News From The Philippine Revolution

This is a pretty messed up report, especially ones like number 3 and 8. I mean seriously they would do that to a mentally challenged kid?





PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

AFP violations hurting children's rights under Aquino's OBL extension--CPPSeptember 18, 2010


The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced the Aquino regime and its Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the current spate of violations of children's rights as the AFP continues to implement Oplan Bantay Laya, which has been extended by the Aquino government up to the end of the year.
The CPP said that children continue to be subjected to widespread abuse and violence under Oplan Bantay Laya.
"The AFP has been utilizing minors in its dirty war against the New People's Army (NPA) and the revolutionary masses. AFP units have been recruiting minors into their paramilitary units, forcing children to serve as guides in military operations."
"In their effort to hype their counterrevolutionary psywar, these children's rights are further abused by the military as they are paraded in front of the media while made to appear as 'child warriors' of the NPA."
"The entire revolutionary movement and the Filipino people hold Pres. Benigno Aquino responsible for such violations of children's rights committed by the AFP under his command," the CPP added.
The CPP cited the following recent cases:
1) "Rose" (not her real name), 17, was paraded before the media last September 14 by the 84th IB of the Philippine Army. The 84th IB-PA falsely claimed that she was a "would-be recruit" of the NPA who escaped. The Philippine Army unit violated her rights in its desperate effort to taint the NPA's reputation after suffering a big loss in the battlefield last September 10.
2) "Boy" (not his real name), 17, of Brgy. Tagaytay, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur was forced to join a special operation of the 39th IB-PA last July to penetrate an NPA camp and steal weapons.
3) "Jerry" (not his real name), 17, of Brgy. Malawanit, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur was abducted and tortured to force him to admit to being an "NPA child warrior." Fortunately, Jerry was able to escape his captors and reveal his ordeal to the public.
4) Another minor, "Donna" (not her real name) of Dungan Pekong, Matanao, Davao del Sur, was misrepresented before the media as an "NPA child warrior," in violation of her rights.
5) "Jomar" (not his real name) was not even 16 years old when he and his friends were recruited and made by the 1001st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army to undergo a 45-day military training in October 2008 by the 1001st Bde in its headquarters then located at Brgy. Tuburan, Mawab, Compostela Valley. He was formally admitted as a member of the CAFGU in December 2008. As a CAFGU element, Jomar was accosted by the NPA last June but was promptly released after determining his age.
6) a 17-year old boy from Brgy. Old Bulatucan, Makilala, North Cotabato was accosted and tortured by elements of the 57th IB-PA last March following an NPA harassment operation against the soldiers. He was presented to the media as a "child warrior" of the NPA before being turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
7) "Michelle" (not her real name), 17, was abducted by elements of the 34th IB-PA from her home in San Juan de Buan, Western Samar last February. She was taken by government soldiers as part of their dirty tactic to force her parents (both members of the NPA) to surrender to the AFP. Michelle continues to be detained by the DWSD under the authority of the AFP.
8) "Jose" (not his real name), 13, a mentally challenged child from Montalban, Matuguinao, Western Samar continues to be detained by the DSWD. Elements of the Philippine Army's 8th Infantry Division accosted Jose in June 2009, provided him with a firearm and forced him to join military operations. He was subsequently paraded before the media as a "child warrior" of the NPA.
"These and many other cases of violations of children's rights are being committed by the AFP with impunity in its desperation to suppress the people's revolutionary resistance with utter brutality, terror and psywar," said the CPP.
The CPP reiterated its policy of upholding the rights of children as stipulated in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) as well as in the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The CPP has a standing policy prohibiting the recruitment into the NPA of anyone below 18 years old.
"We urge all advocates of children's rights in the country and the world, including the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict to look into these cases involving the ruling reactionary state and its army's violations of children's rights," said the CPP.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...r=cpp;lang=eng

On The Commemoration Of September 21

Prof. Jose Ma. Sison
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant
September 21, 2010

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.
More than a year ago, 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.
It is important to commemorate the declaration of martial law today in order to recall the 14-year long fascist dictatorship, the gross and systematic infliction of violence and suffering on the broad masses of the people and the steady growth of the resistance of the people and the revolutionary forces until there was a convergence of contradictory forces that effected the overthrow of the fascist dictator on February 25, 1986.
It is useful for the people to remember the fascist dictatorship not only because there is a need to draw up consciousness and courage to prevent the rise to power of the junior of Ferdinand Marcos and his other political heirs but also more urgently to struggle against the manifest plan of the son of Benigno Aquino to beef up the military, use his power to enlarge the wealth of his family and cronies and seek to destroy the revolutionary movement of the people.
Irony of ironies! The son of the underdog and outstanding murder victim of the Marcos fascist regime is practically aping the fascist dictator. Mr. Benigno S. Aquino III has declared that the Philippine population has doubled since the last time that Marcos beefed up the military and that by implication he must double the strength of the military.
Unmindful of the severe economic economic and bankruptcy of the reactionary government, he has begun to increase the budget of the military by 81 per cent. He has also increased the budget of the DWSD by 123 per cent only because it is going to be the chief partner of the military in so-called base-denial operations and forcing the evacuation of the people from their homes and land. A huge part of the national budget is for debt service. The budgets for education, health and other necessary social services have been reduced.
The Aquino regime is hell-bent on following the US Counterinsurgency Guide and intends to use the USD 430 windfall from the Millenium Challenge Corporation as complement of the peso budget for the military. It has continued Oplan Bantay Laya and the gross and systematic violations of human rights under the Arroyo regime. It has made its own five-year operational plan for one more futile scheme of atrocities to destroy the revolutionary movement. It has condoned the bloody crimes of the Arroyo regime and has kept hundreds of political prisoners, including Morong 43.
It looks like there is no end to the chain of rulers who serve US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords and who are exceedingly corrupt, brutal and mendacious. But let us remember that the New People's Army had only 300 automatic rifles when Marcos falsely claimed that it had 10,000 rifles in justifying the declaration of martial law in 1972. At the fall of Marcos in 1986, the NPA had grown to 6000 automatic rifles and had gained a rural base of millions in all regions of the country, except the predominantly Moro provinces.
The armed revolutionary movement was a major force that caused the downfall of Marcos but it did not have enough armed strength yet in 1986 to overpower the reactionary state of big compradors and landlords. It is not true that it had 25,000 highpowered weapons. Moreover, certain ultra-Left and Rightist opportunist currents were already undermining the armed revolutionary movement in most of the 1980s and up to 1991, resulting mainly in the loss of substantial parts of the revolutionary mass base in the rural areas.
But the Communist Party of the Philippines launched the Second Great Rectification Movement in 1992. Since then, according to publications of the CPP, the armed revolutionary movement has been revitalized and grown in strength in an all-round way. However, it has not yet gained sufficient strength to overthrow the reactionary state or to compel the formation of a coalition government of national unity, democracy, social justice, development and peace against US imperialism and the worst forms of reaction.
The CPP and the NPA have publicly announced that in the next years they will strive to advance from the stage of strategic defensive to that of strategic stalemate in the people's war. This course of probability is well-founded because of the growing strength of the subjective forces of the revolution and the rapid deterioration of the long rotten ruling system of big compradors and landlords. As demonstrated in the 14-year long fascist dictatorship, the rule of open terror and unbridled greed can only drive the broad masses of the people to the road of armed revolution.
The revolutionary forces and the people can be expected to grow in strength through people's war if Benigno Aquino III chooses to rule like Marcos or even like his mother, trying in vain to use military force to defeat the revolutionary forces and the people, instead of availing of the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in order to address the roots of the civil war and lay the ground for a just and lasting peace through basic social, economic and political reforms.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00921;lang=eng

