The Apolinario Gatmaitan Command-New Peple’s Army (AGC-NPA) called out the 3rd ID’s statement of ending Negros insurgency within the year ‘another impossibility’, stating that state troops are ‘bound to fail yet again, even more so now that their declaration is based on lies and exaggerated data’, on a statement released on November 6.

Ka Maoche Legislador pointed out that “Sison and the 3rd ID’s inconsistencies on their prior declarations are even being questioned by the mainstream media”, recalling the recent harassment operation of the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command (RJPC-NPA) against the 79th IB in Calatrava town last October, where the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ‘prompted to have encountered five to seven troops when they declared only five so-called remnants in the area’. Legislador said that this is a ‘case in point’ and that the AFP are ‘far from defeating the just armed revolution waged by the oppressed against the ruling class’.

“By and large, the AFP’s pronouncement of dismantling guerilla fronts in the region are unbelievable by the people. The five guerilla fronts in the region continue to operate and be cherished by the Negrosanon masse. While landlessness, poverty, joblessness and militarization continue, more and more people will be convinced that their only way out of such a rotten system is through taking up arms and joining the NPA. The peace, progress, and development that Sison wants to foster is only for big landlords and compradors”, Legislador added.

The rebel spokesperson also mentioned that Sison’s directive to ‘counter urban operations’ is an excuse to ‘sow fear to the cities, just like what they did in the countryside, and to target legitimate mass organizations to threaten them into submission and silence’. He said that this is a tactic used by the military to “counter dissent and progressive ideas, which is expected to worsen during the election season, so the US-Marcos II regime will continue its political hegemony despite the obvious disparities among their own reactionary parties.’

“Moreover, the AFP’s tone is concurrent to US imperialism’s plan to pull the Philippines towards focusing on its conflict with China. Marcos, Sison and all the sycophants in the reactionary government are being pressured to solve the civil war so they can be maximized as cannon fodder for the inter-imperialist war that the US is clearly preparing for. Even when they are unable to defeat the NPA, the AFP will be poised to continue spurting out lie after lie so they can continue receiving support from the US. Their impossible deadline exposes their reliance on their imperialist masters and not the forced illusion that they have defeated the NPA,” he added.

Legislador ended the statement saying that ‘the NPA will always have a reason for its resurgence. Despite its internal weaknesses and shortcomings, the revolution has a treasure trove of over five decades of experience of wholeheartedly serving the people and dauntless sacrifice. While the likes of Marcos Jr, Sison, and other fascists and despotic landlords and compradors continue to exploit the people, the NPA will never falter.’