“The NDF greets the CPP in its ability to stay strong despite continuing attack and urges the people of the Southern Tagalog region to rise up and join the struggle.”
By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SANTA ROSA, Laguna – Members of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog and its member revolutionary organizations staged a lightning rally in Calamba, Laguna, in anticipation of the 51st anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, yesterday December 23.
In a phone interview with Patnubay de Guia, NDFP-ST spokesperson, they stated that the NDFP “stands in revolutionary celebration with the CPP in its struggle for national democracy.”
The CPP is currently waging an armed revolution against the Philippine government, which it sees as the “primary comprador of global imperialism and desperate custodian of the country’s semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature,” according to de Guia. “The CPP’s aim is to assert people’s rights to land, industry, and political power through people’s war,” they said.
“The NDF greets the CPP in its ability to stay strong despite continuing attack and urges the people of the Southern Tagalog region to rise up and join the struggle.”
In a statement by NDFP-ST, de Guia chided the Duterte administration as “drowning the masses in continual crisis” through its policies. They also described Duterte’s current counter-insurgency program, Oplan Kapanatagan, as “impotent as a paper tiger” in its stated aim of achieving “lasting peace.”
De Guia noted that the Southern Tagalog region is one of the most heavily attacked regions in the country. “Duterte doesn’t discriminate in suppressing people’s rights, whether it’s legal personalities like activists and unionists, or NDFP peace consultants, or members of the revolutionary movement,” de Guia said.
They noted continuing military presence in communities, arrests against leaders and activists, and the arrest of NPA-ST Spokesperson Jaime Padilla as examples of how the Duterte administration does not have “the interest of the people on their minds.”
“Duterte’s true aim with Oplan Kapanatagan is to tighten the reactionary state’s grip on the Filipino people through violence,” de Guia said. “It only serves to further their fascist aims of exploiting the Filipino people and the country’s resources.”
“Despite these attacks, however, the revolutionary movement remains stronger than ever,” de Guia added. “It is not only the Party, but the People’s Army, the revolutionary organizations of the NDFP, and even the legal mass organizations, activists, and progressives that unite together to fight for democratic rights.”
De Guia also called on the people of Southern Tagalog to continue “the struggle for rights and democracy.”
“Despite repeated attacks against the people, we must stand firm and continue the fight. Defeat the fascist US-backed Duterte regime by any means necessary and always put the interest of the masses first and foremost.”
The Communist Party of the Philippines will celebrate the 51st anniversary of its reestablishment along Marxist-Leninist-Maoist lines on December 26, coinciding with the birthday of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong. The CPP was re-established in 1968 following ideological differences between the old Party led by Jesus Lava and the faction led by Amado Guerrero. 
