Constitution of the Communist Party of the Philippines
Preamble
The universal theory of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the guide to action of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It is the supreme task of the Party to apply this theory on the concrete conditions of the Philippines and to integrate it with the concrete practice of the Philippine revolution. The Party carries out the people’s democratic revolution as the current stage of the Philippine revolution in preparation for the subsequent stage of socialist revolution as the first stage towards fulfillment of attaining its ultimate goal of communism.
The Communist Party of the Philippines is the revolutionary party of the working class in the Philippines and is the leading force of the Philippine revolution and the Filipino people. It learns basic principles from the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho and other great communist thinkers and leaders; and historical lessons from the revolutionary struggles of the Filipino and other proletariat and peoples.
The Party rejects bourgeois subjectivism, be it dogmatism or empiricism, and opportunism of the “Left” or Right variety. It has condemned and repudiated both classical and modern revisionism, the revisionist betrayal of socialism and the restoration of capitalism in a number of countries. It continues on the correct revolutionary road because it learns positive and negative lessons from the world proletarian revolution and the Philippine revolution. It upholds democratic centralism to build Party unity and rejects both bureaucratism and ultrademocracy. It promotes timely criticism and self-criticism and a widescale rectification of major errors whenever necessary.
The First Great Rectification Movement successfully combatted and defeated Lavaite revisionism and Taruc-Sumulong gangsterism. The Second Great Rectification Movement did likewise the subjectivist error in describing the mode of production not as semicolonial and semifeudal, the predominantly “Left” errors of military adventurism and urban insurrectionism in violation of the strategic line of protracted people’s war and other errors such as reformism, liberalism, sectarianism, bureaucratism, populism, liquidationism, factionalism, splittism and so on. The deviation was most especially from the anti-revisionist line and it undermined the universality of Mao Zedong Thought and its relevance to the Philippine revolution. The Second Great Rectification Movement was characterized by intense inner-Party struggle up to the wholescale anti-Party campaign of destruction and splits, and the defeat of the counter-revolutionary renegades.
Since its reestablishment on December 26, 1968, the Communist Party of the Philippines has gained strength and a wealth of experience through a life-and-death struggle against US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism and has led the Filipino people from victory to victory. It has strengthened itself ideologically, politically and organizationally, has brought forward the revolutionary cause and strength of the Filipino people and has made significant contributions to the world proletarian revolution.
The semicolonial and semifeudal system is in chronic crisis and is moribund. The socioeconomic crisis has been aggravated and deepened by the US-propagated neoliberal policy of unbridled greed. It wreaks havoc on the lives of the people and causes social unrest without let-up. The political crisis is worse than ever before despite the shift from open fascist dictatorship to a series of pseudo-democratic regimes of the big comprador-landlord oligarchy. The reactionary factions are more than ever severely split against each other and are more prone to inflict violence against each other. The broad masses of the people are more than ever determined to wage armed revolution against the reactionary state and build their own democratic power.
The Party is determined to further strengthen itself as the advanced detachment of the proletariat, upholding proletarian revolutionary leadership and winning the support of the broad masses of the people in the ongoing stage of people’s democratic revolution and in the consequent stage of socialist revolution.
The Party has struck deep roots among the people, especially the toiling masses of workers and peasants, on a nationwide scale. It develops the closest links with the people by arousing, organizing and mobilizing them in the defense and promotion of their national and democratic rights and interests.
The Party resolutely wields the weapons of revolutionary armed struggle and the national united front to defeat imperialism and such local reactionary classes as the comprador big bourgeoisie and the landlord class. Armed struggle is the main form of struggle while the legal democratic movement is the secondary but indispensable form of struggle. Under the absolute leadership of the Party, the New People’s Army has expanded and consolidated its forces throughout the archipelago. Both underground and aboveground, in urban and rural areas, the patriotic and progressive alliances and component organizations have grown in strength by waging all forms of struggle in various fields.
The Party realizes working class leadership through hard work and struggle, builds the basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry, brings together the basic toiling masses and the urban petty bourgeoisie as the basic forces of the revolution, attracts the middle bourgeoisie to the fold of the national democratic revolution and takes advantage of the conflicts among factions of the ruling classes in order to isolate and destroy the enemy that at the given time is the worst reactionary faction or an invading foreign aggressor.
