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Post by dodger on Nov 21, 2013 9:19:14 GMT
NDF calls for united front of disaster victimsNovember 21, 2013   Rubi Del Mundo
Spokesperson
NDFP Southern Mindanao Chapter
The survivors of Typhoon Pablo must unite with the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in the face of the Aquino government’s blatant ineptitude, corruption, state neglect and the worsening crisis of the semi-feudal economy. The Filipino people cannot simply rely on the spin of Aquino and Aquino’s men, as well as from debt-laden imperialist donors. While reeling from their loss, Yolanda victims have only to look at the experiences of disaster survivors in Southern Mindanao to learn that only through militant struggle and revolutionary perseverance can they survive the nightmare of Yolanda.
Nearly one year after Typhoon Pablo walloped the vast forests and farms of millions of indigenous peoples, peasants, banana workers and other agricultural workers, Typhoon Pablo survivors continue to wallow in utter poverty and oppression. Pablo victims in many of the revolutionary base areas have only received scant relief goods from the Aquino government, under conditions of unrehabilitated farms,roads and infrastructure. The relief goods were sparsely distributed over delayed periods of time. Worse, some of the relief goods and rehabilitation materials like galvanized steel were maximized and utilized for political patronage in the recent barangay elections.
The scanty relief goods and an even pitiful rehabilitation program for Typhoon Pablo worsen the already dismal situation of peasants. Because of the inherent problem of nonexistent government subsidy for agricultural production and because of usury, the lives of Typhoon Pablo survivors remain as miserable as ever.
Some have received vegetable seedlings but because of the lack of government subsidy and support that could have increased farmgate prices, income from these farms are virtually negligible. They could not earn much out of the dirt cheap prices of their produce. For instance, how can a peasant’s family earn with a P1 per kilo of squash?
Others who have made use of paltry incomes derived from cash-for-work schemes and small capital intended to rehabilitate their damaged farms are confronted with the ancient problem of usury. Loan sharks and small commercial traders and landlords exploit the niggardly situation of poor peasants and tenants who are made to survive Pablo with increased land rents and high interest financing schemes.The usurious schemes thrive under the very noses of local reactionary functionaries and bureaucrats who, ironically, boast of and falsely peddle that they are helping Pablo victims.
The reactionary government and its local functionaries ignore the deteriorating conditions of the peasantry while abetting this wanton crisis of feudalism in the Typhoon Pablo-hit countrysides. Customs officials are reported to exact bribes so that imported relief goods sourced out from well-meaning independent donors can be released to Typhoon Pablo victims.
Oplan Bayanihan operations and its attendant human rights abuses also aggravated the sad state of relief and rehabilitation in Typhoon Pablo areas. At the onset of Typhoon Yolanda, the AFP and the Aquino regime singled out looting as the very reason for their deployment of military troops and the military-led disaster agency to supposedly restore normalcy amid chaos. Hungry Typhoon Pablo survivors were also looked upon as thieves over their own lands when they took what they can when Pablo disaster struck and when, two months later, they confiscated undistributed relief goods at the DSWD.
Indeed, this is a government that would rather ignore disaster preparation, comprehensive relief and rehabilitation,and genuine land reform. This is a government that would rather resort to shooting the dispossessed and surviving people, and consider itself blameless.
Hence, the National Democratic Front Southern Mindanao calls for a united front of Filipino disaster survivors to remedy their abject suffering. Then and now, revolutionary forces and the masses persevere in rebuilding their lives and their lands. Survivors in Eastern Visayas must unite with Southern Mindanao survivors, along with other disaster victims nationwide to struggle against the US-Aquino regime’s criminal negligence and fight for freedom from oppression and exploitation.
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Post by dodger on Nov 22, 2013 15:25:30 GMT
Shameless 5th ID combat operations amidst national calamity punished by the NPA
November 20, 2013  NPA Mountain Province Provincial Operations Command (Leonardo Pacsi Command)
Two punitive attacks were successfully launched by the Leonardo Pacsi Command (LPC)-NPA Mountain Province against a commando unit of operating troops of the 50th IB and 503rd Infantry Brigade PA last November 15-16 at the boundary of the towns of Besao and Sagada of Mountain Province and Tubo of Abra. At least three soldiers were seriously wounded in the said military action of the LPC. Instead of helping the nation recover from the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda, the 5th ID chooses to spend millions on military operations.
The said commando unit secretly entered the vicinity of Mount Tabbak last November 14. But unknowingly, this was monitored by people’s army. The following day, a team of NPA red fighters sniped the advancing enemy troops. And on November 16, the NPA attacked the same troops while they were resting at Mount Amtinangad.
Since the second week of November, the 5th Infantry Division PA, combined with troops of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) and Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) of the Cordillera launched a widespread combat operation covering the towns of Sagada, Besao, Bontoc, Tadian and Sadanga of Mountain Province; Tubo and Boliney of Abra; and Quirino, Cervantes and other towns of Ilocos Sur. Earlier, unabated and synchronized military operations also by troops of the 5th ID and PNP, already started in the provinces of Kalinga, Ifugao and Isabela. This massive combat operation was launched amidst the grievous suffering of millions of our countrymen in the Visayas where thousands have died and entire towns and cities have been totally devastated due to the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda. The entire world has witnessed the inefficiency and incompetence of the Aquino government in providing relief and rehabilitation services to the calamity victims. Instead of concentrating on providing much needed assistance to the storm victims, the 5th ID and PNP is shamelessly and insultingly spending millions on a massive military operation while survivors of typhoon Yolanda are dying from hunger and chaos is breaking out in a lot of areas due to lack of food and water.
It is only too contemptuous that the Aquino regime claims to lack funds for relief goods, medical supplies and rehabilitation services for the calamity victims while it spends billions on warfare logistics and combat operations! This just shows the brazenly anti-people character of the Noynoy administration which is outrageously insensitive to the dire situation of the people in times of calamities. It is unreasonably focused on its desperate attempt to neutralize the armed revolutionary movement led by the CPP-NPA-NDF by the end of the year 2013 under the framework of its counter-insurgency scheme called Oplan Bayanihan.
