PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

More than a hundred thousand to attend CPP anniversary celebrations
December 23, 2002

A least a hundred thousand people are expected to converge in either open community-wide or secret camp celebrations in the countryside and clandestine meeting places in cities across the Philippines this Thursday as the Communist Party of the Philippines celebrates its 34th founding anniversary.

CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that all Party members, NPA fighters, members of revolutionary mass organizations and the masses in guerrilla fronts and bases will be holding meetings and cultural programs to "celebrate our revolutionary victories and rededicate ourselves to the furtherance of the struggle".

He called on the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to "spare the ordinary people" and called on the AFP "to desist from conducting patrol and reconnaissance operations to pinpoint and attack venues of CPP anniversary celebrations."

"December 26 is a day that several million Filipinos eagerly await. They long to participate in the commemoration activities and join in celebrating past victories. To them, it is like celebrating Christmas two days in a row," Rosal said.

Rosal explained that "in areas where there is no single enemy around, entire communities attend the anniversary celebrations of the CPP. People even walk long distances to venues of celebrations".

"More often, however, they have to find ways to elude AFP operations and spies," Rosal said. "In most other areas, celebrations have to be held with smaller attendance in secluded areas of the community or in camps. This year is no different. The government has supposedly declared a two-day unilateral ceasefire, but the people here in the countryside have to be extra careful since the AFP's fascist troops have no plans of letting up in their drive to spoil the festivities by conducting reconnaissance and offensive operations within and in the outskirts of NPA territories," Rosal elaborated.

The CPP was established on December 26, 1968. It is at the forefront of the national democratic revolution in the Philippines. It leads the New People's Army which is based in more than a hundred guerrilla zones across the archiepelago.

Rosal pointed out that "the CPP and the entire revolutionary movement which it leads have advanced rapidly after the rectification movement, especially during the past three years. In our anniversary celebrations, we will be pointing out these advances and discussing the tasks for advancing further in the years to come".

"Macapagal-Arroyo and her fascists in the AFP are daydreaming when they think they could crush the CPP and the armed revolutionary movement. The CPP will certainly outlast them all and prove victorious in the end," Rosal declared.

"At the moment, the CPP is the only political party in the Philippines that is deeply rooted among the masses of workers and peasants. It is the party of the Filipino proletariat that unites the oppressed and exploited Filipino people to struggle against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism," Rosal said. ###

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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