Noynoy Aquino's 'undeclared Martial Law' would aggravate human rights violations

Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao
September 21, 2010

Today, September the 21st, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines -- Mindanao (NDFP-Mindanao) joins the Filipino people in recollecting the tens of thousands of victims of grave human rights abuses upon the declaration of Martial Law. It was the Dictator Marcos's virulent edict that plunged the nation into the darkest period of its history -- 14 years of brutality when the people's national democratic aspiration was single-handedly snuffed out through unrivalled and widespread repression.
Today, 23 years since the ouster of the fascist Marcos, and after the rule of four almost equally brutal regimes from Corazon Aquino to Gloria Arroyo, the symptoms of those dark years remain with us as summary executions, enforced disappearances, barefaced militarism and other appalling forms of human rights violations continue to persist.
On account of the newly installed Aquino government, it has carried on the infamous militarist legacy of the vile period of Martial Law despite the euphoria created by Mr. Aquino's pre-programmed victory in the recent presidential elections and its hard sell campaign for 'change.'
Point of fact: During the election period, human rights violations seemed to have ebbed as the AFP neared its OBL 2 deadline. But, when it became obvious that Mr. Aquino would be the next president of the GRP, his assumption into power led to the extension of Oplan Bantay Laya 2, the resumption of which escalated to a more vicious nationwide military campaign.
Human rights abuse cases in Mindanao have risen as a direct result of this more brazen and intensive military campaign. In three regions in the island alone, Noynoy Aquino demonstrated in his 80 days in office a staggering record of 90 cases of human rights abuses, victimizing close to a thousand families and more than 8,000 individuals.
In the Southern Mindanao Region (SMR), where more than a dozen AFP battalions have been mobilized to counter revolutionary forces, 42 human rights violations cases, affecting 640 families and 7,721 individuals, have been documented. In the North Eastern Mindanao Region (NEMR), 41 cases of 14 various types of human rights abuses that affected 286 families, 1,252 individuals, 3 communities and 1 school have been recorded. The recent evacuation of nearly 300 families from communities in Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte as a result of heightened AFP combat operations marked the height of barefaced militarism in the region. In the Far Southern Region of Mindanao (FSMR), 7 cases of human rights abuses committed by government troops, including rape, looting and illegal arrests, were initially documented in the months of July and August.
The New People's Army have resolutely fought back by means of launching tactical offensives to defend the well-being of the people and to preserve the gains of the revolutionary movement. There have been 59 tactical offensives thus far launched since Noynoy Aquino took his oath of office. This shows how the NPA defended revolutionary areas and the people's welfare, and how determined Red fighters are to frustrate the exacerbating militarist salvo of the new puppet regime.
Since July, the NPA in SMR was able to launch more than 20 military actions that resulted in the death of 11 enemy soldiers and CAFGU elements, and the wounding of 13. These NPA tactical offensives also led to the confiscation of a number of firearms. Similarly, with the entire Caraga Region saturated with 4 AFP battalions almost simultaneously undergoing offensive military operations, the New People's Army in NEMR has, in defense of the masses, launched 32 military actions that lent stinging blows against advancing enemy forces in the countryside. A series of 4 tactical offensives were initiated in FSMR since June 30, highlighted most recently by Red fighters launching punitive action against the most notorious land-grabber in North Cotabato in the person of Manny Piñol, which disabled his banana plantation machineries and confiscated 7 HPRs of its security personnel in Brgy. Blaas, Tulunan, North Cotabato on September 16.
Similar attacks against human rights have also been committed with impunity by the AFP, the PNP, the Cafgu and other paramilitary groups in the North Central and Western regions of Mindanao. These have been promptly responded to with NPA military action, particularly in the North Central Mindanao Region (NCMR) where 3 tactical offensives were launched.
The killing of media practitioners and workers and other vile forms of repression against them continue to worsen and do so with utter impunity. Barely a hundred days after Aquino's inauguration, three media persons have been murdered in the country. In Mindanao, other media workers face harassment with no let up. The most vicious of these harassments is the outright termination of three media practitioners and the threat of suspension aimed at other personnel of dxDC RMN Davao for their progressive stance in public opinion.
These brazen manifestations of militarist treachery clearly show what the Filipino people could expect under Benigno Aquino III's 6-year term of 'undeclared Martial Law': more human rights violations and suppression campaigns in order to protect the interest of US imperialism and the ruling landlord and big bourgeois comprador classes.
The intensity of violence of Mr. Aquino's 'martial rule' is expected to escalate because the only way for it to prevail is to silence the people's growing clamor for genuine land reform and nationalist industrialization, while it desperately attempts to please US imperial power by agreeing to the basing rights US military forces in the country and falling subservient to its geo-political interests in the Asia-Pacific.
The attacks against revolutionary forces and the people are seen to intensify even further mainly because the New People's Army and the revolutionary masses ever more becoming the major threat to the ever decaying ruling system of the Philippine society. Also because it is a revolutionary movement that continues to stand firm in defending people's rights and is doubly steadfast in its stance against the reactionary government's militarist policies.
It is most disturbing to know that Noynoy Aquino, the son of one of the most celebrated victims of Martial Law - Ninoy Aquino, is now the one on the warpath implementing the Marcos weapon that ultimately killed his father and crushed the entire nation. But he would be mistaken to think that this fascism would go on without reckoning because Noynoy Aquino's dawn of 'undeclared Martial Law' would only usher in the further advance of the people's democratic revolution towards a new and higher level, towards the strategic stalemate phase of the people's war.
In light of these, the NDFP -- Mindanao strongly calls upon the Filipino people to unite and firmly stand against the US-backed Aquino regime's 'undeclared Martial Law' and much more against what it intends to achieve, which is the further exploitation and oppression of the nation.
We call on the NPA to totally frustrate the extension of OBL and further intensify the level of tactical offensives to defend the masses and the revolutionary forces, especially now that it is clearer that Benigno Aquino III is far from being interested in solving the root causes of the armed conflict by way of the peace process.
We also reiterate our challenge to Noynoy Aquino to give justice to the victims of human rights violation during the Martial Law years, of the Mendiola massacre during the term of his mother Corazon Aquino, and of the Hacienda Luisita massacre and other victims of extra-judicial killings during the US-Arroyo regime.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00921;lang=eng

5th ID out to sabotage peace talks

Simon "Ka Filiw" Naogsan
Spokesperson
Cordillera Peoples' Democratic Front
September 19, 2010

The Cordillera People's Democratic Front (CPDF) takes exception to the press statement of 501st Bde spokesperson Capt. Adonis Banez that the AFP troops now rampaging in the Cordillera are deployed for peacekeeping purposes! The more the captain talks, the less sense he makes! What he peddles as localized peace talks are actually summary surrender procedures of the revolutionary forces. Capt. Banez does not comprehend what he is saying. Here are some points to consider. One, can the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC), a creation of the GRP for its counter-insurgency campaign, be the proper forum for peace talks? Two, there are no stalled local peace talks simply because no previous local negotiations ever took place. The "stalled local peace negotiations" are only in the imagination of the 5th ID. The peace talks that only took place were between the GRP and the NDFP at the national level. Three, while Capt. Banez praises the value of peace talks, he simultaneously keeps repeating his absurd call for the revolutionary forces to lay down arms even without resolving the root causes of the armed conflict. The purpose of peace talks is to thresh out social issues that drove the exploited Filipino masses and their New People's Army to persevere in revolutionary struggle. So any call for surrender is really comical and an insult to the intelligence of the revolutionary forces and the people. Does Capt. Banez now realize why he makes no sense at all? His name-calling won't do him any good and only shows how good he is at parroting the lines of his superiors.
How can Capt. Banez claim that the soldiers' role in the Cordillera is keeping the peace? Military units turn villages into garrisons by sleeping under or inside houses, or by arrogantly occupying barangay halls, public school buildings and dap-ays. They do this to protect themselves from imagined attacks from the NPA. Residents have written and sent text messages to local newspapers complaining that the operating troops, while staying inside barrio, have even dared to court married women.
The military is being illogical when it insists that localized peace talks can solve current social problems. Can Capt. Banez or even 5th ID commander MGen. Rommel Gomez solve the basic problems of land reform and national industrialization, or the features of the national oppression of the people of the Cordillera? The military's insistence on localized peace talks are meant to sabotage the previous achievements of national peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), the Hague Joint Declaration, and the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
Adhering to the dictum that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth, Capt. Banez parrots the lie that the troops of the 52nd Division Recon Coy ambushed last July 9 were on a medical-dental mission. The truth is those troops came from a barrio where they were forcing local officials to sign an agreement to take part in the counter-insurgency campaign, and they were on their way to a conference with top military officers on how to force more local executives to become part of the counter-insurgency campaign.
Capt. Banez said the NPA violated international humanitarian law, but it is the military that has repeatedly violated human rights. Capt. Banez accused the NPA of recruiting minors, and to prove this absurd allegation, the military has produced alleged rebel returnees who are way beyond 18 years of age, if ever they were recruited at all.
The falsehoods peddled by Capt. Banez are not worth the paper they were printed on. They are part and parcel of an information campaign to demonize the revolutionary forces, and is one of the requisites for launching more military operations in the Mountain Province and the rest of the Cordillera. There are now more troops in the Mountain Province from the newly organized 86th IB, 54th IB, 50th IB, 77th IB, 52nd DRC, Special Forces, and the Scout Rangers. Why is Capt. Banez calling for peace talks when his superiors are pouring more troops into the Mountain Province and the rest of Cordillera? Greater militarization will result in a greater number of abuses committed by the military. It is clear that the peace talks the military offers is just meant to camouflage their offensive operations and cover up the dismal failure of Oplan Bantay Laya2.
The people of the Cordillera and the CPDF will vigilantly face the divide-and-rule tactics of the AFP and GRP. The 5th ID is encouraging more Igorot youths to join the AFP and is reviving the CPLA bandit group in Eastern Mountain Province, sure signs that it desperately needs more men. The lies and deceptive tactics of the 5th ID have failed in the past and will surely fail again. These deserve to be thrown into the dustbin of history.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00919;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP denounces QC demolition as payment for Aquino debt to Ayala oligarchsSeptember 24, 2010


