Monday, February 28, 2011

CPP cautious over 18-month peace talks timeframe

CPP cautious over 18-month peace talks timeframe


Communist Party of the Philippines

February 27, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today expressed caution over the 18-month timeframe set for completing the draft comprehensive agreements on the remaining items in peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The CPP issued this statement several days after the negotiating panels of the NDFP and GPH agreed to complete the draft agreements in the next 18 months. According to the Joint Statement issued by both panels, the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) may be completed and signed by the Panels in September 2011; the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms (CAPCR) may be completed and signed by the Panels in February 2012; and the draft Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (CAEHDF) may be completed and signed by the Panels in June 2012.

“Let us remind ourselves that the socio-economic problems and political and governance issues at the root of the civil war have been plaguing the people for the past hundred years, especially the systemic and inter-related problems of land monopoly, landlessness, feudal exploitation, rural impoverishment, agrarian economic backwardness and mass unemployment,” said the CPP.

“It would be extremely difficult to resolve such deeply rooted problems in a little more than a year. This is especially so in the face of active efforts by antipeace forces to sabotage and derail the talks.”

“While we optimistically aim to forge agreements in 18 months, neither side should give-up in the event that such objectives are met within the set timeframe,” said the CPP. “Giving up after 18 months can only benefit the ultrafascist antipeace forces in the military, defense and police establishments who are eagerly waiting for an excuse to go allout in their fascist onslaught against the people,” added the CPP.

“Even now, these antipeace forces in the AFP-PNP have been relentless in their attacks against the peace process, launching one sabotage job after another.”

* Url:http://beta.philippinerevolution.net/statements/cpp-cautious-over-18-month-peace-talks-timeframe

The Tio Brothers of Malita are not NPAs, so why are they being touted by the 39th IB as NPA surrenderees?

The Tio Brothers of Malita are not NPAs,
so why are they being touted by the 39th IB as NPA surrenderees?

February 27, 2011


Dencio Madrigal
Commander
NPA Far South Mindanao Regional Operations Command

PROUD OF THEIR LIES and unaware that the barrio folks are secretly raging at them, the 39th IB of the 10th Infantry Division — AFP has scored another “victory” in their old ploy of coercing civilians to act as NPA surrenderees. Their latest victims are Johnson Tio and Danilo Tio of Sitio Tambulang, Brgy. Danwata, Malita Davao del Sur who appeared on TV trying to air the old scripted line that “they came down from the mountains to the folds of the law because they are hungry and tired, etc.”

Everybody in Malita knows that these two Kaolo farmers are ordinary barrio residents who have been peacefully living here for quite sometime and are not members of any unit of the New People’s Army anywhere in Far South Mindanao. Under the 39th IB’s continuing coercion, these two lumads have no other recourse but to submit themselves to the media and follow what the military told them to say on TV and radio. We can only surmise at what these two hapless farmers are going through, under the iron fists of the military. As of this writing they are still detained in the army detachment at New Argao, Malita, Davao del Sur.

The people know that the 39th IB’s main objective (while trying hard to sound magnanimous) is to sow intrigue and disunity among the indigenous peoples in Malita by inciting people to rise up using the Datu Danwata incident, invoking even a pangayaw. Obviously the 39th IB does not care about what happens to the indigenous peoples, much less the Kaolos of Malita who are made to fight each other under the dirty psywar tactics of the military, which is being played to the hilt under the AFP’s Oplan Bayanihan (OPB).

But the 39th IB’s warmongering will never get them anywhere. As a matter of fact, it only demonstrates the true color of the AFP — that it is a rotten and corrupt organization that is neither for peace nor development and does not care about the people’s welfare at all. What they’re interested in is to sow terror among the populace so they can easily facilitate the entry of mining and plantation, big business of the multinational companies and the comprador big bourgeoisie as what is happening not only in Malita but also in the other mining areas of Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat.

* Url:http://beta.philippinerevolution.net/statements/the-tio-brothers-of-malita-are-not-npas-so-why-are-they-being-touted-by-the-39th-ib-as-npa-surrenderees?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d6b634f2ab66378,0

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Aquino's PDP, another anti-progress World Bank economic blueprint--CPP (NDF)

Aquino's PDP, another anti-progress World Bank economic blueprint--CPP


Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
February 27, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) dismissed the Aquino government's Philippine Development Plan for 2011-2016 as "another anti-progress World Bank-imposed economic blueprint that will only lead the Philippines to a deepening and worsening economic crisis."

The CPP issued this statement a day after the Philippine Development Forum (PDF) was held to discuss the PDP 2011-2016. The PDF is chaired by the Department of Finance and co-chaired by the World Bank.

"The PDP 2011-2016 is an economic program that follows the old World Bank and IMF framework of liberalization, privatization, deregulation and denationalization. This is the same old economic frame that guided the failed Philippines 2000 of the Ramos regime as well as the nine-year economic disaster under the previous Arroyo government," said the CPP.

"Aquino is singing the same old IMF-WB tune that has made the Philippines a debt-dependent economic disaster," added the CPP. "He has not come up with any economic thrust that is different from the failed economic blueprints of the past reactionary regimes."

"Just like the economic programs of the past 25 years, Aquino's PDP completely ignores the persistent problem of landlessness in the countryside," said the CPP. "Without carrying out genuine land reform to break up land monopoly, the peasant majority will only continue to suffer from mass poverty and deprivation."

"His economic program is bound to fail as it does not even heed the demand for land of the thousands of tillers and workers in his very own Hacienda Luisita," said the CPP. "Instead, Aquino's land policy consists only of providing opportunities for foreign mining operations and economic zones for big foreign capitalists."

"As in the past, Aquino's IMF-WB designed economic program hinges on foreign debt and investments," added the CPP. "Under his Public-Private Partnership Program, funds are allocated to guarantee profits for foreign big capitalists and their local big comprador and bureaucrat partners. Instead, funds should be appropriated to land distribution and to develop local scientific and technological research and development to spur industrial development, local manufacturing and the expansion of agricultural output."

"Otherwise, as before, Aquino's PDP will fail to address the festering problem of mass unemployment. Being dependent on foreign debt and investments, the only kind of employment that will be generated will be those that are geared towards the needs and interests of foreign big capitalists. They will not address the needs of local economic development."

"Aquino's PDP will amount to nothing more than generating more 'call-center'-based employment, instead of solid jobs based on fundamental economic growth," added the CPP.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/aquinos-pdp-another-anti-progress-world.html

CPP cautious over 18-month peace talks timeframe

CPP cautious over 18-month peace talks timeframe


Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
February 27, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today expressed caution over the 18-month timeframe set for completing the draft comprehensive agreements on the remaining items in peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The CPP issued this statement several days after the negotiating panels of the NDFP and GPH agreed to complete the draft agreements in the next 18 months. According to the Joint Statement issued by both panels, the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) may be completed and signed by the Panels in September 2011; the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms (CAPCR) may be completed and signed by the Panels in February 2012; and the draft Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (CAEHDF) may be completed and signed by the Panels in June 2012.

"Let us remind ourselves that the socio-economic problems and political and governance issues at the root of the civil war have been plaguing the people for the past hundred years, especially the systemic and inter-related problems of land monopoly, landlessness, feudal exploitation, rural impoverishment, agrarian economic backwardness and mass unemployment," said the CPP.

"It would be extremely difficult to resolve such deeply rooted problems in a little more than a year. This is especially so in the face of active efforts by antipeace forces to sabotage and derail the talks."

"While we optimistically aim to forge agreements in 18 months, neither side should give-up in the event that such objectives are met within the set timeframe," said the CPP. "Giving up after 18 months can only benefit the ultrafascist antipeace forces in the military, defense and police establishments who are eagerly waiting for an excuse to go allout in their fascist onslaught against the people," added the CPP.

"Even now, these antipeace forces in the AFP-PNP have been relentless in their attacks against the peace process, launching one sabotage job after another."