Just like typhoon Yolanda, military operations of the AFP and PNP only wreak havoc upon the lives and properties of the common people. These military operations pave the way for the entrance of destructive and plunderous mining and energy business ventures of foreign and local capitalists. Through the use of brutal force and psychological warfare, these military operations aim to undermine the unity and struggle of the national minorities defending their ancestral lands against foreign and local land grabbers and plunderers. Arbitrary and widespread bombings and machinegun strafing during military operations cause extensive damage on people’s lives, properties, communities and the environment. In these life-threatening combat operations, arbitrary arrests and murder of civilians result in intense fear while martial law type control of the people’s activities result in hunger among the peasants who are not allowed to attend to their ricefields and swidden farms.
The massive military operation amidst the tragic and desperate situation of our countrymen clearly shows whose interest the AFP, PNP and the entire US-Aquino regime serves. The people have no other option but to firmly resolve to further strengthen and expand their unity and fight against the aggression and plunder of their natural wealth perpetrated by imperialists and local capitalists accompanied by the widespread terrorism carried out by the AFP, PNP and their para-military groups. These fascist operating troops should be driven away and indemnification should be demanded for the wanton destruction of livelihood, properties, environment, culture, dignity and lives of the people.
Relief operations for our countrymen in the Visayas, not destructive military operations, are the call of our people. The successful military actions of the Leonardo Pacsi Command against the 5th ID is in response to the widespread indignation of the people against the calamitous effect of military operations of the AFP and PNP. These also serve as punitive acts against the AFP and PNP troops who are insanely holding violent combat operations instead of actively participating in the relief and rehabilitation of calamity victims in the Visayas. ###
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Post by dodger on Nov 23, 2013 10:26:43 GMT
A national disaster or.......A photo-oppertunity??
You decide....Filipino politics ....heck they are the same the world over. Got a call from a young volunteer, crying as much in rage as pity. The body bags had VOTE %$#^%^&&&%STICKERS ON. Even the dead are not to be spared, it seems.  |
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Post by dodger on Nov 23, 2013 16:27:27 GMT
PKM-NDF calls for intensified land occupation to rebuild, expand revolutionary mass base in typhoon-hit areas
November 24, 2013 Andres Agtalon
Spokesperson
Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid
The Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM), a revolutionary peasant organization allied with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) today called on all its organizations in typhoon Yolanda-devastated areas to launch intensified land occupation and contribute to the immediate rehabilitation, recovery, and expansion of the revolutionary mass base.
PKM spokesperson Andres Agtalon said that “super typhoon Yolanda’s aftermath not only paralyzed the reactionary government but the big landlords themselves.”
“Farmers cannot rely on big landlords to help out in rebuilding their lives and agriculture in typhoon-devastated areas. The PKM led by revolutionary government committees together with the New People’s Army can seize the initiative and launch intensified land occupation for the immediate rehabilitation, recovery, and expansion of the revolutionary mass base,” says Agtalon.
“The occupation of vast lands is just in the face of the Aquino regime’s ineptitude and incompetence in helping out the survivors and victims of the typhoon,” Agtalon added.
At the same time, Agtalon said, “the PKM and the NPA should frustrate all efforts by the landlord Aquino regime to perpetuate big landlords’ control over the lands occupied by revolutionary peasants.”
“The Aquino regime and its cohorts’ maneuvers to return the lands to big landlords, and to local and foreign agribusinesses, must be confronted with militant mass struggles,” Agtalon said. #
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Maybe it is not the 'right time to say it...just after a Typhoon. I'll say it anyway "it's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody something good" Never have the ruling clique ever looked so lacklustre. Ineffectual. The sterling work carried out by mass organizations has brought the government's own vapid show boating, on multiple news channels, into sharp exposure. Now is the time to start kicking,punching whilst they are reeling. Never has the workers and peasants looked more like the natural leaders of national destiny. The CPP certainly looks the clever party on every front.
Some very old lady got up on a chair after grabbing a child's toy M16....."Teach me to fire this gun!" Thunderous applause. "Teach me!" She said in English for my benefit. What was so significant was the kiddy was dressed in army fatigues along with his daddy--who just smiled sheepishly. She returned the gun to the child. Seems around these parts folks are emboldened. I blew her a kiss and pressed on with the shopping. Never seen the market so alive. Never seen a soldier treated in that manner. Have to admit a tear did roll down these course, leathery cheeks of mine.
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Post by dodger on Nov 24, 2013 8:00:21 GMT
Salungguhit (underlying) Inihanda at prioritized (Prepared and prioritized).niwr
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Post by dodger on Nov 25, 2013 13:31:41 GMT
Unite with the people in facing the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda, carry out the temporary and unilateral ceasefire for two months
![]() Fr. Santiago “Ka Sanny” Salas
 NDFP-Eastern Visayas
November 25, 2013  Eastern Visayas as well other nearby regions only recently suffered an unparalleled calamity. Typhoon Yolanda, which was estimated to have wind speeds of more than 300 km. per hour, lashed the entire length of the region for 3-4 hours and caused a 5-meter storm surge that inundated coastas areas. This resulted in thousands of dead, injured and missing, and hundreds of thousands of demolished houses; destruction of important infrastructure for energy, transportation and communication and other public structures; damage to agriculture and the economy in general; mass evacuation of families; and other damage. In the more than two weeks since the storm, the Aquino government has not fully arrived at an accurate picture of the destruction because it has focused only on the urban centers, while remaining ignorant about the situation in the vaster and more numerous towns. Even foreign observers note there is no organized and systematic government response to the calamity.
The revolutionary forces feel for the masses of the people in EV in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda's devastation, which comes on top of the sufferings they already undergo under the exploitative and oppressive ruling system. We must care for and lead the masses in overcoming the present situation. In the next two to six months, this should be the principal concern of the revolutionary forces, according to the extent of the gravity of the damage to the life and livelihood of the masses. We will carry out during this period a temporary and unilateral ceasefire against the reactionary armed forces, while maintaining strict security and the readiness all the time to defend ourselves if the enemy attacks.