The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced the harsh demolition of urban poor homes yesterday by the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Sitio San Roque, Barangay Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City, calling it "bloody payment for Aquino's political debts to the big business oligarchs of Makati."
Scores were hurt when police-escorted NHA demolition teams started wrecking housing structures and applying force as long-time residents of the area fought to defend their homes. "The demolition operations were carried out by the NHA and the PNP in complete disregard of the legal and human rights of the residents and despite their pleadings for renegotiations first," said the CPP.
"The demolition of urban poor homes yesterday in Sitio San Roque was ferociously and pitilessly carried out by the NHA and PNP, showing the Aquino government's determination to pay its political debts to the Ayalas of Makati at all cost," said the CPP. The Ayalas were among the biggest contributors to Aquino's election campaign fund.
The CPP said the demolition of urban poor communities and the takeover by private businesses of land and other assets in the area are being carried out by the US-Aquino regime in accordance with its Private-Public Partnership central thrust that is being promoted by the imperialist International Monetary Fund and World Bank (IMF-WB).
The CPP pointed out that the Ayalas are the principal private investor in the P22-billion Quezon City Central Business District (QCCBD) project to build a new prime commercial and business center on the 30-hectare Sitio San Roque. Under the QCCBD, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) plans to set up new giant commercial and business establishments in the area. The NHA expects to earn P12 billion from the sale of the property.
"The utter disregard for the rights and interests of the residents of Sitio San Roque in yesterday's demolition gives the lie to Aquino's 'Kayo ang Boss Ko!' bombast," said the CPP.
There are up to 25,000 families living in the area, many of whom have been residents for at least 20 years, and are totally dependent on some jobs and other sources of livelihood in the area. They will all be without any source of income in Montalban, Rizal where the NHA wants to relocate them. Daily fare back and forth to the area, where the residents have jobs and other livelihood, amounts to more than P100 a day. "The residents have all the legal and moral right to defend their homes and lives. They are fully justified to resist the demolition through collective action," said the CPP.
Residents were granted a temporary reprieve when a Quezon City court issued yesterday afternoon a 24-hour restraining order to stop the demolition. However, the NHA insists on pushing through with the demolition in the coming days.
"We can expect more of these forcible evictions of entire communities to be carried out by the US-Aquino regime in the next six years as it seeks to pave the way for the operations of big foreign and comprador businesses in total disregard of the aggrieved people's interests."
"Urban poor and peasant communities must brace for bigger struggles in the coming months and years to defend their land, homes, lives and interests," said the CPP.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...r=cpp;lang=eng

STATEMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF ELISEO (Ka BIMBO) TADA: Sick NPA Comrade on the Way to Hospital Capitalized by the 10th ID as 'Surenderee'

Dencio Madrigal
Commander
Valentin Palamine Command
Regional Operational Command
NPA-Far South Mindanao Region
September 26, 2010


Eliseo (Ka Bimbo) Tada is a very sick man who has been ill for some time and had to have immediate medical treatment in a hospital. NPA medics who attended to him decided he should have a more specialized and extensive treatment, which at that particular time, could not be provided by the guerilla front. For this reason, the comrades decided to brave the odds and bring him to the nearest medical facility in order to save his life. Unfortunately, he was accosted by enemy patrols along the way, interrogated and brought to 39th IB's headquarters in Davao del Sur. During the interrogation he must have been physically and psychologically forced to admit to certain activities of which he had no knowledge about.
It is not true that Ka Bimbo was part of the team that attacked the AFP contingents at Sitio Akboal, Upper Suyan, Sarangani Province. This is physically impossible as Datu Danwata (where he was accosted) and Akboal, Malapatan (where the attack took place on September 21) are separated by a very mountainous terrain which cannot possibly be reached in a period of three days. We suggest that Major Medel Aguilar of the 10th ID and the AFP's spin doctors review their geography to make themselves more credible.
Besides, how could Ka Bimbo participate in the attritive action when he was very sick and has been on treatment by the NPA medics for some time now. He was neither in any of the two other tactical offensives launched by the Red fighters on September 18 and 20 in Malita, Davao del Sur and in Malapatan, Sarangani, respectively, which are within Front 71 territories.
Major Aguilar was very quick to claim for himself and the AFP the honor of capturing this very sick man, Ka Bimbo, and parading him to the world as a 'surenderee.' He has no qualms at all about making up tall stories and demonstrating to the entire world the pathetic liar that he is. For instance, the AFP's so-called "anti dengue fever advocacy" is nothing but a ploy for the government troopers to militarize the mineral-rich areas of Malapatan and Alabel in Sarangani Province and Little Baguio in Davao del Sur to pave way for the immediate entry of Looc Mining of Eduardo Cojuangco, President Aquino's uncle.
While Major Aguilar and Col. Edgardo de Leon of the 73rd IB have fabricated so many recycled and rehashed 'surrenderees' in the Malapatan-Alabel area and have pompously announced there are no more NPAs in Sarangani, they should be reminded that lies and deceit will never win the war for the AFP. In fact, these will isolate them more from the people and towards the AFP's eventual downfall.
More importantly, it is but proper that the AFP abide by the international humanitarian laws as they have so continually boasted about. As such we demand that the AFP treat Ka Bimbo as hors de combat and accord him the proper treatment as stipulated in the Rules of War of the Geneva Convention and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00926;lang=eng

1003rd Bde-10th ID-AFP Brig. Gen. del Rosario's media stunt: a grand cover-up

Ka Parago
1st Pulang Bagani Company
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People's Army
September 27, 2010
Other versions: Bisaya
The GRP's local City Council and the public could not be fooled into believing the malicious and downright fictitious tales spewed by 1003rd AFP Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Eduardo del Rosario. His demand for the Davao City Council to investigate the "lumad killings" and his tirade against local human rights activist Kelly Delgado -- as a supposed mastermind of a so-called NPA assassination plot against EastMinCom-AFP's Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang -- are entirely divertionary.
Del Rosario's recent publicity stunt desperately wanting to pass off as his own quest for justice comes cheap in the light of investigations to the mounting human rights violation cases and Alamara murders that victimized civilians in Paquibato, Davao City. Del Rosario aims for a grand cover-up for his war crimes he unleashed in the Davao hinterlands.
First, del Rosario's exhibition is to deflect attention away from the current 1003rd Bde-AFP's operations that already took its toll on the lives and livelihood of lumads and settlers in Paquibato. In less than two months, almost a thousand civilian victims suffered from various human rights violations in Paquibato villages including the extra-judicial killing of civilians Julius Tamondes and Reynaldo Labrador. Del Rosario wants to bury in silence the outcome of his offensive AFP operations.
Second, del Rosario's pathetic script implicating Delgado to the armed NPA has only further exposed the General and the regime's continuing policy of extra-judicial killing of civilians -- now under the extended anti-people Oplan Bantay Laya of the newly-installed GRP Pres. Benigno Aquino III.
Delgado's case is no different to the more than a thousand activists killed under Oplan Bantay Laya since 2001 who were all civilians, unjustly accused with trumped up charges; and connecting them to the armed NPA. The case of the brutal death of Rebelyn, a young teacher and a civilian, done by the 10th Infantry Division-AFP's intelligence group is what del Rosario wants to continue in Southern Mindanao. Much as Del Rosario tries to deceive the public, his bad script only puts to light his wanton disregard for international humanitarian law.
As the Davao City Council moves to probe the militarized Paquibato, del Rosario wanted to sway public opinion away from his serious criminal culpability against the Paquibato masses for sowing terror, fan divisiveness among the lumads and settlers; and instigate the recent Paquibato cold-blooded murders.
Under del Rosario's revival of the failed Alsa Lumad AFP strategy, he uses the divide-and-rule tactic among civilians, and uses the vigilante Alamara as expendable pawns to carry-out Oplan Bantay Laya to fight against the revolutionary movement. He has armed and regrouped the Alamara into the 168-strong Long Range Bahani platoons and established liquidation squads among Lumad thugs using as point guard his confidential agent Ruben Labawan.
It is not surpising that one of Labrador's killers, a Cafgu identified as Roberto "alias Kulot" Repe, remains scot-free, and is regularly seen in Paquibato and Paradise detachments and in the 69th Infantry Battalion-AFP command post in Barangay Dalisay, Panabo City.
Numerous initial reports have also reached our guerrila office that the 69th IB-AFP, the so-called "peace and development" troops, are forcing village officials to issue certifications that would clear the fascists of any wrong doing in Paquibato.
Del Rosario's delusions to wipe out the revolutionary movement in the Davao hinterlands have only resulted to grave abuses to civilians. His delusions have all the more contributed to the revolutionary courage among the masses in the Davao base areas. Thus, del Rosario's fascist minions in Paquibato are always vulnerable to the NPA tactical offensives. In the latest Sept. 1 NPA demolition team operation in Mapula, Paquibato, eight Alamara vigilantes and two regular 60th IB-AFP troops were killed in the NPA tactical offensive -- a punishment to the grave crimes the 1003rd Bde-AFP have unleashed against the people.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00927;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