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/cpp-cautious-over-18-month-peace-talks.html

Unite against the fascist forces working against peace-CPP (NDF)

Unite against the fascist forces working against peace*


Editorial, Ang Bayan
21 February 2011

The darkest clouds that are dimming the hopes of advancing the long-stalled peace talks are the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and its new Oplan Bayanihan (OPB). Rabidly fascist forces have been relentless in their efforts to obstruct and sabotage the talks.

Every time there is a glimmer of hope that the talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH) will be moving forward, forces zealously working against peace undertake moves to obstruct the negotiations. The AFP's fascist generals have the gall to declare themselves as peace advocates in the face of their violations of existing agreements and their efforts to malign the NDFP and its seriousness in pursuing talks with the GPH.

Fascist soldiers and police forces treacherously arrested Comrade Alan Jazmines in Baliuag, Bulacan on February 14. Comrade Jazmines is one of the most well-known leaders of the Communist Party and a leading consultant of the NDFP in the peace talks. In arresting him, the AFP brazenly violated the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Jazmines was arrested by the AFP on the eve of the resumption of formal talks between the NDFP and GPH, virtually dashing the people's hopes of achieving a big step forward in the negotiations.

Comrade Jazmines was captured a few weeks after the AFP's arrest of Tirso "Ka Bart" Alcantara. Ka Bart is one of the leading cadres of the Party and the New People's Army (NPA) in Southern Tagalog and is also a consultant in the peace talks. All in all, 15 NDFP consultants involved in advancing the peace talks have been arrested and jailed by the AFP and PNP. All of them have been slapped with trumped-up criminal charges by the military and police to justify their long-term detention.

The AFP has been boastfully projecting itself as an entity that is beyond the pale of agreements entered into by the GPH and NDFP. It arrogantly declares that "law enforcement" operations by the military and police cannot be suspended during the peace talks. Even during the 19-day ceasefire in December-January, the AFP relentlessly sowed terror through "special operations" in villages within guerrilla fronts, and even had the temerity to call them "peace and development" operations.

The fascist officers of the Aquino regime have absolutely no interest in seeing the peace talks succeed. All they want is to use the talks to deceive the people and cause the capitulation of the revolutionary forces. To military and police officers, peace means nothing but the suppression and defeat of all of the people's armed resistance and mass struggles.

The military's antipeace policy is articulated in the OPB, which is in turn patterned after the US Counterinsurgency Guide whose objective is to maintain US imperialist rule in the Philippines and its other semicolonies by subjugating forces advocating national liberation and people's democracy.

The OPB manifestly shows no interest in attaining a just and lasting peace. Under the OPB, the AFP officers' avowed role with regard to the peace talks is to deprive the NDFP of any advantage in facing the GPH. This only shows that there is no room in the AFP's fascist mindset for the conduct of talks between two equals and for mutual efforts to address the issues that lie at the roots of the civil war.

The AFP has also shown that it will not be bound by any existing or future agreements between the NDFP and the GPH. It thus wants to show the people that nothing significant can come out of the peace taks and to push the NDFP to withdraw from the talks to justify the AFP's continuing intensification of its fascist war against the people.

Everyone must realize that the peace talks between the NDFP and the GPH can only succeed if we can put a stop to the efforts of the rabid fascists within the military and police to sabotage the negotiations. The Aquino regime's policy of unleashing its fascist dogs in the AFP to trample with impunity on all the agreements between the GPH and NDFP, including the JASIG and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) is detrimental to the talks.

The Filipino people are one in their desire to achieve a lasting peace based on justice, and thus support the peace talks between the NDFP and the GPH through their widespread resistance to the fascist forces working against peace.

We must go all-out to expose and resist the AFP's rampage and the hollowness of its slogan of "peace and development." We must resist its fascist terrorism.

The revolutionary forces are aware that the NDFP's negotiations with the GPH can be an effective arena of struggle to attain peace if it is undertaken alongside the people's mass struggles and armed resistance. The people must therefore advance their national and democratic aspirations through all arenas of struggle. It is these aspirations that form the foundations of the peace they desire.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/unite-against-fascist-forces-working.html

S Korea not seeking reunification through absorption: PM

S Korea not seeking reunification through absorption: PM*

February 25, 2011


South Korea is not seeking reunification with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) through absorption, the country's Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik told parliament Friday.

Reaffirming Seoul's commitment to its official policy toward Pyongyang, dubbed the "policy of mutual benefit and common prosperity," the prime minister denied that the government is considering reuniting with the country's former wartime rival by absorbing it.

President Lee Myung-bak's idea of introducing reunification tax, aimed at funding the cost of reunification estimated at 1 trillion U.S. dollars, have raised a question here whether the country is looking to rejoin with the DPRK through South Korea- funded absorption.

Lee, who has recently said reunification will "definitely come," has repeatedly called on Pyongyang to follow in the footsteps of China and Vietnam and open up itself.

Source: Xinhua

* Url:http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7300618.html

Capitalism Termed Unpopular Society-KCNA

Capitalism Termed Unpopular Society


Pyongyang, February 25 (KCNA) -- Capitalism is the most reactionary and unpopular society as it harshly exploits and oppresses the toiling masses, regarding them as breathing tools and means for material production.

Rodong Sinmun Friday says this in a bylined article.

It goes on:

The bourgeoisie in the West regard human beings as no more than a means for material production and worthless beings able to work which can be traded as commodities.

The power in the capitalist society is not in the hands of the toiling masses who account for the overwhelming majority of the population but in those of a tiny handful of the privileged circles.

The moneyless and poor in the capitalist society can never have any opportunity to become a managing official of the state no matter how able they are.

The means of production in the capitalist society are in the hands of a tiny handful of capitalists, not in those of the toiling masses. They are used as means for bringing profits to the capitalists and tools for fleecing the people.

The bourgeoisie assert that the economic operation based on the private ownership of production means is the most effective managing method making it possible to enhance the producers′ zeal for production and produce more goods per hour.

This is a reactionary doctrine aimed to reduce the toiling masses to de facto
commodities and impose upon them the fate of being tools for material production.

The capitalists are further intensifying the exploitation of the workers with intelligence in the field of IT development by boosting their labor intensity.

They are utterly indifferent to the labor conditions and health of the workers.

They fire those workers without mercy when they get disabled and sick while on the job.

The life of the people in the capitalist countries is getting harder as various kinds of taxes are on the steady increase whereas the expenses for social measures are dwindling.

The toiling masses in the capitalist society are denied treatment as human beings and cannot enjoy a worthwhile life, much less holding their due status. It is only in the socialist society where the people can lead a genuine life as they are considered as the most valuable beings.

NDC Inspection Group Issues Statement Revealing Truth behind Yonphyong Island Shelling-KCNA

NDC Inspection Group Issues Statement
Revealing Truth behind Yonphyong Island Shelling


Pyongyang, February 23 (KCNA) -- The inspection group of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK in the first installment of the statement issued on Nov. 2 last year scientifically and fairly disclosed before the world that the sunk Cheonan ship case was the most hideous conspiratorial case in the history of the nation faked up by the U.S. and the south Korean group of traitors.

In the subsequent period, experts of south Korea conducted 11 tests including a precision analysis of the process of the formation of absorptive on the hull of the ship and torpedo parts with the help of a scanning tunneling microscope. These tests led to flatly refuting the investigation results presented by south Korea.

Shell pieces on which flower-shape white substances are attached were found in the propelling body of the torpedo which was produced as overwhelming evidence proving the ship sinking. This proved that the propelling body had long been under water, not for 1-2 months. The puppet Defence Ministry hastily removed the shell pieces only to become people′s laughing stock.

An officer who had been hired for a search operation in the waters where the incident took place was proved to have met death during the rescue operation of a U.S. submarine, increasing the suspicions about the clash between "Cheonan and the U.S. submarine." More facts are being brought to light to probe the truth behind the above-said charade.

It has already been known that more than 70 percent of the south Koreans said they were skeptical about the "story about the north′s involvement in the Cheonan case" while the rest do not believe it or remain doubtful about it.

