PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP open letter urges government troops to join revolutionary movement
September 5, 2003

Communist Party of the Philippines spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal today issued an open letter to government troops to join the revolutionary movement or help it by smuggling out weapons from military armories, providing valuable information and carrying out other important revolutionary tasks.

Rosal disclosed the existence of the Lt. Crispin Tagamolila Movement within the AFP. He said that the movement was named after Lt. Crispin Tagamolila, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy who joined the NPA in 1971 and was killed in a firefight with government troops in Isabela in 1973.

Joining this movement, said Rosal, means taking a "stand against puppetry, corruption and the all-out war of terror of the puppet Arroyo regime."

Rosal wrote directly to AFP and PNP junior officers and rank-and-file as well as the CAFGU elements who he said "also came from the poor, oppressed and exploited masses. They are also being oppressed inside the military organization by top military officials," said Rosal.

The CPP said that Rosal's letter will be circulated among soldiers and their families. The CPP information bureau asked comrades and supporters as well as contacts within the military organization to distribute the letter to "co-officers and men within the AFP, PNP and CAFGU."

Rosal suggested several courses of action for soldiers.

He said soldiers can form clandestine study groups to study their grievances and relate them to the basic problems of the Filipino people.

Rosal suggested that soldiers also wage open struggles to assert their legitimate rights and welfare. "They can also release open letters, form unions and use all other possible democratic avenues to assert their interests."

The CPP spokesman also urged AFP and PNP officers and soldiers to "assiduously study the program of the National Democratic Front". Rosal said that the NDF's 12-point program is superior to the Magdalo Group's NRP in terms of "comprehensiveness, relevance and depth in addressing the fundamental problems of the Filipino people."

Rosal also suggested that the junior officer and soldiers of the AFP, PNP and the CAFGU may opt to avoid encounters with the New People's Army. In cases where encounters cannot be avoided, Rosal suggested that they immediately ask for a ceasefire and turn over their arms to the NPA. "Dying for a rotten organization and a rotten system is simply not worth it."

Rosal reiterated the revolutionary movement's guarantee of surrenderees' rights and its humane treatment of captured soldiers in accordance with international rules of war and humanitarian law. ###

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



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