Will A “Hugo Chavez-type” End the Filipino Revolution?

[The question arises: Can populist rhetoric sway hearts and minds without petrodollars?  —  Frontlines ed.]

Joma sees Duterte as Pinoy-version of Hugo Chavez

October 10, 2015

by JEFRY M. TUPAS, CORRESPONDENT, The Manila Times

UTRECHT, The Netherlands: Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), made himself clear—he did not endorse Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as his preferred next president of the Philippines.

“But how can I do that when he did not yet declare that he is running for president?” he said laughing, in front of him a cup of brewed coffee sitting cold – untouched – on a long white table, the ‘centerpiece’ inside the office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) here.

Philippine NDF rebels on Moro-Government peace moves, urge armed resistance

Mobilize Moro people for their struggle for self-determination — NDFP

Thursday, 08 November 2012

By JORGE MADLOS
Spokesperson, NDFP-Mindanao

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Mindanao urges the Moro Resistance Liberation Organization (MRLO), as one of its allied organizations, to be more resolute in its mandate to educate, organize and mobilize vast numbers among the Moro people to advance their struggle for the right to self-determination under the aegis of the national-democratic armed revolution.

While the signing of the Framework on the Bangsamoro may be considered a watershed in the Moro struggle, it cannot be denied that the pact itself is riddled with lopsided provisions that ultimately favor the design of the ruling classes, its reactionary government and US imperialism to fully and finally subdue the Moro people’s long-drawn armed resistance against national oppression and exploitation.

Underneath all the semantics in the pact, the US-Aquino regime has insidiously placed the avarice of local and imperialist monopoly capitalists to rake in superprofit over and above the general economic and socio-political well-being of the long-suffering Moro people.  After the signing, like moths to a fire, several multinational corporations immediately expressed interest to invest on and exploit the vast natural resources, such as arable lands, natural gas and minerals, in areas under the MILF’s control or influence.  In his foreign trips and kowtowing abroad, Aquino also used the MILF-GPH pact as a ticket to invite more investments in the country.

Philippines: Rebels warn MILF: “Don’t give up your weapons”

[see the news article, followed by the statement from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines — Mindanao. — Frontlines ed.]

——————————————————————————–

by Germelina Lacorte, Philippine Daily Inquirer Mindanao

 Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

[JORGE MADLOS, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, in this photo taken December 2003 in his then hideout somewhere in Surigao del Sur AFP]

DAVAO CITY—Two weeks ago,  amid calls for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army to return to the negotiating table with the government, Left leader Satur Ocampo had urged President Aquino to “uphold his vow to resume peace talks”  with the insurgent group, just like he did with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

But over the weekend, the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) warned the Moro group against the government’s  “devious scheming” with regard to the framework agreement it signed early this month.

In a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jorge Madlos, NDFP spokesperson in Mindanao, warned the MILF against readily giving up its arms, and said that agreeing to decommission its Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) would render the group useless in protecting the rights of the Moro people.

“Learning lessons from the    past, the MILF should not easily relinquish its effective military strength on the whim of the reactionary government so that it can continue to defend the interests of the entire Moro people,” said Madlos, also known as Ka Oris.

Mindanao: “MILF hails UN, EU, UK, US, other states’ support”

http://www.luwaran.com

October 11, 2012 — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) today said the support of the international community for the recent breakthrough in the GPH-MILF peace process has been overwhelming as it expressed gratitude to world leaders and foreign envoys who have welcomed the Framework Agreement reached between the Government of the Philippines and the (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim has hailed with great satisfaction and utmost gratitude these expressions of support from the United Nations, The European Union, Malaysia, The United Kingdom, Japan, United States Australia, Switzerland, and Indonesia.

“We are deeply honored and humbled, and assured by their support,” Murad told Luwaran in an interview this morning.

Murad particularly took note of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon commendation of President Benigno Aquino III for his vision and courage, as well as the commitment of the MILF leadership, in reaching the landmark agreement.

MILF urges gov’t to postpone awarding of oil exploration bids in Moro areas

October 30, 2012 — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has called the Government of the Philippines (GPH) anew to postpone the awarding of the oil exploration contract in Moro areas in Mindanao particularly those in the Liguasan Marsh in the Cotabato Basin and in Sulu seas.

The call was formally raised by MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim during his press conference in Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao last October 27.

The 64-year old MILF leader said his group has urged the government not to continue with the bidding on some exploration projects in central Mindanao until the wealth-sharing issue is fixed.

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.

Philippines: New People’s Army calls for advancing “the revolutionary urban mass movement” in Metro Manila

“Establish the People’s Barricade against state brutality”

“Advance the revolutionary urban mass movement toward greater victories and contribute to the People’s War”

Lucille Gypsy Zabala Brigade
Kabataang Makabayan – Metro Manila
January 15, 2012

The Kabataang Makabayan-Lucille Gypsy Zabala Brigade (Metro Manila) extends its revolutionary salute to the youths and residents of Brgy. Corazon de Jesus, San Juan City for their valiant and unyielding struggle to defend their homes as manifested in the brutal demolition staged last January 11, 2012.