We call the attention of the Red commanders and fighters under the Efren Martires Command-New People's Army to the following order of the Executive Committee of the Regional Committee-Eastern Visayas of the Communist Party of the Philippines last November 12:
“1. Offensive operations are suspended from here on until the middle of January (2 months).
“2. An active defense posture shall be maintained such as remaining on strict security, being always ready to face enemy attacks, and the carrying out of military training during this period.
“3. The Party leadership in EV shall communicate again through the ROC [Regional Operations Command) whether the ceasefire period should be lifted or extended.”
The mass movement must be active in carrying important issues to surmount the disaster. The mass movement must banner the urgent needs of the masses of the people for housing, food, clothing, medicine and livelihood projects for rehabilitation. The recurring neglect and corruption by officials of the reactionary government tasked with relief operations and funds for the people must be denounced. Campaigns for production and cooperation must be carried out. The rising prices of the people's basic needs must be protested, especially that of food as well as gasoline, electricity, LPG, medicine, housebuilding materials, and others.
There can be many courses of action. There can be various local ways of community spirit and cooperation (tiklos, aglayon,pintakasi), building houses and the restoration of public structures. Organized demands must be pushed through such as calling for the Aquino government's action towards solving the problems of hunger, thirst, illness, and other results of Typhoon Yolanda. Mass actions must be carried out against the higher costs of not only food but also gasoline, transportation fares, electricity and others. Mass campaigns for planting must be carried especially that could immediately yield results, as well as work for cash. There must be mass actions against militarization. Depending on the hotness of the issue, there can be mass actions at the municipal or inter-municipal level.
Documentation must be carried out to ascertain the severity of the damage caused by the storm, such as the dead, injured, destroyed homes, and also farm animals, agricultural crops and infrastructure, as these will serve as the bases for mass campaign struggles. The Party, NPA and the mass organzations must be united about the urgency in jointly addressing this issue as their primary concern. The mass movement is the key means towards solving the problems caused by the storm, thus we must reinvigorate this along with closely monitoring and guiding. The Party members at the basic level must lead the way in the mass movement and serve as examples to the people in serving and leading the masses. The people's army must particupate in the production for food and in joining hands in repairing and building houses and the restoration of public structures.
Support for the masses must also be obtained from the upper classes, humanitarian organizations and allies in the reactionary government. The mass organizations and the people should get the support of the friendly elements within and outside the bureaucracy, humanitarian and civic organizations, and others. The organizations and alliances of the people must actively seek support and funding from friends in the government, especially those who have the funds and aid supplies for the victims, and the international organizations as well.
The calamity victims and the people must do propaganda actively. They must condemn the Aquino government's obliviousness, superficiality, hypocrisy in aiding the victims, and looting of government calamity funds and humanitarian aid from abroad, The price hikes of basic goods and services must be protested. In the face of natural calamity, the inutility and corruption of the Aquino government can be further exposed and linked to issues such as the pork barrel scandal.
The Aquino regime must be slammed for its militarist approach to the problems of hunger, thirst and sickness, as well as the continuation of military operations in the countryside. The Aquino regime must be held accountable for its arrogance and derision of the people's desperation and in showing armed force rather than humane aid. The Aquino regime's psywar vilification of the revolutionary movement must be exposed and opposed, such as its claims of harassment of the relief convoys and the allegations of taking advantage of the calamity to sow chaos. The regime is doing this to gain the upper hand and mislead the people that it is taking care of the calamity victims. The US must also be condemned for taking advantage in sending warships including those with nuclear weapons on the pretext of aiding the calamity victims.#
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Post by dodger on Nov 28, 2013 10:30:26 GMT
NDFP-EV slams Aquino regime’s refusal of reciprocal ceasefire:
“We may be enemies of the state, but we are the friends of the people”
November 28, 2013 Fr. Santiago Salas (Ka Sanny)
Spokesperson
NDFP Eastern Visayas Chapter
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Eastern Visayas denounces the Aquino government as utterly despicable for refusing to reciprocate the revolutionary movement’s ceasefire in areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan). The revolutionary movement in the region has declared a unilateral ceasefire up to mid-January 2014. The Aquino government’s regional military commander, Maj. Gen. Jet Velarmino, is particularly reprehensible for saying, “We did not make a declaration of ceasefire even after the typhoon. They are enemies of the state.”
We may be enemies of the state, but we are the friends of the people, their interests come first. On the other hand, what else can we call the Aquino government and its military, except as enemies of the people for refusing a ceasefire that would facilitate aid to the Typhoon Yolanda victims?<!-- more -->
The Aquino government troops showed no compunction in continuing their offensives against the New People’s Army even while the region was still reeling from the typhoon’s aftermath. Gen. Velarmino’s troops from the 8th Infantry Division are still on combat operations under Oplan Bayanihan in the central parts of Samar island. Aside from search and destroy missions, they are also harassing villagers suspected of supporting the NPA. It goes to show the Aquino government and its military have no concern for the plight of the people.
Tacloban City and other calamity areas are virtual garrisons. Right after the typhoon, the Aquino government sent armored cars and armed troops to Tacloban as a “show of force” to the hungry and desperate people, who were not receiving any government aid and commandeering whatever they needed to survive. Today there are several military checkpoints at the entrances and exits to the city, and the people are subjected to curfews, and accosted and treated like criminals. Meanwhile, so-called bunkhouses have been hastily constructed where homeless families are to be herded like cattle into cramped confines. This scenario is replicated in other areas that are suffering from the typhoon’s aftermath. All these show the Aquino government regards the people with contempt, showing little concern over their sufferings, and enforcing their subservience to the armed might of the state.
