Del Monte’s Culpability in Mindanao

[For details on the action referred to in this statement, see the February 19 news report at https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/philippines-rebels-attack-pineapple-plantation-in-bukidnon/  —  Frontlines ed.] ——————————————————- PRESS STATEMENT NDFP North Central Mindanao Region

CESAR RENERIO, Spokesperson
27 February 2013

Del Monte’s management makes a fool of itself by feigning innocence on their apparent culpability when the New People’s Army launched a punitive action against them. All these years, they consider their decades-old exploitation and oppression of workers, peasants and Lumads, environmental plunder and destruction as perfectly laudable.What a surprise indeed!

They are not a bit bothered by guilty conscience of the weight of the responsibility in permanently exposing to danger the lives and properties of the people living along the streams and rivers emptying into Macajalar Bay. Nothing concerns them more than amassing super-profits by exploiting the labor of their low paid workers.

Del Monte flaunts repeatedly that it has provided 20,000 jobs in the ten municipalities of Bukidnon, at the cost of the eviction and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of peasants and Lumads who once made their living in these lands. In reality, this figure is wittingly bloated to create an impression that Del Monte contributes significantly to the local economy. According to Chito Lorenzo, the US-Arroyo regime’s former presidential adviser on 1million jobs creation, Del Monte only employs 7,000 workers.

Philippines: “Support the Moro struggle against the Aquino regime’s deceptiveness”

[Reporting on the recently-announced negotiations and agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government, this article from Ang Bayan (organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines) traces the CPP’s view of the agreement, its dangers, and the CPP’s relationship with the Moro Independence movement. — Frontlines ed.]

Editorial, Ang Bayan

October 21, 2012

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the national-democratic revolutionary forces are among the most ardent advocates of the Moro people’s struggle for their right to national self-determination.

The Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution supports the struggle of national minorities against chauvinism and oppression and recognizes their aspirations for autonomy and their right to secede from the ruling oppressive state. This support is also unequivocally contained in the 12-Point Program of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The struggle of the Filipino and Moro peoples are tightly intertwined. Both of them resist the same reactionary state that oppresses and exploits the toiling masses. As an instrument of US imperialism, the Philippine puppet reactionary state tramples on the rights of the Filipino people to national liberation in allowing American and foreign big companies to exploit the Filipino nation’s natural resources. It further allows the US military to interfere, dominate and freely operate in the country and make use of the Philippines as a platform for its power-projection and interventionism in other countries.

In recent decades, this same reactionary state, from the Marcos to the current Aquino regime, has gravely abused the Moro people’s political, economic and cultural rights. Fascist troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) occupy the ancestral land and political territory of the Moro nation in an effort to impose the constitution and political power of the reactionary state upon the Moro people.

The violent suppression of the Moro people has sparked their armed resistance throughout history. They largely succeeded in resisting over three centuries of Spanish colonialism. Their aspiration for self-determination was, however, more effectively suppressed with the supplanting of the Spanish colonialists by the new US colonial power. Using its bigger, more economically and technologically advanced capability, US imperialism, and later, its puppet reactionary state were later able to completely dominate the Moro homeland.

It was only through persistent revolutionary armed struggle since the 1970s that the Moro people were able to defend themselves, gain recognition for their struggle for self-determination and provide it a more national form. The Maguindanao, Maranao, Tausog, Samal, Yakan and other Moro groups united under the banner of armed struggle. Since the start of their national armed revolution, the revolutionary movement has been one with the Moro people in advancing their struggle for their right to national self-determination.

“Resist Oplan Bayanihan in South Quezon-Bondoc Peninsula”

source: http://www.philippinerevolution.net, May 21, 2012

A massive and brutal terror campaign is currently ravaging the people of South Qezon-Bondoc Peninsula (SQ-BP) as part of the intensification of the US-Aquino regime’s Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression.

It is marked by one of the most concentrated deployments of fascist forces in the history of the enemy’s suppression and encirclement campaigns. Up to eight strike battalions are positioned in 22 towns, or an average of 200 fascist forces per municipality. They include the entire 74th IB, the 85th IB, the 76th IB and Special Forces Battalion, the 416th and 417th Public Safety Management Companies and three and a half battalions of CAFGU under the 59th IB. This is aside from forces of the Philippine National Police assigned to the various towns of SQ-BP.

The presence of these fascist forces are a major disruption in the normal course of the masses’ lives. They impose martial rule. They utilize their so-called “people-centered” tactics under Oplan Bayanihan but commit wanton violations of human rights.