MCC grant for Samar is funding for war in line with the US Counter-insurgency GuideSeptember 29, 2010



The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today described the $434 million granted by the US to the Aquino government as "war funds" in line with the US Counter-insurgency Guide. Of the grant facilitated by the Millenium Challenge Corporation headed by US State Secretary Hillary Clinton, $214.4 million will go to the rehabilitation of the Samar Road while the rest are earmarked for other construction projects and improvement of tax collection. But according to NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas, "The MCC grant is another addition to the long history of US aggression and intervention in Samar, dating back to the 1901 Balangiga Uprising we commemorated last Sept. 28. It is really US assistance for the Aquino government's counter-insurgency program in lieu of Oplan Bantay Laya, where the whole island of Samar remains a priority area. Such a program is copied from the 2009 US Counter-insurgency Guide, which comprehensively pushes "counter-insurgency" by emphasizing massive psywar propaganda in tandem with brute military force."
Fr. Salas noted that no fundamental changes are being undertaken by the Aquino government, while it actively hews to US political and economic interests. "President Benigno Aquino III is no different from Arroyo and other predecessors in being a puppet of US imperialism. It is even laughable for the MCC to give the grant as a gesture of support for Aquino's supposed anti-corruption. But not even a hundred days into his office, the people can see through Aquino's emperor's new clothes into his own corruption, puppetry and fascism. He has neglected bringing Gloria Arroyo to account for massive corruption and human rights violations. His government is riddled with cronyism through the Kamag-anak Inc. and Kaklase Inc. He is beholden to the interests of big landlords, big business, and US imperialism. He has not resumed peace talks with the NDFP but seems inclined to all-out war coupled with cosmetic reforms."
The NDF-EV spokesperson also said that the MCC grant comes on the heels of the Aquino government's 2011 increased military budget and superficial projects to woo the people. "The 2011 military budget of P104.7 billion is 81% bigger than in 2010, while the military is also expanding into untraditional roles like participating in socio-economic projects, such as Kalahi-CIDSS, to deodorize its reputation. The Aquino government is also pushing for superficial economic projects that in the main are infrastucture-building to support foreign investments, such as the MCC's Samar Road rehabilitation that could spur massive foreign logging and mining. Meanwhile, fundamental changes are ignored, such as land reform and national industrialization, job creation and wage increases, the assurance of basic social services, and protecting and defending the national sovereignty."
Fr. Salas concluded that the MCC grant for Samar foreshadows massive government deception and military offensives against the people ahead. "The Aquino regime will strive to project that genuine change is happening, while intensifying the military solution against the revolutionary movement of the people. The line will be clearly drawn between superficial and fundamental changes, or between reformism and revolution. We call on the people to resist the US-backed "counter-insurgency" program of the Aquino regime. No manipulation and maneuvering inspired by the US Counter-insurgency Guide can disguise the rottenness of the reactionary ruling system and the need for revolution. The people can best fight back in using their strength of millions in the mass movement, and in supporting and joining the revolutionary armed struggle to bring the people's war to a new and higher level in the next five years."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...ndfev;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Aquino's promised jobs from US companies, "consuelo de bobo"--CPPSeptember 29, 2010


The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today dismissed as "consuelo de bobo" Benigno Aquino's promise of 40,000 new jobs in the next three years with $2.4 billion in projected new US investments from his week-long US trip.
Said the CPP, "This is a drop in the ocean of unemployment drowning the Philippine economy. Consider that just last March, some 30% of more than half a million new college graduates, a bigger number of high school graduates and as many dropouts have ended up unemployed."
"Close to half of the Philippine labor force of 39 million are either unemployed or seeking additional employment," the CPP added.
"Aquino enticed US companies to invest in the Philippines promising them higher returns due to cheap Filipino labor," said the CPP. "As it is, the current minimum wage rates are hardly one-fourth of what is needed for a family to live decently. Philippine labor is already one of the cheapest in Asia. With its thrust to keep wages low in order to attract more foreign investments, the puppet Aquino regime will surely just keep rejecting the workers' just demands for wage hikes."
"In giving highest premium to US and other foreign investments in the Philippines and offering more tax and other incentives under the banner of its Private-Public Partnership Program, the US-Aquino regime is exposing its bankrupt pro-imperialist neoliberal economic policies that only keeps worsening the economic backwardness and massive unemployment in the Philippines," said the CPP.
"The Aquino regime is showing itself to be no different from the past puppet regimes in terms of addressing the economic crisis and unemployment problem," added the CPP. "Succeeding puppet regimes have all failed in addressing the unemployment problem through the export of labor and opening up the economy all the more to foreign investors."
"Like the past puppet regimes, the Aquino regime shows no interest in building national industry, implementing land reform and raising agricultural production which are key measures to generate much-needed employment," said the CPP.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...r=cpp;lang=eng

Open Letter by NDF-EV to the People on the Diatribes of the Northern Samar Peace and Development Forum

Fr. Santiago "Sanny" Salas
Spokesperson
NDF-Eastern Visayas
September 30, 2010

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas would like to answer the "Statement of condemnation of the inhuman killing of the eight police officers and barangay councilman" by the Northern Samar Peace and Development Forum dated August 21. The statement was allegedly issued on the day of the tactical offensive by the New People's Army in Catarman, but came to light suspiciously only recently.
The NSPDF statement maliciously makes it appear that human rights violations were committed by the New People's Army in its Aug. 21 tactical offensive against the Philippine National Police in Brgy. Imelda, Catarman, Northern Samar. As the NPA's Rodante Urtal Command has already clarified, T/Sgt. Rolando de Guia was punished for being a military intelligence handler of the 63rd Infantry Battalion, acting under cover as a village councilor of Brgy. Imelda. Moreover, the eight PNP elements who were killed in action were legitimate targets for the NPA. The entire operation against De Guia and the PNP was therefore a legitimate act of war. The NPA has also asserted its firm adherence to human rights and international humanitarian law.
It is thus sheer hypocrisy and manipulation for the NSPDF to pontificate about the NPA's taking away the right to life of the casualties. That is certainly ridiculous, because were not De Guia and the policemen clearly combatants in the armed services of the state, who themselves were ready and authorized to take away the right to life of enemies of the state such as the NPA? We also remind NSPDF that as far as respecting the right to life is concerned, the Philippine government remains a pariah in the international community for more than 1,200 unsolved political killings under Oplan Bantay Laya since 2001. The silence of the Aquino regime on bringing Gloria Arroyo to account for these crimes becomes all the more damning because these continue: at least 12 political killings have been committed by state security forces even before Aquino's one hundred days in office.
The NSPDF also grossly distorts the facts in misrepresenting that the heavily-armed policemen were not combat-ready but only on police investigation, as if even that would not make them legitimate targets as members of the armed services. Much more maliciously, the NSPDF claims the NPA finished off the policemen by shooting them in the head and burning their vehicle. But despite the serious allegation, no credible evidence, or even a formal complaint whether to reactionary or revolutionary authorities, have been presented more than a month after the incident.
The NSPDF statement feigns concern for human rights, but its contents reveal gross distortions, manipulations, and lies that all amount to similar fascist diatribes by the military against the revolutionary movement. It raises questions, such as what is NSPDF, and who benefits from this fascist statement pretending to avow human rights?
To the knowledge of NDF-EV, the NSPDF is a hollow organization but claims to represent, as per its statement, the Church, government, academe, civil society and youth in Northern Samar. In reality, the NSPDF is a puppet organization being manipulated behind the scenes by reactionary government officials and the military in the province to present a pro-fascist united front. They use the NSPDF for parallel political maneuvers in support of the "counter-insurgency" program Oplan Bantay Laya and other reactionary government projects. They have even duped the Church and other members of the community into supporting the NSPDF. The military in fact gave away its leading role in NSPDF in 2009, when it denied responsibility for the assassination of political activist Fr. Cecilio Lucero, and insisted Fr. Lucero supported the military because he participated in the NSPDF. But it is also known Fr. Lucero had distanced himself from NSPDF upon knowing its reactionary nature, refused to cooperate with the military, and was actually investigating human rights violations by the 63rd IB in Catubig, Northern Samar when he was killed.
The latest diatribes by the NSPDF are not for genuine peace and development and thus do not benefit the people. Such a statement intends to obscure the observance of human rights and international humanitarian law in the armed conflict, by disparaging the NPA while ignoring the decade-long impunity of Oplan Bantay Laya. By doing so, the NSPDF also helps to justify the government's escalation of human rights violations, as is being done by the Aquino regime in pursuing Oplan Bantay Laya until Junary 2011, and in planning to supplant it with a new scheme based on the 2009 US Counter-insurgency Guide. Thus, the NSPDF plays a part in sugarcoating "counter-insurgency": massive psywar deception going with brutal military suppression.
We appeal to the Catholic Church and other sectors in Northern Samar: Listen to the sufferings of the people under Oplan Bantay Laya and discern the preponderant influence of the reactionary politicians and the military in the NSPDF. Such an organization only deceives and isolates the Catholic Church and other sectors from the masses of the people. This can only lead to unwitting participation in spreading government-instigated fear and violence among the people because of Oplan Bantay Laya and whatever new "counter-insurgency" scheme of the Aquino regime.
Let us not be like sheep lying down with wolves; let us reject NSPDF now, and oppose Oplan Bantay Laya and the US Counter-insurgency Guide. Instead, let us support the people in genuine struggle for human rights, justice, peace, democracy and national sovereignty.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00930;lang=eng

