On this International Working Women’s Day, Kabataang Makabayan offers its revolutionary greetings to the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA)—revolutionary organization of the militant Filipina. We also give our highest red salute to all revolutionary and patriotic women who militantly brave and resist the Duterte regime’s fascist terror.

Since last year, women have been subjected to constant macho-feudal antics, on top of outright fascism. Already infamous for being a bigot and misogynist, Duterte made even bigger enemies out of mothers and women when he sentenced to death Baby River, child of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino, when Nasino was forcibly separated from her baby shortly after birth. Not two months later, the state placed its cross hairs on Amanda Echanis who was arrested with planted evidence while nursing her newborn. In February this year, Baby Carlen was added to the regime’s list of victims—dying at only around 1-month old after being taken from mother Nona Espinosa just three days after birth.

The regime also made it a point to display its utmost disregard for human rights and life in the murders of human rights worker Zara Alvarez and New People’s Army (NPA) unit medical Jevilyn Cullamat whose remains were desecrated by the war criminal Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Above all, we celebrate the lives and sacrifices of women who chose the path of the armed revolution—not with the lack of fear, but with the certainty that the people’s triumph will outweigh any sacrifice or difficulty. We remember Andrea Rosal who, like Nasino and Espinosa, lost a child as a political prisoner in 2014. She promised justice for her daughter and made good on her promise when she joined the NPA as Ka Naya and was martyred in Palawan last year.

Likewise, we cherish the memory of Zyra May Ligad, better known as Ka Ara in the Southern Mindanao Region (SMR). A former student at he Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Ka Ara chose to learn from and serve the masses over the opportunities and options available to a college graduate. She was martyred in January last year.

Kabataang Makabayan salutes all mothers, daughters, and sisters who like Ka Naya and Ka Ara, dedicate their lives to the revolution.

Today, we face an unparalleled economic and political crisis. As prices of basic goods like pork and vegetables continue to soar because of the state’s negligent pandemic response, its fascist machinery is working double time in attempting to quell the people’s defiance—the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside, and the mass movement in cities and urban centers.

As Duterte’s time in office grows threateningly shorter and his fascist terror intensifies, we stand with all democratic and patriotic women who continue to persevere through the perils of confronting an oppressive and exploitative society. In a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country, women are burdened with double the hardships. But as history has taught us, this is not a cause for fear and demoralization—rather, a stronger motivation to wage the national democratic revolution and carry the people’s war to completion.

Join the New People’s Army! Struggle for genuine liberation!
Women, after all, hold up half the sky.