A reign of terror: Extra-judicial killings in Duterte’s Philippines (tags)
Since Rodrigo Duterte began his term as the 16th president of the Philippines in 30 June 2016, Filipinos and the international community have watched in horror at accounts of dead bodies found nightly in the country’s streets, linked to extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
The challenges of building a united resistance in Duterte’s Philippines (tags)
Three decades after the People Power revolution ended the bloody regime of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, Asia’s oldest republic is at a crossroads. Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines in June 2016, he has led an extrajudicial killing campaign that has taken over 12,000 lives. Officially cloaked as an anti-crime policy, his “war against drugs” has nevertheless failed to address the genuine roots of the country’s narcotics crisis. It has instead only worsened the situation by victimizing the urban poor at a staggering rate.
Philippines: We condemn extension of Martial Law in Mindanao (tags)
The extension of martial law in Mindanao to the end of 2018 by Congress comes as no surprise to Laban ng Masa (Fight of the Masses). Over the last year and a half, the Senate and the House of Representatives have been completely transformed into pliant tools of President Rodrigo Duterte, with the vast majority of the members of these two chambers surrendering their remaining shred of self-respect to become accomplices to Malacanang’s authoritarian agenda.
Philippine President Duterte's State of the Nation Address (Sona) (tags)
DUTERTE’S SONA – MORE SWEARING THAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PHILIPPINES: Martial Law is Not the Answer! (tags)
Statements on the imposition of martial law in Mindanao
The Philippines’ New Strongman (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian neoliberalism isn’t the answer to poverty and political abuse in the Philippines.
Duterte offers cabinet posts to Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (tags)
On Sunday (17 May 2016), Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines president-elect, announced that his administration, which is due to take office on June 30, would restore capital punishment and issue shoot-to-kill orders to the police and military.
Philippines: Duterte tells CHR, women's groups: Go to hell! (tags)
MANILA - Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday told the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and those who filed a complaint against him on account of his alleged offensive remarks on rape to go to hell.
Philippines: Lumads to AFP, NPA: Leave us alone (tags)
MANILA, Philippines — A group claiming to represent 33 lumad (indigenous people) tribes in Mindanao on Friday urged the military and the rebel group New People's Army (NPA) to stop dragging them into their conflict and to respect their human rights and ancestral domain.
Philippines: Rebel Executions Violate International Law (tags)
(Manila) – The communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the Philippines executed the mayor of a small town and his son on October 19, 2015, in violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said today. Throughout its four-decade insurgency, the rebel group has frequently executed people found “guilty” by its so-called people’s courts, which do not meet basic fair trial standards.
Tribute to Comrade Leoncio Pitao (Commander Parago) (tags)
I join the Filipino people, the people’s revolutionary government, the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the revolutionary mass organizations and other revolutionary forces in mourning the death of Comrade Leoncio Pitao (Commander Parago) and in celebrating his achievements from the time he joined the NPA in 1978 until his martyrdom yesterday on June 28, 2015.
politikang sekswual sa pilipinas (tags)
Sexual politics in the Philippines now is on trial with the intervention of Eve Ensler's white supremacist-bourgeois "feminism" in the ONE BILLION RISING front via GABRIELA. This reveals US imperial maneuvers far beyond the alibi of "Vagina Monologues" and vitiates Gabriela's claim to vanguardism.
MANILA – ‘Morong 43’ arrest, detention illegal — CHR (tags)
Five years since the arrest, detention and release of the 43 health workers dubbed as the “Morong 43,” the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has finally issued a resolution stating that state forces violated the rights of the health workers.
The concept of National Democracy aims to overthrow feudalism and achieve independence from colonialism.
The need for United Front in the Filipino People’s Democratic Revolution (tags)
The Filipino people’s democratic revolution constantly needs the revolutionary united front because this is the effective way to arouse, organize and mobilize the broad masses of the Filipino people in their millions in order to advance and win total victory. The need for the united front is more urgent than ever as the socio-economic and political crisis is rapidly worsening and inflicting intolerable suffering on the Filipino people and they must intensify their struggle against those who exploit and oppress them.
Interview with Jose Maria Sison (tags)
Interview with Jose Maria Sison, Founding Chairman, Communist Party of the Philippines by New Culture Magazine, Communist Reconstruction Union of Brazil
NDFP hosts celebration of Prof. Sison’s 55 years of service to the Filipino People (tags)
The international office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is set to celebrate Prof. Jose Maria Sison’s 55 years of service to the Filipino people’s struggle for national and social liberation, and his 75th birthday, with a cultural event on Sunday, 09 February 2014, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
New People's Daily Building in China (tags)
Gawkers cannot believe shape of Chinese newspaper’s sizable HEADquarters. People can't help but notice the similarity of the new building for the People's Daily newspaper to male anatomy.
Philippines - ‘Morong 43’ member killed in Bulacan encounter (tags)
Philippines– A member of the Morong 43 was killed in an encounter with government troops in Bulacan early this month, the military revealed Thursday.
Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism (tags)
Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism, second book of 5-book series by Jose Maria Sison under the general title Continuing the Revolution
WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS TORTURED IN PHILIPPINES (tags)
Women political prisoners in the Philippines experience torture under the neocolonial regime receiving US tax dollars in aid. We need to protest this barbarity and call on Congress to cut off aid to the Aquino regime and its brutal military and police agencies.
Philippines - NDFP says UN report on use of child combatants by NPA (tags)
MANILA – The National Democratic Front of the Philippines’ Special Office for the Protection of Children slammed the report released by the United Nations Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict (SRCAC) which alleges that the its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA) has been using and recruiting children.
Why peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDF collapsed (tags)
MANILA, Philippines — The peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) reached a high point in December 2012, when Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison agreed to the so-called “special track” that would have facilitated the process.
Philippine Senator Guingona’s mom hurt in NPA attack (tags)
Guingona, mother of Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, was returning with a six-member escort from a town fiesta in Alatagan when they were “ambushed” by the rebels
National Democratic Front of the Philippines denies NPA uses child soldiers (tags)
In a letter sent to ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau head Danny Buenafe, he reiterated that the claims in the news article ‘PH rebels use child soldiers,' a report based on an international conference in Helsinki, Finland last March 9, led by the newly appointed Secretary General of Child Soldiers International, Richard Clarke, are unsubstantiated.
PHILIPPINES: The Emotional Calculus of Armed Conflict (tags)
HOW DO I TREAT THEE? Let me count the ways. Statistics from the AFP-PNP over a 33-year period (1978-2010) report an aggregate of 29,553 fatalities in the ongoing conflict between GPH and the CPP-NPA categorized thus: 13,412 Communists (45%), 8,264 military and police (28%) and 7,877 civilians (21%). This further translates into 80 deaths daily for the period: 36 Communists, 23 soldiers and police, and 21 civilians.
Let us celebrate the NDFP's Declaration on Children of the Philippines (tags)
The leadership and entire membership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), all Red commanders and fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA), people’s militias and revolutionary mass organizations welcome the issuance by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) of the Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection and Welfare of Children.
Development of Maoist Theory and Practice in the Philippines (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was reestablished on the theoretical foundation of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought on 26 December 1968. Since 1995, it has officially used the term Maoism as synonym for Mao Zedong Thought. The adoption of the term is due to language alignment in relation to Marxism-Leninism rather than due to any change of meaning or line in relation to Mao Zedong Thought. Since 3 September 1993 in his message to the Symposium on Mao Zedong Thought in Manila, the founding chairman of the CPP has referred to adherents of Mao Zedong Thought as Maoists.
Philippines - Ranking Red exec named party-list third nominee (tags)
The Anakpawis party-list announced on Monday that it was adding the name of Randall Echanis, a political consultant of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), as its third nominee, a move which observers say could hasten the integration of the extreme left into the political mainstream.
Carnival blast victims stage rally vs Philippine rebels (tags)
DAVAO CITY -- Victims of the latest grenade attack in a remote village here, including their relatives and supporters, staged an indignation rally in front of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) church in this city Thursday morning, a military official said.
NDFP adopts program to protect children during armed conflict in the Philippines (tags)
Aside from coming out with its program of action for the protection of children, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines announced that it will establish a Special Office for the Protection of Children to strengthen its mechanisms on monitoring and defending the rights of Filipino children.
Philippine communist army owns up to grenade attack in Davao City (tags)
Manila: The communist New Peoples’ Army (NPA) has owned up to the September 1 grenade attack at a village fiesta gathering in Davao City that injured at least 37 people.
WikiLeaks cable: Gaddafi funded, trained CPP-NPA rebels (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi was a key financier of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA), according to a US Secretary of State secret cable published by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Uphold and protect the rights of Filipino children (tags)
Let us celebrate the NDFP's Declaration on Children. The leadership and entire membership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), all Red commanders and fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA), people’s militias and revolutionary mass organizations welcome the issuance by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) of the Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection and Welfare of Children.
Arroyo, Philippine military, police face torture raps from 8 of Morong 43 (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Eight of the 43 health workers collectively known as the Morong 43, who were arrested in February 2010 during a medical training, filed criminal charges against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several military officials before the Department of Justice.
NDF PRAISES MILF FOR STAND VS USARIII SHAM PEACE TALKS (tags)
The Alliance News today learned that o March 29, 2012: During the 43rd Anniversary of the New People’s Army (NPA), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) had praised the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its peace panel for their steadfastness in asserting the right to self-determination of the Moros in the face of consistent plot of the Philippine government to hoodwink them to capitulating.
Philippines: Annoying P-Noy (tags)
Because the Reds have time and again failed to sell to the majority of Filipinos their offered prescriptions to our national problems, they’ve resorted to all sorts of gimmicks in order to get our attention.
Selected Writings of Jose Maria Sison (tags)
These are important writings of Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) and current political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and Chairman of the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS)
Julie and I wish to convey our most heartfelt condolences to the daughters and entire family of Comrade Gregorio Rosal, Ka Roger, and to all cadres and members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, all the Red commanders and fighters of the New People?s Army, all adherents of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the broad masses of the Filipino people.
Philippines: Communist Rebels Target Civilians (tags)
(New York,) ? The rebel New People?s Army (NPA) in the Philippines should immediately end unlawful killings and detention of civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has admitted to gunning down civilians and detaining others in recent months.
Stop the AFP's red-baiting and intimidation against progressives (tags)
Since 2001, the Philippine government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been trying, but have so far failed, to stop us and our parties from representing the marginalized and underrepresented sectors in Congress. Now that we are running for the Senate, they are becoming more desperate in trying to prevent us from serving our people and pursuing the politics of change.
Jose Maria Sison: On the Commemoration of Sept 21. (tags)
More than a year before, he had staged the dress rehearsal for the declaration of martial law by proclaiming the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus on August 21, 1971 when without evidence he blamed the Communist Party of the Philippines and Benigno S. Aquino for the Plaza Miranda bombing immediately after it happened.
TUMITINDI ANG BAKBAKAN NG NPA AT AFP SA AURORA (tags)
Ibinalita ngayon ng PESANTE NEWS na nakabase sa Los Angeles na nakalap mula sa internet wires na umiigting na labanan sa pagitan ng mga New People?s Army (NPA) at ng mga tropa ng 48th IB Philippine Army sa probinsya ng Aurora, sa hilagang bahagi ng Central Luzon. Ayon sa PESANTE NEWS, isang engkwentro ang naganap sa pagitan ng mga pwersa ng NPA Aurora at mga tropa ng 48th ?Cedula/Berdugo? Battalion sa kabundukan ng Brgy. Dikapinisan, San Luis, Aurora noong Agosto 23, 2011. Ito ay nagsimula ng ganap na alas-6:30 ng umaga. Naka-maniobra palayo ang yunit ng NPA pag-abot ng alas-7 ng umaga. Nagpatuloy ang walang direksyong pagpapaputok ng mga militar hanggang lampas tanghali nang magdatingan ang kanilang sumaklolong helicopter . Malaki ang pinsala ng mga sundalo ng 48th IB. Ayon sa mga mapagkakatiwalaang mga impormante sa hanay mismo ng militar, pulisya, at marami pang mga sources ng kilusan, aabot ng 7 ang napatay na mga sundalo sa labanan, at 6 ang mga sugatan.
Philippine peace process gaining headway (tags)
Upon assuming office a year ago, President Benigno S. Aquino III declared that the government was ready to resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Communist National Democratic Front (NDF) without pre-condition and repeated it in his first State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA).
FIGHTING INTENSIFIES IN CARAGA REGION IN NORTHEAST MINDANAO (tags)
?the EPCC NEWS based in Los Angeles reported today that at least a dozen New People?s Army (NPA) rebels and an Army soldier were killed Sunday following fierce clashes between government forces and the rebels in Loreto, Agusan del Sur, a military official said Monday. But Colonel Rodrigo Diapana, commander of the Army?s 402nd Infantry Brigade based in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, admitted that out of the 12 rebels reported killed by soldiers, only four bodies had been recovered so far. Diapana said Sunday?s loss was a major setback for the NPA. On the other some analyst says the NPA also intensified its tactical offensives in response to intesfied AFP/PNP operations in Mindanao despite the NDF-GPH peace talks.
DPRK condemns South Korean "anti-DPRK policy" (tags)
PYONGYANG, June 25 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) accused the South Korean authorities Saturday of maintaining an anti-DPRK policy, the official KCNA news agency reported.
DPRK condemns South Korean "anti-DPRK policy" (tags)
PYONGYANG, June 25 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) accused the South Korean authorities Saturday of maintaining an anti-DPRK policy, the official KCNA news agency reported.
Millions of youth are needed in the Philippine people's democratic revolution (tags)
More than ever, it is imperative that millions upon millions of youth be mobilized to take action in solidarity with the entire Filipino people.
JOSE RIZAL & PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY (tags)
JUNE 12, marking the independence of the Philippines from the Spanish empire, would not have been realized without the martyrdom of countless Filipinos foremost of whom is Jose Rizal. Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the Katipunan rebellion, honored Rizal's memory by using his name as a shibboleth. But the neocolonial politicians today have only fulfilled Rizal's nightmare that the slaves of yesterday will be the tyrants of today. This essay pays homage to Rizal on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Mindanao, Philippines: Community wants GPH-NDF to leave them in peace (tags)
LANTAD, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/25 May) ? The people in what used to be a ?liberated? zone of the communist New People?s Army (NPA) has approved today the ?Lantad Manifesto? asking both the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the umbrella organization of the armed communists, the National Democratic Front (NDF), to respect their right to self-determination and peace.
Philippine CHR: We didn't clear the AFP in Melissa Roxas case (tags)
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it did not clear the military in the human rights case of Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas as accused by several militant organizations.
Pesante-USA slams Philippine CHR for Clearing the AFP on Mellisa Roxas Case (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA), human rights group based in the United States today vehemently condemned the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) report that cleared the AFP on the abduction and torture of a US-based activist. The report, signed by CHR chair Loretta Rosales in February but released over the weekend, concluded Melissa Roxas was indeed abducted and apparently subjected to cruel treatment. But the Commission said it did not have enough evidence to put the blame on the military. The CHR also refused to use the word “torture” for the abuse Roxas suffered because “state actors” could not be pinpointed. Pesante is disappointed that Rosales a former political detainee and a victim of torture herself will clear the AFP of torture and wrongdoing. Pesante stated that: “ Rosales will join all traitors like Tayag,Tiglao, Barican, Morales and Olivar all former activist who have sold the Filipinos down the river.”
NDF-GPH CEASEFIRE ENDS, NDF COMMENDS NPA DISCIPLINE (tags)
The Pesante Buletin based in Los Angeles reported today that the NDFP in Mindanao salutes and congratulates all commands and units of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao and the rest of the country for its display of a high sense of political maturity, responsibility and military discipline during the mutually-declared seven-day ceasefire between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH). Jorge Madlos, NDF-Mindanao spokesperson commended the NPA units in Southern Mindanao, in an act of goodwill and for humanitarian reasons, have released three prisoners-of-war (POWs) on separate occasions during the same period, further creating a more favourable atmosphere and bolster confidence for the peace negotiations and the entire peace process.
NDF-GRP Panels Held Preliminary Talks in Norway:Talks to Resume in February (tags)
The ALLIANCE NEWS, the news service of the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States reported today that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panels held preliminary talks last 14-18 January 2011 in Oslo, Norway and agreed to resume formal peace talks. Formal talks could not be held for six years during the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because of the latter’s conspiracy with the US to put the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison on the US terrorist list and its refusal to resolve the socio-economic roots of the armed conflict.
Philippine rebel leader snared snared in mistress' arms (tags)
MANILA—A Philippine communist rebel leader's secret tryst with a mistress landed him in double trouble, leading to his arrest and the unravelling of his affair with a comrade's wife, the military said Monday.
