Revolutionary priests, nuns and church people celebrated on February 17 the 52nd anniversary of Christians for National Liberation (CNL). On the occasion of their anniversary, the CNL national leadership called on its entire membership in the country, in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific: “Rectify weaknesses, consolidate and expand our ranks! Defeat the US-Marcos II regime! Advance the people’s war!”

With their anniversary, the group also commemorated the 152nd anniversary of the martyrdom of three Filipino priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza. Murdered by the Spanish colonialists, they were one of the catalysts for the advancement of the 1896 Revolution that ended Spain’s colonization of the country.

On this occasion, “we salute and give the highest honor to our revolutionary martyrs and heroes who selflessly sacrificed their lives for the struggle and the revolution,” the group said.

The CNL has launched nine national congresses laying out its programs and plans to strengthen the organization to advance the revolution. CNL launched its 9th Congress in September 2022 where it adopted CNL’s Five Point Program.

“Hundreds of CNL members serve as revolutionary initiators of change in Christian churches and communities in various regions and areas of the country,” according to CNL. They said they help in building and promoting the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside. The group also shared that many of their members volunteer to directly assist in preparing and maintaining guerrilla zones, building bases and advancing agrarian revolution.

From the confines of the reactionary institutions they operate in, the CNL also leads the struggle for democratic reforms within the churches at all levels, and opposes reactionary trends and promotes progressive changes within. The CNL said it also tries to bring the power and resources of the churches to the side of the national democratic revolution.

“In the face of these, the CNL recognizes the weaknesses and challenges it needs to correct and overcome in order to advance the revolution,” it said. The group says among those it must overcome is subjectivism in the form of empiricism arising from bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas and practices.

In the new year it will face, the CNL promised to strive for the consolidation and expansion of membership throughout the country to support primarily the armed struggle, while leading the anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-feudal mass movement.