On the occasion of the 111th International Women’s Day and celebration of the whole month of March as Women’s Month, the New People’s Army (NPA) joins all revolutionary forces and the Filipino nation in celebrating the resilience, courage and hard work of all oppressed and exploited women in the country, especially under the US-Duterte regime.

We honor the brave women of the Philippine revolution whose lives are dedicated to the advancement of the people’s war. We give tribute to all women Party cadres, Red commanders and fighters of the NPA and all women revolutionaries – from the likes of Gabriela Silang in our fight against Spanish colonialism to the Gabrielas of our time against American imperialism – who devote their time, skills and services to the toiling masses.

We convey our most fervent Red salute to all women modern-day revolutionary martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the Filipino people. Among them, women NPA fighters Lorena Barros and Andrea Rosal both of Southern Tagalog, Rio Amor Yuson and Gladys Joy “Ka Andy” Hiponia of Northern Central Mindanao, Remedios “Ka Norma” Betoya and Myra Algarme of West Mindanao, “Ka Momay” Gomez of Northeastern Mindanao; and, also human rights defenders Ka Eden Marcellana of Southern Tagalog, Zara Alvarez of Panay, and many others. Their contribution to the Filipino people’s struggle is priceless.

Until their ultimate sacrifice, they served as courageous Red fighters, many of them excelled in snipers’ training, as exemplary NPA political officers, medical officers, finance, logistics and intelligence officers; or as territorial leaders, education and propaganda staff of the Communist Party of the Philippines; or as people’s leaders, human rights defenders and many other revolutionary tasks. Together and side-by-side their male comrades, they tenaciously surmounted all the physical, emotional and psychological sacrifices, and bravely fought with them casting aside both bourgeois and feudal chauvinism. These revolutionary women martyrs continue to serve as an inspiration to all Filipino women who are fighting at the forefront of the armed and non-armed struggle. They are honored and emulated by all women from the ranks of workers, peasants, peti-bourgeoisie and from democratic sectors of society who believe that being involved in the fight for national liberation and democracy for our country is the most concrete way of achieving the genuine liberation of women.

Duterte has relentlessly proven himself the most contemptuous of women and women’s rights. His disrespect for women knows no bounds. His lasciviousness, lewd manners and derogatory remarks, such as “shoot NPA women in their vaginas” and “you can rape them five times and I will support you”, have earned him the place as the most misogynistic, chauvinist and infamously anti-women Philippine president of all time and has put his regime into further isolation. Duterte, self-professed macho playboy, has successfully made himself the most effective recruiter of women to the revolution. More and more Filipino women from all walks of life have now committed themselves to advance the national democratic struggle against the fascist and tyrannical US-Duterte regime.

The US-Duterte regime’s all-out war against the people continues to victimize and terrorize women. Duterte, through his tasteless rape jokes and threats, has given license to his fascist troops in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police to abuse women. More and more women have fallen victim to violence, discrimination and human rights violations under the US-Duterte regime. Countless women, including girls, are victims of rape and other forms of abuse by state elements, especially in their intensified military operations in the countryside. Women have become more vulnerable to illegal arrests, detention and trumped-up charges by the state. The widowed wives and mothers of those who were killed by Duterte’s death squads and state armed elements bear the most burden as victims of the worsening state of human rights and culture of impunity under the US-Duterte regime. Even women’s rights defenders, celebrities and luminaries such as Angel Locsin, Liza Soberano, Catriona Grey, and no less than Vice President of Philippines Leni Robredo have fallen victim to Duterte’s anti-women jokes, red-tagging and bullying.

Under the US-Duterte regime, peasant women have become victims of extrajudicial killings. They suffer slave-like oppression and grave forms of feudal exploitation in the countryside. Meanwhile, women workers suffer from low wages and inhumane working conditions. The US-Duterte regime’s pro-imperialist neoliberal policies have brought nothing but extreme hardship to women and their families. Women and other heads of households continue to endure high prices of goods and basic services due to his administration’s rampant corruption, relentless and exorbitant taxation on the people and further opening up of the country’s economy to private and foreign plunder and exploitation, despite and amid the current Covid-19 crisis. Medical practitioners, nurses, and other front liners, mostly women, are also victims of Duterte’s criminal neglect and failure to address the present health crisis.

In the face of these hardships, Filipino women have no recourse but to rise up against the US-Duterte regime. We call upon all Filipino women to unite and persevere in the national democratic struggle and advance in all forms of armed and unarmed struggle. The genuine liberation of women lies inside the revolutionary movement. Indeed, the struggle of women for liberation can never be separated from the national democratic revolution that aspires for the freedom of the masses from all forms of oppression and exploitation brought about by the prevailing semi-colonial and semi-feudal order, the very system presently being perpetrated and aggravated by the US-Duterte regime.

Women hold half of the sky. Once awakened and mobilized, they can collectively unshackle the chains that dominate and oppress them. Women, rise up, fight and overthrow the US-Duterte regime! We call on all strong-willed and able-bodied women: Join the NPA and the masses in the making of history. ###