Squad-size groups of armed soldiers comprising “peace and development teams” stay for long periods in villages. For up to six months, they live like fattened pigs in peasants’ houses in over 50 barrios, spending their days getting drunk, gambling and texting.They also use barangay centers and other public structures are bases. They are a bane to the masses’ livelihood. 

Philippines: US-backed Aquino government continues repression and fascism of previous regime

[Explanations in brackets have been added for the benefit of non-Filipino readers.]

http://www.philippinerevolution.net, 10/12/2010

 

Kuligligs are motorized pedicabs that have become increasingly popular in the big cities. Kuligig operators in Manila fought the government’s recent order to ban kuligigs from much of the city streets. On the morning of December 1, 2010, 700 kuligligs and 2000 drivers took to Lawton Plaza in Manila to take a stand for themselves. In an effort to disperse the thousands in protest, police sprayed them with fire hoses and then violently assaulted the drivers.

The Aquino government continues the fascist legacy of the US-Arroyo regime

Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, Spokesperson National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao (NDFP-Mindanao) unites with the entire Filipino nation in commemorating International Human Rights Day and remembering all activists and masses — martyrs and heroes of our time — who have fallen victims to the gravest abuses against human rights perpetrated by fascist agents and running dogs of previous and current reactionary regimes. We also join the whole Filipino people and the international community in voicing our strongest condemnation, and demand for justice to all the victims.

As we mark this day with indignation and protests, the NDFP -Mindanao, together with all revolutionary forces, strives to intensify people’s struggle to put an end to social inequity and repression that spawn grave violations against civil and political rights. The people’s struggle for basic human rights also include the right to basic necessities, such as decent food, shelter and clothing; freedom from fear; and the right to enjoy an atmosphere of peace.

Even UN Raporteur on Human Rights Philip Alston said that the reactionary bourgeois state, through its mercenary AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], PNP [Philippine National Police], paramilitary forces and the so-called private armies, is the biggest human rights violator in the Philippines.

National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao: Remove all impediments to a just peace!

An impediment to a just peace: The Philippine government has armed warlords to protect foreign monopoly businesses and the ruling class, as well as to suppress the people's opposition. These warlords have been pampered by the government to such an extent that they kill with impunity, as did the Ampatuan warlords in the brutal massacre of 58 civilians, including lawyers and journalists, on 23 November 2009 in Mindanao (above).

From http://www.philippinerevolution.net

Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, Spokesperson, National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao

November 28, 2010

“This vicious systemic exploitation and oppression, which has compelled the Filipino people to rise in revolution, is the root of un-peace. Therefore, true sovereignty from imperialist domination and the attainment of social justice are pre-requisites for a just and lasting peace for the whole country.”

The NDFP-Mindanao is one with all peace advocates and peace-loving Filipino people in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace. We are aware of the call for peace of advocates through the Mindanao Week of Peace. It is, however, imperative to thoroughly understand the nature and context of the social conflict that breed un-peace.

Almost four centuries of Spanish rule and six decades of US tutelage fettered the Philippines to feudal and semi-feudal exploitation. Filipino peasants have been deprived of land; workers, reduced to cheap labour force; and our natural resources and environment, plundered and ravaged. The country became a dumping market for overpriced goods, and a forward base for imperialist hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.

Since the bogus independence of 1946, puppet governments were beholden to US imperialist economic and political interests. Particularly in Mindanao, the Moro warlord ruling elite connived with US imperialists to grab and turn their ancestral lands into export crop production at the expense of both the Moro and non-Moro peasants.

Philippines: Peasant groups condemn extra-judicial killing of 13th peasant under Aquino regime

Farmers face off against riot police in Manila

Groups condemn latest extra-judicial killing of peasant leader in Batangas

 

djlazaro Breaking News,  Nov 9, 2010

The national farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and Peasant Network for Land, Justice and Human Rights (Tanggol Magsasaka) condemned the latest extra-judicial killing of Rene Rodriguez, peasant leader of Samahan ng Magbubukid sa Batangas (Sambat, KMP Batangas) last November 7 at Bgy. Caybunga, Balayan town, Batangas. The groups said that Rodriguez is the 13th peasant victim of EJK under the Aquino government.

“The Aquino government is totally useless in stopping EJK of peasants.  Worse, it has promoted Oplan Bantay Laya, militarization and human rights abuses in the countryside.  President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino is equally guilty as the perpetrators of these abuses,” said Antonio Flores, KMP Spokesperson and Tanggol Magsasaka Co-convenor in a  statement.

