in various degrees. These advances have made up for the sharp decline of revolutionary work and organization in one front victimized by concentrated enemy attacks, and the temporary setbacks in other areas that also came under intense enemy attack.

The redisposition and restructuring of the forces of the people's army in the region in accordance with a Central Committee directive in mid-2002 was a great help. Instead of the small squads that it was previously accustomed to, the NPA made the platoon its basic formation. This restructuring placed the NPA in a more secure and more effective position to carry out its military tasks and mass work, especially in the face of the intensifying military situation in the entire region. It also gave the people's army the strength and the fortitude to parry off and confront the Arroyo regime's "all-out war".

Even before this, steps had also been taken to improve the organization of the people's army based on a memorandum issued by the Central Committee's Executive Committee. Special units of the people's army were established, and the centers of gravity on the regional, provincial and front levels were strengthened. Territorial operational commands were also set up in the provinces, and the capacity of the people's army's politico-military academies was enhanced for training at the regional and provincial levels.

In the face of the enemy's intensified campaigns and counterguerrilla suppression operations, the people's army continues to strive to overcome hardships, avoid defensive battles and launch tactical offensives it is capable of winning.

Throughout 2002, 76 firefights took place. Most of them (63%) were initiated by the people's army. Forty-six enemy soldiers were killed and 32 wounded in NPA tactical offensives, the most prominent of which were the successive raids on the Lopez municipal hall and the 74th IB detachment in San Narciso, both of them in Quezon. Even in the defensive battles, the NPA inflicted numerous casualties on the enemy�40 killed and 21 wounded.

AGRARIAN REVOLUTION, MASS CAMPAIGNS AND POLITICAL MOBILIZATIONS

The people's army would not have grown and lasted and the armed struggle would not have advanced without enjoying extensive and deep mass support. The growth of the people's army and the advance of armed struggle are hand in glove with the vigorous advance of the antifeudal struggle and other mass struggles in the region's guerrilla fronts.

It is the cumulative victories attained by the agrarian revolution that forge the Party and NPA's strong bond with the broad masses of peasants in the countryside and ensure the ever-growing mass support for the people's democratic revolution. It also ensures the failure of the enemy's attempts to destroy the political foundation laid down by the Party and the people's army.

The people vigorously participate in the antifeudal struggle and other political campaigns and mobilizations.

In various areas, victories have been achieved in struggles to reduce land rent and decrease the resikada imposed by copra buyers, as well as in struggles against landgrabbing and the setting up of landfills, the assertion by peasants of their right to put up houses in the lands they occupy and the recovery by national minorities of their ancestral lands that have been converted to logging concessions.

In the main, it is areas with pressing issues and struggles that have been targeted by the AFP's military and psy-war operations. But also in the main, the people are able to prevail amid the military situation and become more active and more militant in advancing their democratic interests. All of the victories of the agrarian revolution attained in the past have been sustained and the masses continue to benefit from the victories achieved in mass struggles.

Overall, the mass base in the countryside remains solid and militant, despite the fact that the NPA has had to temporarily leave certain areas because of heavy enemy presence. In the areas temporarily left behind, the people have maintained a high level of militancy and struggle, and the venues for mobilizations, calls and open and legal mass actions are intact. This has become a very important factor in preserving the integrity of the mass base and making it difficult for the enemy to weaken and coopt the people. In reality, the enemy has only been able to deceive a handful of people. Even in the militarized barrios, the people stand ready to uphold the armed struggle and help in launching punitive operations and tactical offensives.

Antifascist struggles have gained prominence. All of the enemy's attacks in the countryside have been met with people's mobilizations and protests. There has been an increase in supportive mobilizations in the form of fact-finding missions, medical missions and protests in front of camps and military and civilian agencies in places where AFP aggression has been most intense. The people engaged the local government and the military in dialogues, confronted the AFP and held people's assemblies in the barrios to condemn and expose military repression. Barrio folk openly show that they neither need nor accept the AFP, because the latter violates their rights. Clandestine actions and campaigns have also been undertaken to dialogue with and neutralize peasants and youth in the barrios who have been recruited into the CAFGU or the AFP.

In addition, the democratic movement in the cities and town centers have played a big role in defending the rights of the people in the countryside and opposing militarization throughout the region. The mass actions launched in cities and towns in the militarized provinces have blunted the terror effect in the countryside. A stark example is the struggle of internal refugees and other victims of human rights violations, which became a heated issue that the regime could no longer hide or cover up.

CHALLENGES TO THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT AND THE PEOPLE IN THE REGION

The past five years have tested not only the fortitude and steadfastness of revolutionary strength in the region. More than this, the enemy has tested, through the harshest means, the fortitude, steadfastness and depth of the victories of the Second Great Rectification Movement (SGRM) advanced by the revolutionary movement in the previous decade. With the help of the SGRM's ever-blazing ideals, the region has been able to surmount these challenges.

The Party in the region foresees meaningful advances and a leap in overall revolutionary work in the next three years. Towards this goal, the region faces the challenge of continually surmounting weaknesses and vulnerabilities by paying more attention to consolidation work, struggling against conservatism and comprehensively strengthening the Party's capacity to lead.

21 August 2003
English Edition

	Editorial: The AFP is on a losing course
	Grave corruption in the AFP
	The brazen murder of Jessica Chavez
	Correspondence reports: The triumph of the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog
	Escalation of US political intervention in the country: Manipulating the peace process
	Intensifying union struggle at SMC
	Ka Bert Olalia - a great hero of the working class
	Victorious NPA offensives
	News