The NPA Will Frustrate The Maniacal And Decadent War Of The US-Marcos Regime
Marco Valbuena | Chief Information Officer | Communist Party Of The Philippines
January 4, 2024
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the National Task Force (NTF)-ELCAC and the National Security Council yesterday issued dreamland statements of self-congratulations over their claims of having “strategically defeated” the New People’s Army.
Without proof, Marcos’ security and defense officials made ludicrous claims that all but 14 “weakened” guerrilla fronts of the NPA have been “dismantled.” This is pure wishful thinking on the part of the US-Marcos regime. It is a desperate attempt to fool the people and dampen their spirit of resistance.
The current strength of the NPA and the deep and wide mass support it enjoys is far from what the AFP wishes to imagine. Majority of the guerrilla fronts of the NPA across its 14 regional commands are far from dismantled. This is despite having suffered grave losses in 2019-2022 due primarily to its internal weaknesses and errors, and amid the relentless and ruthless onslaught of 70 to 80 thousand military and police fascist troops, excluding paramilitary forces since 2017. Squandering hundreds of billions of pesos, the reactionary armed forces have unleashed unimaginable state terrorist violence in the countryside.
Yesterday’s declarations by Marcos state agencies, in fact, are belied by their own actions. Marcos increased his military budget by almost 40% from ₱203.4 billion last year to ₱282.7 billion this year, including a last-minute ₱6.17 billion insertion.
A large part of military funds go to the purchase and maintenance of US-supplied jet fighters and drones used in its maniacal and decadent war of aerial bombing, artillery shelling and full-scale military operations in the countryside.
Despite repeated declarations of a “paradigm shift” in the AFP, the vast majority of its battalions remain deployed against the NPA. Fascist troops continue to carry out a campaign of state terrorism against the peasant masses, carrying out killings of civilians and covering up their crimes by claiming their victims to be NPA fighters.
Where units of the NPA have suffered losses, the peasant masses and minority people suffer too from worsening forms of exploitation and oppression. In the guise of carrying out “community support” operations, the AFP imposes de facto martial rule in the form of hindering the free movement of people, imposing curfew and prohibiting them from working in their fields, destroying their organizations, and other forms of suppression, in order to pave the way for the aggressive entry of mining operations, expansion of plantations, ecotourism and infrastructure projects.
In areas which were abandoned by NPA units by force of circumstance, the poor and lower-middle peasant masses and farm-workers desire the return of their beloved Red fighters.
Amid the hardships of the peasant masses under military rule, NPA units are determined to recover strength to defend the people, rebuild the revolutionary mass base by helping the broad peasant masses wage struggles against feudal and semi-feudal exploitation, and wage armed struggle.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines, units of the NPA are steadily regaining their bearings since last year. It is to the credit of the NPA that they are able to carry out guerrilla maneuvers to disperse and shift their forces to break out of the AFP’s encirclement and focused military operations, expand to new areas and widen the front for waging people’s war.
The rectification movement launched by the Central Committee last December 26, 2023 has inspired the revolutionary fighters of the NPA to overcome all difficulties and make big strides in the coming years. It is certain that what the NPA has lost in space, will be regained in time as they build a bigger mass base by extending its reach through untiring mass work and serving the needs of the people.
The New People’s Army exists to fight to advance the struggle of the peasant masses against feudal and semi-feudal exploitation, defend them against state oppression, and fight for the Filipino people’s cause for national and social liberation. The Red commanders and fighters of the NPA, and cadres of the Party are all determined to carry forward the people’s war as long as it takes until complete victory is attained.
Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/statements/the-npa-will-frustrate-the-maniacal-and-decadent-war-of-the-us-marcos-regime/