The Liga ng Agham para sa Bayan (LAB) joins all revolutionary forces in welcoming the signing of the Oslo Joint Communique between the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and representatives from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) last November 23, 2023. The joint statement is a step on the right direction for the resumption of peace talks. LAB hopes that the continuation of the formal peace negotiations will set the stage for long-term reforms that address the roots of the armed revolutionary conflict towards attaining just and lasting peace. We congratulate the NDFP Negotiating Panel in effectively engaging the GRP to consider the resumption of the stalled peace talks. LAB is confident that the panel will bring on the table the different democratic demands and interest of the Filipino people. LAB expects that both panels will reaffirm the previous signed agreements from years of previous peace talks, including the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL), and The Hague Joint Declaration. The principles and provisions of these agreements reflect the many civil and political aspirations and demands of the Filipino people including, but not limited to, the release of imprisoned NDFP consultants and hundreds of political prisoners and the repeal of suppressive laws of the GRP such as the Anti-Terror Act of 2020. If a new framework will be developed, it should follow the previous signed agreements.

LAB expects that the peace talks, if it will resume, will tackle and further develop the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-economic Reforms (CASER). The work built on by revolutionary scientists of the LAB for CASER the must be built upon. The CASER contains concrete provisions and reforms towards an independent national economy, pursue national industrialization, and the free distribution of land. It provides support for developing local science and technology that serves the Filipino people and helps develop our local industries. It ensures the protection of the environment and the use of sustainable technologies that ensure the conservation and wise utilization of our natural resources while respecting the rights of the people and ensuring the health of our ecosystems.

LAB also hopes that this joint communique signals a reversal of the fascistic methods that former GRP president Rodrigo Duterte levied against the revolutionary masses. Duterte and his goons did not and still cannot accept that the revolution cannot be silenced through sheer armed might. No amount of money, guns, and military might can silence the people who are fighting for their democratic rights and interests, for genuine agrarian reform, for national industrialization, for a country free from the shackles of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. It is a scientific fact that as long there is a reason to fight, and if the fundamental ills of Philippine society have not been addressed, then the national democratic revolution will continue.

Until now, the US-Marcos regime continues the bloody traditions of his predecessor. The NTF- ELCAC, the AFP, and the PNP continue to terrorize communities, using drones and other high- technology equipment to surveil and bomb the people. Many are displaced or forced out of their communities by state forces, serving the interests of those who want to exploit their land for mining, dams, and other environmentally destructive projects. The sham Barangay Development Program of the NTF-ELCAC that claims to address the intense poverty in the countryside only funnels billions of pesos into the pockets of politicians, senior military officers, and businessmen while leaving the masses poorer than they were before.

It will be a long, winding, and tortuous road to just and lasting peace. But the revolutionary scientists of the LAB, along with the NDFP, New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines, are committed to continue the struggle for national democracy with a socialist perspective, in all avenues possible.