The DPRK proposed the U.S. and south Korea conducting a joint investigation into the case after bringing relevant evidence to Panmunjom if they can not receive the inspection group of the NDC of the DPRK. But they have not yet responded to this bold and magnanimous proposal. Even a mere child can guess their ulterior motive.

However, the group of traitors of south Korea is making far-fetched assertions in a bid to exploit the already-bankrupt Cheonan case for escalating confrontation with the DPRK. This group is making futile efforts to shift the blame for the Yonphyong Island shelling on to the DPRK.

South Korea′s delegates walked out of the conference room in the eyes of the north side′s delegates when preliminary talks for the high-ranking north-south military talks were held on Feb. 8 and 9. But the south side floated the misinformation that the north side′s delegates unilaterally walked out of the conference room. It is clear from this fact that the above-said group may cook up whatever it likes.

The Yonphyong Island shelling was a planned provocation aimed to trigger off a direct military clash against the Korean People′s Army through a reckless preemptive attack. Through this the group sought to play down its crime and push the north-south relations to the brink of war as the Cheonan case was branded as a hideous conspiratorial case, making it impossible for it to escape the bitter domestic and foreign public accusation and denunciation.

The Cheonan case was the initial provocation to put overall military pressure on the DPRK in conspiracy with foreign forces while the Yonphyong shelling was the second planned provocation to ignite a war against the DPRK.

The south Korean group of traitors recorded last year as a year of confrontation and conflict. In the new year, too, it is free to let loose a whole string of reckless remarks falsifying truth, persistently using the two cases for stoking confrontation between fellow countrymen. Under this situation the inspection group of the NDC decided to disclose the truth behind the Yonphyong Island shelling.


1. Truth behind the Yonphyong Island Shelling

Yonphyong Island in the West Sea of Korea covers 6.8 square kilometers and its circumference is about 18 kilometers.

This small island has been widely known for the diversity of fishes and their abundance and become an object of envy by foreigners. This island, however, has turned into an advance base for aggression against the DPRK as huge marine corps and artillery forces are deployed by the south Korean puppet warmongers.

After amassing huge strike means on five islands in the West Sea of Korea including Yonphyong Island, south Korea watched for an opportunity of provocation while working out a firing plan of artillery pieces and flying corps of the puppet army for the defence of the "northern limit line." But it could not put it into practice in face of the toughest stand taken by the army of the DPRK and strong public opinion inside and outside Korea.

On Nov. 22 last year when Hoguk exercises targeted against the DPRK was at its height across south Korea, the puppet Joint Chiefs of Staff crafted a plan to bombard the territorial waters of the DPRK side on Nov. 23 and 24 from waters off Yonphyong Island.

The army of the DPRK, prompted by its hope to avert a military conflict in the sensitive waters and preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, sent a telephone message to the puppet military at 8:00 on Nov. 23.

The message called for immediately canceling the reckless plan for shelling at the territorial waters of the DPRK side. It also warned in strong terms that in case south Korea defies this, it will face a resolute physical counterattack by the army of the DPRK and that it will be held wholly responsible for all the ensuing consequences.

South Korea, however, opened fire at the territorial waters of the DPRK by mobilizing artillery pieces deployed on Yonphyong Island.
Yonphyong Island, once home to peaceable inhabitants, thus turned into a base for preemptive military provocation and could not escape a deserved punishment.

The merciless physical counterattack on the positions of the puppet army on the island proved once again that the strong revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu did not make an empty declaration when it said that it would never pardon anyone intruding even a bit into the territorial waters and air and territory of the DPRK over which its sovereignty is exercised.

There is no house owner who will allow a robber to go on rampage and no army of any country who will allow warmongers to make a preemptive attack on its inviolable territorial waters.

It was due to the group of traitors keen on confrontation with fellow countrymen that peaceful waters turned into a theatre of military conflict all of a sudden.
Fortunately, more than 1 300 islanders remained unhurt because they all went to the seaside opposite the firing positions to gather shellfishes.

The warmongers, however, went so sordid as to try to beat back the counterstrike by the DPRK by using the inhabitants as "human shields." They even did not inform the inhabitants of the warning message from the DPRK.

As for "civilian casualties", they were a few civilians enlisted in the armed forces. They were in the barracks of the puppet army. Had they not entered the barracks, they would not have met death.

Far from drawing a due lesson from its piteous plight, the group of traitors opted for expanding the shelling, crying out for so-called "retaliation" and "punishment."

The group of traitors carried out a massive replacement of military brasshats including the defense minister with hawkish guys and bolstered huge troops of the three services in and around Yonphyong Island. After clamping an emergency alert they fired bullets and shells from the area of the island for more than one hour on Dec. 20.

They secretly changed the waters and targets to be shelled for fear of the second and third counterstrike by the army of the DPRK. They also used the shells that had been left unused during the island shelling incident a month ago.

The army of the DPRK did not feel any need to respond to this clumsy firing conducted by the coward military for a propaganda purpose to save its face.

Had the group of traitors fired even a shell on the territorial waters of the DPRK side, not only those islands from which shells were fired but also Seoul would have turned to a sea of fire.


2. Yonphyong Island Shelling: Extension of Systematic Provocation to DPRK

The Yonphyong Island shelling was an extension of the military provocations that have been systematically escalated up to this date since the publication of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953.

After sustaining a bitter defeat in the three-year war aimed to stifle the DPRK in its cradle, the puppet group of south Korea flatly denied the conclusion of the AA and worked in every way to scrap and render it invalid while crying out for "separate northward advance".

These moves were vividly proved by its acts in waters around the five islands in the West Sea on which a maritime military demarcation line was not set at the time of concluding the AA. These islands are geographically close to the coast of the DPRK side.

South Korea tried hard to put its plan of "separate northward advance" into practice while committing abduction and murder of peaceable fishermen, armed attacks on the area of the DPRK side and other crimes with the waters around the islands as a springboard.

The military provocations in waters of the West Sea of Korea and other areas were handled as the top agenda item at a meeting of the Military Armistice Commission after the conclusion of the AA. This proves the gravity of the military provocations in these waters at that time.

Due to the south Korean puppet army the waters in the West Sea turned into an advance base for the provocation of a war against the DPRK and a dispute-ridden waters fraught with the constant danger of confrontation and conflict between the north and the south.

South Korea escalated military provocations in the waters even in the 1960s, 70s and 80s in the wake of the 1950s. In the 1990s they developed into military conflicts too dangerous to put under control.

An example of this was the first West Sea skirmish in June 1999.
At that time the U.S. and its allies′ war against Yugoslavia was drawing to an end. South Korea set the DPRK as a target and the West Sea as an ignition point for the second Korean war. Then it buckled to carrying out the "operational plan to provoke the north".

The puppet warmongers of south Korea amassed two large destroyers, 20 clippers, more than 40 combatant ships of various types including tank landing ship, guard ship, supply ship, rescue ship as well as marine corps in waters around Yonphyong Island. They recklessly preempted firing at the ships of the DPRK side on routine guard duties.

After failing to make the first West Sea skirmish an ignition point for an all-out war, the puppet military warmongers sparked off the second armed conflict in the waters in 2002 when the hot wind of reconciliation and unity swept the peninsula more furiously than before.

In the subsequent period the puppet forces annually escalated the intrusions into the maritime guard line of the DPRK side in a planned way and triggered the third West Sea skirmish in 2009 only to disclose that they sought to use the waters around Yonphyong Island as an advance base for provoking a war against the DPRK.

After the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors came to power, the number of intrusions into the territorial waters of the DPRK side sharply increased. Last year alone it infiltrated ships into them on over 600 occasions under the pretext of "intercepting fishing boats" or coping with the routine operation of the ships of the navy of the DPRK.

All the facts prove that the Yonphyong Island shelling was by no means an accidental case but a product of protracted confrontation with fellow countrymen incited by the successive puppet warmongers and a direct revelation of the systematic extension of their military provocations.