Filipino people fast becoming disillusioned over the same old rottenness under the US-Aquino regime

Communist Party of the Philippines
September 30, 2010

Hardly a week short of Benigno Aquino III's first 100 days as President, the Filipino people are fast growing disillusioned over the same old rottenness of the semicolonial and semifeudal state ruling system presided over and perpetrated by the new puppet reactionary regime. The mystique whipped up around Aquino is fast being blown away by the realities of the socio-economic and political crises of the ruling state and system.
Aquino's rhetoric of "change" has lost its edge in the eyes of the people. His regime has increasingly shown itself to be no different from past reactionary regimes in terms of kowtowing and mendicancy to US imperialism and preserving big landlord, comprador and bureaucrat capitalist puppet reactionary rule at the expense of the people.
By the people's reckoning, the following ten outstanding issues in Aquino's first 100 days in office underscore the already evident pro-imperialist, elitist, superficial, incompetent, militarist and rotten-to-the-core character of his regime:

1. Lack of drive in the criminal prosecution of Gloria Arroyo. Aquino has failed within his first 100 days in office to decisively pursue the criminal prosecution of Gloria Arroyo and her ilk for largescale plunder, gross violations of human rights, electoral fraud and other heinous crimes. The pre-election deal between Aquino and Arroyo is now becoming evident in the Aquino government's lack of drive to press on with the criminal cases against Arroyo. Aquino formed a Truth Commission hampered with a lot of legal and other defects. The deadline set for the completion of its work (the end of 2011) provides Arroyo enough time to undertake legal, political and other maneuvers to elude prosecution. Aquino, meanwhile, has been passive in the face of the Arroyo-loyalist Supreme Court's maneuvers to accommodate the dilatory tactics of Arroyo's protector, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, in the face of moves in Congress to impeach her.
2. No intent to implement agrarian reform. Aquino-Cojuangco scion Benigno Aquino III's rise as president has emboldened the haciendero-comprador clan to tighten its monopoly hold on Hacienda Luisita. They employed coercion, deception and bribery to push for a "compromise deal" gimmick with supposed peasant beneficiaries last August to project support for its Stock Distribution Option (SDO) in lieu of land distribution. Instead of immediately and outrightly deciding against the illegal SDO, the Supreme Court fiddled with the issue and even pushed for "mediation" between the Cojuangcos and the peasants demanding land distribution. Peasant representatives have walked out of the "mediation" which the Aquino-Cojuangcos tried to use to avoid a decisive resolution of the case against the SDO. As in the Hacienda Luisita case, the pro-landlord Aquino regime has no intention of implementing genuine agrarian reform in the country.
3. Unbridled US interventionism in exchange for US political, military, economic, financial and other support. The Aquino government is allowing unbridled US military intervention in the Philippines for counterinsurgency objectives as well as to serve as front for US military dominance in the Southeast Asia and Pacific regions. It favors permanent US military presence and involvement in combat and combat-related operations. The US Pacific Command's Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) has now been beefed up from 600 to 700 troops. Aquino reneged on an earlier statement that he would take up the issue of the Visiting Forces Agreement in talks with US President Obama and other top US officials. Strings attached to the $464 million fund grant from the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) include the opening up of the country to more US military intervention as well as more concessions for US investments and superprofits in the country. The MCC grant will be used to bankroll counterinsurgency projects masquerading as good-governance and poverty-reduction palliatives under cue from the US's Counterinsurgency Guide. The US has also extended financial assistance to the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP).
4. No serious interest in the peace process. Despite his "peace" pronouncements during his state of the nation address, Aquino has failed to carry out concrete steps and positive measures for the resumption of formal peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Instead, he has imposed a "ceasefire" precondition in violation of The Hague Declaration and other agreements signed in the past. Security and military officials have recently been busy with their "local peace talks" gimmick that is nothing more than the reactionary government talking to its own shadow.
5. Extension of the OBL terror campaign. The US-Aquino regime has bloodied its hands by ordering the extension of Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL). It will be coming up with a new internal security operational plan under the guidance of US military advisers and the 2009 US Counterinsurgency Guide. In complete disregard of nationally and internationally widespread criticisms of gross violations of human rights, massive terrorist military operations continue to be conducted nationwide by the fascist AFP under the new puppet regime with the desperate hope of stemming the growth of the revolutionary armed movement. The US-Aquino regime remains indifferent to the continuing gross injustice and violations of human rights.At least seven activists have been summarily executed by armed agents of the state since Aquino was inaugurated into office. Aquino has even blocked substantial resolutions of these new cases, as well as those committed in the past, when he claimed that most of these killings were "due to personal feuds." The Morong 43 continue to be detained in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Metro Manila, despite nationwide and worldwide appeal for their speedy release. At least 344 other political prisoners also continue to languish in jails and military camps across the country.
6. Counterinsurgency, neoliberal, mendicancy, anti-people budget. In his draft 2011 budget proposal, Aquino increased the budget of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) by a whopping 81%. The US-Aquino regime has also increased allocations for external debt payments by 29%. In complete disregard of the people's welfare, appropriations for education, health and other essential social needs have been reduced. The budget of the Department of Social Works and Development was most significantly padded to conform to US designs to perpetuate the people and country's dependency to doleouts as well as to play a key role in the government's US-designed COIN. The US-Aquino regime is principally supporting the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to promote mendicancy and draw the people away from militant struggle. The US government also uses such doleouts as leverage in order to further its economic, political, military and other forms of intervention and clout.
7. Massive push for more denationalization and privatization. The US-Aquino regime is a Privatization Regime. More than ever, it is now giving a big push for the denationalization, privatization and liberalization of the Philippine economy. It is set to sell strategic industries, utilities and other businesses and resources to foreign big business, offering big imperialist and comprador firms P740 billion worth of privatization projects boosted with generous tax and other incentives for bigger superprofits. Aquino's drumbeaters made a big fuzz of the $2.4 billion in projected new US investments for the next three years, that he supposedly gained in his recent week-long visit to the US.
8. Increase in charges of public utilities and additional taxes. The privatization burden is being shifted onto the shoulders of the masses. Fare rates for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Railway Transit (LRT) systems in Metro Manila and private water utility companies servicing Metro Manila will be hiked by October. Aquino wants to make them more attractive as he puts them up for sale to profit-hungry private investors. Aquino's Bureau of Internal Revenue was geared to collect 12% VAT on expressway toll fees, but was only prevented from doing so after vigorous public opposition that resulted in a restraining order from the Supreme Court.
9. Collossal incompetence in handling the hostage crisis. All throughout the August 23 hostage crisis, the Aquino regime exhibited colossal incompetence and disorganization resulting in the death of eight foreign tourists and the hostage-taker. The rottenness and malaise of the prevailing system and the ineptness of the government were thoroughly exposed. The committee headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, which investigated and made a report on the incident, censured at least 10 police and government officials and recommended the filing of appropriate charges. It failed to touch, however, on Aquino's own principal incompetence and irresponsibility.
10. Rotten appointees and political factions. Aquino's cabinet has been largely filled with appointments made as payback for political debts, especially for their huge campaign contributions. Focus at present is on Enrico Puno, fellow gun enthusiast and close friend of Aquino and an endorsee of the Kamag-anak Inc., who was appointed Undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to directly supervise the Philippine National Police. Despite his being one of those mainly responsible for the bungling of the hostage crisis and being named as a top recipient of jueteng payola, Puno continues to enjoy the "trust and confidence" of Aquino. Instead of acting in the interest of the people and the truth, Aquino washes his hands, defends the culprits and casts aspersion on the ones who have exposed them. In many controversies, the rift between the "Balai" and "Samar" factions of the Aquino government have spilled out in the open, underscoring disunity, dirty political manueverings, executive dysfunctions and Aquino's failure to govern.

