PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

GMA's visit to guerrilla zones will not win her votes -- CPP
July 16, 2003

The CPP dismissed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's visit to guerrilla zones is another one of her cheap gimmicks, saying it will fail to deceive the revolutionary masses and will not win votes for her in 2004.

In a statement, CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that Malacanang's plans for Arroyo to visit guerrilla zones in Leyte, Samar and other areas supposedly to "know what their problems are (and) why they are turning to the NPA" was laughable.

"If she really wants to hear what the problems are, she should have resumed peace negotiations long ago, where the basic problems of the people were being raised by the NDF," Rosal said further.

"Arroyo is too blinded by her own arrogance to ever realize that it is her regime that is driving the people to join the NPA," Rosal added. "Not only has she refused to carry out genuine agrarian reform, she has even allowed big despotic landlords such as Danding Cojuangco to drive away peasants from their lands and accumulate hundreds of thousands of hectares. She has become more and more a US puppet and has allowed increased US military intervention and the neoliberal economic plunder of the country. Her regime is as corrupt as ever."

Rosal stated further that Arroyo's "all-out war" in the name of "anti-terrorism" has caused the displacement of several hundreds of thousands all over the country, especially in Mindanao. "She has succeeded only in surpassing previous records of human rights violations," Rosal said.

"The people support and join the New People's Army because the NPA and the revolutionary movement uphold and fight for their interests," Rosal asserted. "As long as the desire of millions of peasants for land is not addressed and the people's basic problems are not resolved, no amount of gimmickry or even doleouts can fool the people into surrendering their revolutionary struggle," Rosal concluded. ###

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



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