3. Criminal Aim Sought by Group of Traitors through Yonphyong Island Shelling

The Yonphyong Island shelling perpetrated by the south Korean group of traitors was a grave military provocation committed as an extension of the Cheonan case.

The case faked up by the group by sacrificing innocent soldiers for confrontation with the DPRK on March 26 last year turned out to be more unfavorable to the group as the days go by. The "results of investigation", announced by it twice to prove that the case "was linked with the north," were full of doubts, sparking off bitterer ridicule and criticism at home and abroad.

The first installment of the statement issued by the NDC inspection group revealing the truth behind the Cheonan case in the eyes of the world brought into bold relief the true colors of the tricksters who faked up the case. The U.S. and the group of traitors found no word to refute it. The tricksters worked hard to seek a way for tiding over the unfavorable situation.

The "bright idea" that came to the minds of the U.S. and the group of traitors was to fire shells into the waters under the DPRK control in a bid to induce its army to take a countermeasure and drive the north-south relations to the brink of war.
To this end, the south Korean group of traitors fired bullets and shells into the waters of the DPRK side despite its repeated strong warnings.

The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors sought a sinister aim in committing shelling from Yonphyong Island.

The shelling was aimed to persistently maintain its stand of preserving the illegal "northern limit line", first of all.

It is well known to the world that the "northern limit line" is a brigandish line unilaterally drawn inside the inviolable waters of the DPRK by the U.S. imperialist aggression forces present in south Korea under the berets of the "UN forces".

The U.S. imperialists felt extremely tired after sustaining an unprecedented defeat in the Korean War in July 1953. They let Clark, the then commander of the "UN forces", set the NLL, so-called Clark line, in the waters of the West Seat of Korea in a bid to check traitor Syngman Rhee′s reckless attempt at "separate northern expedition" and prevent a war which might reoccur according to it and, at the same time, bar south Korean fishermen from going to the northern half of Korea.

The line is the "final line for blocking the way to the north" and the "limit line for banning the sailing of boats to the north" unilaterally drawn by Clark, commander of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces, to meet the U.S. self-righteous interests.

Henry Kissinger, U.S. secretary of State in 1975, referring in a diplomatic message to the illegality of the NLL, said that the NLL was unilaterally set and it was not accepted by north Korea. This is in wanton violation of international law as the line was unilaterally drawn in the open sea, he added.

The U.S. ambassador to south Korea in December 1973 expressed deep concern by claiming that in case an incident occurs in the waters along the NLL, south Korea and the U.S. would be blamed by majority countries for doing wrongs. As seen above, the U.S. and its satellites openly admitted the illegality of the line.

That was why the U.S. imperialists did not inform the DPRK side of the line, far from opening it to the public though many years have passed since then.

The voices ridiculing the NLL as a "hot potato" which is poor in logic and serious in practice are endlessly heard from among the political, academic and public circles of south Korea as it was unilaterally set.

Moreover, the NLL is quite contrary to the Paragraph 13 B of the Korean Armistice Agreement stipulating that the island groups of Paengyong-Do, Taechong-Do, Sochong-Do, Yonpyong-Do and U-Do shall remain under the military control of the commander of the "UN forces" and all other islands and waters under the military control of the DPRK side. It is in total breach of the norms of maritime boundary stipulated by the International Law of the Sea including the respect for the right to 12-nautical mile territorial waters.

Had the NLL been set according to the recognized legal norms and usage, the south Korean group of traitors would not have felt the need to "preserve" the line with so much effort.

The puppet forces preempted shelling from Yonphyong Island where the military confrontation between the north and the south remains acute though south Korea has so many islands. Their real intention was to "preserve the NLL" whose existence is at increasing peril day by day.

The Yonphyong Island shelling was also designed to spark off military conflicts in the West Sea of Korea in a bid to nullify the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and the October 4 declaration, its action program, the precious gains common to the nation, and turn the waters into an eternal theatre of confrontation and conflict.

It is the unanimous aspiration and desire of all Koreans in the north and the south and abroad to make the waters of the West Sea of Korea peace waters and ensure the common interests and prosperity of the nation.

A lot of cases of military confrontation and clash in the past caused painful casualties and the economic losses, and damages done to fishermen in the north and the south amounted to astronomical figures.

The adoption of the historic two declarations, the proposal for setting the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea for the co-prosperity of the nation and the adoption of an agreement on providing a military guarantee for setting common fishing waters and peace waters reflected the unanimous desire of all Koreans.

But the expectation and hope of the Koreans to see the disputed waters in the
West Sea of Korea which brought disgrace and pain of the nation turn into peace and prosperity waters adding to the pride and joy of the nation have not been translated into reality.

No sooner had traitor Lee Myung Bak, steeped in antagonism toward the DPRK, become the master of "Chongwadae" than such hideous policy for confrontation with fellow countrymen as "no nukes, opening and 3 000 dollars" was adopted as a "state policy." He began to scrap the historic north-south agreements which had already been under implementation, blustering that he would approach the north-south relations with a "ruler of pragmatism", not with a "yardstick of ideology."

The group of traitors totally turned down even the proposal for preventing military confrontation and conflict between the north and the south and ensuring the common interests and prosperity of the nation under the pretext of "sympathy of the people" and "financial burden".

It hatched a sinister plot to eliminate everything step by step after classifying the inter-Korean agreements, the precious gains common to the nation, into a category which should be implemented on a priority basis, a category to be implemented at the final phase and a category which should not be implemented. This drove the implementation of the historic October 4 declaration to a total suspension, brought the north-south relations back to those of confrontation in the era of the Cold War and turned the West Sea again into a theatre of military confrontation and conflict, an advance base for igniting a war against the DPRK and a position from which to start an attack on it.

No wonder, the people in south Korea, commenting on the Yonphyong Island shelling in which the military clash spilled over to the land from the sea, deplored that such tragic incident would not have occurred if the October 4 declaration had been implemented.

The said shelling was also aimed at plugging the U.S., its master, deeper into its scenario for invading the DPRK.

After setting it as the primary target to keep the U.S. imperialist aggression forces in south Korea for an indefinite period, traitor Lee Myung Bak of south Korea did not hesitate to commit the thrice-cursed treachery to "tighten the alliance" with the U.S. But he could not settle the issue of postponing the transfer of the right to control wartime operations as he intended.

This was because the decision to hand over the right to control wartime operations to the puppet army till April 17, 2012 according to the south Korea-U.S. "summit" in September 2006 was made public to have been officially agreed at the bilateral "defense ministers talks" in February 2007.

Driven by the urgent need to create exceptional "uneasy security" for the pretext for the U.S. forces′ permanent presence in south Korea, the group of traitors was repeatedly closeted, finally cooking up the case of Cheonan warship sinking at night under the territorial waters in peacetime.

The group staged big joint naval exercises one after another under that pretext and introduced nuclear carrier flotilla of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces into the narrow waters of the West Sea of Korea. It then held renegotiations for postponing the transfer of the right to wartime operation control as it planned and succeeded in extending the hand-over time for additional three years and seven months.

Enraged people rose up in protest against this pro-American and treacherous act across south Korea. Upset by this, the group of traitors needed the second Cheonan case, i.e. a shocking case to keep the "uneasy security".

The Yonphyong Island shelling was committed under meticulous plan for this purpose.
In order to put this plan into practice, the group committed two adventurous military provocations at the time when 2010 was running out. It is misusing the case of Yonphyong Island shelling to escalate confrontation with the DPRK in the new year, too.


4. Who was behind the Yonphyong Island shelling?

When the group of traitors perpetrated shelling from the Yonphyong Island one after another despite strong protest and denunciation at home and abroad, the attention of the world was focused on the every movement of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces present in south Korea under the mask of the "UN Command".

This was because the U.S. imperialists, the real master of the command holding the right to "control wartime operations" in south Korea and tasked to implement and oversee the Korean Armistice Agreement, zealously backed and patronized the military provocations of the puppet forces, far from preventing them.