Is the Aquino government refusing a reciprocal ceasefire because it is not serious about long-term reconstruction in Eastern Visayas? At present, the Aquino government is making a mockery of the relief and rehabilitation in region. The typhoon victims live by the day, hoping they will have something to eat the next day, vulnerable to starvation and disease. There is also no long-term plan for the urban and rural poor as well as the middle-class who lost their homes and livelihoods, while the vultures of corruption have started circling. Without any socio-economic reforms, without any public consultation and transparent governance, the big bureaucrats and big businesses will surely take advantage of the people’s plight in order to profit from corruption in the massive reconstruction effort needed. As an added insult to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, the US and Philippine governments are rushing towards an agreement justifying the basing of US military troops in the country in violation of national sovereignty. It seems the reason why there is no ceasefire for Aquino’s troops is that they are there to ensure that it will be business as usual in keeping the people in their state of exploitation and oppression.
The people will hold the Aquino regime to account for refusing a reciprocal ceasefire to facilitate aid to the typhoon victims. The victims of Typhoon Yolanda and the rest of the people will surely rise from their grief to demand for a reconstruction favoring the people, as well as socio-economic reforms for the long term in the region and other calamity areas. If the Aquino government cannot bring itself to call even a limited ceasefire in the name of humanity, how much more a just and lasting peace? #
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Post by dodger on Dec 1, 2013 3:47:06 GMT
Catastrophe in the lives of the oppressed and exploited
Supertyphoon Yolanda has wrought unspeakable damage. It devastated more than 40 towns in Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Mindoro, Palawan and the island clusters in the Visayan Sea. Also hit were areas in Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Northeast and Southern Mindanao.
As what happened in past typhoons, the worst hit are the oppressed and exploited classes. Most of the calamity victims are small fisherfolk, farm workers, poor peasants, small coconut farmers, urban poor, workers and semiproletariat.
In Tacloban City, not a single structure escaped damage. All houses made of light material were levelled and buildings made of cement had their roofs torn off and their doors and windows destroyed. On top of this, there were houses that were swept away by the storm surge. Not a single house was left standing in the towns of Guiuan and Giporlos. In the towns of Hernani, Quinapondan, Salcedo, Mercedes, Basey, Balangiga and Marabut in Eastern Samar, 95-100% of all houses and establishments were destroyed. The same fate befell the nearby islands of Manikani and Homonhon. Not a single tree or plant was left in the uplands and farms of Guian, Marabut and Lawaan.
In Leyte, the towns of Palo, Julita, Burauen and TabonTabon were ruined. Victims’ bodies were strewn in the streets, in front of hospitals and municipal halls. The victims of the tragedy have been scrambling to leave but could not find any bus or jeep or any other mode of public transport to bring them to a better place.
By November 20, the official death toll from the storm stood at 4,011. Up to 20,000 people were injured. And more than 2,000 remained missing. An estimated 9.7 million Filipinos, or almost 10% of the entire population were affected by the typhoon.
Long impoverished
Eastern Visayas is one of the regions most neglected by the reactionary state. In 2012, it was considered the third poorest among the Philippines’ 17 regions. No less than the reactionary state’s doctored statistics state that the poverty incidence in EV is at 45%, more than double the national average of 22%. In the towns devastated by the recent typhoon, 45-55% of the population live on less than P90.00/day ($2.00) and are considered among the poorest, according to international standards. In 2011, the region had the most number of families who experienced hunger (16%).
Employment and underemployment rates are high in the region—34% or 540,000 people, compared to the national average of 25%. This is aside from the 36% who are part of the labor force but do not participate in production. The regional labor participation rate is 63.7%.
Eastern Visayas’ backward, agricultural and pre-industrial economy has long been suffering from limited production and development. In 2004-2009, production in the region grew by a mere 3.6%, which was only half of the targeted 6.1% and lower than the national average of 4.3%. In 2010-2012, the region’s economy plummeted by 6.2% due to the shrinkage of the manufacturing (40%), agricultural (3%) and fisheries (6.3%) sectors. This is a far cry from the Aquino regime’s much-vaunted 6.8% national growth rate.
Despite its vast land area and big population, the region contributed a mere 2.2% to the national economy (compared to 17% from Region IV-A/CALABARZON).
Aquino’s tiny calamity budget
The damage caused by Yolanda is estimated at up to $15 billion (P604 billion, equivalent to 5% of the country’s GNP). This is three times bigger than the devastation caused by typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy.
Nonetheless, the reactionary state allotted only P23 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation in last year’s budget. This is woefully inadequate compared to the estimated P60 billion minimum needed for reconstruction in the wake of the damage caused by typhoon Pablo in 2012, the soldiers’ bombing of Zamboanga and the earthquake that struck Bohol and other Visayan islands in October.
The reactionary government has no infrastructure for disaster preparedness. It is incapable of effecting the rapid evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. It has no funds for the rehabilitation of the environment (both for forest renewal and desilting of rivers and other bodies of water). The government does not provide security for typhoon damage. It has not allotted funds for any social benefits for calamity victims who have lost homes and jobs. The reactionary government has offered nothing except loans from the Social Security System and the GSIS. Experts estimate, however, that only 10-15% of the victims are covered by the SSS and GSIS.
In 2011, Benigno Aquino III dismantled the disaster preparedness fund and has instead allotted a small amount for relief operations. This fund is only enough to purchase two days’ worth of relief goods. Worse, Aquino has subsumed the minuscule P5-billion calamity fund to his pork barrel and has been actively using the latter as a carrot-and-stick on local politicians.
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Post by dodger on Dec 14, 2013 14:50:24 GMT
Addressing typhoon Yolanda’s devastation in Samar
 Already victims of the Aquino regime’s negligence, residents of the interior villages of Kamaru, a guerrilla front in Samar province are now further mired in poverty after typhoon Yolanda’s onslaught. Merchants have seized on the devastation to worsen their opportunism. Prices soared during the emergency. Even those who had some money to spend could not buy anything because goods were in short supply.
The peasant masses had little or nothing left to sell after the storm destroyed their main crops like banana, coconut, ginger, cassava and vegetables. If they had something left over to sell, there were no buyers or trading stations they could bring their produce to after transportation lines to cities like Tacloban and Cebu and neighboring islands in the region had been cut. More farmers became victims of usury.