Philippine rebel leader snared by affair (tags)
MANILA—A Philippine communist rebel leader's secret tryst with a mistress landed him in double trouble, leading to his arrest and the unravelling of his affair with a comrade's wife, the military said Monday.
NPA TO UNDERTAKE STEPS TO PREVENT CIVILIAN CASULATIES-NDF (tags)
THE PESANTE BULETIN based in the United States today reported that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas said today that the New People’s Army is undertaking steps to prevent civilian casualties over concerns of such occurring last Dec. 8 and Dec. 14 in Northern Samar. The PB reported that “In upholding the people’s war as just, correct and principled, it is important for the NPA to ensure the observance of the rights of civilians,” said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson. "This demonstrates the NPA’s firm unity with the people and differentiates it from the enemy, which is carrying out an unjust and unpincipled counterrevolutionary war backed by US imperialism. It is the people, not arms alone, who are decisive in war — contrary to the casual acceptance of so-called “collateral damage” as well as the willful targetting of civilians by the Armed Forces of the Philippines."
MILF Hits Stalled Peace Talks with GRP (tags)
The US based EPCC NEWS learned today from Cotabato City that a senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has expressed his doubt about the resumption of peace talks with the government by January in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, even as he has called for the release of all MILF members in prison. In in a statement issued Sunday to media sources in the Philippines said that MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal doubted whether that would happen. “Without a facilitator, how would the talks resume? The government's continued character assassination of the Malaysian facilitator is not doing any good to the peace process,” he said.
"Talk, Talk, Fight, Fight" on Peace Talks 2011 (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN based in Los Angeles learned today from media sources in the Philippines that on the 42nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), a regional guerrilla spokesperson Ka. Oris aka Jorge Madlos of Mindanao-NDF expressed optimism that the 2011 scheduled peace talks will produce results. Jorge Madlos aka Ka Oris is the spokesperson for NDF North Eastern Mindanao――said that something good could come out of the negotiations.
Secrets of the Communist Party of the Philippines (tags)
DR. MARIO Miclat’s “Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions: A Novel” (Manila: Anvil Publishing, 2010) reveals in rich detail many of the covert factors that contributed to the growth of one of our country’s biggest problems: the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Will Peace Break out in the Philippines? (tags)
Will peace break out at last? Much hope has been sparked by the coming resumption of peace talks between the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Aquino government. Undoubtedly, this optimism stems from the widespread public perception that President Benigno Aquino III is genuinely interested in ending the four-decade-long war between the NDF and the Philippine government.
Reactionary PH Congress leaders urges talks w/o conditions to sabotage peace talks-AJLPP (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States scored the apparent moves to sabotage the peace talks by Congress leaders in the Philippines. Saying that to avoid hitches in the resumption of peace talks, the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) should not impose difficult preconditions, a former AFP chief of staff said Sunday.
ILPS Condemns War Provocations by the US, South Korea Puppets vs DPRK (tags)
We, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent and ongoing provocations being made by the US and the South Korean puppet government against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
STOP THE SENSELESS KILLINGS OF CHURCH PEOPLE, JUSTICE TO THE VICTIMS OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KIL (tags)
“With all boldness, as always so now also, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”. (Philippians 1. 20-21) We, bishops, priests and faithful of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, are once again pained as two of our lay leaders became victims of the spate of senseless killings in the country. Our hearts bleed as we remember in prayers our brothers Benjamin Bayles and Jovelito Agustin, who were both killed for standing firmly for the cause of justice and peace in our land.
NDFP-GRP RESUMES PEACE TALKS AFTER 24 YEARS (tags)
The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States expressed elation over the supposed resumption of peace negotiations between the NDFP and the GRP. The Alliance-Philippines is happy that after 24 years and four different sets of government from Aquino to Arroyo negotiating panels, the 3-month-old Aquino administration Thursday signaled its readiness to talk peace with communist rebels, hoping that a political settlement of the 41-year-old insurgency will finally be forged under its watch.
8th ID INTENSIFIES OPERATIONS DURING LOCAL ELECTIO (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN based in Los Angeles reported that the Efren Martires Command, New People’s Army-Eastern Visayas, today debunked the 8th Infantry Division’s allegation the NPA is supporting some candidates in the barangay elections, dubbing it an excuse for more military operations.
North Koreans celebrate newly anointed Kim Jong Eun (tags)
A military parade marks the 65th anniversary of the ruling Worker's Party and honors the successor to Kim Jong Il.
Prof. Jose Maria Sison: On the Commemoration of September 21 (tags)
PHILIPPINES: Ferdinand Marcos himself designated September 21, 1972 as the date for Presidential Proclamation 1081, declaring martial law. In previous days, he had set in motion the imposition of fascist dictatorship on the people, including the mobilization of his armed minions, the murder of a whistle blower in his own intelligence agency, the fake ambush on his defense secretary and the mass arrest of his opponents and critics.
NDF-MINDANAO CALLS ON ALL REVOLUTIONARY FORCES TO FRUSTRATE OBL COMPLETELY (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN gathered today that NDF -Mindanao spokeman Jorge madlos said that "the extension of the Arroyo regime’s brutal nine-year anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya exposes Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s real “peace” plan. Aquino's plan the NDF says is to step up military offensives against the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - daydreaming of inducing revolutionary forces to capitulate and to impose its demands on the peace talks consistent with the US Counter Insurgency (COIN) strategy." The NDF also said that He (Aquino III) appears to be in a hurry to please his US imperialist masters, especially in laying the ground for the entry and the increase in profitability of mining companies and foreign-owned plantations such as Xtrata in South Cotabato and Dole Phils. in Surigao del Sur and Compostela Valley, and a host of other foreign monopoly capitalist investments. The NDF Mindanao also said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr., in his declaration of a new counter-insurgency plan by Jan 1, 2011, bragged that the new strategy would focus on the respect for human rights, admitting in effect that nine years of OBL were replete with human rights violations.
By continuing Oplan Bantay Laya, Aquino shows he is no different from Arroyo (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN based in Los Angeles gathered that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today assailed the announcement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on extending its Oplan Bantay Laya campaign until January 2011 as proving that Benigno Aquino III is no different from his predecessor. From the news sources in the Philippines, PESANTE BULETIN also learned that While the world commemorates International Humanitarian Law Month today, the AFP will be continuing its campaign that has led to many killings of social activists and other civilians," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas.
The NDF reaffirms its commitment to the MILF and the Bangsamoro struggle for genuine self- (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS learned today through news sources from Mindanao that the National Democratic Front - Mindanao (NDF-Mindanao) shares with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in raising concern with regard to the capability and sincerity of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), presently under Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, in undertaking peace negotiations as a venue to address the just demands of the Bangsamoro. The NDF spokesperson Jorge Madlos said " GRP would have the Moro as well as the Filipino people believe that credible talks under a favorable atmosphere for peace with the MILF would promptly resume after the Holy Ramadan, but all indicators point otherwise.
Aquino III Talks Peace but is close to Talks (tags)
The EPCC NEWS reported today that former Bayan Muna representative and defeated NP guest candidate for senator Satur Ocampo said “ President Benigno Aquino III's spiel on peace talks with the National Democratic Front in his State of the Nation Address practically closed the door on their immediate resumption. Ocampo also said that while Aquino was more positive about pursuing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF), he set preconditions for talks with the NDF, Ocampo said in Bacolod City on Monday.
Public Anger and Distrust of Business and Government (tags)
opposition to business and government
Sri Lanka Crushing of the Tigers, A Lesson for Noynoy Aquino III? (tags)
If the Aquino administration is to deliver on its promise to crush the decades-long insurgencies in the Philippines by 2013, it might be worthwhile to study Sri Lanka’s success in defeating terrorism. On July 3, newly appointed military Chief of Staff Ricardo David Jr. said the Aquino government hopes to crush the communist New People’s Army and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front by 2013. Three years may appear overly ambitious given the experience of former President Gloria Arroyo in 2006, when her government vowed—but failed—to end the twin insurgencies before her term ended on June 30.
Philippines: Comrade Torturer (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines killed hundreds of its own cadres in a wave of paranoia that swept the rebel movement in the 1980s.
Excerpts from “How will our People’s War Attain a Qualitative Leap?” (tags)
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has called on us all, to rally around the leadership and exert utmost revolutionary efforts, seizing every moment in our people’s war, to achieve a qualitative development of the revolutionary struggle. This is the call of the hour. At a time when US Imperialism and its European cohorts are facing grave economic and financial crisis, far worse than the Economic Depression of 1930s, our people’s war can seize this opportunity to all-sidedly intensify our struggle and bring the revolution to a new stage of qualitative development.
FILIPINOS around the world: Turn grief into revolutionary courage, (tags)
Learn from Ka Elliot, Cast away parliamentary illusions!
Human Rights Group Calls on Authorities to Free Two Pregnant Detainees in the Philippines. (tags)
PESANTE-USA , a human rights and peasant advocacy group based in Los Angeles today , two detained health workers accused of being members of the New People’s Army are pregnant and may give birth inside their detention cell in Taguig City if they are not released. Pesante learned it from the group calling themselves as the Free the 43 Health Workers! Alliance asked President Benigno Aquino III to release the accused communists.
Philipine rebels will start talks (tags)
New government will talk with them too
RP rebels use child soldiers—UN (tags)
MANILA, Philippines—Three of the country’s rebel groups—Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf, communist New People’s Army, and secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front—are among the world’s “persistent violators of children in armed conflicts,” the United Nations said.
MILITARY TORTURE AND STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Despite the election of Benigno Aquino III to succeed the corrupt brutal Arroyo, 43 healthworkers continue to suffer military torture. Five are confined to the military camp alleged as self-confessed New People's Army guerillas, while 38 were transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, notorious for the massacre of Moro suspects. The five persons on which the fascist generals are concentrating their torture are: VALENTINO PAULINO, CHERRYLYN TAWAGON, ELLEN CARANDANG, JENNYLYN PIZZARO, & JOHN MARK BARRIENTOS. Carandang's children were taken from their home by the military," according to KARAPATAN, human rights monitor. Their relatives are threatened or offered bribes coercively to side with the military and incriminate themselves or their kin. We appeal to the international community to denounce this barbaric treatment and demand the immediate release of the Morong 43.
Analysis of the RP 2010 Electiion by Prof. Jose Ma. Sison (tags)
The conduct of the 2010 elections shows the rottenness of the US-dominated ruling system of big compradors and landlords. It was a process dominated by the coalitions, parties and candidates of the reactionary ruling classes. Beforehand, it excluded the leaders of the working people who were repressed or who were without campaign funds. It was merely a personality-based contest of the political agents of the same exploiting classes. They did not offer any strong differences in terms of program. They mouthed slogans against poverty and corruption and the need for change. But they said nothing about overcoming the three monsters of foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism which exploit, impoverish and oppress the people. They gave no serious attention to the worsening crisis of the domestic ruling system and the world capitalist system.
PHILIPPINES: Sabotaging the path to the strategic stalemate (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has spent a tremendous amount of manpower, financial and materials resources in the electoral campaign, in the process forging a tactical alliance with the landlord-bureaucrat capitalist Manuel Villar, the Nacionalista Party--and indirectly with the family of the late fascist puppet dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The facts against psywar intrigues in the Philippines (tags)
As chief political consultant of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), I am well informed about the revolutionary position of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army and the NDFP as well as the position of other major political forces in relation to the 2010 elections of the reactionary government.
Police warn of more NPA attacks before May polls (tags)
The Los Angeles based PESANTE NEWS sources reported today that the Philippine national police (PNP) warned Saturday that NPAt rebels would step up violent attacks ahead of the May 10 general elections, with politicians and isolated police posts seen as prime targets. Police chief Jesus Verzosa said the New People's Army (NPA) sought to derail the democratic process as well as raise funds by extorting money from candidates, who are threatened with harm if they refused to pay up. "The recent atrocities committed by (the NPA) against candidates, civilians and the public in general indicate their deliberate effort to exploit (police and military) focus on election duties," he said in a statement.
Philippine Human Rights Commission slams communist rebels’ permit-to-campaign fees (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) slammed the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army for defending their collection of Permit-to-Campaign (PTC) fees in various parts of the country.
All efforts towards advancing the national democratic revolution in the Philippines! (tags)
Today we celebrate with utmost joy the Filipino people’s gallant struggle for national liberation and genuine democracy under a united front. Thirty seven years ago on April 24, in the face of the fascist Marcos dictatorship, revolutionary organizations came together to form the National Democratic Front (NDF). Through the years the NDF has proven its commitment in advancing the revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people to overthrow the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system which oppresses, deprives and exploits majority of the masses.
RED SALUTE TO THE NPA FOR ITS 41st YEAR (tags)
The Los Angeles PESANTE NEWS learned today from media sources in the Philippines that Jorge Madlos, NDF Spokesperson for Mindanao said: " We give the highest salute to the New People's Army on its 41st anniversary of its foundation on March 29, 1969 in the second district of Tarlac. In 1972, the NPA also established guerilla fronts in Mindanao and spread swiftly throughout the archipelago. The red fighters of the NPA and the revolutionary masses who have offered their very lives in the service of the people deserve no less than our highest regard and praise.
CPP-NPA Permit to Campaign Fees: Fundraising or Opportunism? (tags)
The Philippine Left and the 2010 Elections The issue of the New Peoples Army collecting ‘permit to campaign fees’ (euphemistically named ‘revolutionary taxes’ by the Communist Party of the Philippines) from capitalist traditional politicians (trapo or rug) wanting to campaign in NPA strongholds has once again resurfaced in the lead-up to the May 2010 elections. The fees buy these trapo politicians a ‘permit to campaign’ in NPA areas. According to a February 5 Dateline news report, documents obtained from an NPA leader arrested in January this year, pegs the taxes from P30 million for a presidential candidate to P5000 for a candidate for local council. It’s a well-known ‘secret’ in the left that this practice of tax collection during elections is a lucrative source of fundraising for the CPP-NPA.
CPDF; No fee for campaign (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned today that an official of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) said guerrilla leaders would allow political candidates to campaign in Cordillera villages where communist rebels operate without paying permit to campaign (PTC) fees. Simon Naogsan, spokesman of the CPDF, the local political arm of the National Democratic Front, said New People’s Army (NPA) rebels have never forced candidates to pay the NPA in exchange for access to so-called rebel territories.
Political Killings still major problem in RP, says US (tags)
"At long last, the US State Department have stated the obvious" The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) News today through various news sources that the US State Department has reported that extrajudicial killings remained a major problem in the Philippines last year and that security forces and insurgent groups were both responsible. The “2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” released to the US Congress on March 11, noted that concerns about impunity in the Philippines persisted.
U.S.-BACKED STATE TERRORISM AND MILITARY BRUTALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Millions of US taxpayers' money are supporting de facto President Arroyo's despotic rule in the Philippines. The continuing torture of 43 health workers may be an alibi to cover up the horrendous Ampatuan massacre and numerous corruption scandals, a preparation for martial rule by May 20. Fascist violence will surely be met by the enraged mobilization of the masses. The US public needs to protest the use of their taxdollars to fund Arroyo's extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of thousands of Filipino civilians.
NDF-EV demands immediate release of Michelle Adelantar from GRP custody (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS learned today that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today demanded the immediate release from the Arroyo government's custody of Michelle Adelantar, a daughter of a cadre of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army. "In violation of international humanitarian law, Michelle, 17, was abducted and detained last Feb. 3 in San Jose de Buan, Western Samar by operating troops from the 34th Infantry Battalion merely because she was the child of a CPP-NPA cadre," said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson.
AFP Award Medals to Torturers of Morong 43 (tags)
AJLPP NEWS sources learned today that Philippine Senators Pia Cayetano and Jamby Madrigal and other groups Tuesday cried foul over the awarding of Bronze Cross Medals to military officers involved in the controversial arrest and detention of 43 health workers attending a seminar in Morong, Rizal, early this month. “There’s something seriously wrong when a government institution commends its personnel for committing an illegal act,” said Cayetano in a statement.
PESANTE-USA CONDEMNS AFP"S DEFIANCE OF COURT ORDER ON MORONG 43 (tags)
The Philippine Support Network (PESANTE-USA) based in the United States condemns the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP for defying the court order to surface the illegally detained Morong 43. Despite the order of the by the Supreme Court, the military and the police failed to present before the Court of Appeals Friday the 43 health workers arrested on Feb. 6 on suspicion of being members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
FASCIST MILITARY VIOLENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
The arrest and torture of 43 medical and health professionals in the Philippines by the Arroyo military and police seeks to obscure the ongoing Ampatuwan-Arroyo trial and rehearse emergency martial-law schemes to prolong the Arroyo regime's corrupt and brutal domination. US citizens: will you allow millions of your tax-dollars to support Arroyo's military-police in fascist abuses?