When the group announced the plan for second shelling from the island, pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war, the U.S. imperialists let the command fully support the plan, terming the projected exercise one to be staged legitimately in observance of the AA. Moreover, they declared that they would send at least 20 persons belonging to the UN forces to the island to assist the group in such fields as communications and medical care so that it would go ahead with the exercise as planned.

Lurking behind this was their sinister aim to paint any military conflict in these sensitive waters as confrontation between the army of the DPRK and the "UN Command," not anything happening between the north and the south.

The U.S. imperialists misled public opinion by advertising the military provocation of the group as "legitimate shelling exercise" in a bid to make the military conflict between the two sides a fait accompli and get the U.S. aggression forces in south Korea fully ready to involve themselves in it.

There was no clash between the two sides as the army of the DPRK paid no heed to such vicious military provocation as taking revenge after being hit hard. But the U.S. imperialists staged large-scale joint naval maneuvers after rapidly dispatching "George Washington" nuclear carrier flotilla made up of cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, landing craft, etc. dozens of carrier-based aircraft, F-15 and F-16 fighters as main forces to the narrow waters of the West Sea of Korea as they planned.

In succession they sent more than 10 000 troops of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces, a nuclear carrier flotilla and over 150 fighters to the waters off Okinawa in Japan to stage the largest-ever joint military exercises in coordinated operations with 34 000 troops of the Japan "Self-Defense Forces", 40 warships and 250 planes. They even invited south Korean puppet troops to participate in the exercises as "observers".

Timing to coincide with this, they invited top class servants of south Korea and Japan to Washington for a confab to discuss "a joint counter-action" against the DPRK and "close cooperation".

Their military moves in the wake of the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling were aimed to wind up the setting up of the structure of military confrontation in Northeast Asia under the pretext of the escalating tension on the peninsula and, furthermore, realize their wild ambition for world domination.
As already disclosed, the U.S. imperialists′ Asia-Pacific policy is the core and mainstay of their strategy for world domination in the 21st century.

In order to realize this strategy, they are attaching great importance to the above-said region where big powers are concentrated, to the Korean Peninsula, in particular, as it is of great importance geologically and strategically.

It is their judgment that it is impossible to dominate the Asian continent nor is it possible to lay a military siege to Eurasia unless the whole of Korea is put under their control. So they calculate that they can easily dominate the world if they seize the Korean Peninsula and overpower the big powers in Northeast Asia.

But the reality was quite contrary to what they intended.

They ran the whole gamut of means such as economic isolation and suffocation, psychological warfare and military threat to stifle Korean-style socialism. But they suffered repeated setbacks. On the contrary, their influence and right to domination weakened in this region due to their domestic and foreign environment and crisis.
They felt the urgent need to exercise influence backed by military muscle and this required an appropriate justification.

Hence, they instigated the south Korean group of traitors to fabricate the Cheonan case. Later they openly allowed the group to "take counter-action by exercising the right to self-defense" and "amend the rules of belligerency." They egged the group on to perpetrate shelling from Yonphyong Island, even providing "information about the north" and giving prompt support with latest military hardware including F-22 Raptor fighters.

What merits particular attention in their moves after the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling last year is that they are channeling all efforts into establishing the structure of military confrontation in Asia.

The moves to knock into shape a triangular military alliance involving the U.S., Japan and south Korea which had been pushed forward from long ago are aimed to militarily dominate the region by mobilizing not only the U.S. imperialist aggression forces but Japan SDF in case of "contingency" on the Korean Peninsula. It is their scenario to form a new military bloc in the region and expand the U.S.-led military blocs to the east and the west and then throughout the world.

The Asian type NATO is more dangerous than NATO, in actuality. The issue of establishing a missile defense system has not been officially stipulated in NATO and it has no operational plan for invading and occupying other countries, in particular.
But the above-said triangular military alliance includes the above-said issue and plan. It is more aggressive and interventionist in its nature than NATO. Means and methods of operations are more specified in the alliance.

The U.S. imperialists staged an emergency huddle under the pretext of "taking a joint counter-action" against the Yonphyong Island incident at which they agreed with south Korea to take a counter-action by hurling puppet warmongers as a shock brigade to counter somebody′s "local provocation" while providing support to them from behind and mobilizing even the Japanese reactionaries. This indicates that they are set to ignite a war against the DPRK by mobilizing multi-national forces.

All these facts are enough to reveal once again that the U.S. imperialists were behind the above-said two cases.


5. Bitter Lessons Drawn from Yonphyong Island Shelling

The Yonphyong Island shelling that occurred owing to the U.S. and the south Korean group of traitors taught serious lessons to the Korean nation and other world people desirous of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.

The first lesson is that it is necessary to cross off the illegal "northern limit line" and set the extension of MDL in the West Sea of Korea in a fair way at an early date.

The viewpoint and stand on the "northern limit line" can serve as a touchstone distinguishing those standing for peace in the West Sea from those opposed to it.

From a military viewpoint, a curtain of bilateral military conflicts was already raised in the West Sea of Korea. Any armed clash may lead to an all-out war, seriously threatening not only the destiny of the Korean nation but also world peace.

The "northern limit line" is a ghostlike line which can convince no one because it was unilaterally drawn in a brigandish way without a bilateral agreement, to say nothing of the requirements of the international law of the sea, the principle of respecting the opponent′s 12-nautical mile territorial waters, requirement of AA and the "law of the sea" of south Korea.

No wonder, even the U.S. imperialists drew the north-south "imaginary boundary" in the West Sea of Korea further southward than the "northern limit line" on the basis of the principle of equidistance stipulated by the international law of the sea. At that time they were distributing Korean maps to the participants in the UN conference on the law of the sea which was held in the U.S.

After the Yonphyong Island shelling, not only the broad international community but also Americans became increasingly vocal calling for re-fixing the "northern limit line".

Selig Harrison, director for Asia Program of the Center for International Policy of the U.S. who is an expert on Korean affairs, said that it is very easy to solve the West Sea conflict between south and north of Korea. The U.S. has to reset the "northern limit line", an extension of MDL in the sea, in the dispute-ridden area a little southward, he added. He went on to say that the U.S. has the right to reset the "northern limit line" as it was granted by the UNSC the right to nominate the commander of the UN forces in south Korea in November 1950. The Obama administration must discuss the issue of setting the new boundary in the West Sea of Korea with both sides of Korea, but must not grant the south Korean regime the right to refuse a new boundary if an agreement on it is reached, he pointed out.

The broad international community including political, social and academic circles is becoming increasingly assertive that the U.S. should come out to remove the "northern limit line".

This represents the world opinion that it is none other than the U.S. which should set the new boundary in the West Sea with responsibility to ensure peace in the waters of the West Sea of Korea. It is the view of the world people that the U.S. imperialists sowed the seed of armed clash and dispute in the waters and the south Korean group of traitors abused it for invasion of the DPRK and confrontation with it.

The reality proves that a top priority task for averting conflicts and disputes and achieving durable peace in the waters is to correctly set the boundary there.
Another lesson is that the dispute-torn waters should be turned into a peace zone until a new extension of MDL is set there.

It is the common will of the Korean nation to set up peace waters to make the West Sea a sea of national prosperity, not the one of confrontation between fellow countrymen.

The historic October 4 declaration on which the north and the south agreed reflected this will.

This declaration stipulated the principled matters for putting an end to the relations of military hostility, defusing tension and ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula. In particular, it provided the best way for setting up the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea and fixing a joint fishing zone and peace waters.

Both sides held the second defence ministerial talks and general-level military talks for the implementation of the October 4 declaration, at which they agreed to take practical measures to prevent conflicts and secure peace in the West Sea.
The army and people of the DPRK put forward the realistic and principled proposals to implement this agreement.

They included landmark proposals calling on both sides to give up all their assertions from broad mind, handle the West Sea conflict on the basis of the already existing north-south agreements, AA and demand of internationally accepted laws, until a new military demarcation line is set in the West Sea of Korea, and fix the peace waters and joint fishing zone.