There are scores of other issues which have contributed to the rapid decline of the Aquino government less than a hundred days since last June 30. It showed itself inutile as typhoon Basyang hit Metro Manila last July, and unjustly even made a scapegoat of the hapless weather bureau chief. It failed to act in the face of a severe water shortage that hit Metro Manila over several weeks last July. It failed to carry out any significant measure to address the severe shortage of beds in public hospitals in the face of a major dengue epidemic in the past several months. The violent demolition of urban poor shanties in Barangay Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City, last September 23 revealed Aquino's disregard for the welfare of the downtrodden and exposed the emptiness of his "Kayo ang boss ko" slogan.
These outstanding issues serve as a yardstick in projecting the further sufferings of the mass of the Filipino people in the next six years under the Aquino regime. With the emptiness of Aquino's promises and the shallowness of his political gimmicks exposed one after the other, the people are faced with no other option but to wage revolutionary and militant struggle in order to defend and advance their interests. In the next six years, the people are bound to rise up in resistance against the policies of the Aquino regime and the entire ruling system.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...00930;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

NDF-EV hits governors for supporting "counterinsurgency" with infrastructure projectsOctober 2, 2010

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today assailed the statements of three governors in the region supporting infrastructure projects as part of "counterinsurgency." Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson, said,"Who are these governors really serving: the military or the people? Supporting "counterinsurgency" with infrastructure projects shows that these projects are essentially hypocritical rather than genuinely serving the people. The delivery of basic social services, such as farm-to-market roads, is a responsibility of the government and should not be tied to the military's goals. The people should also question Northern Samar Gov. Raul Daza, Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan and Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla whether or not they are asserting civilian supremacy over the military."
Fr. Salas also said the 8th Infantry Division was following the US Counterinsurgency Guide -- the US formula for imperialist intervention and aggression and counterrevolutionary war -- in striving to participate in non-military roles and in working closely with the local government. "The military wants to win back the support of the people, who loathe its human rights violations, corruption and mercenary service to US imperialism. The military is also working with the local government to restore the people's slipping trust in the reactionary ruling system. These are steps outlined in the US COIN Guide: the less it seems like "counterinsurgency", the better. However, such new tasks by the military -- in construction, education, health and others -- of course usurp civilian authority, and sideline the civilian institutions that should be doing these duties for the people. Moreover, these political maneuvers as part of psywar still go simultaneously with violent armed repression of government critics and perceived supporters of the revolutionary movement."
The NDF-EV spokesperson called on the local government officials, Church, media and other sectors to support civilian supremacy over the military and to oppose the militarization of civilian government functions. "While pretending to change its image, the military still strikes fear in the hearts of the people. This is because the military has not been brought to account for its numerous human rights violations, and likewise remains rotten to the core as the staunch defender of the reactionary ruling system and US imperialism. Thus it is important for the local government, Church, media and other sectors to join hands in curbing the grave abuse of authority by the military in the region. We must also all unite in patriotic resistance against the US-backed "counterinsurgency" campaign of the Aquino regime, and struggle for peace based on justice, national sovereignty and democracy."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...ndfev;lang=eng

10th ID-AFP's 'peace and development:' a smokescreen for AFP combat operations and grave rights violations, all for corporate greed

Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Spokesperson
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command
New People's Army
October 5, 2010

Commando teams of the 1st Pulang Bagani Company-NPA (PBC-NPA) have staged a series of harassment actions against the Army Patrol Bases of the 1003rd Brigade-10th Infantry Division-AFP (1003rd Bde-AFP) in Paquibato Proper and Paradise Embac at 6 am, today, October 5, and another last September 30 in Barangay Fatima, all in Paquibato District. Since July, a total of ten 1st PBC-NPA tactical offensives have been launched against the 1003rd-AFP troops in Paquibato, Davao City.
The NPA actions were carried out as punitive measures against the abusive 1003rd Brigade-AFP troops in the Davao base areas. The 1003rd Bde-AFP has been specifically deployed to ensure the unhampered exploration of corporate mining entities. Since last year, the regime's Mines and Geosciences Bureau has been processing at least 11 applications to mine 95,569.369 hectares under the 1003rd Bde-AFP's area of operations in the mineral-rich mountains of Davao City, Davao del Norte and as far as Bukidnon. More than half of these applications are in Paquibato, Davao City.
The current unrelenting AFP combat operations are part of the 10th ID-AFP's 'peace and development' buzzword designed to sow terror among the communities, silence the dissenters and pave the way for the entry of corporate mining. These AFP operations have resulted to grave crimes against the masses whose rights were violated one after the other with impunity. In less than three months, almost a thousand individuals in Paquibato were victims of state fascism that included the murders of civilians Julius Tamondes and Reynaldo Labrador.
10th ID-AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Medel Aguilar's babble that the AFP combat troops were engaged in conducting "dialogues with the people" when fired upon last September 30 is pure hogwash. The so-called dialogue is the AFP-initiated compulsory pulong-pulong in every barangay where people are subjected to psychological warfare to force them to renounce the revolutionary movement, and organize the so-called Barangay Defense System that turn civilians into pawns and convenient AFP shields against NPA attacks. There is no hint of democracy in these coercive 'dialogues.' Lt. Col. Aguilar's perversion of the truth holds no water for the poor peasants who have been at the receiving end of the 10th ID-AFP's brutality. His fabrications on the abused 'peace and development' hype are easily uncovered by the masses who have long suffered from widespread poverty.
Lt. Col. Aguilar has called the NPA actions as attacks against 'development efforts' of the regime but expediently glosses over whose idea of 'development' the Lt. Colonel refers to. In Paquibato District, the Alberto Mining Corp. plans to mine 16,200 hectares in Paquibato and Malabog; another company named Superfield is set to open 6,874 hectares in Lumiad and Mapula, Paquibato and Mambusao Mining of Ramon Taningco 15,660 hectares also in Davao City. It is the interests of these corporate entities that AFP confidential agent and tribal dealer Ruben Labawan's ATADI has promoted. These corporate encroachments protected by the 10th ID-AFP's heavy-combat operations have endangered peasant lives and livelihood. It will eventually devastate the environment and plunder our national patrimony.
The 10th ID-AFP's 'peace and development' mantra is a smokescreen for the intense AFP combat operations and violations to international humanitarian law -- all at the service of big business. Lt. Col. Aguilar's zealous discourse on 'humanitarian work' is to protect corporate greed. Aguilar's spin and the 10th ID-AFP intense combat operations will surely fail to suppress the people's revolutionary resistance, and will continue to make the regime's war machinery even more vulnerable to the tactical offensives of the people's army.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...01005;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

NPA offensives and the people's resistance put the AFP on the losing courseOctober 5, 2010