In waging the people’s war, the Party combines armed struggle, agrarian revolution and the building of organs of political power and the mass organizations. It develops the revolutionary forces in the countryside to destroy the pillars of feudalism and the armed counterrevolution there until the people’s democratic forces are ready to seize power in the cities in the strategic offensive.
The countryside and the populated mountains and hills provide the wide area of maneuver and allows the development of revolutionary strength in depth. The guerrilla fronts now cover thousands upon thousands of villages and substantial portions of most provinces and municipalities of the Philippines and extend into portions of town centers, provincial capitals and cities.
The revolutionary forces are resolutely bringing the strategic defensive to maturation, moving towards the strategic stalemate and looking forward to the strategic offensive. The Party and the people have overcome every escalation of armed counterrevolution and have strengthened themselves in the process. They have opposed every escalation of foreign military intervention and prepare themselves against further escalation and the worst possible war of aggression; and are determined to win total victory in the revolution.
The Communist Party of the Philippines is a united and independent Party, equal to other communist and workers’ parties in the world. It is at the vanguard of the self-reliant revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people. At the same time, in the face of escalating intervention, there is an increasing need for internationalist support from revolutionary and progressive parties, peoples and movements abroad to augment the patriotic efforts of the Filipino people.
It is both the patriotic and internationalist duty of the Communist Party of the Philippines to win against US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. The national and social liberation of the Filipino people shall help weaken the imperialists and all reactionaries on an international scale; strengthen revolutionary parties, peoples, socialist countries and other progressive forces in their own just cause and contribute to the emancipation of mankind and achievement of justice, peace, prosperity and cultural progress.
The Communist Party of the Philippines is always ready to do everything necessary, possible and appropriate to strengthen the unity of the international communist movement, promote the most fruitful relations between the Filipino and other peoples and pave the way for the total victory of the national democratic revolution, the international recognition of people’s democratic power in the Philippines and the attainment of a just peace in the Philippines and in the world.
In view of the blatant and full restoration of capitalism in certain countries and disintegration of revisionist parties and regimes, the Party must uphold and study more profoundly than ever before the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, learn lessons from the revolutionary victories of the proletariat and the betrayal of socialism by the modern revisionists and recognize the correctness of our struggle against the Lava revisionist renegades and modern revisionism.
The Party is confident that it can lead the people’s democratic revolution to total victory because the domestic social crisis is insoluble and continues to worsen and the revolutionary forces are growing in strength despite the vicious onslaughts of the enemy. The Party takes pride in being at the forefront of the world proletarian revolution today and is determined to encourage all peoples and their revolutionary forces to carry out revolution against imperialism and all reaction and for a fundamentally new and better world.
The crisis of the world capitalist system continues to deepen and worsen. The restoration of capitalism in former socialist countries has served to increase the number of competing capitalist powers and to sharpen the contradictions among the imperialist powers. The crisis of overproduction in both industrial capitalist and underdeveloped countries is accelerated by the neoliberal economic policy, higher technology for higher private profit and by the long running abuse of the international credit system.
The contradictions between the monopoly bourgeoisie and the working class in the imperialist countries; those between the imperialist powers and the oppressed peoples and nations; those between the imperialist powers and some countries assertive of national independence; and those among the imperialists themselves are intensifying and resulting in unprecedented social turbulence conducive to social revolution.
The desperate attempts of the US imperialism to stem its strategic decline through the neoliberal economic policy and neoconservative policy of stepped-up war production and wars of aggression have brought about the most exploitative and oppressive conditions and are driving the people to rise up and resist imperialist plunder, state terrorism and wars of aggression. We are now on the eve of unprecedentedly widescale and intense revolutionary wars.
Article I
Name, Flag and Emblem, Anthem and Pledge
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be the Communist Party of the Philippines. The Party shall refer to its reestablishment in 1968 or to the theoretical guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism whenever there is a need to differentiate itself from any group that usurps the name of the Party.
Section 2. The Party flag and emblem shall be red with the hammer and sickle in gold at the middle.
Section 3. The Party anthem shall be the Internationale.
Section 4. The Party pledge shall be as follows:
“I, ______, declare my full agreement with the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, with the Program and Constitution of the Communist Party of the Philippines and with all decisions taken by higher Party organs and the Party unit to which I am assigned.
