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Pa h aya g a n n g Pa r t i d o Ko m u n is ta n g P i l ip i n a sP in a p atn u b a ya n n g Ma r x i smo - L e n in i smo - Ma o i smoANG

Special IssueMarch 29, 2012

www.philippinerevolution.net

On the 43rd anniversary of the New People's

Army, we, the Central Committee and the

entire membership of the Communist Party

of the Philippines salute the Red com-

manders and fighters of the New Peo-

ple's Army for steadfastly carrying

out the revolutionary armed strug-gle for national liberation and de-

mocracy against US imperialism

and the local exploiting classes.

We congratulate you for all your victories in striving toa d v a n c ethe peo-

St r e n g t h e n t h e p e op l e' s a r m ya n d i n t en s if y t h e p e op l e' s w a r

Message o f th e Cen t ra l Com m i t t eeo f the Com m un is t Pa r ty o f th e Ph i l i pp ines

to th e Red com m anders and f i gh t e rso f the New Peop le ' s A rm y

ple's war from the strategic defensive to the stra-tegic stalemate. You have further succeeded in in-tegrating the revolutionary armed struggle withgenuine land reform and mass base building. Wehonor our revolutionary martyrs and heroes for

their struggles and sacrifices by intensifying our

tactical offensives and punishing the ene-mies of the people.

The crisis of the world capitalist systemhas worsened to the point of a prolonged global

depression. It will persist for a long while, espe-cially because the imperialist powers clingstubbornly to the neoliberal economic policy

and are prone to unleashing state terrorismand wars of aggression. The people of theworld are suffering greatly and are resisting.

Great disorder and upheavals are shakingmany countries in all continents.

The global crisis aggravates the internalrottenness and chronic crisis of the Philip-pine semicolonial and semifeudal ruling sys-tem. The Aquino regime is offering no solu-

tion to the crisis but is carrying out antina-tional and anti-democratic policies that ag-

gravate the crisis. The broad masses of the peo-ple are outraged by the escalation of oppression

and exploitation.The crisis conditions in the world and in the

Philippines inflict great suffering on the people anddrive them to wage all forms of resistance. Theyare favorable for waging people's war and for real-izing the plan to advance from the strategic defen-sive to the strategic stalemate.

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Ang Bayan is published fortnightly by the

Central Committee of the Communist

Party of the Philippines

Ang Bayan is published inPilipino, Bisaya, Iloko, Hiligaynon,

Waray and English editions.

It is available for downloading

at the Philippine Revolution Web

Central located at:

www.philippinerevolution.net

Ang Bayan welcomes contribu-

tions in the form of articles and

news. Readers are likewise

enjoined to send in their com-

ments and suggestions for the

betterment of our publication. You

can reach us by email at:

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Special Issue March 29, 2012

ANG

2 ANG BAYAN March 29, 2012

I. Global depression, great disorder

and people's resistance

T

he crisis of the world capitalist system continues unabated

and is worsening. An economic depression is devastating the

lives of billions of people. The political leaders and businessmagnates of the imperialist countries continue to aggravate the

economic and financial crisis and have failed to revive production

and employment and to raise the stagnant rates of national eco-

nomic growth. The G-8, G-20, the IMF, World Bank and WTO can-

not solve the crisis of global capitalism. They merely aggravate it.

power. It is no longer the solesuperpower as it used to be ac-knowledged in the decade afterthe disintegration of the SovietUnion.

A multipolar world has aris-en as signaled by the expansionof the G-8 into the G-20 as avenue for maneuvers and coun-ter-maneuvers among the capi-talist powers. The crisis is fuel-ing intense economic competi-tion and political rivalriesamong them. They are increas-ingly at odds over global and re-gional policies and their tenden-cy to struggle for a redivision ofthe world is growing. The combi-nation of Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa (BRICS)tends to oppose the worst of USimpositions.

For a while, the imperialistsregarded the full integration ofRussia and China into the worldcapitalist system as the trium-phant expansion of capitalism

and the death of the socialistcause. But inevitably, the in-creased number of competingcapitalist powers has constrict-ed further the ground for super-profit-taking by the dominantmonopoly capitalist powers. It isintensifying inter-imperialistcontradictions.

The US and China have been

the main economic partners un-der the neoliberal policy of glo-balization. But since the out-break of the financial and eco-nomic crisis in 2008, contradic-tions between them have sur-faced despite their continuingcollaboration. The US fluctuatesbetween bashing China as acause of US problems and flat-

tering it as a partner in so manyways.The US outsourcing of con-

sumer production to China un-dermines the manufacturingbase of the US, contributing tounemployment and causing hugetrade deficits. China has used a

They continue to pursue theneoliberal economic policy thathas brought about the grave fi-nancial and economic crisis.They are blinded by the dogmaof the free market in a systemof monopoly and finance capital-ism. They continue to allow themonopoly bourgeoisie to accu-mulate capital in their hands byevery means, reduce wage levelsand cut back on social serviceswithout minding the destructiveconsequences to the economy

and the people.The finance oligarchy and

the biggest corporations have

benefited from huge amounts ofbailout money from the state.They continue to rake in super-profits by taking advantage ofthe high rate of unemploymentand raising the rate of exploita-tion in absolute terms. The fail-ing banks and firms are gobbledup by bigger ones. Thus, theprocess of capital accumulationis continued by ever bigger andfewer monopoly banks andfirms.

