The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today released the following statement concerning the Arroyo regime's order to step up military operations in Sulu:
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the militarist Arroyo government for ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to step up its military operations against the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Sulu.
It has refused to heed the widespread clamor to put an end to the AFP armed offensives which has resulted in the displacement of close to a hundred thousand people and escalating violence against the unarmed civilians in Sulu.
The Arroyo government has once again clearly demonstrated that it has no intention of addressing the root causes of the Moro people's armed resistance. The only solution that comes out of Arroyo's one-track US-indoctrinated militarist mind is to use the full force of the terrorist state to subjugate the people.
In upholding the so-called "anti-terror" US dogma, the Arroyo government has subjected the Moro people to heightened social oppression and state violence. The Moro people's human rights are trampled. Their aspiration for genuine self-determination continues to be denied by the reactionary state.
The MNLF was bound to resume armed resistance against the Philippine government. In upholding the Moro people's social-economic and political aspirations, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is also bound to intensify its armed resistance against the reactionary regime as it becomes crystal-clear that the Arroyo regime has no intention of addressing the Moro people's problems.
The Arroyo regime deprecates the Moro people's struggles by claiming that the Abu Sayyaf is involved in the armed resistance in Sulu. Agents of the AFP planned the February 14 bombings in Makati, Davao and General Santos City to link the legimitate armed resistance of the Moro people in Sulu and portray it as "terrorist". The AFP moreover uses its links with the Abu Sayyaf to project the armed conflict as a religious confict to cover up the basic socio-economic and political content of the Moro people's struggles.
We urge the Moro people to intensify their armed resistance against the Arroyo regime in their struggle for genuine self-determination. The only answer to Arroyo's declaration of all-out war is all-out armed resistance.
The Moro people's armed resistance deserve the full support of the Filipino people. The coordination and mutual support of the Moro people's armed resistance and the revolutionary armed struggle of the Filipino people are potent weapons to defeat the fascist armed force of the oppressive reactionary state.