Philippine Army chief sees ‘meltdown’ NPA by June (tags)
The EPCC NEWS today learned that the military on Monday said it has been well on track to defeating the communist insurgency within 2010, with the string of successes against the New People's Army across the country, causing the "meltdown" of rebel forces. According to the EPCC, in a speech to the army camp in Davao province in Mindanao, Army Lt. General Delfin Bangit, Philippine Army chief, said the military has been able to deal significant blows against the NPA, trimming down Asia's longest-running Maoist insurgency "into smaller formations." Bangit was in Davao del Norte Monday to personally thank and reward soldiers for "back-to-back victories" against the NPA in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces in a week.
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! (tags)
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), a national alliance of veterans, youth, students and community organizations and activists for veterans' rights based in Los Angeles expressed utmost disgust as the DVA announced that it has denied 16,000 claims for lump sum. JFAV media coordinator Joy-Alonica Bautista said, "This is an outrage considering that the US and Philippine governments made so much political capital of the lump sum." Racism as a problem Now, the truth is out: They have taken the Filipinos and the Filipino-American community and our veterans for a ride. This is another dirty act and a living proof of racism.
43 suspected NPA Rebels nabbed in Morong training seminar (tags)
the EPCC NEWS reported today that Philippine state forces on Saturday raided a resort in Morong, Rizal, owned by a prominent Manila doctor and arrested 43 suspected communist rebels attending a training seminar. Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesperson of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said those arrested in the resthouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a consultant at Philippine General Hospital and professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine, were “ranking New People’s Army (NPA) leaders.”
AFP-NPA Clashes: 28 AFP troops killed or wounded (tags)
EPCCNEWS learned today that more than 28 AFP troops were killed or wounded in several clashes in the Philippines last week. At least five Army soldiers were killed while 11 others were wounded in separate clashes with communist rebels in Malibcong and Tubo towns in Abra, in Northern Luzon on Sunday,January 31 reports reaching this camp on Monday said. Lieutenant Colonel Loreto Magundayao Jr., 5th Infantry Division spokesman and civil-military operations battalion commander, declined to identify the slain soldiers, saying Army officials were still getting in contact with their relatives, as of Monday.
EPCC NEWS February 1, 2010 AFP-NPA Clashes: 27 AFP troops killed or wounded (tags)
EPCCNEWS learned today that more than 28 AFP troops were killed or wounded in several clashes in the Philippines last week. At least five Army soldiers were killed while 11 others were wounded in separate clashes with communist rebels in Malibcong and Tubo towns in Abra, in Northern Luzon on Sunday,January 31 reports reaching this camp on Monday said. Lieutenant Colonel Loreto Magundayao Jr., 5th Infantry Division spokesman and civil-military operations battalion commander, declined to identify the slain soldiers, saying Army officials were still getting in contact with their relatives, as of Monday.
AFP Clashes with NPA , 16 killed or wounded (tags)
EPCC NEWs today revealed that more than 11 soldiers were killed or wounded in clashes with the NPA all over the Philippines. At least five Army soldiers were killed while four others were hurt in a clash with communist rebels in Bontoc, Mountain Province, the military here said Thursday.
Condemn the US-Arroyo Regime's Peddler of Lies, Fight its False Propaganda! (tags)
The reactionary and counter-revolutionary propaganda factory of the US-Arroyo regime led by the AFP, continue to churn out and plague the media and the public with illogical falsehoods to attack the legitimate left, which endanger the very lives of many activists and critics of this corrupt government. The black propaganda employed by the likes of Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jun Alcover and Brig. Gen. Eduardo del Rosario lumps together the legal progressive movement in urban areas and the armed revolution led by the CPP-NPA-NDF in the countryside. It aims to vilify, as part of its modus operandi, certain individuals in the progressive movement whom they capriciously judge as "supporters or leaders of the revolution" and make them targets of political assassinations.
NDF hits promotion of Army chiefs linked to Ampatuan massacre (tags)
The National Democratic Front scores the US-Arroyo regime for playing chess by placing its most rabid bootlickers in key positions in the reactionary government, notwithstanding its self-perpetuating move to change the reactionary Charter. The US-Arroyo regime is getting more and more edgy as its current occupant, Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is becoming more and more despised by the Filipino people. With the widespread discontent on the country's political and economic situation and mounting calls for justice to the victims of human rights violations and the brutal November 23 Ampatuan massacre, Mrs. Arroyo's plan to perpetuate in power through the GRP congress is ever more audacious and blatant.
More Army troops deployed to W. Visayas to crush Reds (tags)
PESANTE NEWS learned today from media sources from Cebu City that the Army has deployed more troops in Western Visayas, just months before the June 2010 deadline set by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to strategically defeat the communist-led insurgency. The Army's 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) based in Jamindan town, Capiz on Monday formally deployed 190 soldiers to units on the islands of Negros, Panay and parts of Mindanao, 3ID public information officer 1st Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas said in a statement.
PHILIPPINES:CAFGU exemption makes Comelec gun ban useless--NDF (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned today that the revolutionary movement in the Philippines led by the NDF today said exempting the paramilitary CAFGU (Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit) also known as Civilian Armed Auxiliaries (CAA) from the election gun ban makes the Commission on Election's gun ban useless. "With proddings, arms and funds from the reactionary state, especially under the Arroyo regime, paramilitary forces have proliferated as civilian adjuncts and 'force multipliers' not only of the government military and police forces but of feudal-fascist political warlords."
Palparan's vow to attack unarmed and vulnerable targets is cowardice -- NDF-Southern Minda (tags)
The EPCC news learned today through media sources that the NDF-Mindanao condemns the butcher general Jovito Palparan, Jr. had pronounced last year that he will bring his anti-communism crusade in Davao City especially during the election period. Now with only a month to go before the reactionary GRP election kicks off, expect Palparan's open and dirty war against progressive party-lists, individuals, groups and their supporters to be unleashed.
NDF-Mindanao Hits AFP's "Four Aces" (tags)
Pesante News today learned that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Southern Mindanao hits the reactionary Philippine Army's stresses for 2010 calling them mere euphemism for a more vicious campaign against the Filipino people and the revolutionary movement. The fascist Philippine Army's recently pronounced four ACEs -- Army's Concern for the Environment, Army's Concern for Engineering, Army's Combat Excellence and Advocacy for Credible Elections -- is only a preliminary propaganda purveyed by its chief, the notorious Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit. Bangit, the most favored among Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's bootlicking generals, is groomed to replace current AFP chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado. Bangit from PMA Class 1978is now posturing himself to strengthen his bid for the AFP's highest position and dispel well-founded views that he will be playing a crucial role in perpetuating Mrs. Arroyo in power. His first attempt is to deodorize his unit's notorious record of human rights violations and electoral fraud. Despite Bangit's putting-his-best-foot-forward move, the Filipino people smell the stink of the Philippine Army's four ACEs. Its ballyhooed Advocacy for Credible Elections is nothing but a machination by the reactionary AFP to push its devious game plan of ensuring Mrs. Arroyo's victory in the upcoming GRP elections and continue her hold on power.
POLITICAL WITCH-HUNT IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
The case of Prof. Sarah Raymundo's firing at the University of the Philippines betokens the sharpening political contradictions and hegemonic crisis occurring in what William Blum calls the oldest longest-held colony of the US, currently ruled by the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime praised by Barack Obama.
Revolutionary Forces says more guerrilla fronts needed to win in the Philippines (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS learned today through news sources that the revolutionary group--the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said in a statement marking its 41st founding anniversary today that it needed to increase the number of its guerrilla fronts and combatants if it were to win its protracted war against the government. The CPP said the guerrilla fronts of its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), should grow “from around 120 to 180 in order to cover the rural congressional districts and gain the ability to deploy armed city partisan units in the urban congressional districts.”
WHOSE COUNTRY IS IT ANYWAY? (tags)
After 11 years of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the two sides were close to a deal known as the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. This was essentially an agreement that would have granted points of autonomy to the Moro people in Mindanao and the Southern Philippines. Just before the signing, the government stopped the negotiations on Sept. 3 and plunged into attack mode. They launched joint police-military offensives against the MILF and civilians. Since then, more than 500,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to abandon homes and thrown into refugee camps. Now, one-third of the Philippines is on the verge of erupting into open warfare. I'm not talking about your garden variety guerilla skirmishes here and there. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their allies have proven capable of launching conventional maneuvers into the theater in the past. Add to that milieu the very vibrant Communist led New People's Army Southern Command and of course the reactionary group Abu Sayyaf - then you have a situation that could explode into a conflict that could rival the Balkans in the 90's.
Resist Arroyo's martial law and brazen attempts to remain in power (tags)
EPCC news learned today that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today called on the people to resist Gloria Arroyo's proclamation of martial law in Maguindanao as well as her brazen attempts to remain in power. "Gloria Arroyo's martial law in Maguindanao is an attack on the people, not serving justice on the Ampatuan clan, and thus must be confronted with a strong movement of the people," said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson. "It is in line with Arroyo's avowal to remain in power, through running for congress and other opportunist acts in her favor. The people must thus do their utmost and fight Arroyo and martial law today and in the coming months. The people must raise the clamor for Arroyo's ouster the more she remains intransigent." Fr. Salas averred that the martial law proclamation was a ploy in Arroyo's favor. "Declaring martial law will not render justice to the victims of the massacre or make the election better in Maguindanao, where many believed the Ampatuans and Arroyo connived in 2004 and 2007 for their mutual interests. It is instead an act of the superior taking charge over the messy affairs of the subordinate to ensure the survival of their common interests, especially keeping Arroyo in power.
THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
A commentary on the Nov 23 slaughter of 57 civilians in Maguindanao, Philipppines, sketching the historical parameters of the event and the converging political and social forces involved, with a focus on the U.S. role in establishing the groundwork for the evils of the prevailing Arroyo state terrorism.
CPDF BLAMED DISASTERS DUE EXTRACTIVE MINING AND LOGGING (tags)
- Pesante News learned through news sources today that the CPDF blamed the recent disastrous flooding and numerous landslides in Northern Luzon that inflicted heavy losses in lives and property highlight the often overlooked cost of developmental aggression. In more ways than one do the common people pay for huge projects that generate super-profits for foreign big business interests and their local lackeys.
Military supremacy leading to human rights violations in Eastern Visayas (tags)
PESANTE NEWS learned today that the the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas charged the 8th Infantry Division today of pushing its Oplan Bantay Laya campaign by intimidating the public and dominating the civilian government in the region. "The military is intimidating the public by coming out with an order of battle or liquidation list, and then going into schools and communities to conduct witch hunts and commit other human rights violations," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas.
U.S. IMPERIALISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
After more than a century of brutal colonization of the Philippines, U.S. troops continue to battle Moro insurgents and the New People's Army guerillas to protects its investments, support the bloody oligarchs headed by the Arroyo clique, and preserve its neocolonial stranglehold. The U.S. public should wake up to demand that Obama stop its support of the Arroyo regime and withdraw U.S. troops. E. San Juan's two books might help inform the US public of what's going on in the Philippines today.
On abduction, illegal detention, and torture of the Filipino-American Melissa Roxas (tags)
Torture is torture. Torture is barbaric. Torture of anyone is human rights violation. Torture of an NPA commander, member, trainee or sympathizer is still a torture. Torture will not bring the truth. A person undergoing torture may admit to anything he or she being accused of.
Kin find activist tortured in Army camp in Cagayan province (tags)
Pesante-USA , an environmental and a human rights advocacy group based in Los Angeles learned today through news sources in Manila that relatives and friends of a youth activist who was reported missing for more than a week. They found him in a military camp in Cagayan province, allegedly beaten and tortured into admitting that he was a communist rebel. Noriel Rodriguez, 26, a member of the militant youth group Anakbayan, was held for 10 days in various camps of the Army’s 17th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Masin in Alcala town in Cagayan, according to the Tanggulan Youth Network for Human Rights and Civil Liberties.
AFP/ of the US-Arroyo regime attempted to assassinate Ka Choy, NDFP consultant (tags)
The 9th Infantry Division-Philippine Army is weaving a web of lies when it said that that it was a unit of the New People’s Army that ambushed and attempted to snatch Glicerio ‘Ka Choy’ Pernia from his police escorts around 10:20 am earlier today in Brgy. Lower Binogsacan, Guinobatan, Albay. No unit of the NPA was involved in this incident and it is clear that what happened was a dastardly attempt of the AFP to assassinate Ka Choy who is a consultant of the NDFP Peace Panel and then put the blame on the NPA. Ka Choy and his escorts had just attended a court hearing in Ligao City and were onboard a vehicle on the way back to the Albay Provincial Jail when they were shot at. They were near a detachment of the 502nd PNP-PMG at the time. One of the police escorts, PO1 Rommel Aringo, was hit in the back.
ACTIVE US INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
The Pesante News gathered today from news sources that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is deceiving the Filipino people when it claims that US soldiers based in the Philippines are not engaged in operations against the New People's Army (NPA). NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos said this in reaction to a statement by AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Jr. denying US troops' involvement in anti-NPA operations. Pesante News said that Ka. Oris, NDF-Mindanao spokesoerson said that "Brawner is a flunky of the US military. He is an apologist for US military intervention. Just like his superiors in the AFP and the Arroyo regime, he praises the US military for permanently stationing its troops in the Philippines even if it violates Philippine sovereignty," Madlos further said that US soldiers have been involved in operations against the NPA for several years now. The 600-strong Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) under the US Pacific Command has been stationed in the Philippines since 2002 and is involved in "counterinsurgency" operations.
Wage all-out struggle against US forces in Mindanao--NDF/Ka Oris (tags)
The National Democratic Front-Mindanao (NDF-Mindanao) today issued a call urging all revolutionary forces in Mindanao "to wage an all-out struggle against the deployment and intervention of American soldiers in the internal armed conflict in the Philippines." NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Jorge Madlos ("Ka Oris") issued the call in response to the statement by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the US will continue to involve itself in the "counter-insurgency" war in the Philippines which would include heightened support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Peace now, Resume the Peace Talks, Now! (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) with the five million strong Filipino American community in the United States wrote to you in the interest of true justice and lasting peace in the Philippines. The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) expresses its alarm and consternation on the recent developments on the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). We are greatly troubled that the Philippines have never known a period of relative peace since 1972 when the US-Marcos dictatorship waged war against the New People’s Army (NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro people represented by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) until it surrendered in 1996 and then by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Up to now Mindanao is a battle ground with more 2.6 million people affected by the war and more or less 750,000 war refugees in Central Mindanao and elsewhere.
NTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION SAYS : Rebellion, crime raps vs solons, harassment (tags)
PESANTE NEWS reported from news sources from MANILA today that Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said that the Rebellion charges and other criminal cases filed against four progressive party-list lawmakers were all meant to impair their capacity to perform their tasks as members of the House of Representatives. The four lawmakers raised the concern before the IPU in 2007 after the government filed rebellion charges against them for their alleged involvement in the foiled plot to overthrow the Arroyo administration in February 2006. The the international body then urged the Arroyo administration to act on the cases with dispatch or right away clear Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casino of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela, and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.
KD70 Statement on the Partial Writ for Roxas (tags)
For the Kilusang Dekada 70( KD70), the association of Filipino-American activists who are now residing in the United States,we firmly believe that the CA partial writ for Melissa Roxas is just a carbon copy of the some of the ruling of the high courts and other courts that upheld the concept of justice but contradicts the inequities of the ruling system. The recent The Court of Appeals decision on the partial granting of the petition for writ of amparo and habeas data filed by Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas only successfully highlights and exposes the contradictions in the bourgeois justice system in the Philippines.
CA GRANTS PARTIAL WRIT FOR MELISSA ROXAS (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA learned through news sources in the Philippines that the Court of Appeals has partially granted the petition for writ of amparo and habeas data filed by Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas, and directed the military establishment to provide protection to her and her family while in the country against any form of harassment. In a 33-page decision penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, the CA’s Former Special 16th Division also enjoined the military from distributing to the public any documents or records pertaining to Roxas’s alleged ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Melissa Roxas: Torture, Not Political Affiliation, Is the Issue (tags)
The latest accusations of Philippine Congressman Jovito Palparan should bear no weight in determining the outcome of the ongoing investigation on the case of American torture victim Melissa Roxas. This must only be determined by the facts, including the evidence currently being gathered by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines.
New People's Rebellion/Revolution: Refuse to Pay your Credit Card Bills!!! (tags)
Hell you can't arrest 10 or 20 million or more people for not paying their monthly bills! All you can really do is to "Negotiate" with them! .............................................................................