In both imperialist and dom-

inated countries, public deficitsand public debt have grown as aresult of the bailouts, the taxcuts for the corporations andthe wealthy and the lower taxcollection due to the economicdepression. Nevertheless, bu-reaucratic and military expendi-tures continue to run high.

In reaction to the public

debt crisis, the imperialist anddominated states adopt austeri-ty measures by further reducingsocial services, public sectoremployment, workers' wagesand pensions. As a result, theeconomic depression worsensand social discontent spreads.The people are therefore wagingvarious forms of resistance.

The US is at the center of thecrisis of monopoly capitalism. Itis still the No.1 imperialist pow-er, especially because of itshigh-tech military power. But ithas gone into a significant eco-nomic decline, which in a bigway undermines its military

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3ANG BAYAN March 29, 2012

major part of its export surplusto buy US securities and hasthus become the biggest credit-or of the US.

The so-called antiterroristalliance that arose after 9/11has split. The US-NATO allianceis being countered by China andRussia through the ShanghaiCooperation Organization. Chi-na and Russia have been disad-vantaged by the US-instigatedwars of aggression and have in-creasingly contradicted the po-sition of the US over the issuesof Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya,Iran, Syria and North Korea.

Despite the growing inter-imperialist contradictions re-sulting from the worsening crisisof global capitalism, the imperi-alist powers are still united inexploiting and oppressing thepeoples of the world and in deal-ing with a wide range of issues,including the economic and fi-nancial crisis, international

trade, global warming and nu-clear weapons and poverty, inorder to obfuscate the rootcause of the problems and fur-ther take advantage of theworking people.

The crisis of the world capi-talist system and the escalationof imperialist plunder and warare goading the proletariat and

people to wage various forms ofresistance. The global depres-sion has resulted in great disor-der and great upheavals. Con-tradictions among factions ofthe ruling classes in variouscountries are intensifying. Thebroad masses of the people areemboldened to fight for a funda-mentally better life and bright

future.In the home ground of theNo. 1 imperialist power, the Oc-cupy movement of the 99%against the 1% has spread. Morepowerful mass protests can beexpected to arise against themonopoly bourgeoisie for the

loss of jobs and homes, the wor-sening racial discriminationagainst people of color and im-migrants, the rising fascist cur-rents and the wars of aggres-sion.

In the Euro zone, the publicdebt crisis is afflicting mostcountries and is met with aus-terity measures at the expenseof the working people. Theworking class, the youth, womenand other people have respond-ed with general strikes and pro-test rallies on a wide scale, es-pecially in Greece, Spain, Portu-gal and Italy. Working classparties and progressive massorganizations are resurgent.

In Japan and South Korea,the proletariat and the peopleare restless due to the economicstagnation and the rise of unem-ployment. They are dissatisfiedwith the policies of one govern-ment after another. In Australiaand New Zealand, the people

are beginning to feel the ad-verse effects of decreasing ex-ports of agricultural and miner-al products.

In China, mass protestsamong the workers and peas-ants are increasing in numberand frequency, especiallyagainst unemployment, land dis-possession and corruption. The

US is encouraging separatistmovements in Taiwan, Tibet andXinjiang, the so-called democra-cy movement to demand thecasting away of the communistsignboard of the regime and theprivatization of state-owned en-terprises. At the same time, theMaoist forces are demanding areturn to the socialist road.

Russia has seemed to stabil-ize economically and socially un-der the regime of the Putin-Medvedev tandem. But it isoverdependent on the export ofoil and other mineral resources.Once more, political instabilityis arising as a result of popular

dissatisfaction as well as sharp-ening contradictions among thebig bourgeois criminal syndi-cates.

India and the rest of SouthAsia are a great field of socialunrest. People's war is develop-ing in a big way in India and in anumber of territories where thepeople wish to build their ownindependent states. In Nepal,the Maoist party has the poten-tial of seizing power at the cen-ter or it has to go back to peo-ple's war in the countryside.Maoist parties are striving tocarry out people's war in sever-al South Asian countries.

The long-running armed na-tional liberation movements inthe Philippines, Colombia, Peru,Turkey, Kurdistan, Niger Deltaand elsewhere are favored bythe worsening global and do-mestic crisis conditions. Inmany other countries, revolu-tionary parties of the proletari-

at are preparing to wage peo-ple's war.

The popular uprisings in theMiddle East and North Africahave resulted in the overthrowof US-supported despotic re-gimes in such countries as Tu-nisia, Egypt and Yemen. But thepeople are frustrated that ineach instance, another US-sup-

ported reactionary regime takesthe place of the previous one.Thus, the trend to carry on thestruggle on a revolutionary pathagainst the ruling system isgrowing.

In Libya, the Gaddafi regimehas been overthrown by reac-tionary forces supported by theUS and other NATO powers. But

a new national liberation move-ment is arising. The Westernpowers also wish to overthrowthe Assad regime in Syria in or-der to pave the way for a war ofaggression against Iran. But theAssad regime is resisting andIran is preparing against ag-

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the people, especially at thistime of global depression. Ex-

ports of raw materials (agricul-tural and mineral ores) and lowvalue-added semimanufactures(more than 50% of which is par-tially processed electronics) arepriced lower and yield lesser ex-port income due to falling de-mand in the global market.

The global demand for over-seas contract workers is also in

decline. This is due to the wor-sening crisis abroad, the risingunemployment, the antimigrantcurrents and uprisings in theMiddle East and North Africa.The reduction of earnings remit-tances from overseas contractworkers, combined with the

gression.The most intense armed struggles are now be-

ing waged in such countries which have been vic-tims of US-led wars of aggression and occupationas Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya. The pup-pet regimes put up by the US and its imperialist al-

lies are shaking due to internal contradictions aswell as the growing armed movements for nationalliberation.

