Celebrate the victories of the people�s army!
Thwart the counterrevolutionary all-out war
of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and US military intervention!
A Message for the NPA�s 34th anniversary
on March 29
Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal
Spokesperson
Communist Party of the Philippines
March 28, 2003
In behalf of the Communist Party of the Philippines, I salute all Red commanders and fighters of the New People�s Army on the occasion of its 34th anniversary. I also salute with clenched-fist all martyrs of the national democratic revolution.
As a result of having correctly and vigorously advanced people�s war for the past 33 years, the NPA continues to reap victories in the fields of armed struggle, agrarian revolution and mass base building. Millions of people are enjoying the benefits of advancing the people�s war.
The revolutionary movement has firmly established more than 120 guerrilla fronts covering half of the country�s congressional districts nationwide. This number is bound to grow in the coming years.
Presently based in these guerrilla fronts are about 27 battalions of Red fighters, tens of thousands of militia and hundreds of thousands of self-defense corps forces. The NPA and the revolutionary forces defeat the despised enemy forces in these fronts and adjacent areas.
Guerrilla bases and local organs of the people�s democratic government are set up in the most consolidated sections of these guerrilla fronts. Under the Party and the NPA�s leadership, campaigns to arouse, organize and mobilize the masses are launched in these guerrilla zones. Mass struggles are advanced to resolve the people�s problems and obtain concrete benefits for them.
The campaigns waged are mainly antifeudal struggles to reduce land rent, eradicate usury and reduce other forms of exploitation by big landlords, businessmen and bureaucrats. Struggles are also waged to advance, among others, cooperation, production, health, education and culture for the people�s welfare. Struggles are also waged for the pursuit of justice and against military abuses, violations of the people�s human rights and other forms of exploiting and oppressing the people. Under the Party�s leadership and with the assistance of the people�s army, the people in guerrilla fronts and bases are learning democratic self-governance step by step.
Thus, the guerrilla fronts and bases serve as bastions in setting up a new revolutionary society. It is within these fronts and bases that the seeds of a new and more progressive, democratic, just and free order are sown. It is this order that is now emerging from the festering semicolonial and semifeudal system that benefits, and is defended by, imperialism and the local reactionary classes.
It is the evil intent of the counterrevolutionary all-out war being waged by the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to destroy this and all the victories of the revolutionary movement, both in the countryside and cities.
Towards this end, a massive suppression campaign has long been waged repeatedly by the AFP, PNP and paramilitary forces, who cruelly inflict violence and terrorism on the people. They wantonly trample on the people�s democratic rights to suppress them and the revolutionary movement. In the countryside, barefaced martial rule exists.
Red fighters of the New People�s Army and the people�s militia courageously and steadfastly confront and frustrate the US-Arroyo regime�s all-out counterrevolutionary war. The NPA�s victorious offensives against the AFP and PNP nationwide shatter the illusion that the puppet regime and its armed forces effectively rule over the territories of the revolutionary movement.
Despite the AFP�s suppression campaigns, the NPA and the people�s resistance continue to gain strength and consolidate. All this proves the correctness of advancing revolutionary armed struggle as the main form of struggle to promote the national and democratic interests of the Filipino people.
In contrast to the Red fighters� high level of morale, demoralization is widespread among the ranks of the reactionary troops. The NPA forces� battle readiness continues to rise because the correctness of the cause they are fighting for is clear to them. They are likewise witness to the people�s broad support and their efforts reap many victories.
In contrast to the fact that the revolutionary movement has been advancing and gaining strength, the reactionary state continues to deteriorate. The people�s loathing for, and opposition to, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime are growing because of the latter�s extreme puppetry, brutality and corruption. The people grow ever desperate and hopeless under the current system. The Arroyo regime�s obsequiousness to neoliberalization policies in accordance with imperialist dictates are destructive to the country�s forces of production, composed mainly of workers and peasants. We are now witness to the resulting plunge in production, growing unemployment, bankruptcies among peasants and local businessmen, the growing government budgetary deficit, the fall of the peso and other indicators of the country�s economic decline.
