By insisting on its “terrorist” designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the Marcos regime wants the people to see the world through upside-down lenses that reverses their perception of reality. In truth, it is the Marcos regime, with the support of the US, that is the real terrorist.

In less than two years in office, Marcos has unleashed a terrible wave of terrorist attacks against the Filipino people. On his orders to “finish off” the revolutionary armed resistance, his armed forces and police are on a bombing and killing frenzy, directing their brutality against civilians in complete disregard of international humanitarian law, as well as its own laws. Indeed, Marcos has earned the moniker “The Terrible Terrorist.”

In recent months alone, Marcos’ armed forces have spent hundreds of millions of pesos on a bombing campaign, dropping 500-pound bombs and firing artillery shells in Bukidnon, Negros, Panay, Quezon, Abra and Ilocos, terrorizing communities, especially the elderly and young children, and forcing families to flee their homes.

Marcos’ soldiers are on a rampage of terrorist killings against civilians all over the country. In Masbate province alone, fascist soldiers have killed 28 civilians since Marcos assumed office in 2022, including helpless senior citizens Pedro and Florencia Regala last February 5. In Negros island, fascist soldiers are responsible for the massacre of the Fausto family in June 14, 2023. Throughout the country, hundreds of villages remain under military occupation, where people live under martial law restrictions and those suspected of supporting the revolutionary cause are imprisoned without even being given their day in court.

There is also a growing pattern of illegal abductions and disappearances of activists who are given the choice of renouncing their principles or remaining under secret detention or being extrajudicially killed. These include the recent cases of the abduction of veteran labor organizer William Lariosa in Bukidnon, former campus journalist and NPA member Nelson Bautista Jr in Zamboanga del Norte, the abduction in February 2023 in Bukidnon and continued disappearance of NPA officer Ariel Badiang, the abduction and subsequent killing of Arthur Lucenario in Bohol last April 14, 2023, the abduction in Rizal and continued disappearance of indigenous people’s advocates Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesus and Dexter Capuyan in April last year, the abduction in Cebu and subsequent surfacing of activists Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dahoya in January 2023, the 13-day secret detention and mental torture of environmentalists and organizers Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano in Orion, Bataan in September 2023, the abduction in Batangas and “surrender” of Jose Marie Estillier last February, and the abduction and 3-day secret detention of Eco Dangla III and Jak Tiong in San Carlos, Pangasinan last March.

In violation of IHL, the Marcos regime has summarily executed revolutionaries who have been taken in as prisoners, from the August 20, 2022 massacre of the Tiamzons in Catbalogan, Samar, the abduction and murder of Negros NDFP leader Rogelio Posadas in April 20, 2023, the abduction and murder of to the recent cases of the extrajudicial killing of Hanna Cesista and four others in Bohol (February 23), Aprecia Alvarez Rosete in Zamboanga del Sur (February 27), and Kaliska Dominica Peralta in Bukidnon (April 10).

The above cases are just the tip of the iceberg. The list of terrorist acts perpetrated by Marcos armed henchmen continues to grow. Tens of thousands of people have suffered under Marcos-style terrorism.

The Party is certain that the people will fight back with great energy to defeat the Terrible Terrorist. Amid the worsening crisis of the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system and Marcos’ subservience to US economic and geopolitical interests that is dragging the country into a US-provoked war in Asia, the masses of workers and peasants and other toiling people are determined to resist and defend their interests.

Under the leadership of the CPP, the New People’s Army (NPA) will continue to wage revolutionary armed struggle to fight alongside the people and defend their socioeconomic and political rights, especially in the face of the aggressive push of the Marcos regime to dispossess them of their land and livelihood in favor of foreign multinational corporations. In the face of Marcos fascist terrorism, the people have no other choice but to intensify their armed struggle.