KMP joined the protest at the gates of Camp Aguinaldo and called for justice for Rodriguez and other victims of EJK.  The military prepared their anti-riot forces with a standby firetruck, while playing loud christmas songs to thwart the protest.

Rodriguez was killed by 2 motor-cycle riding masked men according to witnesses and he suffered 3 gunshot wound on the head and chest.  Sambat, Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK, KMP Southern Tagalog) and supporters from Southern Tagalog continued the protest at Camp Aguinaldo, subsequently proceeding to the Dept. of Justice seeking a dialogue with Sec. Leila De Lima.

Philippines: Farmers groups’ week of marches against Aquino government

Riot police block farmers from marching to the Presidential palace in Manila

Bulatlat, October 16, 2010

Calling the Aquino government as a “haciendero regime” and the “number one enemy of peasants,” progressive farmers’ organizations from Central and Southern Luzon would converge at the office of the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform before marching to the historic Mendiola bridge on October 21.

MANILA — Farmers and agricultural workers from all over the country are asking for nothing less than genuine agrarian reform when they start observing Peasant Week on Oct. 18, Monday. “We have proven that for more than a year after it was passed, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension (CARPER) is also inutile,” Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano told Bulatlat. “It is now time to look into the free land distribution scheme, which is the framework of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill.”

The Peasant Week is annually observed by progressive farmers’ organizations to renew their vow to fight for a genuine agrarian reform program that will solve the centuries-old land problem in the country.

The theme of this year’s peasants march is “Lakbayan ng mga Magsasaka Laban sa Hacienderong Rehimen ni Aquino” (Long March of Farmers Against the Hacienda Regime of Aquino). At the north leg of the march in Luzon farmers would hold their first vigil in Tarlac on Oct. 18 while the Southern Tagalog Wing 1 and 2 would hold their vigil in Alabang and Batangas, respectively. The different groups are expected to converge at the Department of Agrarian Reform office in Quezon City on Oct. 21 before marching towards Mendiola in Manila.

The Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK or Federation of Farmers’ Associations in the Southern Tagalog Region) said they are already anticipating that the military and the police would attempt to stop them from continuing with their protest action, either by forming blockades or adding checkpoints around the region. “But we (have) warned them that nothing could stop our rage against this regime’s deafness to the peasants’ plight,” Kasama-TK secretary general Axel Pinpin said, adding that the election gun ban might also be used to file more trumped-up charges against peasants to prevent them from reaching Manila.

Philippines: Call to intensify the peasants revolutionary struggle under the Aquino regime

Philippine farmers protests

Philippine Revolution, October 26, 2010

The US-Aquino regime will worsen the feudal exploitation of the peasantry; the Filipino people must unwaveringly struggle for genuine land reform

Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, National DemocraticFront of the Philippines-Mindanao

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao (NDFP — Mindanao) reaffirms the call for genuine land reform of millions of Filipino peasant masses across the country who, in marking October as Peasant month, recently took their long-time demands to the streets, challenging the newly-installed Aquino government to seriously address the problem of land.

However, a real solution to the land problem of the Filipino peasantry, who comprise more than 70% of the country’s population, is not forthcoming as their grievances fall on ears that only listen to and act on the dictates of the big landlord, comprador classes and its imperialist boss. Thus, even as the peasant masses celebrate Peasant month, they continue to be deprived of their right to own the land they till.

One after another, reactionary regimes in the past — from Roxas to Macapagal-Arroyo — violently quashed any attempt to bring about genuine land reform in the Philippines to favour landlord and imperialist interests against that of thousands upon thousands of peasants. To appease the growing discontent and, eventually, to snuff out the aspiration for revolutionary change of the peasantry, these governments of landlord and big bourgeois compradors offered bogus agrarian programs that only managed to shove the peasant masses deeper into deprivation and destitution.

Under the new regime, the peasant situation is expected to turn for the worse because Noynoy Aquino, who comes from the powerful Cojuangco-Aquino landlord clan well-known for committing anti-peasant acts, has, in collusion with local big business, blocked genuine agrarian reform.

Philippines: Hacienda Luisita peasants launch alliance to take back lands of the Aquino family

Philippine troops shot down Hacienda Luisita strikers, November 2004

Luisita Peasants and People’s Alliance

LUISITA FARMERS AND SUPPORTERS LAUNCH ALLIANCE URGING FOR DISTRIBUTION OF COJUANGCO-AQUINO LAND

Various groups joined the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita as they launched the formation of the widest alliance compelling the Aquino government and the Supreme Court to immediately distribute the 6,400 hectares owned by the Cojuangco – Aquino family.