The status quo-shaking battle in San Juan has shown the fierceness of the mass movement. It is the image, if not, the epitome of class struggle in the urban. The people’s barricade was not just pieces of conjoined woods. It was the symbol of resistance of the toiling masses against the rotten system, the stalwart expression of the brave sons and daughters of Andres Bonifacio who are now continuing the unfinished revolution.

To the youths who have unwaveringly battled in the forefront of the people’s barricade, we give our highest praises. Your show of bravery to struggle even beyond the barricades against the fascist and mercenary elements of the state enlivens the blaze of the Kabataang Makabayan in its historic place in advancing the national democratic revolution in the country.

Philippines: Press reports and Wikileaks cast doubt on peace talks, Sison authority

NDF negotiators meet Norwegian envoy in bid to break impasse

05-Sep-11, 2011 | Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines – Communist rebel negotiators met a special Norwegian envoy on Monday in a fresh bid to reopen stalled peace talks to end a four-decade war with the government, aides said.

The chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front, Luis Jalandoni, met the envoy at the embassy in Manila but details of the talks were not disclosed, the rebels’ secretariat said.

Government negotiator Alexander Padilla told AFP he would meet the Norwegian envoy on Tuesday but he did not know if the rebel negotiators would be at the talks as well.

Norway, which has been brokering the on-and-off talks, sent the envoy, Ture Lundh, to Manila after negotiations stalled over the demand of the NDF that the government free 13 captured comrades it said are consultants of its peace negotiating panel.

The two sides hope to seal a peace accord by June 2012 but the new impasse has soured ties, with the government accusing the NDF of bad faith for kidnapping a town mayor and four jail guards recently.

Meanwhile, recent US embassy cables leaked by the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks revealed splits within the insurgent leadership, with self-exiled rebel founder Jose Maria Sison losing influence.

Philippine Army Commander: “Communism is not really a bad thing”

[It has been said that praise is an instrument  of deception and as such is a weapon of warfare–but ineffective if such “sugar-coated bullets” do not strike, and change, their target.  So the praise of the Chief of the Philippines Armed Forces for the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has since 1968 marched under the banners of Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism, brings certain cautionary and basic truths to mind–one from Sun Tzu, the other from Mao Zedong:

“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)

“I hold that it is bad as far as we are concerned if a person, a political party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, for in that case it would definitely mean that we have sunk to the level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work.” (Mao Tse-tung, May 26, 1939)

These are words worth taking to heart, as the AFP and the Philippine National Police, call once more for an end to the people’s war. — Frontlines ed.]

—————————————————————

Communism not really a bad thing, says AFP head

By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

MANILA, Philippines—Communism is not bad—in fact it’s legal, says the man who commands the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its war against the 42-year-old Maoist insurgency.

Notwithstanding his position, AFP Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eduardo Oban said he believes communism is not a terrible thing at all, at least as a personal philosophy.

“You know, communism as an ideology is not bad. Actually, under the Constitution, communism is legal,” he said on the sidelines of a news conference on Thursday.

Philippines: Communist rebels resist return of US bases

Sun Star, Manila

Friday, April 29, 2011

COMMUNIST rebels on Friday asked Filipinos to oppose any plan to reestablish United States military presence in Subic, Zambales, whether in the form of a base or related facilities.

The US military is reportedly searching for alternative places in the Asia-Pacific region to establish bases, in the face of growing opposition to their military bases in Okinawa, Japan where the US 7th Pacific Fleet is headquartered.

Last Tuesday, US Senators Daniel Inouye and Thad Cochran met with President Benigno Aquino III after visiting the Subic Bay Freeport to be briefed about the situation in the former US military base.

Philippines: An agreement by government and CPP-NDF to end the People’s War in 18 months

[Is the Communist Party of the Philippines-NDF is about to join the Prachanda-led forces in Nepal in bringing an end to people’s war and adopting the “peaceful road” strategy?–a strategy which, in other countries, a number of formerly revolutionary parties have proclaimed when becoming parliamentary parties.  While the CPP-NDF has not yet, to our knowledge, spoken directly to this, this article from the Manila Standard raises the question to a public and prominent level. — Frontlines ed.]

Manila Standard Today, February 23, 2011

Govt, Reds target peace treaty by June 2012

by Joyce Pangco Pañares

THE government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front have agreed to sign a final peace agreement by June 2012 to end the communists’ 40-year insurgency.

In a joint communique, government chief negotiator Alexander Padilla and his NDF counterpart, Luis Jalandoni, said both sides agreed to finish drafting agreements on socio-economic, political and constitutional reforms, and on ending hostilities and the disposition of forces, within 18 months.