The Efren Martires Command of the New People's Army in Eastern Visayas today debunked claims of recent victories by the 8th Infantry Division, adding that recent government reinforcements may lead to more human rights violations rather than NPA casualties. "It is meaningless for the the 8th ID to crow over capturing alleged NPA camps in Samar because the NPA is a guerrilla army with no permanent base," said Ka Karlos Manuel, EMC spokesperson. "Thus Gen. Mario Chan's striving to seem impressive is pure humbug. Moreover, the NPA continues to make gains in the people's war by inflicting serious losses on the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other government forces. Though the 8th ID may have been reinforced with 239 additional troops, the real concern of the NPA is not over itself but for the well-being of the people, who face worsening human rights violations."
The EMC spokesperson also said that winning in war is decisively a matter of popular support and not just armed strength. "The NPA is confident not only in its armed strength and correct strategy and tactics, but more so because of the people's continuing support. The new Aquino regime is now exposing itself as just as corrupt, fascist and pro-imperialist as its predecessors. The Aquino regime makes a lot of noise over the superficial such as infrastructure projects and dole-out programs for the poor, which are also tied to "counterinsurgency" to lull the people's discontent. But it does not undertake fundamental socio-economic changes such as land reform and national industrialization. It also seems to prefer all-out war with US backing in refusing to resume peace negotiations with the long-ready National Democratic Front of the Philippines."
Manuel related that a recent preliminary status report by the Efren Martires Command from January to September 2010 also showed the NPA had minimal losses, while the 8th ID and other armed services of the Aquino government have sustained heavy casualties. "The NPA successfully faced intense military operations under Oplan Bantay Laya, which the military was forced to extend from June 2010 to January 2011 because the government made no significant advances. From January to September 2010, there were a total of 51 armed engagements between the NPA and the 8th ID, police and other government forces. In these 51 armed engagements, government forces sustained 74 casualties killed in action, and 25 casualties wounded in action. Meanwhile, the NPA had 10 casualties killed in action and six others wounded in action, while also confiscating 18 firearms from the enemy. This therefore belies the 8th ID's boasting the NPA is facing imminent defeat. Despite the numerical superiority of government troops, the NPA is proving it can futher develop its strength by launching tactical offensives in guerrilla warfare, such as the Aug. 21 Catarman ambush."
The EMC spokesperson concluded the NPA's increasing offensives and the people's demands for fundamental changes will put the AFP on the losing course. "The NPA is carrying out a just war in defense of the people's nationalist and democratic demands. On the other hand, the AFP is carrying out an unjust war under the direction of the US Counterinsurgency Guide to protect US imperialist interests and the reactionary ruling system. Human rights violations will surely worsen as the Aquino regime pursues Oplan Bantay Laya and puts in place a new "counterinsurgency" scheme under US guidance. But the NPA is ready to defend the people, support their just demands for fundamental changes, and advance the people's war to a new and higher level towards the overthrow of the reactionary ruling system."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...=emkm;lang=eng

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CHR participates in psywar against the NPA and abandons real victims of human rights violationsOctober 6, 2010



The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today assailed the regional office of the Commission on Human Rights for participating in a psywar campaign against the NPA after its successful Aug. 21 tactical offensive in Catarman, Northern Samar. "Without even the pretense of an investigation, the CHR-8's condemnation of the NPA's offensive merely parrots the lies that the police casualties were not legitimate targets and that the NPA used prohibited land mines," said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson. "These lies were spread by the military through various means, such as official statements by the the 803rd Infantry Brigade, as well as by the Northern Samar Peace and Development Forum that is known to be influenced by the military. It is clear from the repetitious accusations that there is a single force attempting to manipulate public opinion, and that can only be the military's psywar campaign against the NPA. The military is following the style of Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, in promoting the fascist agenda: A lie when often repeated becomes the truth."
The NDF-EV spokesperson also said only the most undiscerning and diehard could believe the military's psywar. "The military wants to downplay the political impact of the Catarman ambush by maligning the NPA. It is clearly a lie to say the police -- one of the armed services of the reactionary state -- cannot be considered a legitimate target. And it is even more outrageous to say the eight heavily-armed policemen were not combat-ready when they set out to aid a government spy punished by the NPA. Furthermore, the civilians who lived near the ambush site themselves reported to the media there were no land mines anywhere, contrary to rumors spread by the military. In fact, these civilians and the media have every reason to be furious at the military for causing panic and flight among the people."
Fr. Salas also condemned the CHR-8 for rendering financial assistance to the families of the police casualties, but failing to help civilians who were abused during heavy military operations in Northern Samar after the NPA offensive. "There is no reason for the CHR-8 to render humanitarian aid to the families of the policemen -- they were not victims of human rights violations, but died in the performance of their duties as state security forces in a legitimate act of war by the NPA. Meanwhile, the CHR did not help many civilians who were abused during heavy military operations against the NPA after the Catarman ambush. These civilians suffered harassment, torture, strafing, economic blockade, forced evacuations and other human rights violations. The victims have trooped to the media to expose the abuses of the 52nd IB, 63rd IB, and other government forces in their military operations in Barangays Cuenco, Capotoan, Paco and other villages in Las Navas and nearby Matuguinao. These military operations continue today and adversely affect the civilian populace.
"The CHR thus ignores the real victims of human rights violations, and shows by its words and actions it is also an instrument of the government's "counterinsurgency" campaign. The people must rely on their own strength in fighting the mounting human rights abuses of the Aquino regime."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...ndfev;lang=eng

10th ID-AFP allegation baseless; killers of two Red fighters tasked by enemy, coddled by 3rd SF Bn

Ka Aris Francisco
Alejandro Lanaja Command
Front 3 Operations Command
New Peoples Army-Southern Mindanao
October 6, 2010

The 3rd Special Forces Battalion (3rd SF Bn) of the 10th Infantry Division is again weaving a tall tale showing without doubt that the Armed Forces of the Philippines of the fascist Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime is the same and even worse than under the second Aquino government, they continue to commit atrocities and dish out terrible lie after terrible lie, black propaganda after black propaganda.
This time, they peddle an extremely malicious concoction related to the death of two Red fighters of the New People's Army.
The 3rd SF Bn-10th ID is lying through its fascist fangs when it accuses the NPA of killing Ka Jeffrey and Ka Iso. The loved ones of these two martyred revolutionaries and the public should know the truth. The 3rd SF Bn and the 10th ID must be exposed for what they really are: fascist tiger trying to don the face of a meek sheep.
Ka Jeffrey and Ka Iso were murdered by a group led by Isagani Carmelotes, a resident of Barangay Limot, Laak, Compostela Valley Province. Most of Isagani Carmelotes' group were from Sitio Logom, Barangay Pagwas, Laak. Carmelotes and another senior member of his group masterminded the brutal twin murders which they carried out on the night of November 16, 2009 in a house owned by one of the group members. They acted as "masa", befriended the two and later killed them. The motive was to disarm the comrades of their rifles (M16 Armalite and M1 Carbine).
An eyewitness to the gruesome double murder confided to investigators from the local mass organization and the NPA that the two comrades were hacked before they were shot and buried. Several witnesses saw Isagani Carmelotes carrying the two high-powered rifles (HPRs) the morning after. On November 25, he surrendered the two HPRs he seized to the Charlie Company detachment in Barangay Del Monte, Veruela, Agusan del Sur (a barangay adjacent to Barangay Limot, Laak).
Within the week after turning over the two rifles, Isagani Carmelotes stayed with troops of the 3rd SF Bn stationed in the Philippine Army/Cafgu detachment in Barangay Pagwas. He acted as guide to the combat operations of the 3rd SF Bn in Laak. Up to this very day of the 10th ID-directed "drama", Isagani Carmelotes and his criminal cohorts are handled by the 3rd SF Bn.
Few days before their brutal deaths, Ka Jeffrey and Ka Iso detached from the main body of their guerilla unit to launch attritive action against troops of the 3rd SF Bn and 26th IB's Charlie Company who were conducting military operations in the area as part of their failed rescue attempt on prisoner of war (POW) Cpl. Dominador Alegre. The NPA released POW Alegre on November 15, 2009.
In December 2009, the Alejandro Lanaja Command of the NPA, in conjunction with the local revolutionary mass organizations started investigating the "disappearance" of the two comrades. In January this year, the investigation unearthed the facts of the incident. The murderers and their criminal coddlers will pay a heavy price for the death of our comrades. Revolutionary Justice shall be achieved in due time.


http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...01006;lang=eng

CPP denounces AFP Red baiting of candidates
October 8, 2010

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) belied claims by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the New People's Army (NPA) is fielding candidates in the upcoming barangay elections and denounced it as Red baiting.

The CPP expressed concern that because of such Red baiting, more progressive and propeople candidates and officials as well as social activists at the barangay level will become targets of extrajudicial killings and other fascist terrorist actions by reactionary politicos and their military and private armed auxiliaries.

The CPP said that the armed revolutionary movement builds its own truly democratic people's government in the revolutionary areas, conducts its own elections and does not participate in the reactionary elections. "Such elections generally reflect the rotten rule and system and are used by reactionary politicos to extend their power down to the barangay level," said the CPP.

"But while reactionary state power continues to hold sway and has not yet been replaced by democratic revolutionary rule in the entire country, the revolutionary movement does not oppose efforts by the people to support their progressive and propeople elements vying in the reactionary elections."

