The leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today declared that the strategic offensives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) since 2017 under the Duterte regime have failed to stop the growth of the New People’s Army (NPA).

In a 20-page statement posted on the CPP’s website and circulated on social media, the CPP Central Committee said that the CPP and NPA “have successfully frustrated Duterte and his military generals in their repeated declarations of crushing the people’s armed resistance.”

Despite losses and setbacks in some areas, according to the Party’s leadership, the preservation and successes of the NPA in most guerrilla fronts, however, continue to prove the political superiority of the people’s war against the enemy’s war against the people. The CPP-CC said NPA Red fighters and the masses remain determined to resist based on the correctness and justness of waging armed resistance.

The CPP-CC said the NPA continues to operate in guerrilla zones spread across the country in 13 different regions, and that it enjoys the support of millions of people.

“The Red fighters and commanders of the NPA, and the Party cadres leading the NPA, have displayed great tenacity and determination to bear heavy sacrifices, surmount all adversity and limitations, and exert all efforts to defend the people against fascism and state terrorism,” the Party noted.

Contrary to repeated declarations by Duterte and his military and police officers that the NPA has been weakened, the AFP and the PNP continue to beef up its forces against the NPA. According to the CPP-CC, there are 21 more military and police battalions deployed for counterinsurgency.

The CPP denounced the Duterte governments “overspending” for the military and police to pay for increased salaries of additional personnel to acquire more jetfighters, drones, helicopters, bombs, artillery, rifles, bullets and other war matériel. Duterte’s budget for defense increased by ₱4 billion this year to ₱221 billion. Over the past six years, the AFP has received a total of $1.14 billion worth of military assistance in the form of Foreign Military Financing, military training programs and others.

In its message, the Party directed the NPA to carry out seven specific tasks to raise the fighting capacity of the army and the masses in order to steadily advance of the revolution.

1) Strengthen the Party’s leadership of the NPA.

2) Vigorously wage armed struggle and resist the enemy’s brutal war of suppression.

3) Strengthen the New People’s Army.

4) Broaden and deepen the NPA mass base in the guerrilla fronts.

5) Generate widespread support from the cities for the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside.

6) We must systematically proselytize among the enemy’s ranks.

7) Aggressively generate international support for the New People’s Army and the Philippine revolution.

The CPP leadership said that the people’s war it is leading in the Philippines is currently in the middle-phase of the strategic defensive stage with a clear view towards advancing to the advanced phase through the multiplication of platoons and companies. (CPP Information Bureau)

READ | CPP Central Committee’s Message to the NPA on its 53rd anniversary: Raise the fighting capability of the NPA and the masses! Persevere and advance along the path of protracted people’s war!