LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL a Publication of the International Office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL A publication of the International Office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines 44TH NPA ANNIVERSARY Destroyers of environment, exploiters of workers NPA to intensify armed punished by NPA offensives, increase page 3 Revolutionary forces launch mass base relief & rehabilitation campaign page 5 By Roselle Valerio Costs & Resistance: Iraq 10 he Communist Party of the Philippines on 29 March called on the years after US invasion page 10 New People’s Army to intensify its armed offensives against the US puppet government of Benigno Aquino III and to realize the plan Women mark International to advance to a strategic stalemate against the reactionary state. Women’s Day In a message released on the occasion of the NPA’s 44th founding page 11 anniversary, the CPP also called on the NPA to gain the support of Filipinos and T Amsterdam peace talks scuttled other friendly forces abroad. by Aquino officials The NPA was founded on 29 March 1969 under the absolute leadership of the page 14 CPP which is guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is the principal instrument of the Filipino people in smashing the armed power of the ruling classes of big compradors and landlords, supported by US imperialism. Its main tasks in the people’s war are to carry out agrarian revolution, build the mass base, and wage armed struggle. On its 44th year, the Central Committee of the CPP praised the NPA for fiercely fighting the US-Aquino regime, and for defeating the US-designed counter- insurgency plan Oplan Bayanihan. “The NPA continues to accumulate strength in terms of fighting experience and skills, armed strength and mass base,” the CPP declared. next page ... LIBERATIONJanuary INTERNATIONAL - March 2013 1 C O V E R NPA to intensify armed offensives, increase mass base ... from page 1 “It has people’s militia units with personnel in the tens of thousands and self-defense units with personnel in the hundreds of thousands. It en- joys the inexhaustible support of the people in their millions. At various levels of command, it has strike forces capable of wiping out enemy units and waging battles, while other NPA units carry out mass work, production and other kinds of work for the benefit of the people.” The CPP added, “The NPA enjoys the wide and deep going participation and support of the people in the process of armed revolution. It is therefore confident of winning greater victories and advancing in the people’s war until the total victory of the new democratic revolution.” The CPP also cited the exemplary experiences of comrades in central and southern Philippine regions. “The NPA forces in various regions in Mindanao, in Negros and in Samar-Leyte have successful NPA raid to punish the environmentally-destruc- come under concentrated enemy attacks. But they have be- tive imperialist agribusiness giant Del Monte-Philippines in come stronger as a result of fighting the enemy. They have Bukidnon.” excelled at seizing initiatives and inflicting casualties and material damage on, and seizing arms from, enemy forces. The NDFP also announced significant victories in Rizal prov- ince in the past year, despite intensified and more brutal mili- “Regions such as Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Ilocos-Cordillera, tary operations by the reactionary armed forces. and other regions can learn from the regions where the NPA has not been weakened but strengthened by repelling en- Arman Guerrero, Spokesperson of the NDFP in Rizal, report- emy attacks and seizing every opportunity for launching ed that the NPA launched 16 armed offensives in the last 15 offensives.” months, resulting in the annihilation of one platoon of the en- emy’s armed strength. Red fighters in the province were also Jorge Madlos – Comrade Oris – spokesperson of the National successful in punishing comprador-owned corporations like Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao island, the Pacific Concrete Products, Inc., responsible for destroy- joined the CPP in praising the achievements of the people’s ing the environment and exploiting thei workers. army in southern Philippines. In his message, Comrade Oris declared that the NPA in Mindanao is “marching in step with “Almost a company of Red fighters has been added to the the entire nation in the advance towards the strategic stale- NPA’s strength in the last two years,” Guerrero declared. mate phase of the people’s protracted war in the next few “The number of People’s Militia also increased by 38% com- years.” pared to last year.” He reports, “The NPA operates in more than 200 municipali- Rizal province is very close to the capital region of Metro ties in Mindanao. Hundreds of villages have been added to Manila, only 25 kilometers from the presidential palace. the more than 2,000 areas of responsibility of the revolution- Meanwhile, the Central Committee of the CPP called on ary