I pledge to perform all my duties and responsibilities to the best of my ability, to raise my proletarian revolutionary consciousness, to serve the people constantly and be close to them, to defend and fight for the interests of the people, to keep high the integrity and prestige of the Party, to safeguard the security of the Party and all my comrades at the cost of my life if necessary, to criticize my own mistakes and weaknesses and those of others with the fullest honesty so as to improve work and style of work in accordance with the proletarian class standpoint, viewpoint and method and so as to build up unity and strength, and to advance the interests of the Party and the masses. I shall take every opportunity to propagate Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and implement the proletarian revolutionary line of the Party.”
This pledge shall be taken when a person enters the Party as a candidate-member and when a candidate member is accepted as a Party member.
Article II
Membership
Section 1. Any Filipino or resident of the Philippines, of at least 18 years of age, who accepts Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the Program and Constitution of the Party and agrees to work diligently in one of the Party organizations, carry out the decisions of the Party and pay the entrance fee and regular membership dues may be accepted as a member of the Party.
Section 2. Party membership shall be valid only on an individual basis and in keeping with the following methods of arranging the acceptance of members:
a. Workers, farm workers, poor peasants, poor fishermen, lower middle peasants and urban semi-workers may become members of the Party on the recommendation of two Party members of good standing after having been accepted by a decision of a branch meeting, or as the case may be, the branch executive committee, and after having completed a period of six months as candidate-members.
b. Middle-middle and upper-middle peasants, middle fishermen, office workers, handicraftsmen, petty traders and entrepreneurs, intellectuals or professionals, students and other segments of the petty bourgeoisie may become members of the Party on the recommendation of two Party members each of whom shall have been a member of good standing for at least one year, after having been accepted by the branch executive committee or Party group in a mass organization and after having completed a period of one year as candidate-members.
c. Persons of social positions other than those mentioned in subsections (a) and (b) above may become members of the Party on the recommendation of two Party members each of whom shall have been a member of three years good standing, after having been accepted by the branch executive committee and after having completed a period of two years as candidate-members.
Section 3. Every Party member who recommends a person to become a Party member shall provide a responsible and true statement to the Party concerning the ideology, political record and personal character and life history of the person concerned. He shall give his recommendee an adequate understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the Program, Constitution, policies and decisions of the Party. The recommendee shall formally answer a standard set of questions formulated by the Party.
Before taking any decision accepting a candidate-member, the branch executive committee or Party group concerned shall appoint a Party functionary to hold the broadest possible exchange of views with the person wishing to become a Party member, in order to get to know him further and verify all pertinent information.
Section 4. Under special circumstances, higher Party committees and Party groups in mass organizations may directly accept a new member including non-Filipinos.
Section 5. Party organs concerned shall provide candidate-members with basic Party education on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the Party Program and Constitution, require trial Party work and raise their political quality.
The branch meeting, the Party committee or Party group may prolong or shorten the period of candidacy based on the performance and conscientiousness of the candidate-member.
The status of candidate-member shall be withdrawn if it becomes clear that the candidate-member does not meet the requirements of becoming a Party member.
Section 6. A member of a fraternal Party who is deployed by their central leadership to work for a relatively long period of time within the scope of the CPP shall be accepted as a Party member. A member of the Party may be allowed to become a member of a fraternal Party if he is deployed by the central leadership or its authorized organ to work for a relatively long period of time within the scope of work of a fraternal Party.
Article III
Rights and Duties of Members
Section 1. The duties of Party members shall be as follows:
a. to help build the unity and strength of the Party by raising the level of their understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and by applying this universal theory on the concrete problems of the Party and the people’s democratic revolution;
b. to place the interests of the Party, i.e., the interests of the masses of the people, above personal interests, serve the masses of the people without reserve, learn from them as well as explain to them policies and decisions of the Party and make prompt reports to the Party regarding the people’s needs and aspirations;
c. to criticize and repudiate revisionism, dogmatism and empiricism, Right and “Left” opportunism, sectarianism, liberalism, bureaucratism, ultrademocracy and all other erroneous trends of thinking and action within the Party;
d. to abide by the Party Constitution and Program;
e. to carry out thoroughly the Party line and all particular assignments given to them;
f. to master their line of work and become models of discipline, hard work, modesty and simple living in Party organizations, mass organizations and among the people;
g. to conduct criticism and self-criticism in order to present mistakes and weaknesses, to try earnestly to overcome and correct them and to improve political work;
h. to belong to and work in a basic Party organization (a Party branch in a residential or work place, place of study or within the people’s army or a Party group within a mass organization or institution) and to attend meetings regularly;
i. to attend Party study courses regularly and to read and disseminate Party publications regularly;
j. to be loyal and honest to the Party and present all facts necessary for making correct decisions;
k. to pay dues promptly; and
l. to be alert to anything inside or outside the Party which endangers the Party and to oppose everything harmful to the interests of the Party and the people.