In Latin America, revolutionary armed strug-gles are being waged in a number of countrieswhile some governments like Cuba, Venezuela andBolivia assert national independence, nationalizeforeign enterprises and provide social benefits towin the support of the broad masses of the people.Under the circumstances, the US can still inter-vene heavily in such countries as Colombia butcannot impose itself on the whole region withoutbeing confronted by strong resistance from thepeople.

The US has declared recently that it is refocus-ing its forces on East Asia and will not decrease itsmilitary spending and presence in the region. Itwishes to counter the so-called rising power ofChina, further pressure the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea and reassert US hegemony overthe entire region. It is using its military bases, for-

ward stations and docking facilities in Japan,South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Singa-pore as the frontline, supported in depth by USmilitary forces in Hawaii, Guam and Australia.

The US is pushing the Trans-Pacific Partner-ship Agreement in order to threaten China with

economic isolation and pressure it to privatize itsstate-owned enterprises. It has stirred up tensionsin the South China Sea by instigating the Philippinereactionary government to boast of US militarysupport for its claims over certain islands in theSpratlys and by increasing its military presence

and the frequency of military exercises and otheroperations as well as the movement of US aircraftcarrier groups in the region.

We can expect the crisis of global capitalism topersist in years to come. The US and other imperi-alist countries will be afflicted by further crisis. In-ter-imperialist contradictions are bound to inten-sify as a result of the crisis and the drive of everyimperialist power to look after its own national andultranational interests and take part in the strug-gle for a redivision of the world.

Separately and jointly, the imperialist powersare further oppressing and exploiting the proletar-iat and the people. In collaboration with their im-perialist masters, the reactionary puppet statesare escalating the oppression and exploitation ofthe proletariat and people in the underdevelopedcountries.

But the continuation and aggravation of theoppression and exploitation drive the proletariatand people of the world to fight for national liber-

ation, democracy, social justice and all-round de-velopment. The Filipino people and their revolu-tionary forces are benefited by the rising anti-im-perialist and communist movements in the worldand are encouraged further to make their own con-tributions to these movements.

II. Ruling system on a course

of impending disaster

The semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system is on a course

of impending disaster. The crisis of global capitalism violent-

ly impacts on the Philippine economy and society. Whatever

is its content, the economic growth rate has fallen sharply since

2010. The crisis exposes the bankruptcy and rottenness of the rul-

ing system in economic, social, political, cultural and moral terms.

More than ever before, thepolitical agents of the local ex-ploiting classes of big comprad-ors and landlords expose theirpuppet character. The Aquinoregime is extremely subservientto US imperialism. It continuesto follow the US-instigated neo-

liberal economic policy in themost beggarly way and open thedoor further to US military pres-ence and intervention.

The overdependence of thePhilippine economy on raw ma-terial and semi-manufacturedexports is grossly damaging to

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gime to divert the attention ofthe people with anti-Arroyo andanticommunist propaganda.

The broad masses of thepeople are disgusted by the fail-ure of Aquino to deliver on hiselectoral promises and his pro-pensity to use publicity and paidpoll surveys to distract the peo-ple, cover up the criminal acts ofthe incumbent regime and pret-tify his image. He has failed tomake Arroyo and her accomplic-es accountable for plunder andhuman rights violations. In-stead, these are worsening un-der his regime.

The workers and urban poorsuffer not only the loss of jobsand incomes but also the demo-lition of their shanties and com-munities, without any provisionfor alternative housing, jobs andother sources of livelihood, inorder to make way for real es-tate and infrastructure projects.The peasant masses suffer ever

worsening conditions of feudaland semifeudal exploitation aswell as the main brunt of mili-tary campaigns of suppressionin the countryside.

The hostile attitude of Aqui-no towards land reform is stark-ly manifested by the continuinguse of force against the peas-ants and farm workers and his

demand for the benefit of hisfamily the prohibitive price ofP10 billion for Hacienda Luisita.This is the corrupt ulterior mo-tive for Aquino's drive to haveSupreme Court chief justice Re-nato Corona impeached by theHouse of Representatives in re-action to the Supreme Court de-cision to distribute the land to

farm workers.The Philippine social volcanois once more about to explode. Arevolutionary mood is wide-spread among the toiling massesof workers and peasants and themiddle social strata. Under thecurrent circumstances, the rival

mounting trade deficits anddebt service, aggravate the al-ready huge deficits in the bal-ance of payments and of currentaccounts. Foreign borrowing,which now stands at US$63 bil-lion, is bound to increase at ev-er more onerous terms.

The rate of unemployment isrising. The latest Social Weath-er Stations survey places it at24% in contrast to the grosslyunderestimated 7% of the reac-tionary government's LaborForce Survey. The wage incomeis depressed while the prices ofbasic goods and services aresoaring. The inflation rate is al-so understated by the reaction-ary government. The cost of fuelis rising every week and is push-ing up the costs of basic goodsand services.

Even as the economy is de-pressed, the tax burden andfees for administrative and so-cial services are being in-

creased. Government revenuesare being wasted through re-lentless bureaucratic corruptionand military spending, whilesuch basic social services as ed-ucation and health are being cutback.

