Where are Duterte’s boasts and strong promises that he can pulverize the revolutionary movement during his term? With barely over two months remaining and despite ceaseless empty declarations of surrenderees after surrenderees, encounters and whatnots, the truth that they failed came straight from none other than the tyrant himself.

This March, Duterte has almost pleaded in his attempt coerce NPA members into pacification. He also ordered the intensified implementation of his counterinsurgency campaign. Now that the local campaigns are about to start, the already staggering number of police deployment in the region will be increased. All of these in his last bid to achieve even a semblance of victory to show for his bragging and unrealistic declarations six years ago.

The advancement of the people’s war in Bikol, despite its being one of the focus of US-Duterte regime’s anti-people war, is one of the most undeniable proofs of Duterte’s failure to curb the people’s democratic revolution. The insistent mass surrender campaigns, militarization and civilian killings only pushed the Bikolanos towards revolutionary struggle.

Meanwhile, Duterte has achieved nothing but further isolation from the people because of his innumerable crimes against humanity. Local government units’ blind allegiance to the whole-of-nation-approach were all for naught. He did not succeed in anything but just in throwing away hundreds of billions of the public funds for the absurd National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and purchase of modern weapons of mass destruction.

In his last salvo, Duterte attempts to execute the biggest Balikatan exercises between his mercenary AFP and the US troops. He is slowly conditioning the people of his readiness to drag the country unnecessarily towards the US proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. Duterte’s thirst for fascism and servility will only drive the people to rise up.

The people must remain vigilant despite Duterte’s own declarations of defeat. This does not signal the end of his brutal and dirty war. This only means that there is a need for the people, especially the Bikolano masses, to further advance the level of their revolutionary struggle.