The two sides issued the statement after a week-long negotiation in Oslo that ended a six-year impasse after talks bogged down in 2004.

Padilla described the talks as “difficult, frank and candid.”

Philippines: ‘Dissent’ among separatists, some fighters leaving ranks as MILF begins peace talks with government.

10 Feb 2011

The Phillipines government has resumed peace talks with Muslim separatists in the country’s south.

A spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said he is optimistic about negotiating an end to a decades-long conflict.

But as Al Jazeera’s Marga Ortigas reports from the southern Philippines, there is dissention within the MILF itself.

Philippines: New People’s Army carries out military operation in self-defense during ceasefire

During the ceasefire, the Philippine Army is continuing its counter-insurgency operations against the New People's Army and its strong base of political and military support among the people

Posted on Maoist Revolution, December 17, 2010

Press Release: Information Bureau, Communist Party of the Philippines

No treachery, truce violation in NPA ambush of operating Philippine Army troops in Samar

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today declared that “there was neither treachery nor a violation of the 19-day ceasefire declared by the CPP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP),” when the New People’s Army (NPA) successfully carried out on December 14 an ambush against the operating troops of the Philippine Army’s 803rd Brigade in Las Navas, Northern Samar.

According to initial reports, the Red fighters were able to seize at least 10 high-powered firearms from the defeated Philippine Army unit.

“The CPP, NPA, NDFP and all revolutionary forces fully support the peace negotiations and faithfully abide by their declarations and commitments, including their December 16 to January 3 ceasefire declaration, simultaneous with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ceasefire.”

As far as the CPP, NPA, NDFP and revolutionary forces are concerned, the Samar ambush last Tuesday should not in any way affect the progress of the peace negotiations. It was a legitimate act of war, carried-out in self-defense in response to an active enemy offensive operation,” the CPP said.

“On the other hand, the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mabanta’s claim of NPA treachery is hypocritical and turns on its head. In fact, it was the AFP forces that had treacherous intent in carrying out offensive operations against the NPA and the revolutionary mass base in the area just two days before the start of the simultaneous ceasefire.”

Communist Party of the Philippines welcomes order for release of the Morong 43, demands end to human rights abuses

International delegation of lawyers visit the Morong 43 at an army base

From http://www.phippinerevolution.net

[The Morong 43 are health workers who were arrested in February 2010 by units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines while they were attending a seminar in the coastal town of Morong in Rizal Province. The army accused them of being members of the banned New People’s Army.–Frontlines ed].

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today welcomed President Benigno Aquino’a order for the Department of Justice to withdraw charges against the Marong 43 as a boost of goodwill for the forthcoming resumption of peace negotiations.

Formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are scheduled to resume in February 2011, in Oslo, Norway.

The withdrawal of charges against the Morong 43 is expected to be finalized by the DOJ [Department of Justice]  on Monday and pave the way for the immediate release of the detained health workers. Aquino’s order came weeks after repeatedly insisting that he cannot do anything except to await the court’s action, despite recognizing defects in the arrest of detainees and despite the fact that they have yet to be brought to court.

“The CPP and the revolutionary forces congratulate the Morong 43, their families, colleagues and supporters for their tenacious struggle and outstanding victory. These serve as inspiration in the fight of thousands of other victims of military abuses to defend their rights and in the effort to seek redress for the grave injustices inflicted on them by the puppet reactionary state and its fascist forces.”

Communist Party of the Philippines declares mutual ceasefire with Philippine Government from December 16 to January 3

December 7, 2010

Central Committee 
and
 Military Commission of the 
Communist Party of the Philippines

National Executive Committee, 
National Democratic Front of the Philippines

We hereby declare to all commands and units of the New People’s Army (NPA) and the people’s militia a ceasefire order to be effective upon the reciprocal and concurrent ceasefire order from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to its military, police and paramilitary forces, within the period of 0001H of 16 December 2010 to 23:59H of 03 January 2011.

In conformity with the mutual ceasefire between the GRP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), all the commands and units of the NPA shall cease and desist from carrying out offensive operations against the armed units and personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police and paramilitary forces of the GRP. 

While the mutual ceasefire is in effect, all commands and units of the NPA and the people’s militia shall be in a defensive mode at both the strategic and tactical levels but shall remain vigilant against any encroachment on the territory of the people’s democratic government, surveillance or offensive operations by the armed commands and units of the GRP.

Active self-defense shall be undertaken only in the face of clear and imminent danger.

 All hostile actions or movements of the enemy armed forces shall be monitored and reported upwards in accordance with the command structure of the New People’s Army and the leadership structure of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in order to provide continuous, timely and accurate information to the NDFP Negotiating Panel regarding compliance with or violations of the mutual ceasefire.