Section 2. The rights of Party members shall be as follows:
a. to participate freely in discussions during Party meetings concerning theoretical and practical problems regarding the Party line, policies and decisions;
b. to vote and be elected within the Party;
c. to submit proposals, statements or complaints to any party organization or organ at any level;
d. to criticize any Party organization, organ or member in Party meetings;
e. to examine the qualification of any candidate to any position or committee;
f. to appeal any decision to a higher Party organ up to the Central Committee and National Congress; and
g. to be present in any meeting called to evaluate their characteristics, work or any disciplinary action to be meted out on them, unless a higher Party committee decides that the security of the Party demands otherwise.
Section 3. Candidate-members shall have the same duties and rights as Party members, with the exception that they do not have the right to vote or be elected nor the right to vote in decisions taken by the Party.
Section 4. Candidate-members or Party members shall be free to resign from the Party. Every resignation shall be fully explained within the Party committee concerned.
Section 5. Every Party member regardless of merit and functions who fails to fulfill his duties or fails to respect the rights of his comrades shall be criticized and educated. Serious violations of rights and duties shall be met with proper disciplinary measures.
a. Any disciplinary action on Party members shall be decided by the branch or group in a mass organization to which they belong, but if the punishment meted out is expulsion, the approval of the Party committee immediately above shall be necessary.
b. Any disciplinary action on a member of a Party committee that shall affect his status as member of the Party committee shall be decided by the conference that elected him into that office or by a higher Party committee. Cases in which the corresponding disciplinary action is lighter than removal from the committee may be decided by the committee to which he belongs or its executive committee when the plenary meeting of the committee cannot yet be convened.
c. Any disciplinary action on a member or candidate-member of the Central Committee shall be decided by the Central Committee, or by the Political Bureau on the ground of emergency or if the Central Committee cannot yet be convened.
Section 6. Disciplinary measures shall be meted out according to the gravity of the violation of Party discipline and shall take any of the following forms: warning, strong warning, removal from assignment, demotion, suspension or expulsion from the Party.
Section 7. Every Party member shall adhere to the theory of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the Party’s class analysis of current Philippine society, the general line of new democratic revolution, the leading role of the working class through the Party, democratic centralism, the principle of proletarian dictatorship in the form of people’s democratic dictatorship and other basic principles of building socialism. Any Party member who does not or who ceases to adhere to any of the aforesaid shall be asked to resign from the Party and if possible become an ally after an effort is exerted at further education deemed sufficient by the higher organ immediately above.
Section 8. All Party members who reach the age of 70 years, are seriously ill or are incapacitated may opt to retire from Party work. They shall retain their Party membership and shall be entitled to subsistence support and medical assistance.
Section 9. Party cadres who retire but are still mentally and physically capable shall be organized into an advisory committee for the Party organ in which they were last members of. They may give advice and be given special assignments according to their experience and abilities.
Article IV
Principle and Structure of Party Organization
Section 1. The structure of the Party shall be based on the principle of democratic centralism; meaning to say, centralism based on democracy and democracy under centralized leadership.
The basic conditions shall be as follows:
a. Leading organs of the Party at all levels shall be elected and shall be responsible to the Party organization or conference that elected them.
b. After free and thorough discussion, decisions taken by the Party shall be implemented.
(1) The individual is subordinate to the organization.
(2) The minority is subordinate to the majority.
(3) The lower level is subordinate to the higher level.
(4) The entire membership is subordinate to the Central Committee and to the National Congress.
c. Leading organs of the Party shall always pay close attention to the reports and views of lower Party organizations and of the masses of Party members and they shall constantly study concrete experiences and render prompt assistance in solving problems.
d. Lower Party organizations shall give regular and special reports about their work to the organizations above them and of the masses of Party members and they shall request instructions promptly concerning problems which require the decision of a higher Party organization.
e. All Party organizations shall follow the principle of collective leadership and all-important questions shall be decided collectively.
Section 2. A Party organization shall be established on the basis of territorial division or sphere of work.
a. The Party organ which arranges Party work in a given territory shall be the highest organ in that territory.
b. The Party organ which arranges Party work in a given sphere of work or in a mass organization shall be the highest organ in that sphere of work or mass organization.