The Aquino regime offers nosolution to the worsening eco-nomic and social crisis. Under

the neoliberal policy, it contin-ues to open the country to thewanton importation of all sortsof consumer goods, especiallyluxury goods for the exploitingclasses. It favors real estatespeculation, unrestricted log-ging, mining and all other kindsof activities that allow foreignmonopoly firms and their big

comprador partners to rake insuperprofits. It is hostile to thepeople's demand for national in-dustrialization and land reform.

The so-called Philippine De-velopment Plan of the currentregime is no different from whatwere in fact anti-development

plans of the previous regimes.Its main thrust is to attract for-eign investments in huge infra-structure-building projects un-der the so-called Public-PrivatePartnership program and toopen up the entire country tounbridled plunder and environ-mental destruction by foreignmining companies.

The regime boasts of an an-tipoverty program called theConditional Cash Transfer,which involves doleouts to fami-lies (including those of barangayofficials and rich peasants) forthe purpose of buying the loyal-ty of certain communities for ashort period. This is focused onthe guerrilla fronts and is in-tended to support the so-calledcounterinsurgency plan, OplanBayanihan.

The toiling masses of work-ers and peasants and even themiddle social strata are ag-grieved by the widespread loss

of jobs, reduction of incomes,deterioration of living and work-ing conditions, glaring social in-equity and lack of opportunities.Social unrest is widespread andintensifying.

Mass protest actions arebreaking out in factories, urbanpoor and rural communities andschools. Workers wage strikes

and other forms of resistanceagainst capitalist exploitationand state repression. Peasantsundertake land occupations,street protests, farm strikes,mass petitions and mass con-frontations, as well as illegaland armed actions to fight feu-dal and semifeudal exploitation,landgrabbing and fascist atroci-

ties. Gigantic mass actions arebound to be launched as theAquino regime stubbornly refus-es to heed the people's demo-cratic demands. Within the cur-rent year or next, the clamor fora people's uprising will arise,despite efforts of the Aquino re-

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ers involved in several acts ofmutiny during the Arroyo re-gime. But it continues to holdmore than 350 political prison-ers who are detained ontrumped-up charges of commoncrimes in violation of the Com-prehensive Agreement on Re-spect for Human Rights and In-ternational Humanitarian Law(CARHRIHL), especially the Her-nandez political offense doc-trine.

The current regime does notonly condone the human rightsviolations perpetrated by theArroyo regime but is committingthe same gross violations. In-stead of releasing the politicalprisoners, it is emboldening themilitary and police forces to en-gage in more abductions, tor-ture and extrajudicial killings ofsuspected revolutionaries. Therate at which human rights vio-lations are now being perpetrat-ed by the Aquino regime can

surpass the rate of the previousregime.

The Aquino regime is ob-sessed with carrying out OplanBayanihan in line with the USCounterinsurgency Guide to beable to get US military assist-ance. Oplan Bayanihan seeks tosurpass Oplan Bantay Laya incleverness and psywar by calling

military operations peace anddevelopment operations andviolations of human rights re-spect for human rights and atgetting more accurate and time-ly intelligence through so-calledcivil-military operations.

The Aquino regime is as bru-tal as the Arroyo regime in car-rying out campaigns of military

suppression. It approves thegross and systematic humanrights violations under the Ar-royo regime and pushes the mil-itary, police and paramilitaryforces to continue with theiratrocities. It is increasing thenumber of political prisoners on

political factions of the exploit-ing classes of big compradorsand landlords are increasinglyembroiled in bitter and violentcontradictions. A broad range offorces are open to take actionagainst the regime.

At the national level, thecontradictions between the pro-Aquino and pro-Arroyo factionsare conspicuous in the arrest offormer president Gloria M. Ar-royo and the impeachment andSenate trial of the SupremeCourt chief justice Corona.However, Aquino has so farfailed to hold Arroyo and her topaccomplices accountable forplunder and gross human rightsviolations. He is allowing themto keep their ill-gotten wealthand get away with the gravesthuman rights violations, whilehe and his own clique take theirturn at amassing wealth throughbureaucratic corruption andservice to imperialist and feudal

interests and unleashing vio-lence against the people.

Nevertheless, the Arroyofaction is now trying to rouse upmilitary and police officers pre-viously favored by the Arroyoregime to denounce, discreditand possibly oust the Aquino re-gime. It is spreading the in-trigue that Aquino is poised to

appoint the CPP founding chair-man to a cabinet position andhas already accommodatedcommunists into his govern-ment. At the same time, it is ac-cusing him of incompetence andcorruption.

Aquino has failed to solvethe problems of unemployment,poverty and corruption and is

now accountable for aggravat-ing these. His failure to fulfill hiselectoral promises to the peopleand even to some of his politicalallies is bound to incite a broadrange of opposition to his re-gime.

He has also failed to hold Ar-

royo and her top accomplices toaccount fully for acts of plunderand gross human rights viola-tions. Despite his slogan ofmatuwid na daan (righteouspath), he and his clique are nowtaking their turn at further en-riching themselves through bu-reaucratic corruption and un-leashing human rights violationsagainst the people.

The Aquino regime has para-lyzed the peace negotiationswith the National DemocraticFront of the Philippines (NDFP).Its presidential adviser on thepeace process and its negotiat-ing panel have made clear to theNDFP that they have no interestbut to seek the nullification ofprevious agreements and thecapitulation of the revolutionaryforces and people.

