144343re363368016-CPP-update-09-16-17.pptx

communist group

1. Communist Party of the Philippines

2. The Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) seeks to overthrow the Philippine government in favor of a new state led by the working class and to expel U.S. influence from the Philippines. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was founded in 1968, and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), was founded in the following year. Because the party and its armed wing are so closely intertwined, they are often referred to together as the CPP-NPA.

3. What is Communism? Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, Lenin and Mao Zedong, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. A philosophical, social, political and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socio-economic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money and the state.

4. THE FIRST COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES KNOWN AS PARTIDO KOMUNISTA NG PILIPINAS (PKP) WAS FOUNDED BY CRISANTO EVANGELISTA AND OTHER LABOR LEADERS ON NOV. 7, 1930 IN MANILA. MARCH 29, 1942 THE CPP FORMED ITS ARMED WING AGAINST THE JAPANESE IT WAS THEN CALLED THE “HUKBONG BAYAN LABAN SA HAPON (HUKBALAHAP)”  

5. AFTER THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION THE CPP LAID DOWN ARMS & ADOPTED LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE. NEW GENERATION OF ACTIVISTS LED BY JOSE MARIA SISON FOUNDED THE REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH ORGANIZATION “KABATAANG MAKABAYAN” WHOSE FOUNDING MEMBERS AFTER 4 YEARS RE-ESTABLISH THE CPP AND ADOPTS THE IDEOLICAL LINE OF MARXISM-LENNINISM-MAO ZEDONG THOUGHT.

6. MARCH 29, 1969, BARELY 3 MONTHS AFTER THE CPP’S RE-ESTABLISHMENT, JOSE MARIA SISON TOGETHER WITH BERNABE BUSCAYNO (aka Kumander D ante) FOUNDED THE NEW PEOPLES ARMY (NPA).

7. Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) • POLICY MAKING BODY • ISSUES DIRECTIVES AND MEMORANDUM • MAINTAINS ABSOLUTE LEADERSHIP OVER THE NPA • MAINTAINS IDEOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP OVER THE NDF

8. New People’s Army (NPA) • CUTTING EDGE OF THE REVOLUTION • PRIMARY FORCE OF THE MOVEMENT • IMPLEMENTS REVOLUTIONARY TAXATION

9. National Democratic Front (NDF) • SHIELD OF THE REVOLUTION • UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION OF ALL NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND MASS ORGANIZATIONS (NDUGMOs) • CONDUCTS POLITICAL OFFENSIVES

10. Division of the CPP/NPA into REAFFIRMISTS AND REJECTIONIST FACTIONS In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CPP-NPA suffered various organizational losses. The Philippine government captured key leaders, and internal purges again resulted in dozens of CPP-NPA members’ deaths. Internal debate over the organization’s future further weakened it. On December 26, 1991, under the name Armando Liwanag , Sison published “ Reaffirm Our Basic Principles and Rectify Errors.” He insisted that the CPP-NPA reaffirm its commitment to the protracted people’s war, armed struggle, and a rural-based strategy rather than waste resources on negotiations or legal action. Sison’s publication sparked the Second Great Rectification Movement, which divided the CPP-NPA into Rejectionists (RJs) and Reaffirmists (RAs) ; the former disagreed with Sison’s ideas and the latter supported those ideas. Rejectionists were forced out of the CPP-NPA or voluntarily left, due to their belief in at least some role for lawful protest or their disagreement with what they termed Sison’s “Stalinism.”

11. Rejectionists established their own political parties or participated in other legal organizations promoting societal reform, such as trade unions or nongovernmental organizations. Some rejectionists engaged in local militant activity, but in general, rejectionist groups remained small and easily dismantled. One exception was the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), which had been established as a CPP-NPA urban guerrilla force in the mid-1980s; the ABB broke away from the CPP-NPA in the early 1990s along with other rejectionists and continued its militant activities. On the other hand, the Reaffirmists —who comprised most of the CPP-NPA—supported the principles espoused by Sison , and the CPP-NPA consequently returned its focus to the countryside. Additionally, the CPP-NPA’s Central Committee approved Sison’s policies in its July 1992 plenum.

12. Development through the various Presidencies : FERDINAND MARCOS was the first president for being dictator in the Communist insurgency.  1972, Marcos declared martial law to save the country from communist takeover the country, China supports NPA to give weapons, while in the 1980s, Vietnam supports NPA Corazon Aquino was the first woman president in the country and agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in 1987

13.  Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo government returned to the negotiating table with the CPP-NPA, but this also broke down after the US listed the group as a terrorist organization.  Benigno Aquino III - meetings and informal talks were held in Manila, Norway, and the Netherlands. But the talk ended when administration rejected the rebels' demand to release scores of their jailed comrades.  Rodrigo Duterte - July 25, 2016 declared a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF -”permanent and lasting peace" before he ends his term in 2022 -talk to end the 47 years/ Asia’s longest running insurgency

14. Fidel Ramos - signing of two agreements: 1. Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG); and 2. Comprehensive Agreement to Respect Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