ARROYO ORDERS AFP TO WIPE OUT NPA IN SAMAR/NEGROS (tags)
More clashes are expected between government soldiers and communist rebels following President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo’s order for the military to wipe out guerrillas in Samar. Ms. Arroyo issued the order to the military at a visit to Samar last week before she went to her trip abroad. This was according to Lt. Col. Oscar Lasangue, head of the 3rd Civil Relations Group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In a phone interview Tuesday, Lasangue said Samar and Negros Island were priorities in the counterinsurgency campaign. He said the military’s job was to reduce rebel strength to allow the Philippine National Police to take over the fight against the communists. The communist New People’s Army, however, insisted on its continued strength in a statement posted on its website.
An Open Letter to the People in Response to an 8th ID ruse (tags)
A group with the pornographic name of SABIK (Samahan ng mga Biktima ng Komunista) recently issued a press statement assailing the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas over a "child rebel" issue. The NDF-EV believes that the 8th Infantry Division is behind this group, since legal and moral predicaments hinder the military from exploiting the child, whom it claims to have recently rescued from the New People's Army. In these interesting times, it is important for the revolutionary movement and the democratic mass movement to answer such fascist and anti-democratic groups as SABIK (for publicity, we presume).
Digos Massacre Remembered (tags)
25 June 2009 It is quite common these days to read from the newspapers violence being perpetrated by the communist New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) that most Filipinos no longer care as long they are not the poor victims. People have become so passive that when rebels committed atrocities to civilians, none would make a fuss about it or chastise the perpetrators -- except for the families of the victims and the authorities. None would take the initiative to launch a crusade to seek justice. This is also what happened 20 years ago today.
Troop additions meant to suppress protests against Cha-cha (tags)
---The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today belittled the 8th Infantry Division's push for troop additions and said that the real purpose for new soldiers is to suppress the people's protests against charter change or "cha-cha". "It is not credible for Gen. Arthur Tabaquero to say that an additional 600 soldiers will ensure government victory by 2010," said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson. "During the Marcos dictatorship, the New People's Army in Samar alone thrived while fighting against government troops numbering more than twice the present military deployment in the island. The revolutionary movement today is far stronger than it was more than twenty years ago and is fast expanding in Samar and Leyte. The real reason for additional troops is to put down protests against impending charter change and to ensure by armed force that Gloria Arroyo will remain in power beyond 2010. More troops will mean more political killings and other human rights violations."
US-Arroyo Gov’t fails to stop killings, Political killing Still Persists (tags)
he Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) condemns the US -Arroyo Regime for its failure to stop extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and its avowed policy that the military should end the insurgency "once and for all" by 2010. The AJLPP beleives that this policy remained the justification of military officials in tagging political and civil society organizations as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army. These are some of the observations made by Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings in a recent report. "Overall, the most important shortcoming has been the Government's failure to institutionalize or implement the many necessary reforms that have been identified. In the absence of such steps, the progress that has been made remains fragile and easily reversed," Alston said in his 16-page report. Alston said the follow-up report was based on information provided by the government as well as through consultations with domestic and international civil society, and by reference to publicly available reports and materials.
US-ARROYO REGIME FAILS TO STOP POLITICAL KILLINGS-UN REPORT (tags)
he administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed to institute substantive reforms recommended two years ago by the United Nations’ special rapporteur to put a stop to extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. And the President's statement that the military should end the insurgency "once and for all" by 2010 remained the justification of military officials in tagging political and civil society organizations as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army.
The Communist Party of the Philippines and the Khmer Rouge (tags)
For decades the Khmer Rouge regime has been exposed for its atrocities and genocides against its own people. Yet the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) nor its political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF) nor any of its influenced and led organizations have issued any statement of condemnation. In fact in some of the statements issued by the CPP-NDF or interviews issued by its leaders, they seem to defend the Khmer Rouge.
New People's Army (NPA) celebrates 40th anniversary in the Philippines (tags)
The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Sunday congratulated its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), on the 40th anniversary of its founding in the Philippines. "We congratulate all the Red commanders and fighters, the Party cadres and members in the NPA and the broad masses of the people for their accumulated and current victories. We render the highest tribute to our revolutionary martyrs and heroes," said the CPP in a statement posted on its Web site.
AJLPP Hopes Release of 3 PNP POWS will help resume peace talks (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) expresses hope that the release of three policemen held by New People’s Army rebels for three months to Senator Jamby Madrigal will help in the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the GRP and NDFP. The AJLPP said the release was a “sign of goodwill on the part of the NDFP. They did not ask for ransom, for anything in return.” The AJLPP also said the NDFP was hoping that this gracious act would convince the government to resume the talks.
US OUT OF IRAQ, THE PHILIPPINES AND EVERYWHERE! (tags)
As the invasion of Iraq enters its seventh year, the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) continues to express militant greetings and solidarity to the people of Iraq, Philippines and everywhere who are fighting US imperialism and its forces of occupation. We stand with the people marching in the streets of Washington, DC today in the united cry “From Iraq to Afghanistan to Philippines and Palestine, OCCUPATION IS A CRIME!” The US thirst for war must end. The current administration is not ending the US wars of aggression, but is transferring the war to other countries like Afghanistan. We are reminded how Nixon said he wanted to end the unpopular war in Vietnam but escalated the war in Cambodia and Laos. By redeploying 30,000 or more troops to Afghanistan, threatening Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation, Obama is not proving to be much different from his predecessors
US ALIS SA IRAQ, PHILIPPINES AT LAHAT NG DAKO ! (tags)
Sa pagsapit ng ika pitong taon ng pananalakay ng US sa Iraq, ipinapahayag ng Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) ang militanteng pagbati at pagpupugay nito sa mga palabang masa ng Iraq, Pilipinas at lahat ng dako ng mundo na lumalaban sa Imperyalismong US at lahat ng pwersang nanakop. Kaisa kaming naninidigan ng lahat ng taong nagmamartsa sa Washington DC sa panawagan:” Mula sa Iraq, Afghanistan hanggang sa Palestina at Pilipinas: “Ang pananakop ay isang Krimen!”
AI, EU Community Calls for Probe and End of Political Killings (tags)
Lawmakers of the European Union (EU) and the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) have again urged the government to put an end to political killings. At the same time, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald of the European Commission condemned on Monday the abduction and murder early this month of Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao.
AFP MIG AGENTS TAGGED IN TEACHER'S KILLING (tags)
The leader of the NPA in Mindanao has accused four agents of the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) of the armed forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command of perpetrating the torture and murder of his daughter. Leoncio Pitao, alias Commander Parago of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Mindanao, said his daughter, Rebelyn, 20 and an elementary school teacher, was abducted, tortured and murdered by the four MIG agents. Pitao identified the four in an interview in his hideout somewhere in Paquibato District as Ben Tipait, Aldan Sulao, Helvin Bitang and Pedring Pedregosa.
NDF CONDEMNS PITAO MURDER IN MINDANAO (tags)
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines condemns in the strongest terms the abduction and brutal murder of 20-year-old Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of Lencio Pitao, Commander of the New People's Army. We hold Mrs. Gloria Arroyo and Executive Secretary, General Eduardo Ermita responsible for this dastardly violation of Rebelyn Pitao's right to life. It is likewise a blatant violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
CPP WARNS OF ATTACKS VS BALIKATAN WAR EXERCISE (tags)
AJLPP learned from news sources in the Philippines that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to attack American and Filipino military forces when they hold joint exercises in the Bicol region in April. "NPA units in Bicol are specifically instructed to launch as many tactical offensives as they can in many areas of the region in mockery of the Balikatan [Shoulder to Shoulder] exercises and to prevent the US military from strengthening its foothold in the region," the CPP said in a statement sent to Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.
US-RP BALIKATAN IN BICOL (tags)
LEGAZPI CITY—The AJLPP sources learned today that RP-US War Exercise BALIKATAN is underway in Bicol region, southern Luzon, Philippines. Bicol is one of the hot spot of NPA insurgency since 1972. Proof of this, according to Capt. Kelly Schmader, commander of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, are the 2009 RP-US Balikatan military exercises that will be held in three Bicol provinces—Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon—in April.
Prof. Sison Greets the CPP on its 40th Year (tags)
As founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), I convey warmest greetings of comradeship to all CPP cadres and members on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the CPP. I share your joy in celebrating all the struggles waged and all the victories won by the CPP and the Filipino people in the last four decades of the new democratic revolution.
Philippines: An urgent call to the NDF and the GRP regarding the recent killings of farmer (tags)
An urgent call to the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) regarding the recent killings of farmers!
PESANTE CONDEMNS SOUTHERN TAGALOG ACTIVIST CRACKDOWN (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA condemns in the strongest terms what the Southern Tagalog peasant activist crackdown and witch hunt under the US-Arroyo fascist regime. This is how Pesante-USA, a human rights, Filipino peasant advocacy and environmental organization in Los Angeles and Southern Tagalog activists described what would come next after farmer leader Rogelio Galit was arrested Monday evening at Barangay Kaong, Silang, Cavite on murder charges filed at the regional trial court in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. Pesante-USA learned through media sources that around 15 armed men in civilian clothes arrested Galit, an officer of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan and spokesperson of the Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid sa Kabite, said his wife Patricia who witnessed the arrest at their house.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
Gen. Ochoa is daydreaming of victory against the NPA (tags)
Gen Ochoa of the 3rd ID Phil Army (PA) once again is "flying in the clouds" when he said that the "insurgency problem" will end in 2008. His braggings are the same with the illusions of the generals during the Marcos dictatorship up to the Estrada regime. He only wants to entertain the officials of the 302nd and 303rd Bde that their promotions will be affected because of the AFP's failures to hit their target-objectives in destroying the revolutionary movement in Negros being the priority of Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL2) II in the whole of Western Visayas. In three quarters of this year, the AFP has no significant breakthrough in their counter-revolutionary campaign. Surely by the last quarter of this year, they wil reap nothing but failures.
60th founding anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (tags)
Message on the occasion of the 60th founding anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Southern Mindanao hits the Arroyo regime for feigning innocence and doublespeak while covertly sponsoring the resurgence of vigilante groups like the notorious Ilaga, now called the Reform Ilaga Movement. Mike Santiago, spokesperson of the Reform Ilaga Movement, recently announced they will heed the call of North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol of "restraining themselves from intervening in the already worse situation in Mindanao but would immediately take action once civilians are attacked by members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)." Ilaga, civilian volunteers' organization and police auxiliaries will be trained as fanatic fascist frontliners of the Arroyo regime. These groups will be used to wreak havoc not only against members of the MILF and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-NDF (CPP-NPA-NDF), but more against the Bangsamoro people, indigenous peoples and settlers in Mindanao.
Panawagan sa Mamamayang Moro: Ipagpatuloy ang Diwang Mapanlaban, Biguin ang Atake ng USAR (tags)
Ngayon sa panahon ng Ramadan, hinihimok ng Moro Resistance and Liberation Organization ang mamamayang Moro na isabuhay ang ispiritu at panawagan ng Qur'an sa pagpapatupad ng tunay na kapayapaan at hustisya at paglaban sa pag-aapi at tiranya sa pamamagitan ng pag-igting ng pakikibaka para sa sariling pagpapasya at pagbigo sa atake ng rehimeng US-Arroyo.
US-Arroyo Regime Policy of "All Out Peace" Means "All Out War". (tags)
With profound sadness and most serious concern, the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP through its West Coast Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia expresses dismay over the fate of the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine Government. The AJLPP views President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recent orders of a "thorough review" of all government peace initiatives after dissolving the panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), as bad faith, lacking in political will and a traditional display of political opportunism The AJLPP is alarmed by the growing number of people affected by the conflict. AJLPP sources have confirmed that more than 487,000 people have been dislocated by the ongoing military offensives in Northern and Central Mindanao. More than 200 soldiers and MILF fighters as well as civilians have been killed in the month old conflict.
Pesante Hails Transfer of Echanis to PNP Jail- A Tactical Victory (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA) hails the transfer of Randal Echanis, yesterday. Echanis, a persecuted leader of KMP, a veterans FQSM student leader and an NDF Peace Consultant PNP was transferred from the Manila City Jail to the PNP Jai. The transfer is a tactical victory in the interest of justice and lasting peace and was a demand of different human rights groups in the Philippines and in the U.S. Pesante Coordinator Arturo Garcia said: “Echanis should not have been transferred to the Manila City Jail from the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, It is just a simple case of persecution and the SOP of the resurging and copycat martial law regime. The US-Marcos regime did the same when they transferred the political prisoners from the detention centers to Muntinglupa National Penitentiary and declared them as “public order violators”
PESANTE-USA WARNS AGAINST BUILD-UP OF ARROYO'S BROWN SHIRTS (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA, a Filipino peasant, human rights and environmental advocacy group based in Los Angeles strongly warned of the US-Arroyo regime scheme of taking advantage of the current troubles in Mindanao to build up its local version of Hitler's Brown Shirts. Pesante is one with the Amnesty International (AI) and many religious groups in the Philippines who are warning the public and the whole world at these vigilante groups which are recycled ILAGAS (known as the Ilonggo landgrabbers Association) who are known anti-Moro vigilante groups before martial law was declared will only aggravate the armed conflict in Mindanao.
On the Ancestral Land MOA of the MILF and GRP and the Escalation of Hostilities (tags)
The Cordillera Peoples' Democratic Front (CPDF) expresses deep concern and condemns the war of aggression being waged by the US-backed reactionary Armed Forces of the Philippines that has caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of both Christian and Moro people in Mindanao. It likewise condemns US direct intervention in the war-torn south.
Frustrate Arroyo's Cha-cha and All out War (tags)
By declaring all-out military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front days after unravelling moves to amend the GRP Constitution, Gloria Arroyo has thoroughly exposed her shameless ambition to perpetuate herself in power. Militarization and federalism will not solve the problems of Mindanao and the Moro people; they will only aggravate them. Arroyo and her minions attempt to play their cards well. They try to up the sagging morale of AFP troops after losing to many tactical offensives by the New People's Army by now chest-beating against the MILF and its commanders.
PHILIPPINES: Open Letter to the NPA General Command and the NDF (tags)
We, the undersigned, condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent spate of killings of farmers and farmer-leaders in Masbate, perpetrated by individuals identified as belonging to the local command of the New People’s Army.
Missing sisters and missing credibility (tags)
The daughters of slain Filipino peasant activist Eddie Gumanoy – Rose Anne, 21, and Fatima, 17 – were traveling to the city of Cavite on the morning of July 3 when they realized they were being followed. They sent a text message to their mother Maria to meet them at a mall in Muntinlupa, but the two sisters never arrived. They later sent a second text message saying they had been intercepted by soldiers. The family and members of the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) thus began looking for the two women. On July 4, they went to the office of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo, which denied that the military was holding Rose Anne and Fatima. They also filed a complaint with the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame in Quezon City. That afternoon army spokesman Col. Ernesto Torres denied that the military had abducted Rose Anne and Fatima, but did admit that the two women were under the care of the army. He refused to disclose where they were, however, stating that the young women had voluntarily sought protection from the military as they were afraid of Karapatan.
Underground workers movement vs. DCWD, Franklin Baker (tags)
The commanding general of the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Lt. Gen. Pedro Inserto, says that “the Palparan solution” failed. The so-called solution is named after the notorious Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr., now retired. In all his assignments,
BUSH SENDS NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
With the subservience of the Arroyo regime, Bush continues the political-military intervention in the "killing field" of the Philippines, wasting millions of tax-dollars in suppressing the Moro insurgents and Filipino national-democrats, abetting the horrendous extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances and widespread poverty and oppression, all in the name of the war against "terrorism," a code-word for popular resistance against global capital's greed and inhumane devastation of the planet.
NPA INTENSIFIES ATTACKS (tags)
The communist New People’s Army (NPA) has apparently intensified its rebellious campaign as it has launched attacks on government stablishments and a private-owned business for allegedly not paying its demanded “revolutionary tax.”
AFP officials are desperate in their military campaign in Negros (tags)
Military officials are desperate in their drive to destroy the New People's Army in Negros. Col Honorato de los Reyes of the 303rd Bde kag Lt Col Cesar Yano of 302nd Bde, Phil Army have also ordered their infantry battalions, Scout Ranger and Division Reconnisance Company Units to include as targets of their operations the civilians they alleged as "NPA supporters or NPAs" and the legal legitimate organizations of the people.
15 Killed in AFP-NPA Clashes in Mindanao (tags)
Armed encounters between NPA bands and the AFP escalated yesterday in Mindanao. AFP sources said soldiers from the Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion, 42nd Military Intelligence Company supported by the Regional Mobile Police Group and the local police were pursuing New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who simultaneously attacked the police stations in Dapa and Gen. Luna towns in Surigao del Sur province on Saturday night.