They have attacked TheHague Joint Declaration by call-ing it a document of perpetualdivision. They refuse to comply

with the Joint Agreement onSafety and Immunity Guaran-tees (JASIG). They have neitherinvestigated, nor made amendsfor, the extrajudicial killings,torture and enforced disappear-ance of JASIG-protected con-sultants. They refuse to releasethe imprisoned JASIG-protectedconsultants.

The Arroyo regime was re-sponsible for pressing the Dutchgovernment to arrest the NDFPchief political consultant ontrumped-up charges of murder,raid the NDFP International Of-fice and six residences of Filipi-no refugees, seize documentsrelated to the peace negotia-tions and destroy computer

disks for decrypting files of theholders of the documents ofidentification. But the Aquinoregime now blocks the recon-struction of the documents ofidentification under the JASIG.

The Aquino regime releasedmore than 400 military prison-

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the basis of trumped-up chargesof common crimes in violation ofCARHRIHL.

The Aquino regime is not in-terested in serious peace nego-tiations with the NDFP. Withinthe framework of its OplanBayanihan, it considers peacenegotiations only as a means todivide and weaken the revolu-tionary forces while it esca-lates brutal military campaignsof suppression to decimatethe armed revolution and sup-press the people's resistance.Unwittingly, it is inciting thepeople and the revolutionaryforces to intensify their armedresistance and to advance thepeople's war from the strategicdefensive to the strategicstalemate.

The Aquino regime has alsofailed in using peace negotia-tions to hoodwink the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front (MILF).The MILF Central Committee

through its Negotiating Panelcontinues to steadfastly assertthe Bangsamoros right to self-

determination and has opposedand frustrated schemes of theAquino regime to nullify bilat-eral agreements alreadysigned, in the same mannerthat it has attempted to undoits bilateral agreements withthe NDFP. The military and po-lice forces of the reactionarygovernment have made provo-cations against the MILF andhave been responsible for majoroutbreaks of violence. The alli-ance between the MILF and theNDFP needs to be strengthenedfurther to maximize the benefitof mutual support against acommon enemy.

The Aquino regime is ex-tremely subservient to US impe-rialism. It allows the US to sta-tion military forces and build upfacilities in the Philippines. Itcalculates that the US wouldgive allout support for the re-gime's campaigns of suppressionand for so-called external de-

fense.The Aquino regime collabo-

rates with the US in stirring up

tensions over the Spratlys issuein order to allow the latter toentrench itself militarily in thePhilippines. It engages in anti-China provocations and tries invain to make the people believethat the US would side with thePhilippines against China in caseof war. It obscures the fact thatthe US-Philippine Mutual De-fense Treaty has no automaticretaliation clause and that theUS has far larger interests in itsrelations with China than withthe Philippines.

The revolutionary forces andpeople must be alert to the in-creasing US military interven-tion in the Philippines in connec-tion with US support for the re-actionary government in the civ-il war as well as in connectionwith the US scheme to strength-en its hegemony in the Asia-Pa-cific region.

The revolutionary forces andpeople must fight to make sure

that the US and its puppets ulti-mately lose all ground to standon in the Philippines.

The NPA has a mass basethat runs into the millions. It

operates in more than 100 guer-rilla fronts spread out in 70provinces nationwide. The guer-rilla fronts cover thousands ofbarrios and extensive areas ofseveral hundred towns and cit-ies. The big fronts cover 60-100barrios while the small and me-

dium-size fronts cover 40-59barrios. New guerrilla fronts are

now being built at a faster clipand new areas are persistentlybeing reached and developed.Vigorous expansion of guerrillawarfare is an imperative to ef-fectively fight and defeat theenemy's constriction tactics andbring the people's war to higher

III. Status and tasks of the NPA

U

nder the absolute leadership of the Party, the New People's

Army has scored victories and gained political, military and

organizational strength since last year. On the basis of itscurrent strength, it is firmly on the course to realize the plan of

advancing the people's war from the strategic defensive to the

strategic stalemate. The Party is pushing for the summing up of

experience, learning positive and negative lessons and carrying

out the tasks for gaining strength and for advancing against the

enemy forces.

levels.Red fighters number in the

thousands and have increasedas a result of continuous re-

cruitment and training pro-grams and intensified tacticaloffensives. Tactical offensiveshave yielded weapons for arm-ing more Red fighters and build-ing new combat units.

The broad masses of thepeople have applauded the NPAfor seizing the initiative andsuccessfully launching offen-

sives against the escalating at-tacks of the reactionary armedforces. The more the enemy for-ces attack, the more the peo-ple's army must seize the initia-tive in fighting. Only by main-taining an offensive spirit anddeveloping its initiative can a

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of their work distributed overthe internet or in video disks.

The people welcome the na-tionwide attacks of the people'sarmy on mining, logging andplantation enterprises that grabthe land, ravage the environ-ment and ruin agricultural fieldsand other means of livelihood ofthe indigenous people and thepeasants. The recent successfulNPA operations against threelarge mining companies in Suri-gao and against the Sumitomoplantation inspire the peopleand revolutionary forces nation-wide.

The NPA is highly consciousof genuine land reform as themain content of the democraticrevolution and as the way toarouse, organize and mobilizethe poor peasants and farmworkers as the main force of therevolution. Together with the lo-cal Party branches and thepeasant associations, NPA units

are carrying out the minimumland reform program in most ar-eas and the maximum land re-form program wherever this ispossible.

The minimum land reformprogram involves reducing landrent, eliminating usury, raisingwages of farm workers, settingfair farm-gate prices and pro-

moting agricultural and sidelineproduction. The people's armystands in support of the peasantmasses who demand such landreform and ensures that thepertinent laws of the people'sdemocratic government are fol-lowed.