Thus, in contrast to the growing numbers of people embracing the revolutionary movement, the Arroyo regime is being rejected and repudiated by more and more people. More and more forces, including professionals and rank-and-file government employees are approaching the revolutionary movement to offer their assistance and support. A relatively big number has likewise been waging spontaneous protests in various forms.
In contrast to the revolutionary movement�s self-reliance, the reactionary Macapagal-Arroyo regime constantly begs for US imperialism for military, economic and political assistance.
US IMPERIALIST armed intervention in the Philippines is expanding and worsening, signifying that the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system has grown more corrupt and is further mired in crisis. This is also a mark of the US and the puppet regime�s evil scheme to link the counterrevolutionary war in the Philippines to the US� war of aggression in Iraq and in other countries waging anti-US resistance. In the face of the puppet regime�s demonstrated inutility at confronting the revolutionary forces, it is now relying mainly on direct US aggression to defeat the revolution in the Philippines.
The Arroyo regime insists on using the �war against terrorism� as a pretext to rationalize the direct deployment of US combat troops in the country. Just as the bombings in Metro Manila and other areas in September-October 2002 were blamed on the NPA, the bloody spate of bombings in Davao on March 4 and in other areas in Mindanao recently were hatched by psywar operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon in order to directly put blame on the MILF and on the NPA indirectly. The CIA and Pentagon conspired with their hireling Gen. Angelo Reyes.
Arroyo and the AFP are desperately looking for rationalizations that would enable them to circumvent the government�s own constitutional ban on the deployment of foreign troops in the country. Arroyo stands ready to circumvent or violate her own constitution and trample on the country�s sovereignty, which shows the depth of her desperation to deploy American troops in the counterrevolutionary war in the Philippines. Fighting the Abu Sayyaf is merely an opening for the US military aggression to sooner or later shift towards fighting the revolutionary forces. Thus, in the face of the people and the political opposition�s strong resistance to the direct deployment of American troops to fight the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, the US and the puppet regime immediately announced that their deployment will be shifted to Mindoro, Quezon, Compostela Valley, North Cotabato or other places where there are revolutionary forces, be they NPA or BIAF/MILF.
Also with US imperialist prodding, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime has run roughshod over the peace talks with both the NDF and MILF. The regime presented each of these with a framework for �negotiations� and �an agreement� merely for surrender. At the same time, it used the �terrorist� declaration and intensified military attacks to coerce the revolutionary forces to submit to such a framework.
But the revolutionary forces are undaunted by the Arroyo regime�s threats of unleashing an all-out war supported by the US military. In fact, there has long been never any letup in the AFP�s brutal military campaigns, even when the peace talks existed. The NPA and the MILF have been confronting and frustrating all these campaigns.
The NPA is unfazed by the threatened entry of American troops into guerrilla fronts and territories of the revolutionary movement. In fact, it is the US and the puppet regime that have reason to worry because the entry of foreign troops will transform the current civil war into a national war against the US. This will also spark a very broad patriotic opposition capable of overthrowing the current puppet regime or any succeeding regime that promotes foreign armed aggression.
The NPA will maintain its overall defensive stance in the current stage of people�s war. Nonetheless, any US combat force that enters the territories of the revolutionary movement or deploys in adjacent areas will be a target of attack by the NPA and the people. The Party, NPA and the entire revolutionary movement will continue giving their utmost to thwart foreign aggression and expel foreign troops from the Philippines.
ON THE OCCASION of celebrating the NPA�s 34th founding anniversary, the Party reaffirms its call to the NPA to all-sidedly advance and intensify people�s war nationwide. In this and the coming years, we expect more numerous, more widespread and more frequent armed tactical offensives against the enemy armed forces. Agrarian revolution and revolutionary base building will likewise be further advanced.
The Macapagal-Arroyo regime�s days are numbered. Even if it is not overthrown before the 2004 elections, its furious maneuvers to extend its rule via elections or other means will come to naught.
The Communist Party and the New People�s Army are likewise prepared to confront either suppression by, or negotiations with, whatever regime succeeds the Arroyo regime. They are determined and ready to further advance and make great strides in an all-sided way in this and the succeeding years. They will give their all in the struggle until total victory is achieved.
Long live the New People�s Army!
Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Love live the Filipino people and the Philippine revolution!
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