President Rodrigo Duterte, through his delusional “Red October” ploy, has unwittingly accorded the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA-NDF) the highest regard for considering it the topmost threat to his
obsession of installing a fascist dictatorship.

Unfortunately for Duterte, the “Red October” red scare fails to vilify the revolutionary movement but has instead brought the CPP-NPA-NDF’s pure intentions and genuine desire for regime and system change to the hearts and minds of the anti-Duterte broad united
front and the Filipino masses.

It has brought the revolutionary movement closer to the Filipino people.

Duterte has practically branded and threatened every Filipino who dares speak out against mass murder, tyranny, rampant human rights violations, criminality and corruption, cronyism, impunity, widespread unemployment and lack of job security, land-grabbing and
landlessness, government neglect, misgovernance, disrespect of religious beliefs, misogyny, puppetry and soaring prices of basic commodities and services as “communists”. By doing so, he has only succeeded in highlighting his own failures and vileness in contrast to the revolutionary movement’s successes and genuine service to the people.

The conceited Duterte oftentimes resorts to angry tirades and psychotic outbursts when criticized or faced with setbacks and challenges. The CPP that Duterte demonizes is known for its practice of criticism and self-criticism of its own errors to aid in the course of its
current tasks.

While Duterte deliberately sabotaged the peace talks, the NDFP has been consistent and sincere in its intent to seek peace negotiations with one regime after another with the aim of addressing the root causes of armed conflict. Through the NDFP, the demands of all
sectors of society are brought to the negotiating table with long-term solutions of genuine land reform, national industrialization and an independent foreign policy – viable alternatives that would generate employment, lower prices of basic goods and commodities
and make the economy stable and free of imperialist dictates and control. Anti-people and pro-imperialist policies such as the TRAIN Law, eVat, increased foreign borrowing under the guise of “Build, Build, Build” and the refusal to end contractualization,
among others, are not the alternatives that Duterte promised and certainly not what the Filipino people want.

Being a “communist” is not so bad, after all, but something that every Filipino who is sick and tired of Duterte should be proud of.

Duterte is terrified because with the support of the revolutionary movement, the broad united front has twice succeeded in ousting two regimes detested by the Filipino people – the 14-year Marcos dictatorship in 1986 and the corrupt Estrada regime in 2001 – and
placed a former president, Macapagal-Arroyo, in house arrest for graft charges, which Duterte absolved.

Even Marcos failed to crush and defeat the NPA when it was still in its formative years, Duterte is delusional if he thinks that he can succeed in doing so now, when the NPA operates in more than 110 guerrilla fronts in 16 regions and 73 out of 81 provinces.

Unlike the AFP, the NPA has thousands of Red fighters who are disciplined, respectful, humble and have high morale to defend and serve the broad masses of the people and not just the whims of a paranoid president. It is assisted by tens of thousands of men and women in the people’s militia and hundreds of thousands in the self-defense units of mass organizations. It has grown in strength and continues to enjoy the support of an ever-widening mass base, especially now within the broad anti-Duterte united front.

In its 50 years of existence, the CPP-NPA-NDF has been consistent in its goal to defeat one regime after another to overthrow the entire semi-colonial and semi-feudal ruling system, the same system that the US-Duterte regime perpetuates and exploits for its own selfish
interests and greed for power at the expense of the people.

By using the CPP-NPA-NDF as scapegoat in the “Red October” red scare to fulfill his obsession of establishing a full-blown fascist dictatorship, Duterte can only hope to surpass what his idol Marcos accomplished before him: to become the CPP and NPA’s No. 1
recruiter. ###