The maximum land reformprogram involves land confisca-

tion or restitution, free land dis-tribution, and providing techni-cal, financial and other kinds ofsupport for land reform benefi-ciaries. Together with the peas-ant masses, the people's army isthe decisive force for realizingthe agrarian revolution.

guerrilla force preserve andstrengthen itself against large-scale and prolonged campaignsof encirclement, constrictionand suppression by fascisttroops.

The enemy concentratesaround two battalions against a15-20 kilometer radius prioritytarget area. To saturate the fo-cus area and attack it in depth,the enemy typically employsmore than 200 troops deployedinto columns of squads and sec-tions to seek engagement andwhen contact is made, to rapid-ly converge through the use ofmodern communications and su-perior mobility.

Guerrilla tactics of concen-tration, dispersal and shiftingmust be used with discernmentand skill in order to avoid theenemys strong forces while ac-tively attacking its weak ones,maintain firm leadership andguidance over the masses and

revolutionary organizations inthe areas under attack to ac-tively resist and persevere instruggle, expand outside theconcentration of enemy forcesand arouse and mobilize everwider sections of the masses forthe revolution.

Independent operations byguerrilla units are essential to

achieve flexibility but correctand firm Party and army leader-ship, planning and command atthe regional, subregional andfront levels are crucial. Correctand timely assessments of thepolitical and military situationand correct and timely align-ment of the tasks, dispositionand principal and secondary di-

rections of efforts are critical.Strengthening front and inter-front planning, command andcoordination are acutely neededfor greater maneuverability,flexibility and initiative.

Subregional and provincialguerrilla war theaters or areas

composed of three to five guer-rilla fronts are being developedwith a complete force structureof subregional, front and localforces down to the militia andbarrio self-defense corps, aswell as partisan or sparrowunits for special operations inurban centers. These guerrillatheaters take into considerationand full advantage of favorableterrain in inter-provincialboundaries, combination ofmountainous and flat terrain,water systems, linkages withnearby or adjoining guerrillaareas, and political centers.Geographical divisions of thesewar areas shift depending onthe changes in the military situ-ation in the area.

The subregional and frontforces in a well-developed guer-rilla theater can grow into bat-talion to oversize battalionstrength complemented by bri-gade strength of militia units

and barrio self-defense corps.The subregional forces serve asthe rallying point for dispersedfront units and enhance the of-fensive posture in varying ca-pacities of front forces, militiaunits and barrio self-defensecorps. The Oplan Bayanihan for-ces conducting prolonged andintensive military sweeps and

attacks concentrating two ormore battalions in a small areaof focus are repeatedly attackedby different units of the NPAand suffer heavier casualtiesthan they can inflict on the NPAunits.

The Party directs the com-mands of the NPA at various lev-els to make timely reports in the

revolutionary press on victoriesin tactical offensives. The peo-ple and revolutionary forces arealways eager to read about thevictories of the NPA in Ang Ba-yan and other revolutionarypublications, as well as see andview images and video footage

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The NPA has expanded andconsolidated the revolutionarymass base in the guerrilla frontsby building organs of politicalpower, the mass organizationsand the local branches of theParty. These revolutionary for-ces are responsible for civil gov-ernance and allow the NPA tomove freely in order to fight theenemy and open new areas. AllRed commanders and fightersstrongly desire the developmentof the guerrilla fronts as prepa-ration for building relativelystable base areas.

The organs of political powerare supported by the mass or-ganizations of workers, peas-ants, women, youth, cultural ac-tivists and children and are as-sisted by working committees onmass organizations, public edu-cation, land reform, production,health, defense, cultural affairs,arbitration and others as may bedeemed necessary. Local Party

branches lead the local organsof political power.

The NPA is augmented, com-plemented and supported in thelocalities by tens of thousandsof people's militia personnel aslocal police forces and hundredsof thousands of able-bodied menand women in the mass organi-zations. These auxiliary forces

carry out functions of internalsecurity and basic politico-mili-tary training and therefore al-low the NPA units to move free-ly and perform functions over awide area.

Although the people's mili-tia, which ranges in size from asquad to a platoon per baran-gay, is essentially for local po-

lice work, the NPA trains militiateams to conduct surveillanceand certain offensive operationsagainst the enemy.The organs ofpolitical power and the mass or-ganizations are an effective net-work for observing and report-ing the movements and activi-

ties of enemy forces. Units ofthe people's militia, togetherwith defense committees andself-defense units play an im-portant role in developing ex-tensive local guerrilla warfare.

But to perform effectively itskey role of destroying the enemyand thereby strengthening therevolutionary movement, theNPA must rely on the Party andthe people and must do masswork and conduct politico-mili-tary training of its units. Thereis ample time in the ongoingfive-year plan for the NPA tobring the people's war to thethreshold of the strategic stale-mate.

The Party considers the NPAas the key force for advancingthe people's war from the stra-tegic defensive to the strategicstalemate. In our message tothe people's army last year, wedeclared that we should striveto realize such advance within

five to ten years. But big oppor-tunities for a far more acceler-ated advance abound as a resultof the rapidly intensifying crisisof the ruling system. To preparethe revolutionary forces and po-sition them well to seize suchopportunities, we should doubleour efforts in strengthening thepeoples army and other revolu-

tionary forces in ideological, po-litical, organizational, militaryand economic terms.