In their desperation, the peasants have been forced to sell even their food stocks like rice. This means that their food reserves won’t last until the next harvest. Alternative foodstuff like cassava, sweet potato, banana and taro have also been destroyed by the storm.
CPP and NPA show solidarity and help the people
After the typhoon, a ceasefire was declared from November 12 to 24 in Eastern Visayas, which was later extended up to January 15, 2014 to enable the New People’s Army (NPA) to focus on relief and rehabilitation. In the 22 barrios in three towns within Kamaru that the NPA platoons were able to work in at once, the people addressed the devastation wrought by the storm in an organized and systematic manner.
The NPA platoons immediately called the local Party branches, mass organizations and barangay officials within Kamaru to a meeting to come up with a united approach on how to address the devastation and the looming hunger and disease. Leaders of mass organizations in every barangay were called in order to estimate the damage to public infrastructure, transportation and communication, and to houses, huts and crops.
They were immediately able to estimate the extent of damage especially to banana and cassava crops and coconut. The masses responded by launching a campaign to plant vegetables—not just as cash crops but for their nutritional value and use as herbal medicine in order to prevent diseases. Meanwhile, the barangay councils were urged not to be content with the measly relief goods (usually comprising 2.5 kilos of rice, a can of sardines and a packet of instant noodles), if any, that the Aquino regime was distributing. They must demand nails, roofing material, petroleum products, seedlings and fertilizer and farming implements, aside from immediate repairs to their irrigation systems, roads, bridges and power and communication lines.
The mass organizations were urged to take to account the inutile and corrupt Aquino regime for its criminal negligence. The people were likewise urged to expose the regime’s corruption, hypocrisy and militarist approach in addressing the calamity. The farmers were challenged to rise up in an organized way and depend on their own strength even if aid from the outside was available and immediately distributed. More than ever, this was a time for “bayanihan,” or “tiklos” and “aglayon” as the locals called it, joined by both the masses and Red fighters even as a campaign to plant fast-growing crops was underway. The masses’ unified strength flowed through the organizations which led various forms of cooperation among the people. Those who were not yet members of mass organizations were encouraged to join.
Collective action was the key to uplifting the masses from their difficult situation.
The NPA’s active service to the people
After the mass meeting, the NPA poured its efforts into repairing public infrastructure like schools, churches, waiting sheds, basketball courts, dancing halls, barangay halls, lamp posts and bridges in the villages within its area of operations. The Red fighters helped repair houses in the villages and huts in farmlands, cleaned the surroundings (called “pintakasi” locally), constructed garbage disposal areas and toilets, provided medical services to the sick and those who sustained injuries from the storm, dried palay that had become wet due to the typhoon and pounded rice. At all times, the masses and Red fighters helped each other in these tasks and mobilized the youth as well.
After these activities, mass meetings were called in the villages to discuss the burning issues surrounding the storm and the organized way of confronting the crisis it had brought about. Revolutionary culture was also featured through drama, poetry, song and movement which the masses avidly joined, especially the youth and children.
Masses warmly heap praises on NPA’s assistance
The masses of Kamaru admired the strength, number and talents demonstrated by their army, who served as engineers, carpenters, doctors, teachers, artists and farmers. They warmly embraced and nurtured their army, and practically “fought over” the comrades during mealtime. Together, they ate dried fish or sardines, the most delicious viand they could serve after the typhoon. The youth energetically mingled with their “Elder Sisters,” “Elder Brothers,” “Mothers” and “Fathers” in the revolution.
Said a farmer, “There’s really a world of difference between the people’s army and the fascist soldiers. All the fascists know is to order people around, while our army is deeply rooted in the masses.” News was rife about the hundreds of soldiers that had been sent, especially to Tacloban City, not to help in relief and rehabilitation efforts but to suppress the people as they scrounged around for food, water and other needs that the government failed to deliver in the crucial days after the storm.
Even the teachers in Kamaru who were not yet organized marvelled at the industry, sincerity and rapid response of the people’s army in the barrios. They also admired the women comrades who courageously waged revolution. With the platoon-size army that went to the barrios, the masses felt the advance of the armed movement, not only in terms of armed strength but in terms of firm principles under the close guidance of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The villagers reminded each other of the need for clandestine action to protect their army.
The masses thanked the comrades, who they knew braved the rains in the dark of night and hiked through thickets to condole with them and express their solidarity. This experience proved that any task could succeed if it is grounded on the principle of the mass line—advancing the masses’ interests at all times.
Seeing them off with firm handshakes and clenched fists raised, some of the villagers could not help but shed tears of sadness at their army’s departure. Several times, the masses would run after them to give some rice as send-off gifts. They said: “Come back soon, because it’s lonely without you around.” The people’s army brought along with them not only rice as they left, but new fighters for the revolution.
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Post by dodger on Dec 14, 2013 17:18:27 GMT
Rising from the devastation of typhoon Pablo
There are many lessons to be learned from the people’s experiences in the guerrilla zones of Compostela Valley devastated by typhoon Pablo on December 4, 2012.
The victims of typhoon Pablo were not content with waiting for the snail-paced and anomaly-ridden “relief efforts” of the Aquino regime. They took the initiative to oblige the government to fulfill its duty to the people. They played a major role in the distribution of whatever assistance had arrived.
They assailed a number of anomalies involving the DSWD regarding the construction of bunkhouses that would serve as evacuation centers. They thus maintained the dignity of the calamity victims and strengthened their organization.
The masses’ recovery from the devastation wrought by typhoon Pablo relied more on their organization than on any help from the outside. Instead of going their own way, they reconstructed their homes and communities in a planned and collective manner.
With the rehabilitation of their livelihoods, the people in various areas of Compostela Valley organizedly launched a production campaign that prioritized the formation of communal farms and plots. Also a part of the production campaign was a reforestation drive. Rehabilitating the forest is important to the peasants’ and Lumad’s livelihood in the long-term.
In the entire process of addressing the calamity and rising from the devastation, the people’s collective action and initiative were the keys. They used the mass movement as their weapon in confronting the disaster head-on. From planning, to setting up the machinery to the actual implementation of the program for rehabilitation or rebuilding their livelihoods, the masses played an active part.
