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People’s war in Mindanao is gaining ground in spite of the OPB brutal suppression
NDFP-Mindanao
March 29, 2012
Statement on the 43rd Founding Anniversary of the New People’s Army
The revolutionary movement in Mindanao has comprehensively advanced in the last five years and more so in the first two years of the US-Aquino regime in all spheres of our people’s war in spite of the widespread and intensified Oplan Bayanihan (OPB) brutal suppression campaign. The New People’s Army is becoming stronger; the agrarian revolution has deepened and expanded; the mass base and organized masses have increased; the revolutionary political influence has broadened, the Party that leads the struggle has strengthened and rooted more deeply among the masses. We are clearly gaining ground in our march towards the fulfillment of our tasks set forth by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
With these hard-earned victories, and on the occasion of the 43rd founding anniversary of the New People’s Army, it is but fitting that we lead the people in congratulating our Red fighters and Commanders, and all the revolutionary forces in Mindanao and the whole country. We also salute and honor our revolutionary martyrs and heroes whose ultimate sacrifices serve as one boundless source of inspiration in carrying forward our current urgent task – that of fulfilling the requirements of the strategic stalemate stage of our people’s war in the next few years and until victory.
We have maintained 42 guerilla fronts island-wide and increased the number of company-sized fronts. Through their own efforts and with the help of the relatively strong regions, the relatively weak regions have gradually expanded and consolidated their sub-regions and fronts, and in the next one or two years they will be able to march in step with the rest of the NPA regions in the whole archipelago. We have formed additional platoons and increased our armed strength by almost 20%, thereby increasing our capacity to launch more widespread and intensive tactical offensives.
In fact, in the past one year and three months the NPA in Mindanao has launched around 600 annihilative, attritive and punitive tactical offensives distributed island-wide (or about 1-2 tactical offensives daily), inflicting more than a battalion fatalities to the enemy’s demoralized fascist troops. This is a marked increase from the 250 tactical offensives in 2010. The NPA has also heavily punished highly exploitative, oppressive and ecologically-destructive large-scale mining, logging and plantations of the imperialists, big comprador bourgeoisie and big landlords, such as the Tag-anito nickel mines and Sumitomo nickel plant, SMI-Xstrata, Toronto Ventures, Russel Mining, Dole-Stanfilco, Sumifru, Del Monte plantations, and others.
The number of barrios covered by our Party and Red army’s political work has increased, thereby greatly expanding our mass base to a million, establishing organs of political power, broadening our united front, consolidating our guerilla zones and base areas. This provides more opportunity for the NPA to launch extensive and intensive guerilla warfare based on an ever deepening and widening mass base.
Agrarian revolution as the main content of the people’s democratic revolution has become widespread and increasingly intense, economically benefitting hundreds of thousands of the peasant population in Mindanao, and in turn strengthening their political power. We have raised the struggle for agrarian reform from the barrio level to the municipal, inter-municipal, provincial and even regional level.
The people’s open anti-fascist, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist mass struggles against the current reactionary US-Aquino regime have also intensified. The escalating brutality and human rights violations of the fascist state apparatus have fanned the people’s ire. Indignation protest actions have been launched against the state-sponsored extra-judicial killings such as the cold blooded murder of Fr. Pops Tentorio, Ramon Batoy, Jimmy Liguyon, other mass leaders and activists, including media personalities and other victims.
The fascist regime has increasingly terrorized peasant and lumad communities, through indiscriminate aerial bombardments, shelling, and strafing that caused the dislocation, evacuation and extreme suffering of the people in Caraga, Davao, Bukidnon, Cotabato and other provinces in Mindanao. The people have launched massive protest actions on oil price increases, tuition fee hike and other student issues, environmental destruction caused by large scale mining, logging and plantation, massive land-grabbing of peasant lands, and the US Balikatan exercises, and the US troops’ atrocities.