Revolutionary Justice for the Filipino Working Class Victims of Big Capitalists! (tags)
The Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions (RCTU) in Southern Mindanao, an underground group of revolutionary unions and an allied organization of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) expresses its strongest indignation of the systematic attack perpetrated by foreign and local comprador-capitalists against the Filipino working class.
Sa pagtortyur at pagbimbin kay Kasamang Randy Malayao (tags)
Isang patunay muli ng pagiging berdugo at kriminal ng 5th Infantry Division ang nangyaring pagdukot, pagtortyur at patuloy na pagbimbin nila kay Kasamang Randy Malayao. Siya ay gumagampan bilang pampulitikang konsultant ng National Democratic Front-Cagayan Valley sa usapang pangkapayapaan nang di-makatwirang dakpin ng mga pinagsanib na ahente ng 5th Infantry Division at Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
So-called US humanitarian mission in Samar a guise for military intervention (tags)
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Eastern Visayas expressed today that the Pacific Friendship 2008 ending this June – a "humanitarian mission" by the US Navy in Samar – is but a guise for foreign military intervention and tramples on national sovereignty. "Because it is confronted by people's resistance worldwide and thus fighting on so many fronts, the US currently relies on psychological warfare operations and selected deployments of its special operations forces," said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDFP-EV spokesperson. "The principal fighting forces of the US are currently bogged down trying to quell the anti-occupation resistance movements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus in other countries like the Philippines where it has strategic interests, the US has in recent years resorted to feigned humanitarian missions such as the recent one in Samar, and the Balikatan war exercises where US special operations forces train their counterparts in the puppet Philippine military."
With heavy heart but with great resolve, we in the First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) in the United States grieve the demise of one of our dear friend, comrade and mentor, Bayani Abadilla who passed away last May 14. I was honored to work with and spend time with Ka Bay during the tumultuous but outstanding time of the First Quarter Storm from 1970. Bay was so respected because he was a pioneer activist leader from MLQD since the 1960’s. One of the founders of the Samahan ng Bagong Kabataan (SBK) of MLQU, he led the students of the said university in uniting with the Muslim students against the policies of the administration and gathering the students against US imperialism and the puppet US-Marcos regime before and during the FQS.
New AFP chief dared to bring abusive military personnel before Congress (tags)
Taking cue from the statement of newly-installed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Alexander Yano to make good his promise to turn over to civilian authorities military personnel involved in abusing military detainees, opposition lawmaker Rep. Teofisto Guingona III yesterday challenged the latter to fulfill his promise by turning over erring personnel to the House committee on human rights. “Bring those erring officers before the committee on human rights of the House of Representatives so that we may know the truth,” Guingona said.
Rep. Crispin Beltran, The Great Hero of the Working Class (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines), with profound sadness, announced the passing of Ka (short for "kasama" or comrade) Crispin Beltran, 75, last May 20, 2008, in the Philippines. Ka Bel, as we fondly call him, was a representative of ANAKPAWIS (Toiling Masses) Party List, chair emeritus of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement), labor center in the Philippines, and was the first chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) from 2001-2004.
BAYAN Philippines & BAYAN USA on Labor Leader Ka Bel (tags)
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan pays its highest tribute to our former chairman, Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran after his untimely passing on May 20, 2008. We give our most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades, friends and the millions of supporters who are grieving the loss of an outstanding fighter for national and social liberation and a beloved leader of the Filipino working class and people.
3 soldiers die, 18 hurt in NPA ambush (tags)
Three soldiers were killed while at least 18 others were wounded after New People’s Army rebels ambushed a military convoy in North Cotabato early Monday. Maj. Lyndon Paniza, commander of the 39th Infantry Battalion, said the attack happened at past 5 a.m. in Barangay Ilustre in President Roxas town. He said the soldiers,
Killings still major problem in Philippines--US report (tags)
- Extrajudicial and political killings, including those of journalists, by members of the military, police and other perpetrators continue to be a major problem in the Philippines, according to a report of the US Department of State. In its 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released in March this year, the US said that communist rebels and other terrorist groups also committed human rights violations against civilians. The report said that despite intensified efforts by the Philippine government to investigate and prosecute these cases, many went unsolved and unpunished.
Behind Bars: The Travails of a Political Prisoner, Randall Echanis, KMP (tags)
Randall Echanis, of the militant peasant organization the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, is not the only political prisoner of the Arroyo regime. There are currently 240 prisoners in detention by the count of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA), an organization dedicated to helping political prisoners.
On the 39th Year of the New People’s Army (NPA) and the People’s War in the Philippines (tags)
In the Philippines today, the New People's Army (NPA) is commemorating its 39th year anniversary. Nearly four decades ago, on March 29, 1969, the NPA was founded in a district in Tarlac, Central Luzon, Philippines and resumed the armed struggle to liberate the Filipino people from the clutches of US imperialism, domestic feudalism and the puppet reactionary state.
Samar court summons top CPP leaders and party-list rep (tags)
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) here has ordered the clerk of court to issue anew summonses to 37 respondents to a petition of writ of amparo filed by the family of a missing barangay official. During the hearing on March 24, RTC Branch 30 Judge Jovito Abarquez also issued an order of protection for Dennis Gutierrez, son of Elizabeth Gutierrez who was allegedly abducted by New People’s Army (NPA) members on Oct. 24 last year.
Military in hot pursuit of NPA insurgents (tags)
The military mounted a new operation against communist insurgents who raided a mining firm in Compostela Valley, officials said Friday. Suspected members of the New People’s Army, reports said, attacked the Apex Mining Co. late Thursday near Masara village in the town of Maco. Gunmen, numbering more than 50, disarmed the security guards and carted their weapons, said Col. Benito Antonio de Leon, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division. He said the NPA torched several equipment owned by the mining firm before escaping under cover of darkness. “Troops are pursuing the rebels and we are awaiting reports from ground commanders and so far there have been no clashes between soldiers and rebels,” De Leon told The Manila Times.
'Lumad' families flee military operations in Davao Oriental (tags)
At least 410 "lumad" (indigenous) families or 2,500 people from several towns in Davao Oriental were forced to leave their homes in the past two weeks following intensified government operations against communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, a human rights group said on Sunday. Of those who fled, 330 families came from the hinterland villages of San Victor and Kampawan in Baganga, Karapatan reported. Those living in the outskirts of San Victor sought refuge in the village center while those in Kampawan went to Barangay (Village) Lambajon.
Communist Party of the Philippines pursues a violent course against its left opponents (tags)
In the Philippines, one of the poorest countries in Asia, 40 percent of the people live in poverty. Conditions there have sparked a large radical movement, heavily repressed by the government.
AFP High Fallutin Blusters, Empty Threats (tags)
The US-Arroyo Regime in its first command conference January this year with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), claimed that that it dismantled 13 guerrilla fronts of the revolutionary movement in 2007 and are set to dismantle 30 more this year. This is contrary to open admission made by the head of the AFP's military operations, Maj. Gen. Joji Leo Fojas, that only three guerrilla fronts have been dismantled, as of October last yea
Sison belie AFP’s decimation claim, say numbers actually growing (tags)
NDF consultant Prof. jose maria Sison refuted the military’s claim that the rebel group is weakening as its membership is being decimated due to the continuous offensive operations against it by government forces and the string of rebel surrenderees, saying its numbers are even growing nationwide. In a statement sent to the media, CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison said the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), is now working the expansion of guerrillas that will cover all 173 congressional districts in the country
The CPP-NPA-NDF “Hit List” - a preliminary report (tags)
It is essential to understand the real scope of the assassination policy of Left activists pursued, after the 1992 crisis, by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its military arm, the New People’s Army (NPA) and its politico-diplomatic arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF).
AFP seeks additional troops, P3.5B to quash insurgents (tags)
President Arroyo yesterday said she is merely awaiting the recommendation of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to approve the proposal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) leadership to beef up its strength by six battalions to bolster the government’s campaign to stamp out the decades-old local communist insurgency. Presiding over the first AFP Command Conference of 2008 at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday morning, Mrs. Arroyo listened intently to the presentations of the military brass, led by AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on the insurgency situation and other threats to national security. Esperon reported to the President that the AFP needs six more battalions and P3.5 billion to implement its “unified command” program. In addition to the six battalions, the AFP hopes to constitute 20 more Cafgu (Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit) companies to help the military fight insurgency in the countryside.
NPA rebels warn of more attacks (tags)
Communist rebels claimed responsibility for the raid on a Swiss mining firm in the southern Philippines and have warned of more attacks in the country. Rebels raided the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in the town of Tampakan in South Cotabato early Tuesday, torching buildings and equipment and attacking a military post nearby. Authorities said no one was injured or killed in the raid, which the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels claimed was a punishment for the giant Swiss mining firm accused of land grabbing, plunder and environmental destruction. The rebels said the raid was in response to a longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s operations in the area.
Significant NPA victories in 2007, more and bigger victories eyed in 2008 (tags)
The revolutionary movement i n thePhilippines today said the New People's Army (NPA) "achieved significant military victories the past year, portending more and bigger successes in response to the Party's anniversary call to accelerate advances in 2008." "Based on our summary of still very partial reports received from the field, clearly the revolutionary forces have gained significant victories in waging guerrilla warfare. Foremost is the defeat of the military campaigns launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) this year to date," said CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal.
Why there is no ceasefire in The Philippines (tags)
It is understandable why there is no ceasefire between the armed forces of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and those of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
AJLPP reported today that when Rowil Monasque faced a Pagadian City court last month on rebellion charges, he was ready to lie by the military that he went to the military voluntarily for fear of his and his family's safety.
Mllitary Operations in Mindanao (tags)
Nearly 3,000 tribespeople have fled their mountain homes in the southern Philippines as the military stepped up an offensive against insurgents of the communist New People's Army (NPA), officials and church leaders said on Monday. Modesto Villasanta, a Roman Catholic priest and leader of a local human rights group, said he feared a humanitarian crisis if military operations continue to displace Manobo tribes from 11 communities in a province on Mindanao island.
Philippine Military report says it can’t defeat NPA by 2010 (tags)
The cat is out of the bag. Finally,the Philippine military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) has admitted it had limited success in destroying the firepower of communist insurgents, putting it way behind the target of wiping out the rebellion by 2010, a classified military report said. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is also the AFP Commander in Chief, has said she wants the communist New People’s Army (NPA) largely defeated by the time she steps down from power in June 2010. She announced it after she “won” the hotly contested elections of 2004.
Philippine Military report says it can’t defeat NPA by 2010 (tags)
The cat is out of the bag. Finally,the Philippine military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) has admitted it had limited success in destroying the firepower of communist insurgents, putting it way behind the target of wiping out the rebellion by 2010, a classified military report said. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is also the AFP Commander in Chief, has said she wants the communist New People’s Army (NPA) largely defeated by the time she steps down from power in June 2010. She announced it after she “won” the hotly contested elections of 2004. But an assessment report seen by Reuters said “ the military was not winning enough victories against the NPA, which despite the collapse of communism worldwide, continued to strike a chord with poor Filipinos angered at widening inequality at home.”
Satur Ocampo: Wala akong balak palitan si Joma (tags)
Mariing pinabulaanan ni Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo nitong Lunes ang pahayag ni National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales na papalitan niya sa pwesto si Jose Ma. Sison bilang lider ng Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). "I have no ambition to replace Prof. Sison, if he is indeed the leader of the CPP, or lead the revolutionary movement as maliciously stated by Gonzales," sabi ni Ocampo.
DUTCH FASCISM & BUSH-ARROYO STATE TERRORISM ATTACK FILIPINO REFUGEES (tags)
Colluding with U.S. & Filipino reactionaries, Dutch fascist authorities arrested Jose Maria Sison, a Filipino political refugee, and raided the National Democratic Front International Information Office in Holland. This is a clear example of State Terrorism working on behalf of predatory imperialist capital. All progressives and democrats everywhere should protest this outrage and support the Filipino people's struggle for justice, equality, and true independence.
PHILIPPINES: Kintanar widow to testify against Joma Sison (tags)
Gloria “Joy” Jopson-Kintanar has blamed Sison for the murder of her husband, Romulo Kintanar, on Jan. 23, 2003. She and another widow, Veronica Tabara, filed complaints against Sison early last year that served as grounds for the arrest of the CPP founder in the Netherlands on Tuesday.
DUTCH ARRESTS JOMA SISON, NDF POLITICAL CONSULTANT (tags)
JOSE Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was arrested in The Netherlands after a Dutch court judge issued a warrant for his arrest, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The DFA confirmed reports aired on the TV network ABS-CBN that said Sison is in custody of the Dutch police. Sison is chief consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the suspended peace talks between the communist rebels and the Philippine government. Sison was apprehended in The Hague, the Dutch capital, in connection with the alleged killings of "deep penetration agents" of the New People's Army in Leyte Province, according to the ABS-CBN website.
MORE WARS FOR GMA TO FIGHT (tags)
Communist leader Jose Maria Sison’s arrest by the Dutch police for two murders committed in the Philippines is yet one more example of the Philippines, a sovereign country, giving up its sovereignty to a foreign power by acknowledging The Netherlands’ jurisdiction over a case, or cases committed on Philippine soil. It would have been understandable, and even correct, for the Dutch authorities to order the arrest of Sison and whoever else among the self-exiles in the communist movement, if he and anyone of them broke Dutch law for a crime committed in Dutch territory. But to arrest Sison on charges of two murders committed in the Philippines years ago?
PHILIPPINES: 2 desaparecidos escape from military captors (tags)
Two farm workers who claim to have been detained and tortured for a year-and-a-half by military men before managing to escape have petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) for protection. Represented by lawyers from the civil rights group Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag), the two brothers in their 13-page petition yesterday also asked the high tribunal to designate either an incumbent or retired SC justice to act as a commissioner and verify the allegations. The two brothers, Raymond, 26, and Reynaldo Manalo, 38, filed the suit for prohibition, injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) through Flag lawyers Jose Manuel Diokno, Theodore Te and Ricardo Sunga.
Former Catholic Nun Talks of War and Immigration at Seattle Baptist Church (tags)
guest speaker, Sister Florchita Bautista discussed her reflections at the University Baptist Church before an audience of fifty people last Sunday, August 5. Bautista cited the cases of human rights violations in the Philippines, specifically, stories of the grade three pupil Grecil who was shot by military men and was even accused of being a member of the rebel group New People’s Army, and that of Alice, the wife of Dr. Chandu Claver whose family is in Canada now seeking political asylum. Alice got eight bullets from the military operatives in Kalinga, northern part of the Philippines. Like many activists, Alice before her death was very active with progressive organizations that are fighting for the rights of the indigenous people over their ancestral lands and was critical of the corrupt policies of the government.
ISAFP ADMITS THEY DONT HAVE ABDUCTED NDF CONSULTANT (tags)
The daughter of abducted NDF (National Democratic Front) consultant Leo Velasco yesterday went "camp hopping" in search of her father but failed to locate him. She however said that their conversation with the intelligence agent at ISAFP (Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) strengthened her suspicion that her father is under military custody. Lorena Santos, Velasco's daughter who sought the help of Karapatan, was accompanied by Fr. Dionito Cabillas of Karapatan, Linda Cadapan and Lolita Robiños, mothers of two desaparecidos who also inquired with the military about their children's whereabouts.
Joint Alliance-Philippines and International ANSWER Statement in Response to Philippine Pr (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) or Alliance-Philippines, and the International ANSWER Steering Committee of which it is a member, strongly denounce Bush “ally” Philippine president Gloria Arroyo for going forward with the implementation of an Anti-Terror Law (ATL), euphemistically called the Human Security Act, in the Philippines. We express our militant solidarity with the progressive forces in the Philippines who will be staging protests against Arroyo in all major cities throughout the country when she delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23. Besides spinning the usual lies and deceit about her regime’s accomplishments, US “major ally” Arroyo is expected to make the ATL the centerpiece of her SONA.
Government forces ready to foil communist attacks--PNP (tags)
Government forces are ready to thwart communist attacks, officials said following threats of more rebel offensives in response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “outright threat to use state terror.” Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Calderon on Thursday said he has ordered intensified security operations to stop the New People’s Army from staging deadly attacks on soldiers and policemen and destroying infrastructures like telecommunication towers.
Response to Philippine President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23 (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) or Alliance-Philippines, , strongly denounce Bush “ally” Philippine president Gloria Arroyo for going forward with the implementation of an Anti-Terror Law (ATL), euphemistically called the Human Security Act, in the Philippines. Arroyo’s Puppet Hypocrisy and US Intervention AJLPP strongly denounce the hypocrisy of the US- Arroyo regime for painting a rosy picture of the Philippines while poverty, corruption and repression grips the land. The Arroyo regime pretends to be interested in resuming peace talks with both the Philippine revolutionary movement represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while it ordered an attack against the MILF. The fascist regime continues its alarming spree of extra-judicial killings (now more than 870 since Arroyo took office in 2001) against political opponents and critics, and unleashes legalized fascism against the entire Filipino people through the implementation of the Anti-Terror Law.