The roles of the Party, NPA and revolutionary movement
In the vast areas devastated by typhoon Pablo, the peasant masses, Lumad and other toiling masses were accompanied by the Communist Party and the New People’s Army (NPA) in efforts to address the disaster and recover from widespread devastation. The actions taken by the revolutionary people served as inspiration and models for the broad masses in other areas.
As the Party and the people’s democratic government’s main machinery, NPA units played a crucial role in providing guidance and direct assistance to the barrios devastated by the typhoon.
As soon as the storm abated on December 4, the NPA command immediately took steps to assess the situation based on reports from the various NPA units. They acted at once to gather emergency supplies and aid. The NDF-Mindanao’s ceasefire declaration on December 5 stressed to the NPA the need to shift focus and tasks towards addressing the disaster.
The higher organs of the Party and the people’s government immediately organized efforts to raise food, water and other supplies and mobilized the NPA for the distribution. People’s clinics were conducted in various areas to provide emergency medical services. Teams were formed to build shelters for victims who had lost their houses.
All-sided program for recovery
Aside from its quick response, the Party territorial committee formed Task Force Pablo and tasked it with drafting a program and concrete plans for the area’s long-term rehabilitation. It framed an all-sided recovery program which involved a lot more than returning the people to their former houses.
The plans included the rehabilitation of the forests on which the masses’ livelihoods and their safety during disasters depended. Forest renewal was also crucial in establishing encampments for the people’s army.
Towards this end, the revolutionary people’s government provided strong support, especially in the initial stages, when the victims of disaster had absolutely nothing to build on. The Party and the people’s government mobilized all available resources to raise food and production equipment.
The people’s government provided subsidies to enable the masses to immediately resume production, giving priority to communal farms. At the same time, houses and other structures needed by the community were repaired or rebuilt.
Alongside the process of recovery was the strict implementation of the total logging ban and preventing the entry of logging companies hiding behind the cloak of Integrated Forest Management Agreements (IFMA). The people also opposed mining companies who resumed forest clearing operations that would destroy the environment.
Thus, the genuine and comprehensive rehabilitation program being implemented in the guerrilla zones were a direct affront to the imperialists and local ruling classes and the reactionary Aquino regime that was protecting their interests. The reactionary state fought the people tooth and nail. The Aquino regime mobilized its armed forces anew to suppress the people and put a stop to their government’s implementation of its recovery program. Intensified repression from the military operations under Oplan Bayanihan was thoroughly resisted by the people in the area in their desire to defend their rights and livelihood.
The Party made sure that every measure taken to rise from the disaster involved the masses’ active role. They were involved in the planning and implementation, up to the assessment of the tasks. This experience directly prepares the masses in forming, controlling and running the people’s democratic government. |
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Post by dodger on Dec 25, 2013 14:42:22 GMT
From the typhoon’s devastation:
The rise of people’s government
On December 4, the residents of Saturnino, a farflung barrio in Compostela Valley gathered to celebrate their community’s recovery from the devastation wrought by typhoon Pablo. With the Red fighters, the Ang Bayan staff and a number of regional Party cadres, Saturnino’s residents hailed the victories achieved by their village with the help of the Party and the New People’s Army this past year. The celebration was led by the local Party branch.
Saturnino was severely devastated by the fury of typhoon Pablo. All houses and structures in the community were levelled, including the schoolbuilding. The surrounding forest was denuded, and the residents’ newly planted corn and vegetable crops were ruined. Nobody died in Saturnino but the residents knew that many were killed in the neighboring villages that form part of a vast mining area. The reactionary government concealed the real number of deaths in these barrios.
Because the water in the streams surrounding the village rose, it took a few days before help could reach the area. But as soon as the river was passable, the local Party branch in Saturnino immediately sent a report to the nearest unit of the New People’s Army to ask for help. Although the unit was far away, it immediately sent Red fighters to ascertain the residents’ conditions, provide relief goods and medicines and help in constructing temporary shelters.
Simultaneously, the residents of Saturnino acted forthwith to take the reactionary state to account for its criminal responsibility in allowing the destruction of the forests due to widespread commercial logging and destructive large-scale mining. They organized protests with other typhoon victims to demand the immediate and full distribution of relief goods that the reactionary government had collected for them. But aside from three tents provided by a private relief agency, the residents of Saturnino did not receive any material assistance from the reactionary government.
Mass campaign for production
In the succeeding months, it became the priority of the local Party branch to ensure that the residents would not do things on their own when it came to rebuilding their livelihoods. The branch conducted consultations in order to set the conduct of an immediate production campaign and the long-term rehabilitation of the community. They launched a mass campaign in order to address each family’s daily needs.
The residents of Saturnino firmed up their resolve to remain in the village despite a campaign by the reactionary state to evict them from the area in the guise of “relocation.” The residents knew that such relocation was merely a pretext to allow big mining and logging companies to freely make use of the land and forest in their community. They decided to collectively build their houses and eventually, their schoolbuilding. They built a water system to provide safe and potable water for their school and several clusters of houses. In preparation for another disaster, they also built temporary shelters or “bunkers.”
Despite its limited resources, the Regional Party Committee in Southern Mindanao helped in the community’s initial rehabilitation by providing materials and food subsidies for the residents who worked full-time to build houses and public facilities.
The Saturnino residents count among their major victories the vast improvements in the productivity of both their individual and communal farms. They now have bigger harvests compared to the period before the storm hit. Despite the difficulty of opening a farm in an area that was strewn with huge trees that had been felled by the typhoon, the residents persevered in clearing more than 30 hectares of land in order to plant rice and corn.
They have since had two croppings of corn. Currently, they maintain a 15-hectare rice farm. The communal farm is managed by the barrio revolutionary committee.