The advance depends uponhow the subjective forces of therevolution expand and consoli-date themselves, reach out toand mobilize an unprecedentednumber of people and how theenemy forces react. Amid the

sharp worsening crisis of theruling system, the people de-mand and seek a great advancein their revolutionary strug-gles.It is absolutely necessaryfor the revolutionary forces toput forward the call for the ad-vance because the people de-

mand a clear view of what is tobe accomplished next on the sol-id basis of the current strengthof the revolutionary forces.

The Party takes the lead inensuring that the political pre-requisites for the advance arerealized in both urban and ruralareas. The forces led by the Par-ty must militate the people andmuster their revolutionarymood. The urban-based legalmass movement must bestrengthened in order to makeloud and clear the people'sclamor for revolutionary changeand in order to discredit, weak-en and isolate the enemy. Thepeasant mass movement mustbe strengthened in order to un-leash widespread agrarian massstruggles across wide swaths ofthe countryside. The rural-based armed revolutionarymovement plays the key role indestroying the enemy forces andincreasing the guerrilla fronts to

serve as the basis for the emer-gence of relatively stable baseareas in the near future.

The senior cadres of the Par-ty and the people's army whoare now beyond the age of 60 years are elated that the rankand file of the Party and thepeople's army are continuouslyrejuvenated and reinvigorated

by a great inflow of young menand women and that the over-whelming majority of young cad-res are tempered in people'swar. There should be consciousefforts to promote more andmore young cadres and com-manders to the second line ofthe Party's leading committeesand the NPA's command struc-

ture. In doing so, Party and NPAleaders can develop their even-tual replacements, delegatemore and more tasks and devotemore time to summings-up andother ideological tasks crucial tothe qualitative advancement ofthe revolution. Ideological and

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er fixed structures. Land mines,sniping and grenade throwingcan be employed to impede ene-my troop movement or harassany encamped force and gaso-line bombs to destroy fuel de-pots, motor pools and militaryplanes and helicopters. Units ofpeople's militias and self-de-fense forces are also encour-aged to employ indigenousweaponry such as punji-spikedbooby-traps, produce explosivesfrom unexploded munitions ofthe enemy and make use of localtactics in combination and coor-dination with the full-time for-mations of the NPA.

It is important to demoralizeand disintegrate the enemy for-ces in various ways. The Partyand the NDFP must encourageofficers and men of the enemymilitary and police to study andunderstand the line of the peo-ple's democratic revolution.Party members must be as-

signed to cultivate relatives andfriends within the military andpolice to form secret patrioticgroups and to support any alli-ance that arises against the an-tinational, anti-democratic andcorrupt policies and practices ofthe ruling clique.

In this regard, the NPAmaintains its policy of lenient

treatment of captured enemytroops in accordance with itsrules of discipline, the Compre-hensive Agreement on Respectfor Human Rights and Interna-tional Humanitarian Law andthe Geneva Conventions of 1949and Protocol I of 1977. Such apolicy takes into account thefact that most enemy troops

come from the peasantry andworking class. It lays the groundfor future mass surrenders, mu-tinies and defections to the sideof the revolution, especiallywhen the people's army suc-ceeds in destroying large num-bers of enemy units.

organizational work must be in-tensified to urge and preparelarge numbers of cadres and ac-tivists especially from amongthe youth to go the countrysideand volunteer for the peoplesarmy.

The rapid growth of the peo-ple's army on the basis of a wideand deep mass base is necessaryif we are to advance to the nexthigher strategic level within thecurrent decade and completethe people's democratic revolu-tion in good time afterwards.The Party must ensure thatyoung cadres with a good graspof Marxism-Leninism-Maoismare assigned to the people's ar-my and gain experience andcompetence in waging thehighest form of revolutionarystruggle.

The Party cadres and Redcommanders must work togeth-er closely in planning political-military training and tactical of-

fensives. Party recruitment andeducation must be conductedwithin the people's army. Be-cause the Red fighters are al-ways together in the same unit,the proportion of Party mem-bers among them should be highand may even be in the majority.Even when the people's army isin a process of rapid expansion,

it is possible to maintain the ra-tio of 50-50 between Partymembers and non-members.

Red fighters as well as peas-ants and farm workers in themass organizations must be ad-mitted as Party candidate mem-bers upon their acceptance ofthe Party constitution and pro-gram and upon the recommen-

dation of Party full members orParty groups. The candidatemembers should be sworn in asfull members within six monthsduring which they undergo basicParty education and comply withtheir duties in the units to whichthey belong.

The Party within the peo-ple's army initiates and directsthe formation of the organs ofpolitical power and mass organ-izations within their areas of re-sponsibility and in expansion ar-eas. We must provide the neces-sary training, tasking and gui-dance for these forces to standand grow on their own in thespirit of trusting and relying onthe masses. The local Partybranch can easily arise upon theexistence of the organs of polit-ical power and the mass organi-zations.

The NPA has various func-tions: political-military training,combat, mass work, productionand cultural work. But the mainfunction that distinguishes itfrom all other revolutionary for-ces is its capability to wagearmed struggle. It is responsiblefor annihilating the enemy mili-tary forces and laying theground for establishing Red po-

litical power.The people's army must

launch tactical offensives that itis sure of winning. For this pur-pose, it must apply flexible tac-tics and use various types andsizes of armed formations, in-cluding small teams, squads,platoons and companies. Themain objective is to wipe out en-

emy units and seize weapons sothat more units of the people'sarmy can be formed. The peo-ple's army must seize severalthousand more high-powered ri-fles and other weapons from theenemy.

