The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao (NDFP-Mindanao), together with all revolutionary forces in the island, celebrates the New People’s Army’s (NPA’s) 50^th founding anniversary with unbounded joy. It lauds the NPA for gaining victories through the years towards the aim of bringing the people’s democratic revolution to complete victory and paving the way for a socialist Philippines.

We salute all Red fighters and commanders and members of the People’s militia and barrio self-defense units who sacrificed their lives for the people’s democratic revolution. They displayed unwavering resolve to overcome difficulties, which must serve as an inspiration to and should be emulated by all revolutionaries.

The revolutionary masses, together with the NPA, have been hard at work in carrying out the programs of agrarian revolution through anti-feudal mass campaigns and united front work. Hundreds of thousands of poor peasants and Lumad have benefitted from the agrarian revolution’s minimum program, such as reduction of land rent, increase in the wages of farm workers, increase in the farm gate prices of agricultural products and reduction of usury.

The US-Duterte regime is desperate to overturn such gains of the people and crush the CPP, the NPA and the entire revolutionary movement by mid-2019 through the implementation of Oplan Kapayapaan and imposition of martial law in Mindanao. These fascist policies have sowed terror throughout Mindanao’s countryside through non-stop combat operations, characterized by aerial bombings, artillery shelling and the extensive use of drones for surveillance; as well as psy-war operations through the infiltration of the AFP’s so-called “community support program” and the installment of army and paramilitary detachments in most of Mindanao’s rural communities.

These have also caused untold suffering on the people in the form of extra-judicial killings, massacres and the massive displacement of peasant, Lumad and Moro communities, especially in Compostela Valley, Caraga, Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Lanao provinces and North Cotabato. Illegal arrests and the filing of trumped up charges against mass leaders, activists, church people and other professionals, including the media, have also increased.

Further, the Duterte government’s insistence on “localized peace talks” demeans the people’s demands for genuine land reform, national industrialization and national sovereignty; and is merely a ploy for the revolutionary movement to capitulate.

The US-Duterte regime has deployed 35 AFP combat battalions in Moro areas in Mindanao to suppress the on-going struggle of the Bangsamoro. The massive combat operations, including aerial bombings and artillery shelling, have led to the mass murder and displacement of thousands of the Moro people.

The Duterte regime has also railroaded the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law with the intent to contain the Bangsamoro struggle for the right to self-determination within the framework and control of the reactionary government and focus the full force of the AFP and PNP against the revolutionary movement. However, the US-Duterte regime’s outright acts of fascism and the imposition of the bogus BOL has only further ignited their armed resistance. The NDFP and the entire revolutionary movement continues to promote and support the Bangsamoro’s fight for their genuine right to self-determination.

Clearly, Duterte is delusional if he thinks he can destroy the revolutionary movement. For as long as the root causes of the armed conflict are not resolved, the flame of the people’s war can never be extinguished and instead will continue to intensify and rage on towards total victory.

LONG LIVE THE 50^TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY!

LONG LIVE THE 50^TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES!

LONG LIVE THE FILIPINO PEOPLE!