Translation: Pilipino

The return of the fascist 49th IBPA in the region will be met with fervent resistance by the Bicolano masses. They have not forgotten of the blood owed by the murderous battalion. The mercenary army will pay for trampling and depraving the rights of the people. Similar to its failure to frustrate the people’s struggle when it was first assigned to the region, the united people and their Red army will once again thwart all of the enemy’s attempted attacks against the masses.

The 49th IBPA, placed under the 903rd Bde. and 901st Bde, is known for its bloody record in Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte. In 2016, it was temporarily transferred to the 1st IBPA’s area in Mindanao as an additional force against the revolutionary movement. There, it continued destroying and ravaging thousands of communities under the US-Duterte regime’s Oplan Kapanatagan.

This June 11, the same battalion has been returned in Bicol in order to fill the fascist 9th IDPA’s combat force. It is part and parcel of AFP’s obedience to Duterte’s order to use its full force and all recourses and procedures of the state in order to end the revolutionary movement before the end of his term in 2022.

But the 49th IBPA’s return will not strengthen the 9th IDPA. The division cannot expect loyalty from a unit so weary and tormented by the state’s senseless war against the masses. Corruption, both of morality and resources within the military force continues along with the further isolation of officials from their foot soldiers. How can BGen. Henry A. Robinson, newly-installed commander of the 9th IDPA, expect allegiance from a thousand soldiers who are also assailed by the economic and political crises brought about by the state’s servility to imperialism, bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism?

The Bicolano masses will certainly frustrate 9th IDPA’s upcoming intensified fascist attacks. The revolutionary movement and the struggling masses are ready and determined to face all forms of state fascism. The advantage is in the hands of the revolutionary movement because the conditions only get favorable for the furtherance and strengthening of the people’s democratic revolution. The perpetual crisis and subsequent attacks against the lives and livelihood of the masses hasten their decisiveness to take up arms and to defend their democratic rights. The heightened war against the people, which has already taken the lives of thousands, is also what makes elements of the military recognize and abhor the rotten and murderous regime.

With the increase of mercenary forces that target the Bicolano masses and wage terror in the region, it is a challenge for the revolutionary movement to lead the people’s struggle. The role of the armed struggle should be highlighted and fundamental tactical offensives should resound in the whole region. The Red army must actively defend the lives and safety of its mass base and immediately complete the requisites to implement plans for strengthening the mass base, advancing the agrarian revolution and heightening the armed revolution.

The NPA must outdo the enemy in the development of its capacity through trainings and the consolidation of its forces, bold and active recruitment and launching of coordinated tactical offensives against the forces of the AFP-PNP-CAFGU in the region. Immediately study the disposition of the 49th IB and other changes in the disposition of the forces of the 9th ID. Strengthen the connection and coordination of unit commands in order to be able to launch annihilative and coordinated tactical offensives that could stretch the military’s forces. Uphold the NPA’s iron discipline and put guerilla tactics into practice to frustrate even the enemy’s surprise attacks.

RJC-NPA Bikol avows that the true army of the people – the New People’s Army – will always be with the masses in their every step to fight the fascist and terrorist state.

Frustrate the SEMPO-like attacks in the Bicol region!

Expose the crimes of the 49th IBPA! Make the AFP-PNP-CAFGU pay for their crimes against the people!

Frustrate US-Duterte regime’s martial law! Advance the people’s democratic revolution!