However, the south Korean group of traitors scrapped valuable agreements of the Korean nation. As a result, the seed of conflicts and disputes still remains in the waters, becoming a potential flash point of an all-out war.

From the outset it paid no heed to the lessons of the past West Sea incidents and the principled ways for solving them put forward by the DPRK. It only worked with blood-shot eyes to maintain the illegal "northern limit line" and ignite a war against the north.

The past history showed that if the south Korean authorities truly hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula, they should give up their stand of preserving the "northern limit line" and set a new extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea of Korea. And it showed that they should buckle down to putting into practice the proposal for setting the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea advanced by the DPRK till the new extension of the MDL is set. It also proved that those opposed to this are precisely harassers of peace and provocateurs of war.

There is a saying that the past is the "lamp" lighting the present and future.

It is self-evident that if the north and the south do not pull themselves out of the mire of confrontation, sticking to the inglorious past, they can never pave a wide avenue of peace and prosperity, much less achieving peace and stability on the peninsula.

Whoever truly wants the improved north-south relations and values peace on the peninsula, whether they live in the north and the south and abroad, should neither call into question the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling any longer nor put them up as any precondition.

Explicitly speaking, the Cheonan case has nothing to do with the DPRK. It is the immutable truth.

The Yonphyong Island shelling would not have occurred if the south Korean group of traitors had not preempted shelling in the waters of the DPRK side.

For over six decades since the division of Korea, the army of the DPRK has never taken any physical countermeasure against all forms of shelling drills which had been staged in the areas and waters of south Korea.

If the group of traitors tries to link the Cheonan case with the DPRK in a far-fetched way and shift the blame for the Yonphyong Island shelling onto it while turning blind eyes to this stark reality, this will only prove that the group seeks only the escalated confrontation with fellow countrymen and the deteriorated north-south relations.

The army of the DPRK proposed "On halting military actions which can be recognized as provocation of the other party" as an agenda of the recent preliminary talks for the opening of the north-south highly-level military talks. This was prompted by the steadfast will to tide over the present developments in a fair and aboveboard way at an early date, the developments which resulted from the distrust and antagonism pent up between the north and the south for a long period.

The recent north-south military dialogue was held with much effort amid the great concern and expectation of the people at home and abroad. The south Korean group of traitors, however, persisted in peddling the two cases there because it sought confrontation and war, not dialogue and peace. As a result, the talks naturally came to a rupture.

It is too natural that broad strata of south Korea are becoming increasingly concerned and worried that if the present authorities turn their back on the DPRK′s proposal for unconditioned dialogue and rush headlong into one-sided confrontation, calling into question the two incidents, this will entail miserable consequences of swamping the whole land of south Korea as the Cheonan warship and turning it into a wormwood field like Yonphyong Island.

But the group of traitors prolonging their remaining days through sycophancy toward the U.S. and escalated confrontation with fellow countrymen is working hard to find a way out in keeping the phase of confrontation under the pretext of the two cases.

The further the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean group of traitors "blame" the DPRK for the two cases, the more saliently it will reveal their ugly colors as anti-DPRK confrontational fanatics and their effrontery of confusing right and wrong.

The army and people of the DPRK will continue doing their utmost to shatter the vicious moves of the worst confrontational elements in the world, improve the north-south relations and ensure peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Eagle Mining Company sanctioned by the NPA for environmentally-destructive mining!

Eagle Mining Company sanctioned by the NPA
for environmentally-destructive mining!*


Ka Norsen
Julito Tiro Command,
NPA-North Central Mindanao
February 26, 2011

The Ernesto "Boyboy" Roa Command Front 6 -- NPA under the Julito Tiro Command of North Central Mindanao Region disabled, on February 22 in Sitio Opis, Brgy. Namnam, San Fernando, Bukidnon, five (5) equipment units used by the Eagle Mining Company for mining. Punitive action was handed down to the said company for its environmentlly-destructive mining operations, for ignoring the demand of the Lumad in the area and church people for mining to stop, and, for threatening to file cases against and summarily killing some leaders who opposed the operations of the company.

The claim of the AFP, saying that the EMC was given sanction due to non-payment of revolutionary taxes, is a big lie. In truth, the AFP protects these companies that destroy the environment, and it is one of their sources of corruption. Government agencies, like the NCIP, DENR and the local government of Bukidnon, are in collusion with the company in these mining operations, especially with the speedy processing of the papers for the entry of said mining company. Consequently, big military operations are conducted in areas of interest to mining and agri-business companies.

The revolutionary movement cannot permit the continued destruction of the remaining natural resources of the country, which results in devastating calamities, such us flooding and the destruction of peasant livelihood. It is not right for the local government to simply hand over to foreign mining companies and their agencies remaining natural resources such minerals and natural forests. Genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization are still the correct way to resolve the uneven development of the Philippine economy.

It is the program of the people's revolutionary movement to defend remaining forests and natural resources for future generations. For as long as the strength of our forces permit, we shall work to ban, dismantle and disable all businesses that damage the environment and people's livelihood, and those which do not conform to the policies and programs of the revolutionary movement. We call on the people, church people and other enlightened sectors to strengthen our unity and resolutely oppose businesses that aim to destroy the environment.

Further, we call upon the people to take part in the People's Democratic Revolution, which aims to completely end the exploitation and oppression of foreign monopoly and its local lackeys to attain national liberation and new democracy.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/eagle-mining-company-sanctioned-by-npa.html

Aquino should exercise political will to seal peace pact with NDFP

Aquino should exercise political will to seal peace pact with NDFP*


NDFP Negotiating Panel
February 25, 2011

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace negotiating panel said President Benigno Simeon Aquino III should exercise strong political will in addressing the root causes of the armed conflict if he wants to achieve political settlement with the revolutionary forces in the Philippines led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

NDFP peace negotiating panel Vice-Chair and Spokesperson Fidel V. Agcaoili issued the statement in view of the high level of optimism displayed by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) peace negotiating panel led by its chair Atty. Alex Padilla that the Manila government will soon come up with a peace deal with the NDFP in 18 months.

“The Aquino regime and its negotiating panel should exercise strong political will if they want to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. They should be ready to resolutely address the roots of the armed conflict, exhibit patriotism, respect the democratic rights of the people, and work for their well-being.”

”They should not base their optimism on a set time frame but on their own willingness to assert national independence, carry out a genuine land reform program and adopt an economic development program based on national industrialization and progressive and enlightened social policies.”

“Across the negotiating table, they should abandon the language and tactics of the previous Arroyo regime, adhere to all previously signed agreements, especially The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), and show determination to end the culture of impunity in the country,” Agcaoili told reporters covering the closing ceremony of the GPH-NDFP formal peace talks in the Norwegian capital.

“The root causes of the armed conflict in the Philippines lie deep in the prevailing unjust social order dominated by the local ruling classes of big compradors and landlords supported by the US and other imperialist powers. To forge a negotiated political settlement in 18 months would require the strong determination of both Parties to agree on basic economic, social and political reforms that would satisfy the national and democratic interests of the Filipino people,” Agcaoili stressed.

“If President Aquino and his GPH negotiating panel wish to accelerate the peace talks and clinch a political settlement with the NDFP, they should seriously consider the NDFP ten-point proposal for a Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace submitted to the GPH on August 27, 2005. If President Aquino chooses the patriotic path to peace and accept this 10-point proposal, then we can have the peace agreement even ahead of the targeted 18-month time table,” Agcaoili added.

Agcaoili noted that the GPH negotiating panel had withdrawn the dates for the second round of peace talks. “If it were truly interested in achieving the set time frame, then it should have been more determined to set the dates for the second round of talks where the two Negotiating Panels would receive reports and check on the work done by the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms and the Working Groups on Political and Constitutional Reforms in accordance with the timetable. Instead, the GPH panel decided to engage in petty wrangling in an attempt to impose its will on the NDFP,” Agcaoili concluded.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/aquino-should-exercise-political-will.html

On the 25th anniversary of the EDSA people power uprising-CPP (NDF)

On the 25th anniversary of the EDSA people power uprising*


Communist Party of the Philippines
February 24, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) joins the Filipino people in marking the 25th anniversary of the EDSA people power uprising. For four days, millions of Filipinos staged demonstrations along a stretch of EDSA and other major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region (NCR) as well as in almost all other major cities and towns across the country. These demonstrations ultimately culminated in the overthrow of the 20-year reign of the US-Marcos dictatorship.