Section 3. The structure of the Party organizations and their leading organs shall be as follows:
a. For the whole of the Philippines, there shall be the entire national Party membership, the National Congress and the Central Committee.
b. For the region, there shall be the regional Party organization, the regional conference and the regional committee.
c. For the province or its equivalent, there shall be the provincial Party organization, the provincial conference and the provincial committee.
d. For the regular district and large city district or its equivalent, there shall be the district Party organization, the district conference and the district committee.
e. For the municipality or its equivalent, there shall be the section Party organization, the section conference and section committee.
f. For factories, mines, plantations or haciendas, barrios, streets, offices, schools, sitios with large population, other places of work such as terminals, markets, piers, and residential areas, there shall be the Party branch, the branch meetings and the branch executive committee.
Section 4. The supreme leadership of the entire Party shall be the National Congress; that of a region, province, district and section shall be the corresponding conference; and that of a Party branch shall be the branch meeting.
Between branch meetings, Party conferences and national congresses, the Party committee shall be the leading organ of the Party organization at each level.
Section 5. All leading organs shall be elected:
a. The Central Committee shall be elected by the National Congress.
b. Lower leading committees at every level (regional, provincial, district and section) shall be elected by the Party conference within the designated territorial jurisdiction.
c. The branch executive committee shall be elected by the branch meetings.
The Central Committee shall set the standard requirements and procedures for elections. A higher Party organ may compose or recompose a lower organ on an interim basis, subject within a reasonable period of time to the principle of election by the corresponding Party organization.
Section 6. Members of the Central Committee must have been in the Party as an active member for at least five consecutive years.
Section 7. Leading organs may be reconstituted, dissolved or their members dismissed by the Party organizations which elected them or by the Party organs that appointed them even before the completion of their term of office. Due cause shall be declared.
Between Party conferences at any level, the higher Party committee may, if it deems necessary, remove members of lower Party organs.
Section 8. The establishment of a new Party organization or the dissolution of an existing one shall be decided by higher Party organizations or higher party organs.
Section 9. Party committees from the section to the regional Party organization shall set up departments, bureaus, commissions and other necessary organs in accordance with requirements.
Section 10. Party organizations at any level may hold various types of meetings, seminars or conferences of cadres and active members to review or plan their work or to discuss important decisions of higher Party organs.
Section 11. Prior to the policy decision taken by a leading party organ, lower Party organizations may freely discuss the issue or issues and put forward proposals to the leading Party organ. After a decision has been taken, they must abide by it.
However, if they hold the opinion that the decision does not accord with conditions in a certain territory or sphere of work, reconsideration of the decision may be requested. If the higher Party organ stands by its decision after making the proper reconsideration, lower Party organizations shall be obliged to carry it out.
Section 12. The Central Committee, the Political Bureau or Executive Committee shall be the organ that makes decisions and issues statements on major new initiatives and on questions of policy that are national and international in character. Lower Party organizations and leading organs may discuss national and international issues and are expected to submit their opinions to central leading organs but they shall be entitled to take their own decisions and issue their own statements only on local matters within their territorial scope.
Section 13. When a leading organ of the Party consists mostly of senior cadres, steps shall be undertaken to have a balanced composition of said organ by including young, middle-aged and senior cadres.
Section 14. All Party publications must propagate the general line, policies and decisions of the Party.
All Party organizations must disseminate Central Committee publications. Local Party publications are required to get the approval of the leading Party organ immediately above them.
Article V
Central Organization
Section 1. The National Congress shall be called and convened by the Central Committee every five years, unless it is deemed necessary to hold it later or earlier. If a majority of regional Party committees formally requests that the congress be held, then the Central Committee shall accede to the request.
The announcement of the holding of the National Congress shall be made at least one month in advance. The number of delegates and the method of their election by the lower Party organizations or selection by lower Party organs shall be decided by the Central Committee.
Section 2. The power and functions of the National Congress shall be as follows:
a. To discuss, ratify, review or amend the Program and Constitution;
b. To decide upon the political line of the Party;
c. To elect the members and candidate-members of the Central Committee and other central organs after determining the appropriate size of membership in each organ;
d. To receive, discuss and endorse reports of the Central Committee and other central organs; and
e. To create and dissolve central organs other than the existing organs, if necessary.
Section 3. Between national congresses, the Central Committee shall lead the entire work of the Party, implement the decisions of the National Congress, make current decisions and solve current problems, establish Party organs and lead their activities, direct and allocate Party cadres and attend promptly to appeals from lower Party organizations and individual members in cases of disciplinary action.
