JORGE "Ka Oris" MADLOS
Spokesperson, NDFP-Mindanao
Other versions: Bisaya
In commemoration of the Filipino tradition of All Soul's Day, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao (NDFP-Mindanao) joins the families and loved ones of all heroes and martyrs who offered their time and their very lives for the revolution and the Filipino masses.
Our martyrs are the indestructible bastions of the nationalist and democratic revolution; they have shown the indomitability of the revolutionary resolve to struggle with the masses of Filipinos against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism. To them we give our highest reverence and salute!
The violence inflicted by the murderous state apparatus of the Arroyo regime in the last nine years continue and does so with impunity under the present dispensation of Benigno Aquino III. In fact, under the Aquino regime, the bloody Oplan Bantay Laya has been extended, which only means that the killings would not stop and, in fact, would become more virulent. Thus, we take this time to especially remember more than a thousand mass activists and thousands more of innocent civilians, including media persons, who have all fallen victim to human rights violations, such as extra-judicial killings and other such state violence, with the fervent resolve to undauntedly fight for justice.
In the observance of the tradition of All Soul's Day, we also join with the Filipino people who will be lighting candles and offering flowers in remembering their loved ones.
The passing away of our beloved comrades truly saddens us, but we cannot allow grief and fear to overwhelm us because, as great leader Mao Zedong exhorted, we must "turn grief into revolutionary courage." Let the lives then of our revolutionary heroes inspire us, together with the millions upon millions of masses, to fight for a truly sovereign and democratic Philippines.
Let the thousands of martyrs who have shed their blood on the tortuous revolutionary road be our beacon to persevere in the struggle towards ending social inequity, exploitation and oppression.
We have not forgotten the peasant masses who have offered their ablest sons and daughters, and the workers and the intellectuals who gave their lives for national freedom and democracy. Two scores and a year of revolutionary armed struggle were etched with the blood of our red martyrs.
The long and winding road ahead offers us challenges to complete the requirements for the advancement towards the strategic stalemate of the people's war. Our heroes and martyrs have paved the way for us to march onwards. We call on all revolutionary forces to offer their time and sacrifices to the fullest to raise this war to a new and higher level.
Long live the Revolutionary heroes and martyrs!