The 1986 EDSA uprising is a product of the relentless struggle against the 20-year Marcos fascist dictatorship. For almost two decades, the Filipino people resolutely and untiringly waged resistance in all fields of struggle.

The revolutionary armed struggle waged by the New People's Army (NPA) under the leadership of the CPP spread throughout the archipelago and dealt heavy blows against Marcos' military rule. The armed resistance and antifeudal struggles in the countryside inspired mass resistance in factories, communities, school campuses and offices in the cities and town centers. The people's armed and mass struggles broke the reign of terror of Marcos' martial law and isolated his military regime.

The 1983 assassination of former Sen. Benigno S. Aquino, Sr. upon orders of Marcos' henchmen further aroused and encouraged the Filipino people. It galvanized a broad front of anti-Marcos forces. At the core of this united front were progressive and democratic forces composed principally of workers, students, urban poor, women and other democratic sectors. They were capable of mobilizing tens of thousands of people in mass demonstrations from 1983-1986.

By 1986, the situation had come to a head. The US-Marcos dictatorship was completely isolated. The elections in early February were held by Marcos in a last-ditch attempt to legitimize his rule and draw the people away from street demonstrations and armed resistance. Massive electoral fraud and violence, however, succeeded only in further enraging the people. Mass protest actions immediately followed the farcical elections. The ruling class opposition under Corazon Aquino called for civil disobedience. The Marcos ruling alliance disintegrated when fanatical martial law implementors Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos abandoned the dictator and incited a mutiny among the military and police officials.

The Corazon Aquino regime initially rode the democratic wave of the anti-Marcos mass resistance. It released political prisoners and carried out other anti-fascist measures. It would not, however, take long for the fascist ruling state to assert itself. Goaded by the US government, Aquino herself would unsheathe the "sword of total war" in 1987 and order her military and police forces to carry out campaigns to suppress the people's antifeudal and anti-imperialist struggles. Under the US doctrine of "low-intensity conflict," paramilitary and armed vigilante groups were set up and unleashed to carry out a campaign of terror in the countryside.

In the next twenty years, the military and police under successive reactionary regimes carried out one campaign of suppression after another. The aim of these military and psywar campaigns is to put an end to the people's armed resistance and mass struggles. The people are subjected to armed oppression, especially in the countryside, away from the eyes of the mass media. All these campaigns, however, have failed miserably.

This is because the puppet and fascist state leaves the people with very little option but to persist in waging armed and mass resistance. They are burdened by the worsening crisis of the ruling system marked by massive unemployment, falling incomes, spiralling costs of living, landlessness, hunger, mass poverty, homelessness, disease epidemics and environmental disasters.

The successive reactionary regimes under Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo put into place one policy after another in accordance with the IMF-imposed thrust of liberalization, privatization, deregulation and denationalization. These policies strengthened foreign control of the commanding heights of the economy, caused the mass destruction of productive forces and slowed down local production, deepened dependence on foreign debt and trade, worsened unemployment and reduced the Philippines into a supplier of migrant labor and call-center agents.

The crisis of the ruling system is bound to deepen and worsen under the government headed by Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. After more than six months under his presidency, Aquino has succeeded only in setting straight the path towards greater privatization and liberalization. He has made clear his preferential treatment for foreign big capitalists and their local big bourgeois and bureaucrat capitalists, even allocating state funds to guarantee their profits. He has allowed foreign oil companies to continue raking in superprofits with relentless increases in the price of gasoline and other petroleum products.

Aquino speaks empty people power rhetoric. At his inauguration last year, he declared that the people "are my boss". Yet, he has shown no sympathy for the people when his government approved increases in toll rates, train fares and water rates, one after another. He has turned a deaf ear to the people's demand for land reform, employment, wage increases, decent housing and increased public spending on social services. The Aquino government's supposed single biggest poverty alleviation program--the Conditional Cash Transfer Program--is nothing but a graft-prone political gimmick that completely ignores the issues that lie at the root of the people's impoverishment. By engaging in high-style living--buying a multi-million sports car and driving for relaxation--Aquino is rubbing salt on the people's deep social and economic wounds.

Aquino engages in anti-corruption demagoguery, harping on one of the crucial issues of EDSA twenty years ago. His regime has, however, failed to prosecute the biggest plunderers of the Gloria Arroyo regime. It has also given Arroyo budgetary preference, leaving the people speculating about secret quid-pro-quo Arroyo-Aquino election deals. Furthermore, Aquino's public-private partnership program is shrouded in secrecy, including the identity of the investor in the planned long-term rental of the property along Roxas Boulevard where the Philippine Navy headquarters stands.

The Aquino government is engaged in peace negotiations with the revolutionary forces under the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Beyond the peace rhetoric, however, Aquino has yet to show determination to address the socio-economic and political issues at the root of the raging civil war. Anti-peace forces, especially among Aquino's military, police and security officials, have not been put in check and are allowed free rein to sabotage and hinder the progress of the peace negotiations.

Twenty-five years after the 1986 people power uprising at EDSA, the Filipino people still aspire for fundamental changes in the social system. The ruling reactionary state has failed to address the people's patriotic and democratic demands. The worsening crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal system after four regimes point to the continuing validity of the national democratic revolution being waged by the people.

Only through ardent revolutionary struggle can the Filipino people achieve their aspirations for national freedom and people's democracy.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-25th-anniversary-of-edsa-people.html

EDSA after 25 years, its relevance for social change-NDF

EDSA after 25 years, its relevance for social change*


Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos
NDFP-Mindanao
February 25, 2011

On the 25th year of the EDSA uprising, we recall the triumph of the Filipino people in toppling down the Marcos dictatorship, and reaffirm its revolutionary character as reflected in the struggle for the people's collective aspiration to be free from fascist rule.

Twenty-five years after EDSA, however, no fundamental social change has taken place. Terror and chronic poverty under the post-Marcos puppet regimes continue to hound the Filipino people. In fact, social deterioration is staggering: people have been pushed to suffer poverty far worse than before; many have become politically disenfranchised, and thousands remain landless and jobless.

Graft and corruption are more deeply embedded than before; bureaucrat-capitalism is entrenched even further, as proved by the Arroyo clique's acts of plunder and the recent AFP scandals. Rabid militarism continue to victimize workers and peasants, as shown by the bloody Mendiola, Hacienda Luisita and Maguindanao massacres, and the human rights violations and extra-judicial killings that go unabated until now, with impunity.

Marcos's rigged snap-elections as well as all post-EDSA I national elections use massive fraud and treachery to ensure the ruling class's hold on power. Even the automated election of 2010 was believed to have been pre-programmed or electronically-rigged in favor of the scion of the "mother" of democracy.

Large-scale mining, logging and agri-business companies in Mindanao and throughout the country continue to plunder the country's natural resources, which has resulted in the irreversible destruction of the environment, and have brought about monstrous calamities that have claimed the lives of thousands.

In truth, those who greatly benefitted from EDSA 1 have been the anti-Marcos faction of the ruling class of big bourgeois compradors and big landlords -- mainly, the Aquinos, the Cojuangcos, the Lopezes, Enrile, Gen. Ramos and other "balimbing" generals, and former cronies such as Lucio Tan. The families of the ruling class have had taken advantage of the first EDSA uprising to legitimize their power grab.

This was repeated with the rise of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her ruling clique after EDSA II. The Arroyo regime has had exploited EDSA 2 to later on wield Marcosian edicts and tactics during its reign and keep itself in power, servile no less to the interests of big landlords and big bourgeois compradors, and its imperialist master.