But it is also necessary tocarry out operations to damageand weaken the enemy. Small

teams can be trained and em-ployed to use AMFO (ammoniumnitrate fuel oil) bombs, plasticbombs, TNT and incendiaries,including the modest cigarettelighter, to destroy target ob- jects such as military vehicles,facilities, fortifications and oth-

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The NPA has consistently re-leased military, police and othersecurity forces of the Govern-ment of the Philippines (GPH)humanitarian reasons. This is instark contrast to the GPH policyand practice of torture and ex-trajudicial killings of capturedNPA hors de combat, or treatingthem inhumanely under indefi-nite detention after chargingthem with trumped-up criminaloffenses in violation of its own jurisprudence, the CARHRIHLand international humanitarianlaw.

The power of the landlordclass must be destroyed in therural areas. The prime targetsare the big landlords with politi-cal power and who are hostile tothe revolutionary forces and un-willing to give way even to theminimum land reform program.Efforts must be undertaken toprevent them from further ex-ploiting the peasants, to break

up their feudal property andpower and to punish those withblood debts.

There may, however, besome big landlords who acceptland reform, especially the mini-mum program and agree to par-ticipate in national industriali-zation. The middle and smalltypes of landlords can be per-

suaded more easily to agree toland reform, especially when likethe big landlords, they see thegrowing strength of the peasantmovement and the people's ar-my. Such strength becomes con-spicuous when the NPA wipesout more enemy units and over-throws the despotic landlords.

The broad masses of the

people strongly demand the ar-rest, trial and punishment of thelandlords with blood debts, allthe human rights violators, theplunderers, ringleaders of crimi-nal syndicates in drugs, humantrafficking and cattle-rustlingand operators of enterprises

that ruin the environment, agri-culture and livelihood of thepeople. The just exercise of thepeople's power will continue tostrengthen the revolutionarymovement and weaken the rul-ing system.

Destroying the power of thelandlord class and rendering itsrunning dogs ineffective arenecessary for establishing rela-tively stable base areas. Certainenterprises may be dismantled,such as those that grab landfrom the peasants and indige-nous people, limit the land forland reform, destroy the envi-ronment and agriculture, exportnon-renewable resources, pre-vent industrialization or engagein extreme exploitation of theworkers. These include planta-tions, mining and logging enter-prises that produce for export.

Like its predecessor Arroyoregime, the Aquino regime ispromoting and protecting these

antipeople enterprises. Theseuse the military, police, paramil-itary forces and private securityagencies to guard their hold-ings. Special attention must begiven to attacking and disarmingthese armed personnel as oftenas necessary until they are elim-inated, together with the enter-prises that they protect.

The rural mass base of thearmed revolution must be builtin accordance with the policy ofthe antifeudal united front. TheParty and the working class relymainly on the poor peasants andfarm workers, win over the mid-dle peasants, neutralize the richpeasants and take advantage ofthe splits among the landlords in

order to isolate and destroy thepower of the big despotic land-lords. The antifeudal unitedfront is within the context of thenational united front.

Under the national unitedfront policy, the Party and theworking class rely mainly on the

basic alliance of the workers andpeasants, combine the toilingmasses with the urban pettybourgeoisie to form the basicforces of the revolution, winover the middle bourgeoisie informing the alliance of patrioticforces and take advantage ofthe splits among the reactiona-ries by having temporary andunreliable allies in order to iso-late and destroy the power ofone reactionary regime after an-other of the big compradors andlandlords.

Because of its antinationaland anti-democratic policiesand actions, which aggravatethe crisis of the ruling system,the Aquino regime is bound tobe further discredited and iso-lated. The suffering people willrise up against their extremeoppression and exploitation.The rivals of the Aquino rulingclique will escalate their opposi-tion. The Filipino people and the

revolutionary forces can avail ofthe broad united front in orderto further isolate and oust theAquino ruling clique from pow-er.

We must maintain and fur-ther develop our relations withthe Moro Islamic LiberationFront and other revolutionaryforces of the Moro people. We

must respect the Moro people'sright to self-determination. Wecan and must coordinate withthem in destroying the strengthof the enemy. We must persist inweakening the enemy forces byforcing them to fight on two dis-tant fronts in the north and inthe south.

We must be alert to in-

creasing US military interven-tion. The US interventionistsare engaged in inter-operabili-ty with their puppet troops inpsywar, intelligence gatheringand combat operations. Theyuse all sorts of sham humani-tarian missions such as civic

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12 ANG BAYAN March 29 2012

action, disaster response, relief work, roadbuilding and medical aid as a pretext for carryingout psywar and intelligence gathering opera-tions. They also use electronic instruments,drones and other high-tech military devices andequipment in coordination with their Filipinopuppet troops. We must assert and defend thesovereignty of the Filipino people and the terri-torial integrity of the Philippines.

We must do well our work in drawing supportfor the people's war from our compatriots over-seas, especially the migrant workers who havebeen driven to leave their families and seek em-

ployment abroad because of poverty and underde-velopment in our country. They are outraged bythe reactionary government's policy of extortion,neglect of their welfare and needs, ignoring theirpleas for assistance, and misuse of their foreignexchange earnings.

We must also seek international solidarity andsupport for the Filipino people and the Philippinerevolution from peoples and various forces abroad.We must welcome and support the resurgence ofthe anti-imperialist movement of peoples and theinternational movement of communist and work-ers' parties. ~

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