The local MAKIBAKA chapter also successfully began a vegetable plot of more than a hectare. The plot is planted to Chinese cabbage, sweet potato, gourd and other vegetable crops. They have harvested more than their families could consume. Part of the harvest is purposely allotted to the NPA unit in the area. The excess produce is sold in neighboring villages. Meanwhile, the communal farm maintained by the local Kabataang Makabayan chapter was positioned near the newly built schoolbuilding. Their harvest mainly addresses the needs of the community’s elementary school. The school itself has its own communal farm, fishpond and vegetable garden. At the same time, the residents have also improved their individual farms from which they source most of their food and cash crops.
In response to the Party’s general call for reforestation, Saturnino residents, in partnership with the NPA, have begun to systematically plant endemic trees in the forests surrounding their communities. They have also responded to the call to plant fruit trees at the foot of mountains and around their communal farms and community. They have already been able to grow durian, marang and magosteen seedlings, among other
Not the least of the Saturnino residents’ achievements is the construction of their own school. A formal elementary school providing Grade 1 to Grade 6 education is now operational, with three classrooms and four teachers. The residents appreciated the program for a genuinely free, pro-people, scientific and patriotic education being advanced by the schools run by the revolutionary movement.
Building Red power
It had long been a resolution of the local CPP branch to raise the level of Party consolidation and the organizational level of the people in the barrio. The process has been accelerated due to the residents’ urgent need to unite and cooperate to rebuild their community and livelihoods. The residents responded with unprecedented enthusiasm, determination and firmness to the call to build the organ of political power in their area.
Despite being heavily militarized, it was easy to consolidate the Party branches and members of fullfledged mass organizations. The technical aspects of preparing the requisites for building the barrio revolutionary committee such as conducting studies, drafting a program and holding an election were quickly fulfilled. Despite enemy military operations, the conference was formally launched and the barrio revolutionary committee built. The latter has taken charge of the rehabilitation program initiated by the Party and the NPA.
The residents of Saturnino are energetically implementing the collective farming program in order to address the needs of every family. This is a foundation for building a socialist economy.
The people’s collective strength, their embrace of agrarian revolution and armed struggle and their conscious effort to ensure that their village remains safe from unreliable elements all serve as the firm pillars in building the barrio revolutionary committee. To make sure that NPA units as well as local Party leaders and officers of the barrio revolutionary committee could operate safely in the area, rules on security are strictly observed and enemy movements closely monitored.
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Post by dodger on Dec 27, 2013 11:46:46 GMT
Harvests in Pablo areas mark CPP’s 45th celebrationby MART D. SAMBALUD Davao Today Somewhere in COMPOSTELA VALLEY – A year after Typhoon Pablo destroyed crops in this area, about 100 kilometers from Davao City, farmers have now harvested some 12,000 sacks of rice, made possible through their rehabilitation efforts with the New People’s Army.
New People’s Army and farmers celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Communist Party
of the Philippines somewhere in Compostela Valley. (davaotoday.com photo by Mart D. Sambalud, Dec 2013)
This, the farmers declared during the celebration of the 45th year anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), as they also formalized 12 barrios (villages) consisting of around 1,800 families, in a new municipality under the “people’s democratic government.”
In an interview with Davao Today, Ka Sixto, leader of the red area’s Municipal Revolutionary Committee, said that the CPP in Southern Mindanao helped organized farmers and implement the communal farming system.
“Because of the Party’s effort, small farmers and lumads were given help. Since the communal farming started, the people were able to eat and survive,” said Ka Sixto.
The communal farming involved farmers taking turns in farming and maintaining the crops. Ka Sixto showed the farm occupying 55 hectares, planted with crops such as rice and corn.
The farmers also planted vegetable farms crops such as upo (white squash), okra, and egplant.
Ka Sixto said the communal system ensured food security for the communities, especially after Typhoon Pablo destroyed their farms and livelihood last December 4, 2012.
He said in the last six months, not only were they able to harvest, they were also able to process their harvested grains through a rice mill built by the NPAs.
“With the rice mill, people no longer need to go far to the market to mill their harvested rice,” he said.
The harvests gave farmers more reason to celebrate the CPP’s 45th anniversary in this area. Some 800 farmers, women, youth and lumads gathered on a hilltop at 1 pm yesterday (Dec. 26), and held a cultural program with songs and dramatization of the farmers’ plight and calls to continue the “national-democratic revolution.”
Sixto said the Aquino government has failed to provide the farmers adequate rehabilitation materials.
He claimed the government only favored military deployment and mining operations that made them poorer.
“Instead of giving the basic needs of toiling masses, the Aquino government intensified militarization in poor communities,” Sixto said.
He added that the Party’s “ideological” support helped them find ways to survive Pablo.
“The Party may not give abundant material things, but the ideology guides the masses to overcome their poor situation,” he said.
The CPP’s 45th anniversary statement released yesterday Dec. 26 said “organs of political power in the countrysides” covering barrios (villages) and “sub-municipal or municipal organs of political power” are tasked to conduct “mass struggles and mass campaigns.” (Mart D. Sambalud/Reposted by (http://bulatlat.com)) - See more at: bulatlat.com/main/2013/12/27/harvests-in-pablo-areas-mark-cpps-45th-celebration/#sthash.eTOsD08M.dpuf
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Post by dodger on Dec 27, 2013 13:19:05 GMT
Buhay Komunista
December 26, 2013  Communist Party of the Philippines
Sine Proletaryo, the video production outfit of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), presents “Buhay Komunista”, a 26-minute video feature, which highlights the various aspects of the life of selfless service of communists in the Philippines. The video feature is being released in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the CPP.Communist Party members, from CPP founding chair Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, to commanders, fighters and doctors of the New People’s Army (NPA), to officers of the people’s revolutionary committees and secretaries of local branches of the CPP in the rural base areas share their varied experiences in waging revolutionary struggle and building the people’s democratic power.
“Buhay Komunista” underscores the crucial importance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the key element in building the Communist Party of the Philippines, guiding it in its responsibility to lead the entire Filipino people towards national and social liberation, as well as in guiding the daily work of CPP members, Red fighters and all revolutionary forces to serve the interests of the people.
The video further shows the victories achieved by the people’s revolutionary movement under the guidance of the CPP in building a new system that serves the aspirations for social liberation of the exploited and oppressed. It shows how the people, empowered by their new democratic government, builds schools and clinics to address their most critical needs.