The CPP said that at the barangay level, progressive and propeople officials are able to achieve immediate benefits for their constituencies within the constraints set by the rotten, reactionary, puppet nature of the entire government and system.

"In their own barangays, progressive and propeople candidates and officials may be able to immediately marshall closer grassroots support for causes such as protection of human rights; promotion of agrarian reform; provision of more livelihood, infrastructure, education, health and and other services; and advancement of other propeople concerns."

The CPP warned, however, that because of this, they become even more open targets of local reactionaries and their armed minions.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...r=cpp;lang=eng

The people support the continuing struggle of the NPA; 8th ID is on the run because it is despised by the people
October 12, 2010

The Efren Martires Command today scorned 8th Infantry Division chief Gen. Mario Chan as talking bull for calling on the New People's Army to surrender, while it is in fact government troops that are on the run because they are not welcomed by the people. "After more than 30 years of fighting, the NPA remains unperturbed by the Aquino government's renewed offensives because of the people's continuing support," said Ka Karlos Manuel, EMC spokesperson. "The 8th ID is only wearing itself out in its much-ballyhooed relentless and massive operations. It is the 8th ID that is on the run, not the NPA, because the NPA is welcomed and sheltered by the people, who on the other hand reject government troops as thieves and ruthless killers."

Manuel also pointed out the 8th ID is committing violence against the people because it is not winning against the NPA. "No one wins a war by forcing it on the people. But the 8th ID blames and attacks the people because of the NPA's perseverance and growing strength. It is has also been brought to the attention of the NPA that while the military pretends to observe human rights, it is in fact forcing the victims to absolve them of any wrongdoing, or else go incognito so they wouldn't be identified." Manuel cited recent examples of human rights abuses by the 8th ID:

1. September 20. In Brgy. Casapa, Jiabong, soldiers from the 34th IB looking for the NPA harassed and threatened to execute 30-year-old Rosalie Gagbo and her three children aged one to four years old. Gagbo, wife of a barangay councilor, was also beaten with a stick on the neck and forced to sign a document stating she was not abused by the soldiers. The soldiers also stole two chickens and a bolo. They also came back after a week and forced Gagbo's seven-year-old son to sign a document attesting his mother was not abused.

2. In the space of a week beginning September 20, more than 20 soldiers from the 34th IB operating against the NPA swindled Irene and Serafin Pacios, Jr., who ran a store in Brgy. Bunga, Motiong. The soldiers consumed on credit nearly P4000 worth of rice, soft drinks, biscuits, canned sardines, cigarettes, and Colt 45 beer. But they left after paying less than half of what they consumed and still owe at least P2200. The Pacios couple could not run after the soldiers because they had no nameplates and did not identify themselves or their commanding officer. In an earlier military operation, store owner Wenceslao Jomagdao was also swindled in the same way by soldiers and has not been indemnified to date.

3. The same troops in Brgy. Bunga also stole the papaya and sugarcane harvests of Arcenia and Jose Labong, while also trampling their rice harvests. A sack of cassava and a chicken owned by Gabriel and Remedios Pacleta were also stolen.

4. In Matuguinao, helicopters ferrying troops and supplies have been indiscriminately landing on and ruining rice fields; the farmers have all been eagerly expecting their first good harvest since the intense and prolonged dry spell of the previous months. In the interior barangays of San Jose de Buan, columns of the 34th IB on scouting missions have been trampling over and destroying the precious crops and livelihood of the poor peasants.

Manuel urged other victims of human rights violations to press for justice and indemnification against the 8th ID's abuses. "Other human rights violations are believed to have been perpetrated in massive military operations carried out in Catbalogan, San Jorge, Gandara and Paranas in Western Samar, as well as in Northern Samar. These abuses show that while the military is claiming gains over the NPA, it is the people who have been hardest hit. The NPA vows to make the 8th ID pay dearly for the sufferings of the people. The 8th ID will surely be on the run because of its isolation from the people and abuses. The Aquino regime will also certainly be shaken by the people's resistance to its dastardly, US-backed "counter-insurgency" campaign."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...r=emc;lang=eng

NDF-EV says amnesty for rebel soldiers may be positive, calls for release of NDFP consultant and all political prisoners
October 13, 2010

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today said the Aquino government's granting of amnesty to soldiers who rose up against the previous administration may be a positive step, and also called for the release of NDFP peace consultant Eduardo Sarmiento and all political prisoners. "The Aquino government must also heed as well the plight of the political prisoners, who were slapped with trumped-up charges and subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention," Fr. Salas said. "We call attention to political prisoners languishing behind bars, such as NDFP consultant Eduardo Sarmiento, Dario Tomada, Vincent Borja, Paterno Opo, and Jaime Soledad, among others. Mr. Aquino should take a leaf from his mother, who released the political prisoners of the Marcos dictatorship after its overthrow in 1986."

Fr. Salas added that, "To recall, Eduardo Sarmiento, the NDFP consultant for Eastern Visayas in the peace talks with the Philippine government, was abducted by government intelligence agents on Feb. 24, 2009, while in Manila for consultations and is currently detained at Camp Crame. Sarmiento's arrest was a blatant violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees between the NDFP and Philippine government. Meanwhile, political prisoners Borja, Tomada, Opo and Soledad were also arrested on false charges stemming from the military's orchestration in 2006 of alleged "mass graves" by the New People's Army in Leyte."

Fr. Salas also pointed out that the release of Sarmiento, Borja, Tomada and other political prisoners will be a positive step to resuming the peace negotiations between the Aquino government and the NDFP. "We call on the Aquino government to release NDFP consultant Sarmiento and all the political prisoners as a show of goodwill for the resumption of peace talks with the NDFP. This will pave the way to discuss and address the root causes of the armed conflict. We also call on the Church, media, human rights advocates, civil libertarians and other peace advocates to support the struggle for freedom for all political prisoners and the continuation of the peace process."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...ndfev;lang=eng

Militarization in Samar confirms "counterinsurgency" purpose of MCC assistance
October 13, 2010

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today slammed 8th Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Mario Chan for launching widespread military operations under the extended Oplan Bantay Laya, and for coercing the local government in Western Samar to support the Aquino government's "counterinsurgency" campaign. "It is clear Gen. Chan is asserting military supremacy in making the inappropriate and insulting demand to the Western Samar provincial government to increase and expand the "mobility corridors" so the 8th ID troops could pursue the New People's Army," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas. "This proves the government's so-called development projects, especially under the aegis of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, are not really beneficial to the people but in support of the "counterinsurgency" campaign. It is in fact the military that is calling the shots, and the militarist solution to social unrest lurks behind the US-funded Samar Road and other alleged development projects. While pretending to aid the people of Samar, the more than $200 million MCC development assistance is actually serving as the Trojan horse of militarization."

Fr. Salas also said the ongoing militarization in Northern and Western Samar belie the Aquino government's promises of peace and development. "Human rights violations continue under the extended Oplan Bantay Laya, and are bound to mount after January 2011 when the Aquino government pursues a new scheme in the mold of the US Counterinsurgency Guide. Gen. Chan's pronouncements the military ushers in peace and development are thus nothing more than sugarcoating militarization. Since August in fact, wide areas of the countryside in northern, western and eastern Samar are now warzones where the military violates human rights and international humanitarian law with impunity. These include areas in the Western Samar towns of Jiabong, Motiong, San Jorge, Catbalogan, Gandara, Paranas, San Jose de Buan and Matuguinao, on to Las Navas and other Northern Samar towns, as well as Jipapad in Eastern Samar. The 8th ID troops encamp in civilian communities, putting these in danger, in gross violation of international humanitarian law. Troops from the 52nd IB, 63rd IB, 34th IB, Scout Rangers and other military and paramilitary units have also been accused by civilians of summary executions, torture, harassment, indiscriminate firing, robbery, destruction of property and other violations."

The NDF-EV spokesperson called on the local government, Church, media, human rights advocates and other sectors to expose and oppose the militarization of Samar and to reject the US Counterinsurgency Guide and its MCC component. "The victims of human rights violations must stand up and demand justice and redress for the decade-long ordeal caused by Oplan Bantay Laya. The people must unite, expose and oppose the militarist and fascist solutions being railroaded by the Aquino government as directed by the US COIN Guide. If it wants to show its genuine concern for the people, civilian authority must confront and reject the fascist imposition of military supremacy. The path to genuine peace and development is not that made by the few and by the interests of US imperialism; it is made by the people's struggle for justice, national freedom and democracy."

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/...ndfev;lang=eng