Section 4. The Central Committee at its Plenum shall elect the Political Bureau, the Executive Committee, the General Secretariat, Chairperson, the First Vice Chairperson and other Vice Chairpersons of the Central Committee, the General Secretary and other secretaries of the Central Committee.
a. The Political Bureau, together with its Executive Committee, shall exercise the power and functions of the Central Committee between plenums.
b. The Executive Committee shall act on political and administrative matters in accordance with established policies and standing decisions of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau.
c. The General Secretariat of the Central Committee shall take charge of the daily administration, routine activities of the Party under the leadership of the Political Bureau.
The number of members and candidate-members of the Political Bureau, the Executive Committee and the General Secretariat shall be determined by the Central Committee. Vacancies occurring shall be filled ordinarily by candidate-members.
Section 5. The Central Committee in plenum or through the Political Bureau or Executive Committee, shall form and lead such special organs as the Military Commission, the United Front Commission, the National Finance Commission, the higher Party school (The Revolutionary School of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism) and central publications as well as the Secretariat with its organization, education, and other departments.
Section 6. The Central Committee shall form interregional commissions as staff organs for supervising contiguous regions. These commissions shall derive their powers and functions from the Central Committee.
Section 7. The Plenum of the Central Committee shall be convened by the Political Bureau or the Chairperson once every two years. However, the Political Bureau or a majority of the Central Committee may decide to hold it earlier or later. Members and candidate-members of the Central Committee shall attend the plenum with candidate-members having speaking rights but no voting rights.
Section 8. The Chairperson of the Central Committee shall serve as the principal ideological and political leader of the Party and as such make the appropriate ideological and political pronouncements; preside over the National Congress and meetings of the Central Committee, Political Bureau and Executive Committee; direct the central organs under the Central Committee, including the General Secretariat; be the Chairman of the Military Commission and Commander-in-Chief of the New People’s Army; and act as the chief representative of the Party in external relations, domestic and international.
Section 9. The Chairperson of the Central Committee may delegate his authority and functions to the First Vice Chairperson and the other Vice Chairmen. In case of the incapacity or absence of the Chairperson of the Central Committee from the Philippines for one month or more, the First Vice Chairperson shall assume the position of Chairperson of the Executive Committee and shall exercise the power and duties of the Chairperson within the Philippines. In case of permanent incapacity of the Chairperson, the first vice chairperson shall assume all the functions of the chairperson.
Section 10. All central staff organs and regional Party committees are under obligation to refer promptly to the Central Committee through its Executive Committee and Chairperson any new initiative of major significance or far reaching consequence and any matter which is potentially or actually controversial.
In case of any contradiction between a central staff organ and another or with any territorial leading organ, the two sides are under obligation to refer the controversial matter promptly to the Central Committee through its Executive Committee and Chairperson for immediate resolution.
Article VI
Territorial Organizations of the Party
Section 1. Territorial Party conferences shall be held regularly, in the case of regions, once every three years; in the case of provinces and districts, once every two years; and in the case of sections, once a year. Conferences may be held anytime, however, upon the decision of a higher Party organ or upon the petition of a majority of lower Party organs.
Section 2. The powers and functions of regional, provincial, district and section conferences shall be:
a. to receive, discuss and endorse the reports made by the Party committees and other Party organs at the same level;
b. to adopt resolutions on organizational and political questions; and
c. to elect the Party committee after determining the appropriate size of membership.
Section 3. At their respective plenums, territorial Party committees shall elect an executive committee and a secretariat (the secretary and deputies at least for education and organization). The Secretary shall chair the plenums, the executive committee and the secretariat.
Regional committees shall hold a plenum once a year, provincial committees or its equivalent, once every six months, district committees or its equivalent once every three months, and section committees, once every month.
Section 4. The regional, provincial, district and section committees, shall carry out the decisions of the higher Party organizations, create provisional lower Party organs, direct their activities and allocate Party cadres.
Section 5. The regional, provincial, district and section committees shall call work and study conferences every year or as needed to be attended by delegates elected by the Party branches and groups in mass organizations below. These conferences are empowered to make recommendations to leading Party organs regarding matters or issues of ideology, politics, organization, military and others.
Section 6. The Party organization abroad shall be built among overseas Filipinos, from the basic level upwards under the direction of the International Department of the Central Committee.
