Message of the Mindanao Commission of the Communist Party of the Philippines on the 40th anniversary of the CPP
By The Mindanao Commission
Communist Party of the Philippines
On the the 40th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines which was founded on December 26, 1968, the Party organization in Mindanao joins the entire nation in celebration of this occasion. The Party as well as the whole revolutionary movement which it leads feel a great rejoicing and are deeply happy for the strength and correctness of the Party’s leadership which has continued to resolutely advance the people’s democratic revolution.
The Party’s achievement and successes are mainly because it has followed the correct ideological, political and organizational line. The Party’s leading committees have effectively led the struggle in all fields and its members are active and determined to pursue their respective revolutionary tasks and responsibilities.
We take this occasion to salute all the members of the revolutionary movement who have offered their lives for the cause of the Party and the revolution.
In spite of the fierceness of the enemy’s attacks and the wiliness of its sugar-coated bullets, the Party has stood its ground and has grown in numbers and in strength. It has achieved many victories in practically all fields of struggle.
Since the Party’s inception in Central Luzon, it wasn’t long before it took root in Mindanao. In 1971, from the two existing Party groups, one in Davao City and another in Iligan, the first Regional Party Committee in Mindanao was formed to ensure the Party’s leadership of the revolutionary movement in these parts. Based on the growth and development of the Party organization in the many provinces of the island, the territory of Mindanao was subdivided into regions and regional committees were built. At present, the five regional Party organizations of Mindanao are Southern Mindanao (SMR), Western Mindanao (WMR), NorthCentral Mindanao (NCMR), NorthEast Mindanao (NEMR), and FarSouth Mindanao (FSMR).
Where before there were just a few Party cadres and members, now we have thousands. Each day, each year of our struggle the Party organization in the island grew, developed and became even stronger. True, it went through great difficulties because of the enemy’s attacks and because we followed the wrong orientation of Red Area –White Area which led to military adventurism and insurrectionism in the 80s. Fortunately, this was criticized and corrected by the Second Great Rectification Movement in 1992-1993. Thus, the Party was able to pull through, rise up from its weaknesses and move forward.
Presently, the Party in Mindanao continues to grow in strength. Among its members, it conducts a continuing study of the principles and theories of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and of its concrete, practical application. More than 90% of its members have finished the Basic Party Course, and a big majority of its cadres have finished the Intermediate Course. A good number have also studied the Advanced Course.
The Party has regularly launched a summing up of experiences and an assessment of the situation. It also conducts criticism and self-criticism.
These ideological activities have ensured the correct guidance of the revolution by using the scientific method of analysis of events. This has also ensured the steadfast standpoint of Party members who, in the course of the struggle, are bound to face the challenge of extreme difficulties and sacrifice.
This year, Party membership are by the thousands, with a 5% increase from last year. It has almost leveled with the highest point during the 1980 decade. Party branches in the localities and party groups in the mass organizations continue to grow. These are directly under the regional organization. They form the backbone of the different areas of struggle — armed and non-armed, legal and illegal. They constitue the nucleus of leadership which advance the people’s cause for liberation and genuine democracy.
The Party wields two weapons of the revolution – armed struggle and united front. Armed struggle is the principal form because this is what will dismantle the political power of the reactionary state which is largely dependent on its armed forces, the AFP.
In the area of armed struggle, we have had clear cut accomplishments. Through the New People’s Army, the Party’s main organization, guerilla warfare has spread and intensified. Recruitment increased by 5% this year and the Red fighters are now by the thousands. NPA guerilla units are in more than 2,000 barrios of 200 municipalities and cities in the 19 provinces of the island. Relative to last year, the number of barrios has increased. From 35 guerilla fronts last year, we now have 39. This year, more than 300 tactical offensives were launched and more than 200 highpowered firearms were seized. A good number of Prisoners of War were captured, most of them regular government soldiers, paramilitary forces and some were high-ranking military officers. Units of the Milisyang Bayan have also increased. In most consolidated barrios there is at least one squad of Milisyang Bayan. They are very active in the different areas of military work . All these are signs of growth of the people’s war.
