The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) stand united with the Filipino
people in opposing the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) plan for a
multibillion-peso hardware upgrade as this will be used to upgrade the
fascist regime’s attacks and abuses against the people.

Rodrigo Duterte recently approved an additional P300 billion for the AFP to
fund its shopping spree for new equipment until 2022 under the second phase
of the Revised AFP Modernization Program. The said P300-billion budget will
be used to fund “Horizon 2” from this year to 2022. The AFP top brass are
drooling over the vast opportunities for corruption in the planned
purchases.

The AFP claims the second phase of the modernization program will help it
transition from focusing on internal security operations to territorial
defense. However, for all intents and purposes, this multibillion peso fund
for the AFP’s shopping spree will only help fund a more intensive and more
violent killing spree under Duterte’s Oplan Kapayapaan.

With additional funds, the AFP aims to replenish its armory that is quickly
being depleted with the campaign of aerial bombardment, shelling and all-
out military offensives and attacks targeting civilian communities, homes,
farms and schools. Last Thursday, the AFP announced it will be spending at
least P2.6 billion to purchase more bullets, mortar and artillery rounds.

By cancelling peace talks anew with the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP), Duterte ensured that the AFP’s all-out attacks against
the people will not be disrupted and there will be no impediments in
launching more massive military offensives nationwide, especially in
Mindanao under martial law. Hundreds of barrios in Luzon and Visayas are
also under de-facto martial law. Deceptively couched as activities for
“peace and development,” AFP troops carry out recruitment, intelligence
work and combat operations, affecting hundreds of thousands peasants and
minority peoples.

With additional hundreds of billions of pesos in its hands, AFP operations
are sure to grow more rabid and destructive in the next years.

Mapping the series of offensives against the people in recent weeks show
how the military has now largely focused on laying siege on civilian
communities, with recently reported occupations and encampments right smack
in the middle of homes in rural barangays.

Some of the glaring incidents include the following that occured in
Mindanao:

The killing of three farmers by AFP troops last June 6 in separate
incidents. In Compostela Valley, elements of the 46th Infantry Battalion
(IB) shot and killed Lando Perdicos while he was resting in the balcony of
their home in Barangay Cabuyo-an, Mabini. Another peasant activist, Jovie
Jose, was also killed in in Montevista. In Agusan del Norte, another farmer
was shot and killed at around 8:30 p.m. in Sitio Tagbakon, Barangay Culit,
Nasipit.

Elements of the 36th IB detained six Lumad community school teachers in San
Miguel, Surigao del Sur last June 20. Meanwhile, a teacher, 11 students,
and two staff workers of a Salupongan school in Compostela Valley were also
detained by elements of the 66th IB last June 1. Elements of 75th IB also
harassed students and teacher conducting classes in Simowao Community
Learning Center run by Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao Sur (TRIFPSS)
last June 20.

Outside Mindanao, other recorded incidents in recent weeks include the
harassment and intimidation perpetrated by the 86th IB at Dicamay, Jones,
and Barangays Benguet and Mabbayad in Echague, Isabela; and the forced
encampment of the combined forces of the PNP, Air Force and Philippine Army
the middle of community in Barangay Coral ni Lopez, Calaca, Batangas
starting June 17. Peasant activists Catalino Decipeda at Florencio Cufo
were shot and killed in their farm in Tuy, Batangas last June 11.

These forcible occupations and encampments and attacks against the peasants
hide under the pretext of “peace and development,” yet the AFP is primarily
targeting peasants and Lumad communities, attacking schools, forcing common
people to surrender and join the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit
(CAFGU). These acts flagrantly violate not only the Comprehensive Agreement
for the Respect of Human Righs and International Humanitarian Law
(CARHRIHL) as well as international humanitarian law.

With several hundred billions added in his tyrannical pockets, Duterte will
have more to spend for aerial bombardment and shelling, and more money to
purchase guns and bullets that target to kill and maim the masses of
peasants and minorities in the countryside, and the workers and other
toiling masses in the cities.