Article VII
Basic Organization of the Party
Section 1. The branch as a basic Party organization shall be established wherever at least three Party members can work together as a collective unit, according to place of residence, place of work and place of study. Party branches shall be established in factories, mines, plantations or haciendas, barrios, schools, streets, offices and residential areas and in every company or platoon of the people’s army. If in such places, there are less than three members, these Party members shall attach themselves to the nearest basic Party organization.
Section 2. If a Party branch exceeds fifteen members, the whole membership shall be divided into branch groups for purposes of convenience and security, unless the branch is in a secure revolutionary base area. Each branch group shall never exceed ten members.
Section 3. The most fundamental task of the basic Party organization shall be to develop the closest links between the Party and the masses of the people.
The general responsibilities of the branch shall be:
a. to carry out propaganda, education and organizational work among the masses so as to implement the Party line and the policies and decisions of higher Party organs;
b. to learn from the masses their aspirations and demands, make timely reports to the higher Party organs, give direction to and participate in the political, economic and cultural life of the people;
c. to mobilize and lead the masses through campaigns for the benefit of the people and on issues of local, national or international scope and significance
d. to muster material and moral support for the armed struggle waged by the New People’s Army;
e. to recruit new Party members and Red fighters, collect dues of Party members, examine reports from Party members and safeguard Party discipline and security among members;
f. to organize the study of Party members and the dissemination of Party publications; and
g. to recommend Party members for cadre training at higher levels up to the Revolutionary School of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Section 4. Branch meetings shall be held at least once a month. These shall be attended only by heads of branch groups if in an unstable and unprotected area it is difficult for all branch members to attend.
Branch meetings shall elect the branch executive committee and a secretariat (secretary and deputy secretaries) and the heads of branch groups. The tenure of office of all these shall be one year.
Branch meetings shall approve applications for Party membership, receive and discuss reports of the branch executive committee, branch groups, Party groups and branch committees and decide upon the work of the entire branch.
Section 5. Every Party member shall belong to a Party branch. A Party member may belong to two basic Party organizations (Party branch and group in a mass organization or institution) and pay his dues to only one, provided he has the permission of a higher Party committee.
A Party member transferring from one branch to another shall carry the prior authorization of the section committee above the branches from and to which he is transferring as well as the Party committee covering both branches.
Article VIII
Party Groups in Mass Organizations
Section 1. Party groups shall be secretly created at every possible level in labor organizations and in mass organizations of peasants, youth, student, women, cultural workers, professionals, handicraftsmen and the like where there are at least three Party members. The responsibilities of these Party groups shall include the implementation of Party policies and decisions, strengthening unity with non-Party activists and developing close ties between the Party and the masses within the mass organizations.
Section 2. Party members in conservative or reactionary institutions of broad scope shall likewise organize themselves secretly into Party groups. Their responsibilities shall include the implementation of Party policies and decisions, gathering of information useful to the Party, exposure of the wrongs and weaknesses of the exploiting classes, and the recruitment of Party members from the ranks of the urban petty bourgeoisie.
Section 3. The membership of Party groups shall be fixed by the Party committee leading them. Party groups at every level in mass organizations shall have a secretary and deputy secretaries.
Section 4. The status and rights of Party groups in the National Congress and in Party conferences shall be determined by the Central Committee.
Article IX
The Party’s Relationship with the New People’s Army
Section 1. The Party, through its Military Commission under the Central Committee and through its cadres at every level, shall lead and command the New People’s Army and guide it in the study and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and shall develop the most advanced fighters into Party members.
Section 2. The Rules of the New People’s Army shall recognize the absolute leadership of the Party and its Military Commission and shall require the assignment of political officers to every armed unit and every territorial command of the New People’s Army.
Section 3. The New People’s Army shall be the main weapon of the Party in the seizure and consolidation of political power. It welds the basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry. In the countryside, it shall create the conditions for establishing the people’s democratic state by waging armed struggle, facilitating agrarian revolution and helping build organs of political power and revolutionary mass organizations.
Section 4. A Party branch in every company or platoon as the case may be and a Party group in every squad shall be organized within the New People’s Army. Leading committees shall be created from the level of the branch to the highest military formation.
Section 5. The New People’s Army shall develop several forms of armed forces: guerrilla units, regular mobile forces and regular forces on certain conditions. It shall also develop auxiliary and reserve forces as the people’s militia, self-defense units based on mass organizations and armed city partisans. It shall be a force for fighting, politico-military training, propaganda, cultural work and production.