The mass base in the countryside has reached more than 600,000. In the guerilla fronts are the people’s revolutionary governments with revolutionary committees in the municipal, inter-barrio and mostly barrio levels. The mass organization of peasants, women and youth continue to expand and are active in their tasks.
Hundreds of thousands of peasant masses have benefited from the minimum program of the agrarian revolution. In hundreds of barrios are ongoing campaigns on rent reduction, abolition or decrease usury, higher wages for farm workers, reasonable price increase of farm products and the reduction of prices of commodities in the barrios’ sari-sari stores. Production has also increased through cooperatives and/or labor exchange.
And we continue to defend the ancestral lands of the Lumad and Moro against the landgrabbing of the comprador big bourgeoisie, the landlords and the foreign multinational companies.
In waging the armed struggle, we have effectively repelled the enemy’s Oplan Bantay Laya II (OBL II). In spite of additional enemy contingents deployed in Mindanao, and with the direct participation of US troops in military campaigns against some regions of the island, not a single guerilla front was dismantled and no guerilla unit was wiped out – contrary to what has been repeatedly claimed by the AFP. The enemy has utterly failed in its campaigns of encirclement and suppression such as Oplan Destroyer in NCMR, Oplan Diwata in NEMR and Oplan Pag-asa in SMR (April 2008).
The Party has succeeded in broadening the united front through the different forms of alliance. In the realm of armed force, the National Democratic Front-Philippines (NDFP) has maintained its alliance and a continuing good relation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The NDFP has maintained its links with some other Moro forces who are waging a struggle for the Bangsamoro.
The allied organizations of the NDFP have broadened and expanded its membership. Here we have the revolutionary organization of peasants, workers, the religious sector, lawyers, mass media, youth, women, urban poor, Lumad, Moro and all other sectors who are working for genuine liberation and democracy, a just and lasting peace and real progress and development.
In the legal democratic mass movement, the progressive forces have fearlessly and actively stood for the people’s welfare and in defense of human rights and civil liberties. They have continued to work well with other political forces who are fighting against the fascist, fake and puppet US-Macapagal Arroyo regime. Hundreds and up to thousands havebeen mobilized for mass action which propagated the democratic and patriotic standpoint on many social and political issues.
Corollary to the successes of the armed struggle and united front, the Party’s influence in our provinces and cities have increased and it is considered as a significant force in the resolution of many social issues confronting the nation.
These achievements are but the stepping stone to the Party’s and the entire revolutionary movement’s strengthening for the year ahead. We are hopeful that under the CPP’s continuing guidance, the people’s democratic revolution will reach even greater heights more so because the situation in our nation and in the entire world is favorable for revolution.
In the country, the government and the system has become even more rotten. The US-Arroyo regime is isolated from the people and the AFP is hated for its rampant abuses and for protecting the exploitative and oppressive system.
The imperialist countries especially the US are in a deep economic crisis. The world capitalist system has suffered a recession and is expected to continue for a long time. The semifeudal and semicolonial countries like the Philippines, which are dominated by the imperialists are made to bear the brunt of this crisis.
Given this situation, it is imperative that we seize this favorable opportunity to strengthen the Party further and raise the people’s democratic revolutionary struggle to a much higher level. We need to strengthen the Party even more by launching an education campaign on the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and its correct application in our actual day-to-day practice of the struggle. We need to resolutely study the Party education courses and other studies especially those on people’s war. We also need to broaden the Party membership but taking extra care not to let a single undesirable in.
The firm and correct guidance of the Party will ensure the continuous advance of the armed struggle and the broadening of the revolutionary and legal united front. The achievements in the armed struggle and the united front will be the basis for the growth of the Party membership and its greater political influence on our society
On the other hand, it is expected that the rise of the revolutionary struggle could mean additional effort for the enemy to suppress it. However, we can definitely say that the enemy is bound to fail because it defends a rotten and corrupt system, while the Party and the whole revolutionary forces will continue to serve the people and work selflessly for their welfare.
Ka Puman
CPP-Komisyon sa Mindanao