Luisita Peasants and People’s Alliance (LUPPA) today formally launched the broad network of support it gathered from church groups, artists, academe and different sectoral organizations at De La Salle – College of St. Benilde.

Joining Velarde and Bais as convenors of the said alliance are Fr. Gregorio Obejas, O.S.M., Tarlac City Councilor Emmie Ladera, Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA) Executive Director Atty. Jobert Pahilga, visual artist Rustum Casia, and the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action.

The CBCP-NASSA affirmed their commitment to help Luisita farmworkers in their struggle to be owners of the land they have been tilling for ages. Likewise, the Social Justice arm of the Catholic Church join the farmers in their call to junk the spurious Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme.

Philippines: US corporations gobbling up farmers’ land in Mindanao

Banana farming in Mindanao

http://www.allvoices.com

Gerry Albert Corpuz

MANILA-The island wide leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Mindanao assailed American corporations engaged in agribusiness and production of export crops of gobbling up agricultural lands in the second largest island in the country at the expense of Filipino land tillers.

In a press statement sent to various foreign and local media based in Manila, a copy of which was also sent to www,allvoices.com, NDFP-Mindanao spokesperson Jorge Madlos said Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has opened the island’s vast expanse of land for agribusiness, plantations, destructive logging and large-scalee mining operations that led to perpetual and intensifying land grabbing across the island.

Madlos said the unbridled land grabbing by US and other foreign companies resulted in the displacement of countless peasants and peasant-workers. “It is no surprise that the US imperialist anointed Aquino as the president in a pre-programmed automated election,” the NDFP-Mindanao official said.

In Southern Mindanao, Madlos revealed capitalist plantations owned by AJMR Sumitumo and Dole, two of the largest in agri-business, are currently expanding operations, rapidly gobbling up land, in collusion with local big landlords Floriendo, Soriano, Dizon, etc., to the very detriment of thousands of peasants.

US grant promotes militarization and underdevelopment in Samar, Philippines

Philippine farmers protest in Manila

http://www.philippinerevolution.net

October 22, 2010

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today called 8th Infantry Division chief Gen. Mario Chan a barefaced liar for denying militarization in Samar and for claiming the $200 million US Millenium Challenge Corporation grant will bring development.

“It is sheer duplicity for Gen. Chan to deny Samar’s militarization,” said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson.

“Victims of human rights violations have publicly denounced widepread and extended military operations since August in Jiabong, Motiong, San Jorge, Catbalogan, Gandara, Paranas, San Jose de Buan and Matuguinao in Western Samar, as well as several adjacent towns in Northern and Eastern Samar. This goes to show the Aquino government is enamored with the militarist solution and Gen. Mario Chan is implementing this by militarizing Samar.

It is already clear the present government is dragging its feet in the peace process with the NDFP, extending the widely condemned Oplan Bantay Laya until January 2011, and carrying out the US Counterinsurgency Guide in plotting its own counterrevolutionary war.”

Philippines: The Remoteness of Real Land Reform

[Throughout the world–in semi-colonial and dependent countries–the struggle of peasants for land is an essential part of the revolutionary struggle for state power and new democracy. While comprador politicians often disguise themselves with the populist language of land reform, experience has shown that such phrase-mongering deceives few for very long. Real land reform is won through the revolutionary seizure of power.  This article from IBON exposes the empty promises of land reform by recent and present comprador Philippine governments.-ed.]

Peasants at work at Hacienda Luisita

October 15, 2010

The bitter plight of Filipino farmers continues past the Aquino administration’s first 100 days and into October which the peasant movement marks as Peasant Month.

By IBON Features

The First 100 Days Report of Pres. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino’s administration made no mention of its program for land reform. This was also true in Pres. Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, which only mentioned public-private partnerships for farming facilities and infrastructure.

All these betray that working for real land reform is not in the list of priorities of Pres. Aquino, a known haciendero. In the past, he had declared support for the one-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extended with Reforms (CARPer), which peasant groups have denounced as a futile law that is biased against peasants. In fact, a year after the enactment of RA 9700 or the CARPer, past the new administration’s first 100 days and into October which the Philippine peasant movement marks as Peasant Month, the bitter plight of Filipino farmers continues.