The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) extend their warmest revolutionary greetings to the Christians for National Liberation (CNL). As allies in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the CPP and the CNL have worked together closely for five decades to carry forward the Filipino people’s aspirations for national and social liberation.

Over the past fifty years, the CNL has produced a great number of revolutionaries, Party cadres and Red fighters who transformed their faith and vocation of service to a selfless dedication of their lives to the cause of the oppressed and exploited. Not a few members of the CNL have become leaders of the Party and commanders of the NPA and shouldered the difficult tasks of waging the people’s democratic revolution. A number of leading members of the NDFP emerged from the CNL.

Let us pay homage to the revolutionary heroes and martyrs who came from the ranks of the CNL. Their ultimate sacrifice for the people’s revolutionary cause will forever be remembered.

The CNL was formed exactly a century after the martyrdom of Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (collectively known as Gomburza) who were executed by the Spanish colonial government for having raised their voices against abuses and for playing a role in the mutiny of Filipinos in Cavite. Over the course of history, a number of Filipino religious personages have taken an active role in the resistance against successive colonial powers and struggle for genuine national freedom.

The establishment of the CNL fifty years ago is part of the historical continuum of progressive thinking and activism of Filipino Christians and other religious. The CNL was among those who stood firm against martial law and waged the difficult struggle against the fascist dictatorship.

Throughout its history, the CNL has successfully challenged the reactionary, conservative and clerico-fascist forces that dominate the Catholic Church and other religious denominations and drawn many religious thinkers to the progressive and revolutionary cause. The active participation of the CNL in the people’s democratic revolution proves unequivocally that communists and non-communists can work together for the cause of national and social liberation.

The CNL continues to play an important role in waging the people’s democratic revolution. It helps expose the ills of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism that continue to oppress and exploit the broad masses of workers, peasants and the rest of the Filipino people.

As it served as a beacon during the dark days of martial law, the CNL now aims to serve as a source of enlightenment in the face of widespread deception and attempts to restore the corrupt and plunderous reign of the Marcoses and perpetuate the tyranny of the Duterte dynasty.

The CNL continues to bring the people’s cause for national democracy to both the religious and the broad sectors of society and draws thousands upon thousands to the path of militant struggle and revolutionary resistance. It also continues to promote the justness and necessity of waging people’s war, as well as the people’s aspiration for a just and lasting peace.

Long live the Christians for National Liberation!
Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Long live the people’s democratic revolution!
Long live the Filipino people!