How to resume formal talks and have ceasefire in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations (tags)
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) must address and resolve beforehand certain prejudicial questions raised by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to resume the formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. In this regard, the GRP must do the following: It must stop the extrajudicial killings, abductions, tortures, mass displacement of more than one million people and other human rights violations perpetrated by the reactionary armed forces. It must declare that it is against the "terrorist" blacklisting of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA) and the NDFP chief political consultant. It must indemnify the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos fascist regime. If the GRP wants to have a ceasefire during the peace negotiations, it must come to terms with the NDFP on the basis of the 10-point Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace proposed by the NDFP and must agree with the NDFP on how to accelerate the forging of comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms in order to address the root causes of the armed conflict.
Lift terror tag, we talk' --NDF (tags)
Communist rebels are willing to resume peace talks, but only if the government initiates the dropping of the terror tag on the revolutionary movement, exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Jose Ma. Sison said yesterday. Sison said they would only return to the negotiating table when the government moves to have the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA) stricken off the lists of foreign terrorist organizations drawn up by the United States and the European Union. Sison said the government must also show it is sincere about stopping the military from carrying out extrajudicial killings, while also indemnifying victims of human rights violations.
FILIPINO EDUCATOR ASSAILS ARROYO DICTATORSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
World-renowned Filipino educator Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, former president of the University of the Philippines and head of the coalition, LABAN NG MASA, urges the formation of a revolutionary transitional government to replace the corrupt, brutal and illegitimate Arroyo regime backed by Bush neocons and predatory corporate elite. The following article provides a background to Dr. Nemenzo's principled critique of U.S.-Arroyo State terrorism.
FILIPINA SENATOR ATTACKS ARROYO STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Of distinguished progressive lineage, Senator Jamby Madrigal of the Philippines takes a principle stand critical of the Arroyo regime's bloody and brutal repression of Filipinos backed by the Bush neocons. This article provides a context for the Philippine crisis and Senator Madrigal's views on U.S. imperialism in the neocolony and its complicity with State-terrorist repression.
DOJ Secretary Gonzalez eyes Abu Sayyaf, CPP and NPA for terror listing (tags)
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez listed the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), among the groups being considered for inclusion in the terror list to be drawn up under the Human Security Act (HSA), said Tuesday. The outspoken Gonzalez also said he has already asked the Supreme Court to assign special courts to handle cases against suspected terrorists and terrorist organizations.
ANTI TERRORISM ACT IS A LICENSE FOR AND A WEAPON OF STATE TERRORISM (tags)
The Anti-Terrorism Act (Republic Act No. 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007) is part of the global wave of fascist legislation and state terrorism generated by the so-called global war on terror under the Bush regime of the US government. Aside from being a tool of US imperialism, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) is a repressive tool of the Arroyo regime for intimidating and suppressing the people’s democratic movement and the broad range of opposition forces.
NDFP POSITION ON CEASEFIRE AND PEACE NEGOTIATIONS (tags)
The Arroyo regime is hell-bent on suppressing the Filipino people and revolutionary people by murdering, kidnapping, torturing and driving them away from their homes and land. But the Filipino people and revolutionary forces have always strongly manifested their determination to defend themselves and wage resistance, punish the worst of human rights violators and plunderers and build the new organs of democratic power to replace the ruling system of greed and terror. #
PHILIPPINES:Gonzales to Reds: Truce or terror tag? (tags)
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, who assumed his post yesterday as officer-in-charge of the defense department prior to the installation of the permanent defense secretary, warned communist rebels that they would be identified as terrorists once the anti-terror law or the Human Security Act of 2007 takes effect this month. Gonzales said the New People’s Army (NPA), however, could avoid the terrorist tag if the rebels declare a ceasefire. “If the NPA rebels refuse to implement a ceasefire, they will be branded as terrorist like the Abu Sayyaf, Rajah Solaiman Group and the Jemaah Islamiyah,” Gonzales told reporters during turnover rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, attended by outgoing Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
On Admiral Timothy Keating's threat to escalate US military intervention (tags)
Far worse human rights violations can be expected to follow from the statements of US Pacific Forces commander Admiral Timothy Keating that the US is going to tighten its "anti-terror military cooperation" with the Arroyo regime and is willing to escalate the long-running US military intervention in the Philippines in order to fight the New People's Army (NPA) led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) upon the request of the Arroyo regime.
REPORT ON THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Interview of Filipino Activist Intellectual E. SAN JUAN, Jr.
AFP attack planes mobilized; 12 killed in NPA-military clashes (tags)
The area command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has mobilized attack planes and gunship helicopters to extend air support to the combat battalions currently pursuing communist insurgents in Compostela Valley province and Davao Oriental. Clashes between government troops and members of the New People’s Army (NPA) left four soldiers and eight rebels dead, military officials yesterday said. Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, AFP’s Eastern Mindanao Command area chief, ordered Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac, 10th Infantry Division (ID) commander, to use all available combat personnel and military bulldozers to “pin down” the communist rebels.
NDFP verifies that Prof. Sison is NDFP chief political consultant and belies GRP claims (tags)
The National Council of the National Democrat Front of the Philippines hereby verifies that Prof. Jose Maria Sison is the NDFP chief political consultant and belies the claim of the Manila government that he is chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and head of the New People’s Army (NPA).
NDF-EV condemns virtual martial rule in troop deployment to Tacloban City (tags)
The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today condemned the virtual martial rule in the deployment by the 8th Infantry Division of soldiers to the northern barangays of Tacloban City and the outright role of the military in rigging the elections to favor the Arroyo regime. "The military psywar blabberers blatantly lie that the 8th ID is sending troops to the northern barangays of Tacloban City because of the alleged presence of the New People's Army," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas. "What the military really aims after the elections is to forestall mass protests by heightening the psywar campaign against the people's organizations and party-list groups, whom they frame as part of the NPA to justify attacking and killing off their leaders and members. In the elections, various reports from Samar and Leyte also describe soldiers as terrorizing the people against voting for the progressive party-list. But the people have democratically defied the military and the Arroyo regime in the elections: Despite the barefaced use of fraud and military terrorism against them, the progressive party-list groups are clearly headed for Congress. The people have spoken, but in retaliating by sending troops against them, the military goes on with its script of mayhem and murder."
PHILIPPINES: ON ELECTION DAY , GMA CHEATING MACHINE OPERATES (tags)
The US-Arroyo regime cheating and repressive machinery for the May 14 national elections is all systems go. To counter the evil machinations of the US-Arroyo regime, the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) reiterates it call for the Filipino people to be vigilant and fight with all their might against legalized vote buying, wholesale cheating and brazen violence in this May 14 elections. At the rate it is acting, the US-Arroyo regime is sure to surpass the much hated Marcos regime its brazenness and fascist terrorist acts. AJLPP also expresses its deepest concern over the escalating violence and the propaganda in “rationalizing” its cheating activities “ in the elections. More than 100 armed incidents have been reported since the election season started late February 2007 in the Philippines. The AJLPP compiled the latest updates from the Philippines:
PHILIPPINES : Election death toll climbs past 100 (tags)
With just days before May 14, the number of lives lost in election-related violence has breached 100. Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters, reported that 102 people have been killed and 105 wounded since the election period began on January 14. Camp Crame also said a total of 147 election related violent incidents or ERVIs have been reported.
PHILIPPINES: AS ELECTION DAY COMES NEAR, VIOLENCE ESCALATES (tags)
Nobody can beat the brazen violence and blatant machinations of the US-Arroyo regime. It is even surpassing the US-Marcos regime in its brazenness and fascist terrorist acts. Again, the AJLPP reiterates it call for the Filipino people to stand guard against legalized vote buying, cheating and violence in this coming elections. AJLPP also expresses its deepest concern over the escalating violence and the propaganda in “rationalizing” its cheating activities “ in the coming elections. More than 100 armed incidents have been reported since the election season started late February 2007 in the Philippines.
FILIPINA MILITANTS CONDEMN ARROYO-BUSH FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY (tags)
The 2nd session of the Permanent People's Tribunal (March 21-25, The Hague, Netherlands) marks a historic milestone in the Filipino people's struggle for social justice and true independence from U.S. imperialism and predatory global capital. This brief report sums up the major achievement of the Tribunal, highlighting the role of progressive Filipina women in the fight for freedom and people's liberation.
AJLPP Condemns the Killing of Two Peasant Leaders/Attempted Massacre in Mindanao (tags)
The Alliance for Just anbd Lasting Peace (AJLPP) based in the United States vehemently condemn in the strongest terms possible the killing of two peasant leader in Davao and the wounding of three others in an attempted massacre in New Bataan, Davao in the island of Mindanao last April 26. Two members of a Davaol peasant group were shot dead and three others wounded in the southern Philippines, the media sources reported, Friday.
AJLPP-USA Denounced Indiscriminate AFP aerial bombing in Davao Del Norte, Mindanao (tags)
The Alliance for A Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) vehemently condemened the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for indiscriminately dropping bombs at Barangay Manay in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, damaging homes and banana fields and endangering the lives of residents who had to evacuate to safer grounds.
NPA Ambush in Isabela kills three soldiers, injures five others (tags)
Media sources today reported that three Army men, including a second lieutenant, were killed while five others are still undergoing strenuous medical treatment after a landmine believed to be planted by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, exploded while they were in the thick of pursuit operations for still undetermined number of fully-armed rebels in a communist-infested central Isabela town on Sunday.
Esperon, other officials say Davao prison warned of NPA raid (tags)
Officers of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte had been warned of a possible assault by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, Armed forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and other security officials disclosed yesterday. This came after media sources reported that an NPA band led by Mindanao Regional Guerrilla Unit-Pulang Bagani Command commander Leonardo Pitao ransacked the armory of the penal farm and took over 100 guns in a pre-dawn raid on Easter Sunday. The guerrillas carted away 50 M-16 and carbine rifles, 46 shotguns and seven pistols from the prison armory after disarming four guards, police said. They did not attempt to free any of the about 4,000 convicted criminals detained in the prison complex during the 20-minute raid that was staged without a shot being fired, police said, adding there were no injuries.
The Arroyo regime has scuttled the peace talks (tags)
Avoiding answering the question whether the Arroyo regime agrees with the report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston that the military is principally responsible for political killings, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo makes the false statement that the regime has a standing invitation to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines for peace talks. The Arroyo regime has scuttled the peace talks. It has declared its militarist plan to destroy the revolutionary movement before 2010. It has flagrantly violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) by committing crimes against humanity, perpetrating extrajudicial killings of more than 830 unarmed civilians, enforced disappearances on about 200 persons and frustrated killings on more than 350 persons, among other gross human rights violations.
* Philippine Government Apathetic Toward Human Rights Abuses * (tags)
UNITED Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston gave an oral report to the UN Human Rights Council yesterday of the preliminary findings and recommendations in connection with his 10-day visit to the country in February to investigate extrajudicial killings. In his report, Alston criticized key government agencies, particularly the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, and Malacañang for shirking their responsibilities in upholding human rights in the Philippines.
AKBAYAN denounces US intervention in Philippine elections (tags)
AKBAYAN Party-list condemned today the reported participation of US soldiers Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) initiated campaigns against leftist party-list organizations. The group said that it received reports from the local media in Zamboanga City that US soldiers are also campaigning against party-list groups that the AFP considers as “communist fronts.”
MILF: AFP hawks ruining peace deal (tags)
Muslim MILF leader Hadji Murad on Thursday accused “hawkish” Philippine officials of trying to sabotage peace talks. Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Murad Ebrahim welcomed President Arroyo’s move this week to rein in military units operating in rebel-held areas in Mindanao to salvage the talks but said some officials were undermining these efforts.
PESANTE-USA DEMANDS RELEASE OF MAMBURAO 6 (tags)
PESANTE -USA, a Filipino peasant , human rights and environmental advocacy group based in the United States militantly, fully and wholeheartedly supports the call of ther Kilusan ng mga Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KM) demanding the release of all six Mindoro farmers convicted of killings brothers Paul and Michael Quinto in 1997. KMP or the Philippine Peasant Movement also accused the government of using “divide-and-rule” tactics to bail out administration ally Jose Villarosa, a former congressman.
Progressive Phlippine Groups Lambasted the New RP anti-terror law (tags)
Progressive party list lawmakers called lambasted the newly signed RP anti-terror law also known as the "Human Security Law" Tuesday and called it a “day of infamy. News sources reported that progressive lawmakers from the partylist ANAKPAWIS, GABRIELA and BAYAN MUNA, called the signing of the law as" virtual martial law"
Alston press statement and Melo commission report (tags)
The press statement of the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and special executions Prof. Philip Alston and the report of the Melo commission put forward important findings and conclusions that hold the Arroyo regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) accountable for extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations from 2001 to the present.
PHILIPPINES: ANTI-TERROR ACT FURTHER EMBOLDENS FORCES OF STATE TERRORISM (tags)
Even without the Anti-Terror Act, euphemistically called the Human Security Act of 2007, the US-directed Arroyo regime has unleashed the counterrevolutionary military and police forces on the people and spurred them to commit all kinds of barbarities, including the massacre and massive displacement of people in the countryside and the extrajudicial killing, abduction and torture of so many unarmed legal activists. These atrocities are all in line with the Bush global war of terror and its Philippine puppet version called Oplan Bantay Laya I and II. Upon the signing of the Anti-Terror Act by Gloria M. Arroyo, the reactionary military and forces and their special operations teams and death squads are further licensed and further emboldened to commit acts of state terrorism. The main objective of the Act is to suppress the people’s movement for national liberation and democracy and the broad range of legal forces criticizing and opposing the regime. If the targets of the act were only such small groups like the supposedly Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jema’ah Islamiyah, the existing system of security agencies and criminal law on murder would have sufficed.
US lauds ratification of Philippines' anti-terrorism bill (tags)
The US Embassy lauded yesterday the House of Representatives’ ratification of the anti-terrorism bill and the approval of the bicameral conference committee report on the bill. "For us, it is a very good and positive step (for the Philippines). The Philippine law enforcement and judicial authorities should have this kind of tools that are needed to counter terrorism," press attaché Matthew Lussenhop said. He also said the US government was not disappointed with the delay in the passage of the anti-terror measure, pointing out that "we respect Philippine democracy and its legislative consultative process and it takes time."
New GMA's Appointments: Ebdane to DND, Nachura to SC (tags)
Malacañang formally announced yesterday the appointment of former public works chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. as the new defense secretary, ignoring recommendations for a civilian to head the sensitive post. Ebdane, 58, replaces Avelino Cruz, who quit unexpectedly in November, fueling speculation of a rift in President Arroyo’s Cabinet over moves to change the Constitution. Also at Malacañang yesterday, Chief Justice Reynato Puno announced Mrs. Arroyo’s appointment of Solicitor General Antonio Eduardo Nachura as Supreme Court associate justice. Ebdane was reportedly the one who brought out of the country former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano at the height of the vote rigging controversy involving Mrs. Arroyo. Ebdane denied the accusations
Pesante Condemns Rash of Killings Against the Filipino Peasants (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA vehemently condemn the recent violent incidents in two regions of the Philippines where four individuals became victims of summary executions. The recent killings proved that the US-Arroyo regime is hell bent o impose its fascist rule especially to the down-trodden peasantry in the countrysides. Here are the details of the incidents: Barangay Captain Ananias Burce was on his way home from the market in Tabaco City, Albay at around 11:00 in the morning onboard his motorcycle when he was shot by assailants on board two single motorcycles along Barangay Bantayan of the same city. He sustained eight (8) gunshot wounds that caused his instantaneous death. While in Zone 4, Barangay Carupian, Baggao, Cagayan at around 2:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon, in an alleged encounter between the 17th Infantry Batallion, Philippine Army (IBPA) and the New People's Army (NPA), two civilians were killed and three others were wounded when the military fired upon them. Edralin Gudoy and Alvin Fuentes were currently tending their corn fields when elements of the 17th IBPA fired upon them. Neighbors saw them near the creek with Gudoy sprawled beside Fuentes and the latter suffered from a gunshot wound in the left knee. The neighbors helped Fuentes mount the carabao owned by Sony Buco to bring him to the hospital but the military elements fired upon them killing Fuentes instantly and grazing the arm of Buco. Buco is still under a state of shock.
RP wants US help in routing communists (tags)
The Philippine government will welcome US counterinsurgency assistance against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Thursday. Ermita hinted at growing US involvement in the Philippines’ internal security affairs while discussing the coming joint Balikatan war games in Jolo. Interviewed after his sendoff of President Arroyo, who left Thursday morning for Davos, Switzerland, Ermita said the Chief Executive is glad that both counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns are “moving forward, very smoothly.”