movement in the past year. At the same time, mass bases the NPA to further gain the solidarity and support of fellow have rapidly widened and mass organizations now number in Filipinos abroad, as well as friendly forces and peoples. As a the hundreds of thousands in membership. consequence of the chronic crisis in Philippine society, 10% “We have established the people’s revolutionary government of the population or approximately 10 million, now work in several villages, and some, at municipality level. We have and reside outside of the country. The CPP stressed the need carried out revolutionary land reform in more areas, benefit- for the Red fighters to “develop ever closer relations with ing hundreds of thousands of people in numerous villages in the families and communities left behind by our overseas Mindanao.” compatriots.” Comrade Oris added, “More than 400 tactical offensives The CPP explained that the NPA can also avail of the inter- have been launched in the year 2012 alone. In the first three national work of the Party, the NDFP and various Filipino months of 2013, more than 100 annihilative, attritive and pu- mass organizations abroad in order to “inform the people of nitive armed offensives have been initiated by the NPA across the world, the working class parties and the movements for the five regions of Mindanao. Through these, the NPA has national liberation, democracy and socialism about the role confiscated hundreds of high-powered rifles, and has deci- of the NPA” in the people’s democratic revolution in the mated more than a battalion of the combined forces of the Philippines. Philippine Army, Philippine National Police and the paramili- Through these channels, the CPP added, the NPA can “seek tary Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU). international solidarity, and moral and material support for “Making a striking mark in the first quarter of 2013 was the the NPA and the Filipino people.” n LIBERATION INTERNATIONAL 2 A R M E D S T R U G G L E MILITARY OFFENSIVES Destroyers of environment, exploiters of workers punished by NPA By Roselle Valerio the simultaneous raids saying, “These punitive attacks have long been demanded by the indigenous people and peasant he New People’s Army punctuated the commem- masses in Bukidnon and other parts of Mindanao whose an- oration of its 44th founding anniversary with a cestral lands have been seized, plundered, despoiled and poi- series of armed offensive actions in the last three soned by big foreign multinational corporations.” months against companies found guilty of de- stroying the natural environment, exploiting their The CPP added, “Workers and farm-workers employed by workers, and physically threatening the surrounding com- these big multinational corporations are among the most ex- T ploited and oppressed.” munities. NPA units in Southern Tagalog and North Central Mindanao regions reported victories in February in punishing Two weeks earlier, in the afternoon of 3 February, a platoon a mining company and two multinational agribusiness planta- of the Narciso Antazo Aramil Command of the NPA Rizal tions. In December 2012, the NPA punished another mining province raided the offices of the Pacific Concrete Products company in the Bicol region, south of Metro Manila. Incorporated in Rodriguez town, Rizal, about 30 km from the In the early evening of 19 February 2013, Red fighters un- capital city Manila. Heavy equipments valued at millions of der the Mt. Kitanglad Command of the NPA North Central pesos were razed to the ground by the Red fighters. Also con- Mindanao Region launched simultaneous attacks on the Del fiscated were one shotgun, two .38 caliber handguns and two Monte and Dole-Stanfilco companies in Bukidnon prov- computers. ince. Several companies of the NPA Red fighters swooped The PCPI is owned by the Lopez family, a big comprador down on the Del Monte motorpool garage at Manolo Fortich, with close ties to the ruling US-Aquino regime. The NPA de- Bukidnon; the Del Monte fertilizer warehouse and logis- clared that the raid serves as a punishment for the environ- tics office at Vista Villa, Sumilao, Bukidnon; and the Dole mental destruction caused by PCPI quarrying in the moun- Philippines office in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. They proceed- tains of Rizal. ed to disable the equipment and destroy other capital goods used in the pineapple plantations. Macario Liwanag, Spokesperson of the NPA Narciso Antazo Aramil Command said, “The residents of Rodriguez have Other guerilla units set up several checkpoints along the long complained about this company’s destruction of the highway stretching from Malaybalay, Bukidnon to Cagayan mountains. This destruction is considered one of the main de Oro to prevent the entry of military reinforcements. The causes of flooding in the plains of Rodriguez, San Mateo, NPA command reported that 19 assorted firearms as well as Marikina and other outlying towns, which in turn caused computers were confiscated in simultaneous raids.