PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP sees more offensives, victories next year
December 25, 2002

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) regards the current situation in the country as "extremely favorable for revolution" and expects the revolutionary movement to advance in large strides, rapidly and comprehensively in the next few years.

This was the central theme of the three-page statement by Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, spokesperson of the CPP, released on the occasion of its 34th founding anniversary.

The CPP spokesperson earlier said they expected more than a hundred thousand people to converge in several hundred assemblies and meetings to be held across the Philippines. Rosal is expected to address one of these assemblies.

In his statement, Rosal disclosed that the current reach and strength of the CPP and those of its organized base "have almost equaled or even surpass its peak in the middle of the 1980s".

Rosal said that "the Party and revolutionary movement have fully recovered from the big losses and setbacks it suffered due to past mistakes and weaknesses. The CPP, NPA and revolutionary mass organizations have consistently gained strength in the past three years after the recitification movement of 1992-1998."

"More than ever, the CPP and the revolutionary movement have become stronger and are in a more favorable position to advance in large strides, rapidly and comprehensively in the coming years", Rosal declared.

In a previous statement, he said that "Macapagal-Arroyo and her fascists in the AFP are daydreaming when they think they can crush the CPP and the armed revolutionary movement. The CPP will certainly outlast them all and prove victorious in the end".

More frequent, numerous and bigger NPA offensives

In the same statement, Rosal asserted that the New People's Army will "carry out more numerous, more frequent and bigger tactical offensives against the AFP and other fascist machineries in 2003."

"The victorious tactical offensives of the NPA the past few months show the determination of the CPP/NPA to advance and intensify the revolutionary armed struggle," Rosal said. "We expect the NPA to achieve more victories in the field of armed struggle."

Rosal explained that the CPP is "stressing the advancement of people's struggles for their democratic and legitimate interests and against the antipeople, anti-national programs, schemes and policies of the Bush-Macapagal-Arroyo conspiracy."

He said that the revolutionary forces in the countryside will further strengthen the struggles of peasants against feudalism and "the devastation caused by imperialist 'globalization' and the neoliberal programs of the regime". Rosal said further that the struggle of workers, semiproletariat, ordinary employees and other oppressed sectors for their democratic interests and livelihood will intensify.

GMA may not stay much longer

"The extraordinary intensification of the crisis of the ruling system will continue to exacerbate next year due to Macapagal-Arroyo's out-and-out puppetry to US imperialism, the overly brutal fascist terrorism and the gross corruption especially in Malaca�ang", Rosal said.

"She has become totally isolated," Rosal elaborated. He surmised that it would be a big miracle if President Macapagal-Arroyo would still win in 2004. In recent surveys of presidential candidates, Macapagal-Arroyo has consistently ranked only fourth and even lower behind Raul Roco and other opposition candidates.

In his statement, Rosal said that in the hope of staying beyond 2004, Macapagal-Arroyo is banking on US consent and the accumulation of an extensive electoral fund.

Rosal decried the "puppetry" of Macapagal-Arroyo. "She is doing everything to gratify the world's number one terrorist".

War without rules

The CPP also condemned the "extreme brutality" of Macapagal-Arroyo's "all-out terrorist war" which the CPP described as a "war without rules".

"It causes severe difficulties, not for the New People's Army, but for the ordinary people", Rosal said pointing out to the AFP's counter-insurgency operations in Mindoro which have caused "widespread and relentless abuses".

"Her sickening act of awarding a medal to Col. Jovito Palparan--the Butcher of Mindoro--is a virtual approbation of the abusive and notorious 204th Brigade". Rosal recently cited recent cases of abuses including illegal arrests of Mangyan residents, the decapitation of suspected NPA fighters, the desecration of remains and others.

According to Rosal, Macapagal-Arroyo "is so engrossed in waging war in the name of anti-terrorism" that she "has run roughshod on the peace negotiations".

"She has cast away all previous GRP-NDFP agreements," Rosal said, asserting that "for her, peace talks are a mere hindrance to her outright puppetry to the US and to the terrorist war against the revolutionary movement".

Rosal explained that a large section of society has rejected her position against the peace talks and against "terrorist-labelling" of the CPP/NPA. "That is why the regime was compelled to declare a four-day ceasefire and express openness to resume the peace talks", Rosal said.

As a policy, the CPP is "always open to talk to any government that is willing to discuss and agree to resolve the roots of the ongoing civil war", Rosal disclosed. "But the regime has to prove that it indeed wants the talks to move forward."###

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



Back to top