US imperialism took advantage of both EDSA I and II by throwing its support to whomever among the ruling elite can win back the "confidence" of the people and assure at the same time that foreign monopoly interests in the country are preserved.

Given that both EDSA I and II have had been exploited by the reactionary bourgeois classes for their rule to continue after Marcos, an EDSA-type of uprising, clearly, can never lead the nation towards a thorough-going revolutionary change that follows the path of peace based on social justice, sovereignty and genuine democracy.

There is, however, a true revolution that is presently taking place: It is the people's nationalist and democratic revolution, one that is advancing from the countryside to encircle stretches of towns and cities across the archipelago, aiming to eventually dismantle feudal, bourgeois and imperialist economic monopoly and political power.

This real revolution, which carries with it the people's aspiration for genuine land reform, nationalist industrialization, true democracy and sovereignty, is advanced by the alliance of the workers and the peasant classes alongside other progressive and positive forces. It is led by the Party of the working class.

In light of these, the NDFP-Mindanao urges the Filipino people to denounce the empty promise of bourgeois democracy offered by the ruling class through their egotistic and obscure view of the EDSA uprising. We must solidly unite to take the road of genuine revolutionary change through the national-democratic revolution with a socialist perspective, and pave the way for the realization of our aspirations.

Long live the revolutionary spirit of the EDSA uprising!

Carry on with the National-Democratic Revolution!


* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/edsa-after-25-years-its-relevance-for.html

AFP-PNP-CAFGU perpetrated 27 counts of ceasefire violations in Mindanao-NDF

AFP-PNP-CAFGU perpetrated 27 counts of ceasefire violations in Mindanao*


Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos
NDFP-Mindanao
February 22, 2011

For the information of the general public we are releasing this list of violations on the 7-day ceasefire on the part of all the armed forces of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) in Mindanao.

For its part, the New People's Army (NPA) in Mindanao, under the leadership and guidance of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP-MLM), has faithfully abided by the said declaration and maintained its defensive mode during the same period. The incident at Banay-Banay, Davao Oriental alleged to be a violation of the NPA against the ceasefire was a mere fabrication of the AFP.

In Mindanao alone, the AFP-PNP-CAFGU committed at the very least 27 counts of ceasefire violations, excluding those which are yet to be reported from the field:

In North Central Mindanao Region

1. In Brgy. Osmena, Dangcagan, Bukidnon, 3PM, February 15-16, 2 truckloads of the 8th IB led by Col. Rico Gapuz and Maj. Canutoy and the PNP, led by PNP Provincial Director Bermudo and Dangcagan Police Chief Inspector Evary Bacunawa, forcibly gathered the people to extract intelligence information;

2. In Sto. Rosario, Kitaotao, Bukidnon, February 15, 2 truckloads of the 8th IB and 2 patrol cars of the RMG conducted offensive combat patrol. Brgy. Sto. Rosario is 12 km away from the nearest AFP-PNP-CAFGU camp;

3. In Brgy. Kauyonan, Kitaotao, Bukidnon, February 15, one squad of the 8th IB conducted commando offensive combat patrol in sugar cane fields. Brgy. Kauyonan is 12 km away from the nearest AFP-PNP-CAFGU camp;

4. In Brgy. Kalumihan, Kitaotao, Bukidnon, February 15, 2 truckloads of the 8th IB and 2 patrol cars of the RMG conducted offensive combat patrol. Brgy. Kalumihan is about 15 km away from the nearest AFP-PNP-CAFGU camp;

5. In Brgys. San Nicolas-Banban, Don Carlos, Bukidnon, February 15, one military jeep-load of the 8th IB conducted offensive combat patrol. San Nicolas-Banban is 5km away from the nearest AFP-PNP-CAFGU camp;

6. In Brgys. Bagsak-Pinamaloy, Don Carlos, Bukidnon, February 15, one M35 military truckload of the 8th IB conducted offensive combat patrol. Bagsak-Pinamaloy is about 4 km away from the nearest AFP-PNP-CAFGU camp;

7. On February 15, offensive combat operations, which started on Feb 10, continue in Quezon, Bukidnon;

8. In Brgy. Namnam, San Fernando, Bukidnon, 8 PM, February 16, one truckload of the 8th IB re-occupied a detachment site they have deserted for a year.

In North Eastern Mindanao Region:

9. In far flung Brgy. Sapa, Claver, Surigao del Norte, February 15, combined AFP troops belonging to the 30th IBPA, 26th IBPA, 75th IB and the CAFGU are encamped in and around the barangay hall, have maintained their offensive combat positions and conducted combat patrols;

10. In far flung Brgy. Lahi, Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte, February 15, combined AFP troops under the 30th IBPA, 26th IBPA, 75th IB and the CAFGU are encamped in and around the barangay hall, have maintained their offensive combat positions and conducted combat patrols;

11. In far flung Brgy. Camam-onan, Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte, February 15, combined AFP troops under the 30th IBPA, 26th IBPA, 75th IB and the CAFGU are encamped in and around the barangay hall, have maintained their offensive combat positions and conducted combat patrol.

In Southern Mindanao Region:

12. In Sto. Puting Bato, Brgy. Ngan, Compostela Valley Province, February 16, the 5th Scout Rangers Company are conducting offensive combat operations;

13. In Sto. Side Four, Brgy. Manggayon , Compostela Valley Province, February 16, the 5th Scout Rangers Company are conducting combat operations;

14. Sto. Pagkaw, Brgy. Aragon, Cateel, Davao Oriental, February 16, Scout Rangers have encamped themselves in and around the houses of local civilians;

15. In Sto. Cogonon, Brgy. Salvacion, Trento, Agusan del Sur, February 16, 1 platoon (38 elements) of an unknown AFP unit is conducting combat operations;

16. In Brgy. Macopa, Man-ay, Davao Oriental, February 16, the 67th Infantry Battalion are conducting civil-military operations (CMOs) and are employing psy-war tactics against civilians;

17. In Sto. Matabang, Brgy. Taocanga, Man-ay, Davao Oriental, February 16, 2 companies (120 elements) of the 67th Infantry Battalion are conducting civil-military operations (CMOs) and are employing psy-war tactics against civilians;

18. In Sto. Maitom, Brgy. Tubaon, Taragona, Davao Oriental, February 16, the 67th Infantry Battalion are conducting civil-military operations (CMOs) and are employing psy-war tactics against civilians;

19. Units from the 28th Infantry Battalion, February 16, PA conducted (perimeter) patrol and operations in certain barangays in Banay-Banay, Davao Oriental;

20. Elements of the 71st Infantry Battalion, February 16, PA encamped in and around a barangay in Maco, Compostela Valley Province and conducted civil-military (CMO) and patrol operations with the vicinity;

21. The 5th Scout Rangers Company conducted offensive combat operations in several barangays in Maragusan town, Compostela Valley Province;

22. In Brgy. Suwaon, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, February 17, units of the 60th Infantry Battalion PA conducted RSOT operations under the guise of the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP);

23. In Brgy. Gabuyan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, February 17, units of the 60th Infantry Battalion PA conducted RSOT operations under the guise of the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP);

24. In Brgy. Tiburcia, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, February 17, units of the 60th Infantry Battalion PA conducted RSOT operations under the guise of the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP);

25. In Brgy. Luna, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, February 17, units of the 60th Infantry Battalion PA conducted RSOT operations under the guise of the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP); and,

26. In In Brgy. Florida, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, February 17, units of the 60th Infantry Battalion PA conducted RSOT operations under the guise of the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP);

27. In Sto. Padada, Brgy. Mambing, New Corella, February 20, dawn, 1 squad of the 3rd Special Forces conducted combat patrol.

Reports from Far Southern Mindanao and South Western Mindanao regions and from other provinces are still not available as of this writing.

For the success of the peace talks and the peace process, it is fervently hoped that the GPH show sincerity and respect by directing its own armed forces to honor future ceasefires and, in a politically mature way, contribute to paving the way for the attainment of a just and lasting peace.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/afp-pnp-cafgu-perpetrated-27-counts-of.html