15. CPP’s Strategy of Protracted People’s War (PPW) The CPP/NPA has adopted a strategy of a protracted people’s war (PPW) using the Marxist-Leninist Mao Zedong ideology. The PPW is divided into several stages designed to gradually develop/conquer the countryside before a final onslaught of the cities and the seat of government. The seizure of political power through armed force is the general principle guiding the Philippine revolution. On the other hand, the people’s war is carried out by gradually strengthening the revolutionary forces and encircling the cities from the countryside prior to final seizure of state power. The protracted war would undergo three stages, as follows:  

16. Strategic Defensive Stage This stage is the preliminary phase that will set the stage for the Party’s ultimate goal of seizing state power. Efforts of the Party at this stage are geared towards subverting, paralyzing and neutralizing the government political infrastructure. This stage is characterized by sustained political mass work, alliance building, party building efforts, tactical offensives and other initiatives against the politico-military advantage of the government. It is subdivided into two stages, namely:

17. 2 stages of Strategic Defensive Stage Early sub-stage - the main objective of this sub-stage is to position the CPP/NPA in the various strategic areas of the archipelago through the formation of guerilla zones and guerilla fronts. The NPA carry out the task of organizing the mass base. Limited guerilla actions and liquidations are also undertaken. Political struggles, which are sectoral in nature, are also developed in the town or urban centers. 2. Advance sub-stage - at this substage, the CPP/NPA intensifies guerilla warfare and prepares the people for direct political involvement in the revolutionary war. Militarily, the CPP/NPA consolidates its existing guerilla zones/fronts and transforms them into guerilla bases directed towards the periphery of the urban or town centers.

18. Strategic Stalemate It is characterized by the tilting balance of forces between the revolutionary forces and the government forces to almost equality. The revolutionary forces in this stage may not have the military strength equal to the government. However, its deep-rooted political influence among the populace, resulting from the establishment of well-entrenched Party and mass organizations and the development of its sectoral revolutionary mass movements will cause the people to be deeply divided between the pro- and anti-government sides, leading to a political disequilibrium.

19. Strategic Offensive The political disequilibrium, arising from the Strategic Stalemate will lead to a shifting of the center of gravity of political forces in favor of the CPP/NPA.

20. Current Update Despite its capability of prolonging the insurgency problem for almost half a century, the CPP/NPA/NDF continues to suffer decreases in strength and areas of operation. Meanwhile, current data showed that CNN manpower is now placed at around 3,700 regulars armed with about 4,480 firearms. Moreover, there are 42 guerilla fronts nationwide with activities are particularly felt in some 516 barangays. In a recent statement, the Party has admitted to be unable to advance to the next level of its struggle due to a number of ideological and organizational weaknesses. It is worth noting that the CNN remains at the first stage which is the strategic defensive stage – which means that the NPA is very much weaker militarily than the government forces. Although outnumbered, the NPA maintains the initiative to launch tactical offensives against government forces.

21. On Peace Negotiations The peace negotiations between the GRP-NDFP continue to be on impasse following the cancelation of the back channel talks with the NDF negotiating panel which was set to be conducted in Europe before the President’s 2017 SONA. The President also ordered the peace negotiators not to resume the formal talks unless the CPP/NPA agree to stop attacks against government troops and extortion activities in Mindanao. The cancellation was largely due to the NPA attack against the members of Presidential Security Group (PSG) in a checkpoint set up by the NPA in Brgy . Katipunan , Arakan , North Cotabato wounding six PSG personnel on July 19. This development will provide the NPA the motivation to further intensify armed offensives amid the Central Committee directive in relation to the plan to extend Martial Law.

22. Current Update To note, the Party recently renewed its directive to the NPA to continue its resistance against the extension of Martial Law to which it say would only prolong the restrictions against civil and political freedom in Mindanao. Hence, it urged the NPA to “ continue to strengthen itself nationwide by carrying out armed counteractions and offensives across the country to defeat the Mindanao Martial Law and nationwide all-out war ”. Prior to the cancellation, the fifth round of talks with the National Democratic Front was set on the second or third week of August. It can be recalled that it was supposed to be held on May 27, but was also scuttled due to the NPA’s directive to its ground forces to accelerate and intensify attacks against the government in the face of the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

23. Current Update As part of the confidence measure building to have an enabling environment conducive to peace negotiations, negotiating panels made the following positive gestures prior to the cancellation: On JASIG: An updated list of National Democratic Front (NDF) rebels and consultants covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) was deposited in The Netherlands on June 12. The list, encrypted in USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash disks and a back-up security drive ( sd ) and locked in a safety deposit box, contains photographs and real identities of rebel consultants who are still underground. The JASIG-covered rebel consultants were issued letters of authority (LAs) by GRP panel chair Silvestre Bello, which they could present to police authorities and military in case they are held or arrested.

24. Current Update On releases: President Rodrigo Duterte granted conditional pardon to 10 NDF-claimed political prisoners detained at the New Bilibid Prison. These prisoners, most of whom have been imprisoned for more than 10 years.  

25. END OF PRESENTATION