leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The Filipino
people is pleased more than ever that our army is getting stronger,
the enemy's Oplan Bantay Laya I is defeated, and the armed revolution
is continuously marching onward.
We commemorate this occasion especially in the 130 guerilla fronts now
existing in the whole archipelago. The masses supporting and joining
the armed struggle waged by the NPA are in celebration. This is
because the only armed force they can rely on to liberate them from
oppression and exploitation from this rotten semi- colonial and semi-
feudal system currently represented by the criminal, corrupt, puppet
and fake Macapagal-Arroyo regime is getting stronger.
In Mindanao, the NPA is operating in 2,015 barrios in 208 towns and
cities and in 19 provinces in the island. Its guerilla units have
largely contributed to the victories achieved by the NPA in the whole
country. It has not only maintained its existing guerilla fronts but
has also expanded and added more. Thousands of peasants and other poor
masses in the countryside have warmly supported the people's army, and
even in some key cities and towns, it has gained support from the
oppressed masses.
Last year, the NPA launched extensive and intensive tactical
offensives against the AFP enemy troops and criminal elements. It has
launched about 400 tactical offensives, a hundred enemy troops
neutralized, and the NPA seized more than 300 weapons from the enemy.
Defensive actions have likewise diminished greatly and, even in such
situations, most often initiatives have been seized from the enemy.
These successful military actions of the NPA show the wide and deep
mass support from the villages. The people actively support the NPA
because of the mass campaigns it has launched for them. Thousands of
masses have benefited from the continuing campaigns and programs for
genuine land reform and increased agricultural production. Because of
these mass campaigns, farm wages and the prices of their products have
increased, while rent for land, mills, and usury have been greatly
reduced. Many cooperatives have also been established in their ranks.
In these areas, the lives and livelihood of the masses have been
uplifted.
Thousands of masses have benefited from the health campaigns and
programs of the NPA through its medical teams and free clinics in the
barrios. Literacy campaigns are also widely undertaken especially
among the Lumads.
The NPA in Mindanao is deeply rooted among the broad masses of the
people whose political consciousness had been raised through education
campaigns. That is why the NPA was not defeated by the enemy through
its vicious military campaign Oplan Bantay Laya 1. And at the onset of
a new year of struggle, the NPA will surely frustrate the Oplan Bantay
II being perpetrated by the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and it will
continue to wage the armed revolution until victory is attained.
The Oplan Bantay Laya II that is being implemented now by the fascist
and terrorist AFP aims to defeat the NPA in about two years time. This
goal must be part of the Arroyo regime's and the AFP's wishful
thinking. If during the time of the fascist-dictator Marcos the NPA
was not wiped out, how much more now that it has become stronger and
covers wider areas of the entire archipelago? How much more now that
the factionalism among the ruling classes has become more acute, and
the Macapagal-Arroyo regime has become seriously isolated from the
people? How much more now that the AFP itself is wracked by internal
problems such as corruption, complicity in criminal activities such as
drugs, jueteng, and electoral fraud? How much more now that the AFP is
reeling from deep divisions within its organization where among the
foot soldiers and junior officers there are forces that banner
patriotic and progressive standpoints?
Support from U.S. Imperialism, from which the Arroyo regime heavily
relies upon, can not decisively and effectively defeat the NPA. US
Imperialism itself is suffering from a grave social crisis and U.S.
President George W. Bush has suffered from political defeats not only
in his country but also in other countries that have asserted their
independence and sovereignty. The broad masses of the people from many
nations of the world have condemned the terrorist wars launched by the
Bush regime especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is true that Oplan Bantay Laya II is more vicious compared to the
previous one (Oplan Bantay Laya 1). Its vicious attacks against the
NPA and the struggling people is implemented not only in the
countryside but also in key cities and towns. Included in the OBL II
are death squads that wantonly and extensively murder progressive
activists, journalists, priests, lawyers, human rights workers and
others who oppose this rotten regime.
True, these are dangerous times ahead especially that the
Macapagal-Arroyo regime has implemented the so-called "anti- terror
law where the Arroyo regime has strengthened its fascist measures to
ensure her hold to power and, in turn, preserve the rotten and
bankrupt system and conceal Arroyo's crimes against the people. With
this law, human rights violations will aggravate. The fascist AFP and
its death squads will act with more impunity to suppress whoever
opposes the regime.
On the other hand, state terrorism cannot weaken the NPA and the broad
masses struggling for genuine justice, democracy and liberation.
Rather, it will all the more strengthen and embolden them to struggle.
The NPA is ever-ready and tempered in confronting more sacrifices and
difficulties in order to defend the interest of the people. The NPA is
aware that no amount of terrorism by the oppressive and exploitative
classes can easily extinguish a just cause.
The people will also not be easily deceived by the upcoming May 14 GRP
elections. The people are aware that the elections cannot give
solutions to the basic problems of society. Through the years, they
have already experienced that reactionary elections are meant to be
part only of the democratic facade. They are very much aware that they
will all the more wallow in poverty and destitution, and left without
any genuine voice in society.
Hence, the people and its army, the NPA, will unceasingly work to
frustrate the OBL II, carry onward the armed revolution, and topple
down the US-Macapagal Arroyo regime to achieve genuine liberation,
democracy and justice. The NPA will continue to launch extensive and
intensive tactical offensives. It will continue to strengthen its
guerilla units, broaden and consolidate its guerilla zones and bases,
and strengthen the peopleÕs war until victory is achieved.
Hail the New People's Army!
Advance the armed revolution!
Frustrate Oplan Bantay Laya II!
Topple down the criminal, corrupt, puppet and fake US-Macapagal-Arroyo regime!
(Sgd) Ka Oris
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Mindanao
March 29, 2007
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DAVAO TODAY
Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines
http://www.davaotoday.com
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