The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Monday announced that it will forego declaring a ceasefire this holiday season as it sees no reason to do so.

According to its statement, there is “absolutely no reason to declare a ceasefire…as the US-Marcos regime and its fascist Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continue with their relentless state terrorism and armed suppression against the Filipino people.”

The CPP said that combat troops of the AFP continue to be deployed to communities of peasants and national minorities and subject civilians suspected of supporting the New People’s Army to brutal suppression. It added that hundreds of villages are militarized and placed under hamlet or military control.

The CPP claimed that in the AFP and PNP’s bid to “crush” the NPA, it violates human rights and the international humanitarian law. It is with this reason, along with the sharp deterioration of the people’s socioeconomic conditions that the NPA needs to come to the people’s defense, the CPP added.

In just six months, Marcos and his fascist thugs have extrajudicially killed not less than 45 individuals in accordance with its counterinsurgency policy. Ang Bayan, the CPP’s news organ, recorded not less than 47,017 total victims (or an average of 288 per day) of human rights violations in several parts of the country. This accounted for 379 cases of human rights violations.

From July 1 up to December 10, there have been up to three victims of torture and one abduction every week on average. About 126 have fallen victim to harassment, threats and intimidation per day. More than 37,000 were forcefully evacuated and dislocated due to intense combat operations of the AFP in the countrysides.

“The Central Committee, hereby, directs the New People’s Army (NPA) through its National Operational Command (NOC) and Regional and Subregional Operational Commands (ROCs and SROCs), to actively fight and frustrate the AFP’s campaign of armed suppression,” the statement declared.

It said units of the NPA can concentrate a superior force in order to strike fascist units of the AFP and PNP which are “isolated, weak and tired,” as form of punishment for their crimes against the people.

“The NPA must demonstrate in a concentrated form the people’s outrage against the AFP and political repression, socioeconomic oppression and national treachery under the US-Marcos regime, and strengthen their determination to fight back against state terrorism and carry forward their revolutionary struggles,” declared the CPP. (CPP Information Bureau)

Read full statement of the Central Committee: https://philippinerevolution.nu/no-ceasefire-2022