On the 20th anniversary of the Mendiola massacre - Manila (tags)
Protesters clench fists as they march during the anniversary of the Mendiola massacre in Manila January 22, 2007. Demonstrators marked the 20th anniversary of the Mendiola massacre, commemorating 13 protesters who were killed and 80 wounded by a hail of bullets from policemen and soldiers
Philippine Armed Forces target: 5 communist reb fronts (tags)
Reports from Northern Command Camp Aquino, said, five communist guerrilla fronts in four regions where the New People’s Army has first taken root since its founding in 1969 are targeted for dismantling this year, the Army’s Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) chief said on Thursday.
Philippines - 2006 worst year for rights since Marcos (tags)
Political murders in the Philippines reached their highest level in 2006 since the toppling of dictator Ferdinand Marcos more than 20 years ago, human-rights activists say. More than 180 activists—including journalists, human-rights workers, leftwing politicians, trade unionists and lawyers—were assassinated this year for their criticism of those in power, they say. “An average of three extrajudicial killings are occurring every week in the country,” a Canadian human-rights team concluded recently after a fact-finding mission to the Southeast Asian nation. “A clear pattern of state-perpetrated politically motivated extrajudicial killings” was occurring in the country, the team said.
2006 ‘another murderous year’ with 111 high-profile killings in the Philippines (tags)
The year, 2006 that is about to end is "another murderous year" in the country "with at least 111 high-profile killings recorded to date," opposition Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque said yesterday. Golez, former national security adviser of President Arroyo, said the killings represent "a near total breakdown of peace and order in the country."
Philippine NSA Gonzales wants House leftists labeled Reds (tags)
While other thought the Cold War was over. for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, his crusade against communism is on a high gear! Gonzales is proposing to “label” left-leaning party-list candidates as communists to caution voters, particularly soldiers and policemen, against voting what he calls democracy’s enemies into the halls of Congress. Anakpawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran, who has been in jail for the last ten months, yesterday scored Gonzales for warning that leftist provocateurs were out to sabotage today’s anti-Charter change rally at the Rizal Park.
Unilateral Ceasefire sa Albay idineklara ng SBC (tags)
Pormal na inililinaw ng Santos Binamera Command ang pagdedeklara ng makaisang panig na tigil putukan sa lalawigan ng Albay. Sa mga panahon ng matitinding kalamidad, palagian nang nagdedeklara ang New People’s Army ng suspensyon ng mga taktikal na opensiba upang bigyang-puwang ang pagsasagawa ng hukbong bayan at mga rebolusyonaryong organisasyong masa ng mga rescue operation. Sa kalagayan ding ito, pinapanawagan ng SBC ang paglahok ng mga organisasyon at mga nagmamalasakit nating kababayan na magbigay-tulong sa mga sinalanta ng bagyo. Unilateral Ceasefire sa Albay idineklara ng SBC
Esperon: AFP to wipe out NPA rebels in next 3 years (tags)
The military announced an intensified offensive against communist rebels in the country, vowing to wipe out the insurgency over the next three years, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.
Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the October 24th Movement of 1966 (tags)
The First Quarter Storm Network-USA (FQSN) militantly commemorate the forty years anniversary of the October 24 Movement of 1966. We pay the highest homage to that movement participants living or departed that shook the foundations of the rotten and anti-people system in the Philippines that supported the US aggression in Vietnam and other parts of the world.
Firms lose P43 million in damage from NPA attacks (tags)
PROPERTY destroyed by the New People’s Army (NPA) amounted to P43 million in the first quarter of the year. According to a study conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), NPA rebels inflicted the damage on business firms that refused to pay the underground movement the so-called revolutionary tax.
Philippine Military To hire 9,000 militia to end insurgency by 2010 (tags)
The military will recruit 3,000 new soldiers and 9,000 additional militiamen to boost the counterinsurgency campaign and end the communist uprising by 2010, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said yesterday. Esperon said President Arroyo approved the recruitment of 9,000 members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (Cafgus) and 3,000 troopers to be deployed in areas threatened by communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels as part of the government’s intensified counterinsurgency drive.
Gov’t troops clash with Silay attackers (tags)
rmy troopers clashed yesterday with a group of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels believed responsible for the attack on the construction site of an international airport in Silay City in Negros Occidental last Sunday.
NPA GUERILLAS STRIKE AGAIN IN MINDANAO (tags)
Undetermined number of heavily armed New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas attacked an Army detachment in Barangay Camanza, Asuncion, Davao del Norte, sketchy reports reaching the area command and operation center of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMincom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Sunday.
PHILIPPINES: The Killings Must Stop (tags)
This is a Statement by European Church and Civil Society Organisations regarding the recent upsurge of political killings in the Philippines.
Arroyo regime has a malicious view of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations (tags)
The highest officials of the Arroyo regime, especially executive secretary Eduardo Ermita, chief of staff Mike Defensor and presidential adviser Jesus Dureza, have repeatedly declared that there is no need to resume the formal talks between the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels but that the office of the presidential adviser on the process will coordinate with local units of the GRP to stage localized negotiations with elements that they hope to attract from the local forces of the revolutionary movement.
AFP ASSESSMENT THAT THEY WILL ERADICATE THE NPA BY 2010- A BIG BLUFF (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA - a human rights, environemtal and a peasant advocacy network based in Los Angeles, called the AFP assessment that they will destroy the New People’s Army (NPA) by 2010, at the end of the President Arroyo’s term “ A big bluff and an empty pipe dream!.”
NPA'S BEATEN BY 2010- AFP (tags)
Government forces are geared up to accomplish their mission to neutralize the communist New People’s Army (NPA) before President Arroyo ends her term by 2010, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon declared yesterday
PESANTE CONDEMNS AFP RED BAITING (tags)
Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante)-USA based in Los Angeles, in a statement issued today, September 14, 2006 vehemently condemns AFP Chief General Esperon’s statement against Ocampo and Casino and other leaders of the progressive mass organizations in the Philippines. “Esperon’s statement is a clear military’s anti communist mind-set. It’s bunker mentality that foments anti-communist with-hunting and a clear signal for the military death squads to go after progressive mass leaders.”
PHILIPPPINE MILITARY CHIEF CALLS BAYAN MUNA's OCAMPO, CASINO -"ENEMIES OF THE STATE.& (tags)
Philippine ARMED FORCES of the Philippines chief of staff, General Hermogenes Esperon yesterday said some party-list representatives, including Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, were enemies of the state hiding behind the legitimate cover of their organization, Bayan Muna. On the other hand, the Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante)-USA based in Los Angeles, in a statement issued today, September 14, 2006 vehemently criticized Esperon’s statement against Ocampo and Casino and other leaders of the progressive mass organizations in the Philippines. “Esperon’s statement is a clear military’s anti communist mind-set. It’s bunker mentality that foments anti-communist with-hunting and a clear signal for the military death squads to go after progressive mass leaders.”
Cabua, not Palparan to the NSA (tags)
The World Council of Churches has condemned the killings and called on the government to disband the death squads, private militias, and paramilitary forces operating in the country. The church group also asked the United Nations Human Rights Council, wherein the Philippines is a member, to take up the issue of extra-judicial killings in the country. Danilo Ramos, secretary general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said Palparan should be punished not commended. "His appointment (to a new government post) is like unleashing the butcher on the whole nation to carry out a bloodbath."
Palparan named deputy NSA (tags)
President Arroyo has appointed controversial Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as deputy national security adviser for the government’s anti-insurgency campaign, Malacañang announced yesterday. Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Palparan will assume his new post when he officially retires from the military on Sept. 11. As expected, Palparan’s appointment to a sensitive government post was denounced by militant groups that have complained that the retiring Army officer is behind the extra-judicial killings of leftist activist
Leftist murders spark fear in Philippines (tags)
James Ayunga thinks of death whenever a motorcycle roars past. "I get goosebumps when I hear one come up behind me," said the farmers' activist and father of three. Across the Philippines, masked gunmen on motorcycles have killed scores of left-wing community leaders and Ayunga fears he could be next.
2 ACTIVISTS KIDNAPPED BY GOV'T AGENTS; DETAINED INCOMMUNICADO (tags)
We are gravely concerned on the safety of two political activists who were snatched by suspected government agents on September 1, 2006, and remain missing for two days to date. The victims are: 1. Gerard Lavadia, 32, male, resident of Labangon, Cebu City; spokesperson of the defunct Estrada Resign Movement; a graphics artist; former Don Bosco seminarian; and, 2. Sharon Abangan, 33, male, fish vendor, native of Brgy. San Isidro, Talisay City, Cebu; member of Salvador Bantay Dagat Association; and campaigner of AnakPawis Party-List in Talisay
New CL Army chief to keep ‘cedula’ drive (tags)
THE incoming Army commander in Central Luzon on Wednesday vowed to continue the military’s anti-insurgency drive in the region, including the cedula campaign of his predecessor, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez, the incoming commander of the 7th Infantry Division, said, however, that he would be more “refined” in implementing the campaign.
AFP Southcom split into 2 commands (tags)
Southcom split into 2 commands By Jaime Laude The Philippine Star 08/27/2006 The military’s biggest troop contingent in Mindanao will be deactivated and split into two separate commands effective today. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the Southern Command under Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon will be divided into the Western Mindanao Command and the Eastern Mindanao Command. Esperon stressed the division of the Southcom into two military units is for a more effective control and deployment of troops in the whole of Mindanao. Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo has been designated as first commander of the Western Mindanao Command that will be based at the Southcom headquarters at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City. On the other hand, the Eastern Mindanao Command to be based in Davao City will be under the command of Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana. Esperon explained the split of Southcom is necessary for better control of the troops and to put more focus on the fight against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in the eastern part of Mindanao, and the fight against the Abu Sayyaf and other terror groups in the western part of the region. Southcom, which has responsibility over the whole of Mindanao, is composed of three Army divisions, two joint task forces, two naval forces, a tactical operations wing of the Air Force, two elite Special Forces battalions and one company of troops from the Light Reaction Battalion. Esperon said there would be some redeployment of troops where their presence is mostly needed. The Southcom comprises roughly 60 percent of the 120,000-strong military, all under its administrative and operational control. "These two targets (Islamic extremists and communist rebels) are very important that’s why we assigned two commanders there. With the split, we believe that the commanders will be more focused," Esperon said. Esperon said the decision to split Southcom into two units is a strategic move to sustain the pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. The decision, however, left Habacon with no unit to command. Habacon, one of the remaining so-called "Garci generals," said the deactivation of the Southcom will mean the closure of his military career. He opted to retire early, with only a few days left on his active service before his mandatory retirement on Sept. 9 on reaching the age of 56. "He (Habacon) decided to retire early due to personal reasons. He may have planned it earlier," Southcom spokesman Col. Susthenes Valcorza explained yesterday. Esperon will preside over the deactivation of Southcom today, on the same occasion where Habacon will be given retirement honors, Valcorza said. When asked if the splitting of the Southcom prompted Habacon to seek early retirement, Valcorza replied: "It could be one of the reasons." Habacon was among the generals mentioned in the controversial wiretap recordings that became an issue against President Arroyo. Aside from Habacon, among the generals mentioned to have helped in the rigging of the results of the May 10, 2004 elections in Mindanao include retired Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, former Southcom chief and retired Marine Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, along with Esperon. Kyamko has already retired when the tapes were leaked in June 2005. Gudani retired in October that same year, days after he exposed alleged cheating operations in Central Mindanao before a Senate investigation. A military fact-finding board headed by Navy Chief Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga cleared the four generals of involvement in the alleged cheating operations.
The Significance of Two August 21st Incidents in Philippine History (tags)
Like the rising number of political killings, the August 21, 1983 Aquino assassination remains unsolved. Despite the court findings which sent several military men involved in Aquino’s murder to jail, the people still believe that the real masterminds are still scot-free, and are still in the limelight, and are enjoying their loot in their unperturbed ostentatious style. As we join our voice with all of those who work for a just and lasting peace and fight for justice, the FQSN-USA remembers these historical incidents to remind the Filipino community in the United States that we still face the enemies of the people responsible for these crimes. It is our duty not to let them go unpunished. We will never forget. We will continue to struggle against political amnesia and always uphold the truth.
International Church leaders Condemns Political Killings in the Philippines (tags)
Condemnations as well as outrage over the unabated and rampant political killings in the Philippines is swelling in the international Christian community. More and more Protestant denominations have expressed alarm over the killings, with the Methodists issuing a statement calling on the US government to pressure Philippine President Arroyo's administration into decisive action. This came on the heels of the latest Amnesty International statement condemning the Arroyo government’s inaction and apparent crackdown of political dissent.
International Church leaders Condemns Political Killings (tags)
Condemnations as well as outrage over the unabated and rampant political killings in the Philippines is swelling in the international Christian community. More and more Protestant denominations have expressed alarm over the killings, with the Methodists issuing a statement calling on the US government to pressure Philippine President Arroyo's administration into decisive action. This came on the heels of the latest Amnesty International statement condemning the Arroyo government’s inaction and apparent crackdown of political dissent.
4 ‘NPA sympathizers’ slain in CL (tags)
Four suspected sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA) have been gunned down in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija in the past three days, and the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Central Luzon has again pointed an accusing finger at the military.
FREE THE TAGAYTAY 5! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ARROYO'S JAILS! (tags)
The massive human rights violations in the Philippines by the Arroyo regime have been universally condemned by Amnesty International, the United Nations, National Lawyers Guild, Reporters Without Borders, and other international bodies. We call on U.S. citizens to demand the cut-off of U.S. military and other assistance to the corrupt and illegitimate Arroyo regime as a gesture of solidarity to millions of Filipinos victimized by the tyrannical, militarist Arroyo regime.
2 activists, 1 media man killed in 3 hours (tags)
THE latest wave of activist and media killings on Monday hit three regions, including Metro Manila, within a span of three hours, claiming three lives. The first killing happened about 6 a.m. at a bus terminal in Zone 2, Bulan town in Sorsogon, where Rei Mon Guran, a 21-year-old 2nd-year political science student was gunned down. Guran was the local spokesman for the League of Filipino Students and a student of Aquinas University of Legazpi City. In the Cordillera region, the Bayanmuna Kalinga chapter chairman, Dr. Constancio Claver, and his wife Alice Claver, a coordinator for the same group, were ambushed about 7 a.m. Monday by heavily armed men in a black Delica van. The attack killed Claver’s wife, who died while undergoing treatment at the Kalinga Provincial Hospital. She suffered bullet wounds in the head and neck. In Metro Manila Tanod tabloid photojournalist Vic Melendres was gunned down about 8:45 a.m. near his home inside the Gozun Compound in Letre, Malabon, while on his way to work.
Deport Bolante Back to the Philippines, (tags)
The AJLPP calls on the US government to act and deport Arroyo’s bagman Bolante. We likewise call on the Philippine government to prosecute Bolante as soon as he is returned to the Philippines. Only then we can believe that they are both serious in fighting corruption in the Philippines. Otherwise, we are just watching another charade in the making. Peace will only be another victim in the altar of self-appointed high priests of immorality, corruption and greed.
In the light of the profound economic and political crisis in the Philippines today, what could be the significance of celebrating the one-hundred year anniversary of the coming of Filipino contract labor to Hawaii? Are Filipinos the new compradors for the militarist U.S. Empire? Or are they harbingers of a new generation of combatants from the oppressed communities? At the turn of the century, the revolutionary organizer Rosa Luxemburg elegized the dismal plight of the subjugated natives. Today, US Special Forces are back to reconquer the neocolony, with the natives no longer smiling, now up in arms, united with people of color in Venezuela, Palestine, Hawaii, Nepal, Mexico, and other battlefronts of our beleaguered planet. Whither the Filipino diaspora?
Start anti-corruption drive with Bolante’ (tags)
If the government is serious in its campaign against corruption, it should start revealing details of why former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante was taken into custody in the United States, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said yesterday.
Dismantle the US-Arroyo Fascist Puppet Regime, Resume Peace Negotiations Now! (tags)
For the sixth time, the fake president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) as the traditional year-end report to elucidate new policies like all Philippine presidents do. But her sixth SONA will no different from her previous ones: all the high-tech glitz and fanfare in the world will not be able to hide its emptiness and utter lack of credibility
NPAs attack Sorsogon police station; 5 killed (tags)
coastguardsman and four communist guerrillas were killed when the rebels raided the police station in Matnog, Sorsogon, before dawn Saturday.
Esperon says no quarter for NPA (tags)
Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the new Armed Forces chief of staff, on Friday vowed to crush the communist rebellion during his term. Esperon, former Army chief, became the AFP’s 35th chief of staff. He replaced Gen. Generoso Senga, who retired Friday. He said he would lead efforts to foil attempts to vilify the AFP as an institution. The government has a two-year plan to defeat the communist New People’s Army.