Section 6. The Party shall develop the closest ties between the army and the people, between the Party and the army and between officers and men in a proletarian revolutionary spirit.
Section 7. The New People’s Army shall adhere strictly to the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points of Attention:
The Three Main Rules of Discipline are:
1) Obey orders in all your actions.
2) Do not take a single needle or piece of thread from the masses.
3) Turn in everything captured.
The Eight Points of Attention are:
1) Speak politely.
2) Pay fairly for what you buy.
3) Return everything you borrow.
4) Pay for everything you damage.
5) Do not hit or swear at people.
6) Do not damage crops.
7) Do not take liberties with women.
8) Do not ill-treat captives.
Article X
The Role of the Party in the United Front
Section 1. To ensure that the democratic revolution is of a new type and has a socialist perspective, the working class is the leading class through its advanced detachment, the Communist Party of the Philippines. The vanguard role of the working class shall be upheld by all Party members in the united front in general and explicitly, implicitly, informally or in practical terms in concrete united front arrangements.
As a matter of principle and practice, the Party is the comprehensive leader and center of the Philippine revolution in both national democratic and socialist stages. It leads the armed struggle, the united front, mass movement, the local organs of political power and eventually the People’s Democratic Republic of the Philippines.
Section 2. The foundation of the united front is the basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry. It is of crucial importance to the united front and the national democratic revolution that the Party links the working class with the peasantry by carrying out the armed struggle, agrarian revolution, base building and building organs of political power in the countryside.
Section 3. The united front brings together the basic toiling masses and the urban petty bourgeoisie as the basic forces of the revolution, wins over the middle bourgeoisie to the national democratic revolution and takes advantage of the factional strife among the exploiting classes in order to isolate and destroy the enemy that at the given time is the worst reactionary faction or an invading foreign aggressor.
Section 4. The Party shall engage in united front through bilateral and multilateral relations of various types with other entities on the basis of consultations and consensus to achieve common purposes and fight common enemies and problems. The united front may or may not be through a formal organization.
The scope of the united front includes the open legal alliances on the basis of class, sectoral and multisectoral interests or common issues; coalition with other political parties; the discreet informal relations with various entities; the underground united front organizations for armed struggle under working class leadership like the National Democratic Front and the building of the organs of political power at various levels along the united front line.
Section 5. The Party shall maintain its independence and initiative in the united front and shall not enter into any arrangement in which it shall lose these. It shall always seek common ground in political agreements with its allies but shall not allow itself to be dictated upon by them nor subordinate itself to them.
Section 6. The National Democratic Front (NDF) is the most consolidated underground united front organization of basic revolutionary forces, explicitly under working class leadership and for armed struggle along the general line of national democratic revolution. The NDF is the most important part of the entire national united front.
The National Democratic Front is a distinct and integral united front organization, characterized by its essential tasks of helping forge national unity, strengthening its component organizations, winning over other forces to become either components or cooperators and paving the way for the establishment of organs of democratic power, especially at levels higher than that of the barrio.
Article XI
Party Finances and Resources
Section 1. The Party adheres to the principle of self-reliance in addressing the material and financial requirements for Party operations.
Section 2. The Party shall be financed by membership fees and monthly dues, by productive undertakings of the Party, by special assessments, by a share in the income, properties and inheritance of members, and by unconditional contributions and by fundraising campaigns.
Section 3. Persons wishing to enter the Party shall be obliged to pay a membership fee equal to the amount of one month’s dues. Regular membership dues shall be determined by the National Finance Commission and shall be paid monthly.
Section 4. Special assessments shall be made on members upon the approval of the Party committee concerned.
Section 5. Party members who hold positions made possible by the Party in non-Party entities shall hand over their earnings to the Party and shall receive an amount determined by the Party according to regulations and the necessities of the members and their family dependents.
Section 6. The Central Committee shall receive eighty percent of entrance fees, membership dues and other monthly income and shall apportion the amount at various levels. Twenty percent shall remain with the Party branch.
Article XII
Amendments and Extraordinary Developments
Section 1. This Constitution shall be amended by two-thirds majority of those present in the National Congress at the time of voting.
Section 2. If any Party organization cannot function in full accordance with this Constitution, the higher Party leading organ shall make the timely decisions to overcome or solve loss or failure of leadership and other extraordinary developments at the level of a lower Party organ.
Approved by the Second Congress
Communist Party of the Philippines
November 7, 2016