As the corrupt, fascist, and oppressive US puppet Marcos Jr. delivers his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA), Compatriots-NDFP—the revolutionary organization of overseas Filipinos—is one with the toiling masses of Filipinos in rejecting another year of empty promises and anti-people policies. Behind Malacanang’s claims of economic growth and political stability lies the lived reality of tens of millions of Filipinos who confront landlessness and land grabbing, soaring prices, depressed wages, contractualization, environmental destruction, political repression, and forced migration. The real state of the nation can only be described by the worsening crisis caused by the local ruling elite in service to the interests of foreign monopoly capital.
The US-Marcos II regime continues to faithfully implement policies that preserve the semi-colonial and semi-feudal character of Philippine society rooted in the basic problems of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. US imperialism remains the principal foreign force shaping the country’s political, military, and economic direction. Through the expansion of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the continued conduct of Balikatan, Salaknib, and many other provocative military exercises, and a growing network of military cooperation in the Asia Pacific, the Philippines is being dragged even further into the strategic meddling of the United States in the region. These actions undermine national sovereignty, intensify militarization across the archipelago, and expose the Filipino people to the dangers of escalating rivalry among imperialist powers.
The same imperialist agenda extends into the economic sphere. Projects such as the Pax Silica, Luzon Economic Corridor, and other strategic investment initiatives seek to strengthen US imperialist domination in the Philippine economy. The country’s mineral wealth, strategic infrastructure, energy systems, and labor force are increasingly positioned to serve global supply chains controlled by foreign monopoly capital, especially for technologies like semi-conductors and artificial intelligance that are necessary for the war machine. Entire communities face intensified exploitation, mining, land theft and conversion, displacement, and ecological destruction.
And to protect the capitalists from the righteous outrage of the masses organizing against foreign intervention, the US-Marcos II regime deploys its fascist goons in the military, police, and other agents of counterinsurgency. The terror and violence they sow, especially in the Philippine countryside, has led to countless violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, like the indiscriminate bombings, strafing, and massacres of communities in Negros, Panay, Bicol, Mindoro, and many other regions and provinces.
The consequences of these interconnected problems are sharply felt even by overseas Filipinos. Millions have been forced to leave the country because dignified and secure employment are nowhere to be found at home. Migrant labor helps sustain the Philippine economy through billions sent in remittances, yet migrants themselves continue to endure exploitation, discrimination, family separation, and precarious working conditions abroad—including living and working in literal war zones. The Philippine government’s continued dependence on labor export reflects its inability and unwillingness to build an economy capable of providing decent work and a dignified future for its own people.
Overseas Filipinos have always been an integral part of the national democratic movement in the Philippines. Across different countries, overseas Filipinos have organized campaigns defending workers’ rights, opposing US militarism, exposing human rights violations, supporting disaster relief and community initiatives, strengthening cultural work, and building international solidarity among host peoples for the Filipino people’s struggle for national and social liberation.
As members of Compatriots-NDFP, we reaffirm our commitment to linking arms with the workers, peasants, fisherfolk, Indigenous peoples, youth, women, professionals, and all patriotic and democratic classes and sectors in advancing the National Democratic Revolution in the Philippines. As the imperialists and local ruling classes have shown time and again, they will not give up their power and position without a fight—it is up to the people to take it by force through armed revolution. So while the real state of the nation can be described by worsening crisis, it must also be defined by the bravery and revolutionary determination of the Filipino people to reject and defeat the ruling semi-colonial and semi-feudal system and build a socialist future in the Philippines.
Compatriots-NDFP calls upon all overseas Filipinos to participate in the People’s Democratic Revolution. Let us expand and strengthen our organizations and take collective action on the streets to thoroughly expose and oppose the failures of the US-Marcos II regime, especially the lies he will spew during his 5th SONA. More importantly, let us direct our efforts to supporting the New People’s Army and the protracted people’s war, including through our own direct participation. Let us return home so that we ourselves can advance the revolution for a nation free from imperialist domination, feudal exploitation, bureaucrat capitalist plunder and terror, and all forms of oppression.
Mga Pilipino sa ibayong dagat, itakwil ang korap, papet, pasista, at pahirap na rehimeng US-Marcos! Umuwi at makilahok sa pambansang demokratikong rebolusyon!