Protest caravan from Southern Tagalog (tags)
Protests from the urban poor in Southern Tagalog geared towards Monday's State of the Nation Address (SONA) began as early as Wednesday and are now on the third day of a six-day caravan dubbed "Lakbay-Riles ng Maralita laban sa kagutuman, dislokasyon at karahasan ." The caravan took-off from Gumaca, Quezon around 8AM today and is set to reach San Pablo City at around 3PM, but protesters fear that they may be blocked again amid NCRPO chief Vidal Querol's statement that a special operations group of the New People's Army from Mindoro would try to sneak into the capital.
New AFP Chief Esperon vows to crush insurgency (tags)
New Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon vowed yesterday to crush the 37-year-old communist insurgency during his watch, saying he would devote his last years as a soldier to finish the task. "The President has renewed her call for the defeat of the insurgents ... I welcome the challenge," Esperon said in a speech as he formally took the helm of the 117,000-strong AFP.
Philippine Army Lt.San Juan turns back on Magdaló comrades (tags)
“I reaffirm my allegiance to the Constitution and the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” San Juan said. Rumors had surfaced in past weeks that San Juan, who belongs to the elite Light Reaction Company (LRC), had broken off from the Magdaló.
Esperon’s marching orders: Crush Reds (tags)
President Arroyo has given incoming Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon his marching orders: Crush the 37-year-old communist rebellion and the groups plotting to destabilize the administration.
Norway rules out resumption of talks (tags)
Norway rules out resumption of talks PEACE talks broker Norway said it saw no chance of a rapid resumption of the stalled peace talks between the Philippine government and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF). “I don’t see the prospect of talks resuming in the near future,” Tore Hattrem, director general of the section of peace and reconciliation at the Norwegian foreign ministry, told AFP after four days of consultations with the NDF.
PPNP, AFP, agencies to meet on counterinsurgency (tags)
Pesante-USA/AJLPP reported this news about the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other government agencies will be meeting to coordinate their efforts to combat the communist insurgency, newly installed PNP Director General Oscar Calderon said Thursday. Calderon said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at a meeting, instructed the PNP and AFP to create a joint plan to combat communist rebels.
Gov’t sticks to war, rejects Reds’ peace bid (tags)
MALACAÑANG remains committed to pursuing its all-out war against communist rebels even if exiled leaders of the communist-led National Democratic Front have asked Norway to convince President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo to return to the negotiating table.In a statement, the NDF said it had sent its top leadership to Oslo on Monday for four days of consultations with the Norwegian foreign ministry. Norway had facilitated the peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDF before negotiations were scuttled in 2004.
NDFP Negotiating Panel Arrives In Oslo For Consultations With Norwegian Government (tags)
The NDFP Negotiating Panel has the concept of continuing to prepare drafts of agreements on social, economic and political reforms and testing them in working sessions and open forums with respected Filipino experts and GRP officials who belong to the regime and the opposition. Thus, a level of consensus shall be reached even before the resumption of the formal talks, and thus accelerating the progress of future negotiations.
NDF calls for peace talks resumption (tags)
The prospect for the resumption of the peace negotiations in the Philippines remains bright despite the all-out attack of the Arroyo regime against the NPA and the MILF. Pesante-USA.AJLPP reprints the news article on the armed conflict that besets the county. Amid the government’s all-out offensive against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), the National Democratic Front (NDF) pushed yesterday for the resumption of peace talks with the government.
Gunmen in Bulacan abduct 3 left-wing activists (tags)
Pesante-USA reprinted a report that said three left-wing activists were abducted by masked gunmen in the northern Philippines, a human rights group said Friday. The military commander in the area denied involvement while claiming the missing people were communist rebels. Two women student activists from the University of the Philippines and a male companion were seized before dawn Monday from a farming village outside Hagonoy town, said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan.
Human rights in RP alarming — Oslo (tags)
A ranking Norwegian Foreign Ministry official has expressed alarm over the rise in political killings in the Philippines, describing the human rights situation in the country as “very difficult.” Speaking before a conflict and development seminar on the Philippines last June 20 in Oslo, Tore Hattrem, director general of the Section of Peace and Reconciliation of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that the situation has stalled peace negotiations between the Arroyo administration and local communist rebels.
Sison expulsion easier with death repeal - Palace (tags)
The true intentions of the US-Arroyo regime is coming out. Executve Secretary Ermita has let the cat out of the bag--WITH the abolition of the death penalty Malacañang sees better chances of persuading The Netherlands to deport exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison. Executive Eduardo Ermita made the statement as communist guerrillas urged the government to respect the civil rights of their comrades targeted by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's revitalized two-year counter-insurgency campaign. Citing conversations with an official of the Dutch embassy here, who he did not name, Ermita said the only real stumbling block to Sison’s expulsion from The Netherlands was the death penalty. Meanwhile, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the National Democratic Front peace panel, called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and “all organizations which uphold human rights and international humanitarian law” to “hold the Arroyo regime accountable” for the alleged abduction by government troops of an NDF consultant and his son earlier this month. Jalandoni accused the government of “crimes against humanity,” claiming it was responsible for “more than 180 enforced disappearances, more than 690 extra-judicial killings of unarmed civilians and frustrated killings of more than 200 civilian victims.”
Bukidnon villagers flee as attacks vs NPAs continues (tags)
Pesante-USA reprints the latest news from the Phil.Star. dated June 27 about the incrased AFP counter-insurgency operations in Central Mindanao. As of the latest news. eight villagaes have been evacuated due to the heavy militarization in the area as the AFP launched ground and air attacks against the NPA in Bukidnon. the central highland area of Northern Mindanao.
AFP beefs up anti-Red forces in Samar, Leyte (tags)
Pesante-USA reprinted the news of renewed AFP deployment of forces from Mindanao to areas in Luzon and the Visayas against the NPA. The new counter-insurgency campaign ordered by President Arroyo is reminicensce of the Marcos anti-NPA drive during martial law. Pesante condmens such gross militarization that will only result into more poltical killing that had reached more than 610 since 2001, hardship for the Filipino people and the perpetuatio of GMA into power.
AJLPP 1st National Congress (tags)
International solidarity against the worldwide US-led “war on terror” is more necessary than ever. In particular, with the US-backed Arroyo clique pushing an all-out militarist solution and with the alarming rise in political killings and militarization in the Philippines, forging solidarity with the Filipino people’s clamor for a just and lasting peace is more urgent than ever. Communiqué on the 1st National Congress of the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) – U.S.A.
Killing season in the Philippines (tags)
The escalating repression taking place now in the Philippines is no coincidence. Twenty years since the end of the dictatorship and three "people's power" uprisings later, Philippine society is hugely polarized.
MILITARIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES:Troops sent to C. Luzon urban areas (tags)
Pesante-USA reprinted the news from the Inquirer on intesifying militarization now in the ruban areas of Central Luzon. As the news indicted : Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. has repositioned his troops in key cities and towns in Pampanga and Bulacan, a counterinsurgency move never before done in Central Luzon in post-martial law years. Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, on Tuesday confirmed to the Inquirer the shifting of about 500 of his forces in the City of San Fernando, Angeles City and Mabalacat town in Pampanga and in Malolos City, Bulacan, Obando, Hagonoy, Pandi and Sta. Maria towns in Bulacan since last week.
US, EU "Terror Lists" Promote Political Killings In The Philippines – Jalandoni (tags)
The Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines took another swipe today at governments maintaining "terrorist lists", saying that the inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison in such lists emboldens the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to continue on its rampage of extrajudicial killings of civilians, enforced disappearances and other human rights violatio
2 leftists killed in wake (tags)
The blood of leftist militants just won’t stop flowing. A week after men on a motorcycle gunned down former New People’s Army leader Sotero Llamas in Albay province, a lone assassin wearing a bonnet over his head shot dead a Bayan Muna member and a leader of a farmers’ group during a wake on Sunday night here. Bayan Muna’s David Costuna, 48, and Arcadio Macale, 60, president of the local Barangay Agrarian Reform Council, were the 19th and 20th militants murdered around the country in the past two months. Their deaths brought to 228 the total number of activists assassinated since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001, according to an Inquirer tally.
NDFP condemns cowardly murder of Ka Teroy Llamas (tags)
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) strongly condemned Monday the cowardly murder of Sotero "Ka Teroy" Llamas and the almost daily killings of leaders and members of the left movement, political party lists, the media and the church, which it said is perpetrated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's deat squads. In a statement issued by Luis Jalandoni, chairperson of the negotiating panel of the NDFP, he stated that Ka Teroy served as adviser to the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). As adviser to the NDFP, Ka Teroy was covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) signed by both the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. As holder of JASIG, Ka Teroy should be protected by the JASIG.
FQSN Condemns the Murder of FQS Activist Sotero Llamas of Bicol (tags)
The First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN)-USA vehemently condemns the cold-blooded murder of another former FQS activist, Sotero "Nognog" Llamas from Tabaco, Albay whose name was added to the long list of people "liquidated" by the Arroyo government's death squads. We hold President Arroyo as the head of the cabinet, Norberto Gonzales, Eduardo Ermita and other cabinet members responsible for all of these heinous murders.
PHILIPPINES: Local governor belies PDSP claims of communist atrocities in Bukidnon (tags)
The Pesante-USA published the article of Tonyo Cruz to dispute the anti-communist and anti-people propaganda of the soc-dem pro US-Arroyo regime PDSP- a social democratic party of National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales, a clerico-fascist stooge of US Imperialism anf fascists in the Philippines.
PHILIPPINES: NPA carnage in Bukidnon bared (tags)
THE military has unearthed more atrocities committed by New People’s Army rebels in the countryside, the latest of which were the mass execution of rebels and civilians alike, the recruitment of child warriors and the abduction and rape of a teenager by a rebel commander.
JOSE MARIA SISON VERSUS COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN UNION, (tags)
On Tuesday 30 May 2006 from 9 :30 a.m. onward, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities will examine the legality of the antiterrorist list adopted by the Council of the European Union in the case of Filipino professor Jose Maria Sison. Can the Ministers of the 25 European countries qualify a person as a terrorist and exclude him from economic life with neither evidence nor due process? The stake is crucial for all the defenders of fundamental rights in Europe.
US-Arroyo regime, Filipino Social Democrats and the AFP death squads, (tags)
If Marx called Christian Socialism the holy water in which the reactionaries dip their fingers in to become holy, we in the First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) call the Social Democrats led by Fr. Romeo Intengan and Norberto Gonzales as the vinegar that these reactionary brutes dip the wounds of the victims of their deadly terrorist killing campaigns. The latest pronouncement of Norberto Gonzales that the NPA hit squads are in Manila and are out to assassinate Gloria and some members of her cabinet (including him of course) is a dirty psy-war to set the stage for their death squads to kill leading progressive leaders like the Batasan 5 and other progressive leaders in Metro Manila. No doubt it is a cheap attempt to divert attention from the widespread public outcry nationally as well as internationally against the Arroyo regime’s bloody campaign which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of progressive mass activists.
FILIPINOS IN THE U.S.A. AND AROUND THE WORLD: WHENCE AND WHITHER? (tags)
About ten million Filipinos are now scattered in the U.S. and around the world, chiefly as exploited migrant labor. Meanwhile, 85 million Filipinos--with the exception of a tiny privileged minority--are sufffering and resisting the current repressive regime in a rapidly deteriorating neocolonized social order. The Philippines has one of the most durable and vibrant revolutionary traditions in the whole world--the first Asian people to revolt against Western colonialism. 4.1 million Filipinos died opposing U.S. domination in the Filipino-American War at the turn of the last century. Today Filipinos are engaged in a popular democratic revolutionary process against U.S. imperialism and its local agents. Can overseas Filipinos contribute to the radical transformation of a world afflicted by the atrocities and terrors of global capitalism?
CRISIS AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE ARROYO FASCIST REGIME IN THE PHIIPPINES (tags)
A critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in the current regime in the Philippines would reveal the logic of irreversible fascist decay. While objective conditions have polarized and sharpened the divisions within the ruling bloc, the subjective forces of national democracy and anti-imperialism have not fully organized and united to deliver the decisive blow. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its agents are working behind the scenes to pick a successor to Arroyo and re-consolidate its neocolonial stranglehold. But will millions of concerned Filipinos allow the U.S. and its "guns, goons and gold" to determine again our collective fate and national destiny? Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world will have to decide as the Arroyo cabal, convulved with death-pangs, lashes out at everyone within reach.
The anniversary of the death of the Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal this Dec. 30 affords us the occasion to reassess his work, particularly in the context of ongoing fierce class war in the Philippines between the oppressed, impoverished majority and the few privileged landlords and politicians bought by global capital. This is taking place at a time when the Philippines is being re-colonized by the U.S. as the world's imperialist hegemon. Would Rizal want the country partitioned to greedy transnational corporations and their national elites in the current terrorist war against peoples of color in particular? These reflections hope to provoke a re-thinking of what it means to be a Filipino with the Philippines in permanent crisis, using Rizal as a point of departure, especially in the light of its citizens becoming an embattled diaspora--more than ten million OFWs as exploited domestics and contract workers around the planet, while the country's rich natural resources, cultures and traditions are wasted by foreign profiteers of globalizing capital supported by local comprador parasites currently headed by the corrupt Arroyo regime. "O where is the hope of the motherland...."?
Self-educated at the Los Angeles Public Library in the Thirties, Carlos Bulosan, the militant Filipino writer and labor activist, died on September 11, 1956. His death anniversary last month provided the occasion for the Filipino community to celebrate his contribution to the revolutionary struggle of peoples everywhere for justice, dignity, and self-determination. Bulosan was part of the community of progressive Los Angeles-based intellectuals (Carey McWilliams, Sanora Babb, Louis Adamic, Ring Lardner Jr. and others) victimized by McCarthyism and fascist reaction. His example of resistance continues to inspire people of color everywhere.
Walden Bello, Jose Maria Sison and Schisms in the Left (tags)
Despite efforts by many around the world to rise above sectarianism in the face of the USA's raw imperialism, Walden Bello, a prominent critic of neo-liberalism, has launched an international distancing campaign against the Communist Party of the Philippines and the democratic sectoral movements which draw political inspiration from them. Claiming that the CPP's military wing has targeted him with a “hit list,” which in fact is a mere diagram showing the international linkages of various Phillipino parties and individuals, Bello is playing a dangerous game. Included on the diagram is Bello's Akbayan parlimentary party.
Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network January 5th 2004 Updates! (tags)
1. Iraqi Resistance Report Jan. 1-4, 2004 2. Newsletter From the International League of People's Struggle, formed by Comrade Jose Maria Sison, former head of the New People's Army of the Philippines (PDF) 3.***A Call to Support the March 20th Demonstrations!!!*** 4. Join the Anti-Imperialist Camp Delegation to Iraq! 5. ANSWER stands against Colonialism in Palestine, Iraq, the world! 6.International Progress Organization: PROSECUTION OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMES IN IRAQ – LACK OF CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS FOR WAR CRIMES TRIALS 7. The True Figures of Imperialist Casualities in Iraq! 8. Examples of online zionist hatred and racism against Palestinians
CIA - Faked Terror Machine. (tags)
CIA AGENT MICHAEL MEIRING BLEW HIS OWN LEGS OFF WHILE PLANTING A TERRORIST BOMB American Treasure Hunter Michael Meiring is nearly killed in a fiery explosion in his hotel room in the Philippines! Arrest warrents have been issued for him and California based partners after his escape to USA.
The Axis of Evil on the Internet (tags)
The United Capitalist Front (UCF) is a coalition of right wingers, conservatives and pro-capitalists working together to divide and conquer the effectiveness of the internet through disinformation and psychological warfare as counterinsurgency (Stay tuned for updates).
Warning! The USA Patriot Act and Other Dangerous Things (tags)
RW
Conspiracy Theories and 9-11 (tags)
An argument listing the numerous advantages of the fear and patriotism inspired by 9-11 to Bush's domestic and foreign policies and speculating about possible complicity given many discrepancies about the events of 9-11.
did CIA fake terror bombings i philippines? (tags)
remember lavon affair in 1954? Has US done something similar here?
Interview with Jose Maria Sison, target of the U.$. "war on terrorism" (tags)
Text of an interview with Philippine professor and activist Jose Maria Sison, alleged by the U.$. to be a "terrorist." Brief update on his situation, links to petitions and a longer audio interview.
Red Targets in the ''War on Terrorism'' (tags)
Think about that. Hundreds of al-Qaeda, demanding principally that the U.S. get its troops out of Saudi Arabia. Tens of thousands of communist-led guerrillas---and many millions who identify with the legacy of the historical left---demanding an end to exploitation and inequality on the planet.