The narrations in “Buhay Komunista” were done in Pilipino, Bicolano and Bisaya. Sine Proletaryo has released subtitles in Pilipino (download srt file here ) and English.
View on youtube: youtu.be/9zgs6y8JS98
View on youtube (with subtitles): www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zgs6y8JS98&yt:cc=on
View on vimeo: vimeo.com/philippinerevolution/buhay-komunista-1
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Post by dodger on Dec 31, 2013 22:22:01 GMT
www.workers.org.uk/thinking/society.htmlMore from our series on aspects of Marxist thinking
Society and the Working ClassWORKERS, JAN 2012 ISSUE Human life is utterly dependent on social organisation and activity. As the poet John Donne observed, “No man is an island entire of itself.” Yet addicts of the free market declare that there is no such thing as society. We should interpret their odd claim as a call to arms of a ruling class determined to stop its rival leading a dignified life. Capitalism’s innate urge is to dragoon working class existence inside purely economic parameters, within exclusively market constraints, free from other civilising influences.
Left to itself, capitalism operates a system where the only connecting mechanism, the only functioning link between classes and people is the cash nexus of the profit drive. Capitalism is obsessed by maximising profits and keeping costs – particularly those of labour – down. It is not concerned by workers’ working conditions or quality of life (unless these factors happen to hamper their ability to maximise profits). Accordingly, in recent decades it has set about dismantling and undermining those enhancing aspects of society that support or benefit workers, spawning a stark age ever more bereft of professionally delivered social provision, churning out privatised profit-grabbing organisations as alternatives. As wealth accumulation for capitalists soars, workers plummet into deprivation and suffering.
Society does exist, but today it only finds expression, it only has a source, within the working class. The capitalists, acting as if they are beyond and outside of society, want to remove the protections and enhancements of society from workers. Two opposing perspectives are clashing. Workers, propelled by the nature of their economic position, are having to combine to press their class interests, to counter the incessant exploitation and degradation stemming from the market. Letting the barbarism of profit be the supreme arbiter of human existence would otherwise cripple us.
If we want to survive we must sweep capitalism aside. Civilisation means meeting collective need and fostering the blossoming of social organisation and activity. Nowadays there is society only when workers act together to pursue and enforce common interests.
While denying and hemming in society, the capitalists shamelessly wield power in their favour through the mechanism of an increasingly corporate state. So we live in a paradox where the working class majority are without the trappings of power whilst the ruling class minority selfishly dictate the direction of life. But who pays for the state? Workers do, via a range of taxes. The state must not bulldoze society. Nor should we be reduced to mere individuals or families at the beck and call of callous market forces. Rather we must grow into a class wanting to exercise power as a mutually supporting society.
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Post by dodger on Jan 10, 2014 14:42:23 GMT
CPP-Panay takes the lead in the island’s rehabilitation work
We will lead the rehabilitation of those who have been devastated by typhoon Yolanda! This is the main content of the program drafted by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Panay for the year in the face of the massive loss of livelihood caused by supertyphoon Yolanda’s onslaught in the island and other parts of the Visayas.
Particularly in Panay, the storm has further made destitute an already impoverished people. The livelihoods of up to 70% or 2.8 million out of the island’s total population of four million have been severely affected. Most of the victims are poor farmers and fisherfolk from Capiz, Aklan, northern Iloilo and northern Antique. Adding to their woes is the Aquino regime’s incompetence and its criminal negligence.
Up to ₱10.9 billion worth of crops have been destroyed in central and northern Panay, ₱1.5 billion of which are rice crops. The devastation has affected at least 50,000 farmers. Up to 4,000 sea vessels and thousands of fishing equipment were either destroyed or swept out to sea. Up to 20,000 hectares of fishponds were likewise ruined, and overall, the fisheries sector sustained ₱1.5 billion in losses.
In these tragic circumstances, it is the Party’s duty in Panay to lead the people’s efforts in recovering from the devastation even as it takes the Aquino regime to account for its negligence. This is the urgent task which the Party and the progressive and revolutionary forces in the island must accomplish, said CPP-Panay spokes-person Ka Concha Araneta, on the occasion of the Party’s 45th anniversary.
Firstly, the movement must sustain, expand and shoulder the recovery of the millions of typhoon victims in the island. The entire force of the revolution and elements under its influence must be mobilized to rebuild in an organized manner houses, farms, fishponds and other sources of livelihood that have been ruined. Those who are most in need of food and shelter must come first. The movement must likewise raise all the resources it could muster to assist the victims in resuming their normal lives. Planting durable cash crops comes next, in order to fast-track the process of recovery. The Party once again called on the masses to plant on idle lands of landlords, on land seized by the 3rd ID from the Tumanduk people and on land foreclosed by the banks.
An effective and more definitive disaster preparedness movement must be launched especially in areas prone to typhoons, floods, earthquakes and other calamities.
Secondly, the people must demand that the Aquino regime provide the resources and services needed for them to recover, because these come from the taxes they have been paying. All forms of pork barrel must be abolished, especially the funds held by Aquino worth more than a trillion pesos and allot this for the rehabilitation of the typhoon victims’ livelihoods.
Even as we ask for help from foreigners, the people must nonetheless demand a moratorium on debt payments in order to rechannel debt service to recovery. Destructive projects like the construction of the Jalaur River Dam must also be stopped and the funds used instead for rehabilitation efforts.
Merchant-usurers who persist in demanding debt payments from typhoon victims must be opposed. The people must demand lower interest on loans from the government and the usurers.
Lastly, the we must resist the perpetuation of Oplan Bayanihan by the regime and the latter’s expenditures on weapons and military equipment for the AFP, such as new helicopters, drones, jets and other war materiel designed to intensify its attacks on the revolutionary forces. Aquino must be condemned for using relief and rehabilitation work as pretexts for spending on these war materiel.
The New People’s Army’s fighting ability must be further enhanced to enable it to thwart the Aquino regime from waging war on the suffering people.
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