Open letter to internet surfers/ users, specifically that of Abrenian.com

By Diego Wadagan
Spokesperson
Agustin Begnalen Command
NPA-Abra
April 12, 2005

Fellow Abrenians,

Warm revolutionary greetings, in behalf of the NPA in Abra, the toiling peasants of the vast countryside, and other revolutionary masses in our dear province.

The revolutionary movement in our province tries to keep pace with the advance of technology, despite limitations of guerilla life. Thus, we try our best to surf the internet occasionally. We are fascinated with the deep concern of high-tech Abrenians with the situation of our province. Through the internet, Abrenians from abroad, within the country but outside of Abra, in Bangued or peripheral municipalities with internet access, and yes, CPP-NPA guerillas in the countryside, are able to exchange varying views, ideas, and positions. What is common for most of us is our sincere concern for our province. But obviously, we diverge on a lot of points.

Revolutionary ideas, personalities and movements, at the outset, have been condemned by society, especially by those in power. In science, Plato was branded as a heretic by the church and the monarchy when he opined that the world is round. The French Revolutionaries, who championed the bourgeois slogan of "Equality, Liberty, Fraternity" and in whose idea other revolutions were patterned including that of the American Revolution, was condemned by governments worldwide. Jesus Christ was crucified for his teachings against oppression and exploitation. Our own Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal were killed by the illustrados and the Spaniards because of their leadership in the KKK and the 1st Propaganda Movement. The point is we fully understand the tedious process of explaining the CPP-NPA-NDF/CPDF revolutionary agenda, before majority of the Filipino people will embrace the said agenda as theirs, fight for it, and finally win the National Democratic Revolution.

Please allow us to focus on particular points in this letter, even as we encourage all of you to read past entries that we posted in abrenian.com; better yet, please do not hesitate to check on the website www.philippinerevolution.net. We will not go down to the level of those who spew curses and anti-communist hollering, even as we encourage everyone to have a healthy and principled exchange of ideas.

The Philippine revolutionary movement is composed mainly of various revolutionary organizations (17 organizations, to date), allied with the National Democratic Front. The bulk of its membership comes from the peasantry who comprise majority of the Philippine population, and those of the working class, which comprise majority of the urban population. Others come from the youth and students, women, artists, professionals, and national minorities. A few come from the upper social strata of society. As such, revolutionary work is not limited to waging battles ("puro pinnatay", as one Diega Sellang wrote). In fact, the NPA spends 90% of its time doing organizing, economic work, education, health service, and cultural work; only 10% is devoted to military work. Those with direct experience in guerilla zones and bases can attest to this.

The problems that we have in Abra are just a microcosm of the Philippine situation; however, our situation has its particularity because of the deep roots and grave damage of warlordism. History taught us that to thoroughly change a society, one has to wage a national revolution, and efforts should not be limited on a particular municipality, province, or region. We cannot change Abra, without changing the entire ruling system in Philippine society. To change a society ruled by imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism, we have to wage an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and anti-fascist revolution.

Categorically, we condemn corruption (we call it bureaucrat-capitalism, as people in the bureaucracy legally and extra-legally rob the people's coffers and invest their loot in big landholdings and businesses), and in areas where Red Political power exists, we make systematic steps in doing away with this menace. Corruption in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country such as ours is perpetrated from the top level of the bureaucracy, down to the lowly barangay captain and other officials. We should distinguish between big plunderers such as the Marcoses, Erap, and Macapagal-Arroyo whose loot amount to hundreds of millions, and the barangay official who has in his prerogative, funds amounting to meager thousands.

To reiterate what has been stated in the past, we are against the corruption, dynasty, and warlordism perpetrated by ALL government officials in Abra. Regardless of their social background (landlords such as the Valeras, Lunas and the Pacuños; or ex-NPA members such as Baawa, Baroña, and Molina) and their supposed intentions, individuals who occupy key government positions, at the minimum are prone to corruption, and/or top perpetrators of corruption at the maximum. To rid the bureaucracy of corrupt officials, we should not go about getting rid of them physically as individuals (kill them, as opined by some a-com surfers/posters); if we do so, a massacre of mass proportion shall be undertaken. Overhaul the entire state machinery, develop selfless leaders and public servants who have been tried-and-tested in revolution, and provide sufficient sources of livelihood; only after the final victory of the National Democratic Revolution can we begin to thoroughly build the foundations of a state machinery devoid of corruption. However, through mass struggles and protests, and even through bourgeois electoral exercises, the most corrupt among those in power can be dislodged at the soonest, if only the main legal and democratic groups and entities in Abra unite.

It is incidental that in the past elections, most of those who ran against the dynasties of the Valeras and other local warlords in municipalities are rabid counter-revolutionaries, criminals, and plunderers of the same proportion as their counterparts. The people's option was between the devil and the deep-blue sea, so to speak. The CPP, NPA, and NDF/CPDF are banned organizations, and does not participate in bourgeois electoral exercises; it is the vote of the people and the flawed electoral process that allowed the dynasties to continue AND NOT THE CPP-NPA-NDF/CPDF. Instead of delimiting the options to electoral exercises ruled by guns, goons and gold, we offer the option of revolution.

In any revolutionary movement, there are those who will persevere even if it means giving up their dear life; others cannot endure the difficulties and sacrifices entailed in waging revolution and will fall out; some will even become traitors and counter-revolutionaries. But in the end, the revolution will eventually succeed. A revolutionary wages revolution; an ex-NPA is a FORMER NPA; a mayor is a local bureaucrat of the reactionary government; and a criminal is one who commits the worst actions against the people. Former NPAs, especially those who surrendered to the reactionary government have been automatically expelled from the revolutionary organizations. The CPP-NPA SHOULD NOT BE BLAMED for actions undertaken by FORMER cadres such as Mario Baawa and Leo/Cesar Baroña, much more for the criminal activities of Mailed Molina. In place of the latest fall out in the person of Nancy Sabado, the best sons and daughters of the peasant masses will rise up in arms and join the NPA!

The PNP and the AFP are the dominant armed institutions of the reactionary government, supposedly tasked with implementing the laws of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. With warlordism in Abra intensifying instead of diminishing, these fascist institutions have clearly failed to perform their duties and constitutional mandate. Worse, they have been instruments in the perpetration of dynasties, killings, harrassments, and other electoral irregularities. To the detractors of the NPA this we ask: why the double standard in condemning the NPA, when obviously, it is the PNP/AFP who have miserably failed?

Valiant though it may seem, the recommendations of PRO-CAR Dir. Jesus Versoza, and the recent actions of DILG Sec. Angelo Reyes, suspending the powers of LCEs in the control of police forces in Abra, are mere palliatives. Without a total overhaul of the entire Philippine bureaucracy and policitical and economic system, a temporary lull in gunbattles among Abra warlords may occur, but eventually, warlordism will intensify come elections. Such is the case for the Ilocos Provinces and in Mindanao.

To the sincere, we enjoin you to make an objective study of the problems we all seek to resolve, despite differences in approach and solution. The guerilla zones and bases of Abra are open to those who truly seek the truth. See for yourselves who the real oppressors and exploiters are; who the real people's army is; and what the real solution should be. And for cynics, pessimists and pacifists, let history be the judge.