The five regional Party committees in Mindanao have expanded their membership by more than 30% and have strengthened their ideological, political and organizational leadership among the ranks and units of the NPA, in the barrios, communities, factories, the mass organizations and alliances. More than 90% of their Party members among the ranks of the NPA have completed the study of the Basic Party Course, although only about 30% among the local Party branches have taken it. The study of the Intermediate Course has been undertaken by the regional, provincial or sub-regional and front level party cadres, including some section level cadres. The Advanced Course is being conducted on the regional level paving the way for more provincial or sub-regional and front level cadres to undergo this course the next two years.
Our resounding victories in the last two years have clearly belied the claim of the US-Aquino regime that its OPB suppression campaign against the revolutionary movement in Mindanao is succeeding. In truth, the revolutionary forces in Mindanao have grown bigger and stronger, even faster during the first two years of the US-Aquino regime than during the failed and much-hated Oplan Bantay Laya brutal campaign of the US-Arroyo regime.
The AFP has thrown three divisions, numbering 36 infantry battalions, and has launched sustained and simultaneous attacks against all NPA fronts in Mindanao. In the past two years the revolutionary forces in Southern Mindanao Region have frustrated the OPB brutal suppression campaign led by the Eastern Mindanao Command of the AFP (EASTMINCOM) and the region came out stronger than ever. Of late, it is North Eastern Mindanao Region’s (NEMR) turn to once again frustrate the EastMinCom-supervised military campaign by launching a combination of some annihilative tactical offensives in the midst of widespread, intense and highly mobile attritive actions. Since January 2011 the enemy casualties in NEMR reached a record high of almost 300 – around 200 of which are counted as killed in action and 100, wounded. Over-all, the revolutionary forces in the island have seized and maintained the initiative and flexibility against concentrated and sustained enemy encirclement in two regions and containment attacks in the other three regions.
The current political and economic situation of our country is irreversibly deteriorating in the midst of the worsening worldwide imperialist crisis. This is an extremely favorable condition for the fulfillment of our tasks. We must resolutely continue to heighten the momentum we have so far attained with unwavering determination to carry forward our people’s war to the higher stage in the next few years. But on top of these, we must master the art of mobilizing the masses, unleashing their revolutionary potentials to the fullest.
We must launch the anti-feudal struggle as the key link to arouse, organize and mobilize the masses in their millions. Economic gains achieved through agrarian revolution must serve as a motivation for the peasant masses to launch mass movement for political propaganda and education, mass movement for organizing and actual confrontations against class enemy targets. The struggle for economic benefits must translate into building and strengthening the people’s political power, and specially in supporting the armed revolution. In every turn of mass action, more and more people must be politically educated and organized and raised accordingly as the agrarian struggle heightens.
Getting new recruits, upgrading the organization of the NPA, and training and arming are a must. But this is not enough. We must be able to fully mobilize the masses by organizing more and more units of the Milisyang Bayan, Self Defense Units, and Self Defense Corps; training and arming them; and directly mobilizing the masses in tactical offensives, intelligence, recruitment, production, supplies and logistics, and other such tasks.
The masses launching the agrarian revolution would realize the necessity for a vibrant Party to lead such struggle, hence the need for Party-building among their ranks. Launching a widespread and intensified anti-feudal struggle would, therefore, accelerate the expansion and consolidation of our Party organization, and solve our problem of overdue ideological education by launching the mass campaign for the Basic Party Course. Thus we would see Marxism-Leninism–Maoism taking deeper root among the broad masses.
The growing anti-fascist, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist mass movement in the urban and town centers must be able to catch up with the growing need for the support to armed struggle even as it projects and supports the legitimacy of the national democratic movement as a whole. We specially challenge the youth to join the New People’s Army and play a vital role to respond to the need for political officers and cadres of our growing NPA forces.
Without the People’s Army, the people have nothing against the intensifying exploitation and oppression of the ruling class. In the same vein, the New People’s Army without the people is nothing. Only through the strong support of the broad masses of the people will the NPA succeed in its central task to smash the reactionary state apparatus and build a truly democratic people’s government. Thus, today, on the occasion of the 43rd founding anniversary of the NPA, we call on all the oppressed and exploited Filipino people to unite and support our army – the New People’s Army.
Long Live the New People’s Army!
Long Live the United Filipino People!
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http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/
links:
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