On December 17, 2022, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines ordered all units of the New People’s Army to conduct a 21-gun salute on the Party’s anniversary on December 26, 2022, by way of bidding farewell and paying highest tribute to Jose Maria Sison.

Ka Joma, founding chairman of the Party and founder of the people’s army, passed away last December 16, 2022 at the age of 83, after several weeks of hospitalization in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Seven-person squads conducted the gun salute through a three-time volley as the highest form of military salute. These were performed in high mountains, in forests, in the plains and areas near villages. By the first week of January, units of people’s army in Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Lanao, Batangas, North Negros, South Central Negros, Southwest Negros and Panay, as well as others Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol and North Central Mindanao have reported their compliance.

Special gatherings of the army and masses were also reported in Batangas and Panay. In Bicol, gatherings were held in two places in the Rinconada area in Camarines Sur attended by 200 people. In the cities, the revolutionary organization such as the Liga ng Agham para sa Bayan (LAB or League of Science for the People) and Makibaka so held clandestine tribute gatherings. On December 21, 2022, members of the Kabataang Makabayan staged a lightning rally to pay tribute to Ka Joma, who was also the group’s founding chairperson.

On December 28, 2022, a special tribute was held at the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus in Quezon City to celebrate Ka Joma’s life and contributions to the open mass movement and peace talks. It was attended by hundreds of people and viewed by thousands on Facebook and Twitter. Prior to the program, mass organizations marched around the campus.

Overseas

An emotion-filled but militant International Day of Tribute on December 23, 2022, and a revolutionary farewell ceremony before the cremation of Ka Joma’s remains on December 27, 2022 were held in Utrecht. Representatives of Marxist-Leninist political parties and organizations, progressives, anti- imperialist groups and individuals, European organizations, Filipino migrants and close friends and comrades of Ka Joma attended the tribute. Among them are representatives of organizations from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Kurdistan, North Kurdistan, New Zealand, Palestine, Suriname, The Netherlands, Turkey and Ukraine.

Tributes also poured in from hundreds of organizations and individuals in various parts of the world who form part of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles, which Ka Joma established and led for quite some time. International organizations also conducted various activities in their countries to give recognition to Ka Joma as a revolutionary and internationalist. These were launched in Germany, China, France, Mexico, Austria, Australia, Canada, US, Ireland and many other places.

54th anniversary of the CPP

The farewell and tribute to Ka Joma were held on the Party’s anniversary under the banner: Consolidate and further strengthen the Party! Frustrate the counterrevolutionary war and state terrorism of the US-Marcos regime! Comprehensively advance the people’s democratic revolution!

In the annual message of the Central Committee, it directed all the leading committees and cadres to exert all efforts to consolidate and strengthen the party ideologically, politically and organizationally. It revealed plans to issue a new 5-year program for 2022 to 2027 and extended the current 5-year Party program to allow all regions to complete and submit their summing-up documents.