For four years, the Filipino people have endured suffering under Marcos’ puppet, oppressive, and fascist regime. Despite all of Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s efforts to paint Philippine “progress,” he cannot conceal the reality of worsening conditions of the country and the Filipino people. Marcos officials have repeatedly declared the defeat of the revolutionary armed struggle, yet military operations across all guerrilla fronts throughout the archipelago remain relentless. Marcos continues to fan the flames of the people’s war.

The situation of workers, farmers, fishermen, and other basic classes and sectors comprising the majority of the people further deteriorates. On the other hand, the few ruling classes, accomplices of US imperialism, feast on wealth accumulated from oppression and exploitation of the toiling masses, bureaucratic corruption, plunder of natural resources, and grabbing people’s land and livelihood. The nation’s security is in peril as Marcos allows the US to use the Philippines as a giant military base.

Living standards plummet amid skyrocketing prices of oil, food, and daily necessities. Marcos’s photo-op gestures like rice giveaways and aid programs are hollow. Workers’ wages and the salaries of ordinary employees fall short of half what a family of five needs to live decently. Farmers are sinking deeper into debt in the face of rising costs of production and living.

The unemployment crisis is acute. Millions are jobless, especially among the youth. Thousands of Filipino workers migrate overseas daily seeking employment. This results from the decline of local production in both manufacturing and agriculture, caused by all-out import liberalization and flooding of foreign commodities. There is no program to build local national industries to produce basic needs. Marcos continues to bury the Philippines deeper into debt.

While the people struggle, factional strife over corruption and power continues unabated. The 2028 election remains far off, but maneuvering and posturing have already begun. To preempt Vice President Sara Duterte’s candidacy, the Marcos camp is pushing for her impeachment. What the people truly want is justice and accountability for all those involved in corruption and plunder of public funds, particularly Marcos himself as the highest official and chief of bureaucrat-capitalism.

Marcos surpasses all previous puppet presidents in his subservience to US imperialist dictates. In the economic field, he provides boundless incentives and privileges to foreign capitalists. Everywhere, land is being taken away by plantations and “renewable energy” projects. While no land is allocated for farmers, Marcos will open 1,620 hectares of land for an “economic security zone” for American corporations under the Pax Silica framework. Militarily, there is an unprecedented increase in US military forces within Philippine territory as they prepare an imperialist war against China. Marcos blindly allows the Philippines to be used as a vast military base and launchpad for US aggression and intervention, showing utter disregard for Filipinos who will suffer from being dragged into a US-instigated war.

The US provokes and fans fascist oppression in the Philippines to suppress the Filipino people’s anti-imperialist resistance in all forms—armed and unarmed. More than one billion dollars has been allocated by the US for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the coming five years. The US military wages all-out intervention in counter-guerrilla warfare, campaigns of suppression and martial law imposition in the countryside, under the guise of the “Salaknib” and other military exercises. The US supplies AFP units with weapons and equipment for small-scale operations desperately attempting to crush the continuing spread and expansion of the NPA.

From the people’s point of view, the Marcos regime equates to unparalleled corruption, suffering and hunger of the masses, subservience to foreign capital, and fascist oppression. Among the broad people, it is clear that Marcos represents the rotten and decrepit system ruled by US imperialism in collusion with the few ruling classes. Today, Marcos is the primary catalyst driving the Filipino people to rise up and take the difficult path of struggle.

From various corners of the country, mass struggles are bursting forth to defend land and homes, struggle for living wages, expose corruption, hold plunderers accountable, defend people’s rights, oppose the destruction of the environment, protest the presence of foreign troops, and fight for national sovereignty. They are getting organized and acting together to defend their welfare and the interests of the entire nation.

In the countryside, armed struggle advances steadily and expands across guerrilla zones and fronts. Wherever they go, Red fighters of the New People’s Army are warmly welcomed by the masses who firmly embrace them as their true army. With the NPA, the broad masses of peasants are emboldened to rise and fight against land grabbers and their fascist mercenaries.

Amid the gross sufferings of the Filipino people, the Party is determined to serve as the core and vanguard of their struggle to end oppression, alter their destiny, and establish a new sovereign and democratic nation. In the spirit of the rectification movement, cadres and Party members devote their mind and strength to the people’s cause. Wherever the masses are, the Party takes deep and wide roots to guide them along the path of struggle.