Ka Oris, spokesman of the CPP-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao, said President Benigno S. Aquino III’s new counter-insurgency program dubbed “Oplan Bayanihan” will become another “failure” like the Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) 1 and 2 of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Bulatlat.com
EASTERN MINDANAO — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) held what it called its grandest anniversary celebration ever somewhere in the Caraga region on Dec. 26, marking its 42 years of existence.
Jorge Madlos, also known as Ka Oris, spokesman of the CPP-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao, said that at least 8,000 individuals from four regions in Mindanao attended the event. About 30 large vehicles brought peasants, workers, students, religious, lawyers and the media to the event that threaded through several military and police checkpoints to reach the venue — a mere kilometer away from the provincial highway.
“Checkpoints were setup by the 4th Infantry Division all over the Caraga region in a desperate attempt by the AFP to prevent the people from joining the celebrations of the CPP anniversary,” said Ka Oris.
According to a press release sent by NDF-Mindanao, traffic built up to around two kilometers along the main highway leading to San Agustin town, Surigao del Sur, because of the checkpoints set up by military and police operatives. “The military and police unreasonably blocked the people’s free movement insisting on listing all the license numbers of vehicles, asking for registration papers and checking the license of drivers,” Ka Oris said.
The vehicles were only allowed to proceed when reporters and cameramen from local and international media outfits arrived, said Ka Oris. “The attempts to stop people from joining the celebrations of the CPP violated the spirit and intent of the simultaneous ceasefire which, among others, was meant to allow personnel of both sides to be with their families and friends to hold celebrations during the holidays,” added Ka Oris.
Despite the harassments at the checkpoints, the participants to the celebration were able to proceed to the venue.
From about nine in the morning, the crowd freely mingled with at least two full companies of New People’s Army (NPA) fighters and having their pictures taken with the uniformed guerillas armed with high-powered assault and sniper rifles. Children were carried on their parents’ shoulders to get a clear view of the speakers and the performers on the elevated stage while several “kitchen teams” were preparing lunch under tents, evoking a town fiesta atmosphere. Makeshift toilets around the main venue were also constructed in anticipation of the huge crowd even as surrounding houses opened their doors to strangers in search of other toilets.
A pass-in-review by an NPA company -– three platoons of 25 fighters each — at the beginning of the program had the crowd surging forward to be as close to the rebels, some with colorfully painted faces in preparation for their own “cultural performances” later in the program.
In his speech, Ka Oris congratulated the CPP as it established three new guerilla fronts in Mindanao from last year’s 39. He said that each front has platoon or company-sized rebel formations on top of “people’s militias.”
The rebel spokesman also announced that the NPA launched 250 tactical offensives in 2010, seizing about 200 high-powered firearms from government troops and achieving a “casualty ratio” of 10 government soldiers for every rebel killed in action.
Ka Oris criticized President Benigno S. Aquino III’s new counter-insurgency program dubbed “Oplan Bayanihan,” calling it another “impending failure” like the Oplans Bantay Laya (OBL) 1 and 2 of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
“Instead of being decimated by OBL 1, the whole revolutionary movement has grown bigger and stronger. OBL 2 failed not only in reducing the revolutionary forces to inconsequentiality but in stopping the continued advance of the people’s war,” he said.
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December 29th, 2010 at 5:24 am
Plsease let me express some observations on this struggle "kuno" :
Why is Ka Oris shutting his idea on making peace with the government.?
Is it reasonable for these NPA 's to extort money from people ,businesses in several villages across the country. ? Do these "guerillas " of the people ,as you are calling them , are really for the people? Upon collecting money from these supposed "taxpayers" ,what do they (NPA) gave in return?
Are they giving employment to their members? are they making businesses in their respective turfs?
Lastly… napapansin ko dito sa Bulatlat ay talagang parang galit na galit sa gobyerno natin…
Hindi po kaya mas mabuting magbigay na lang tau ng mga mungkahi sa gobyernong ito sa ngayun ng mga kaukulan paraan .. tungo sa inaakalang pagbabago ng bansa.. kung talagang makabayan ang ating adhikain..
salamat po
December 29th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
weno! sabihin na nating masamang tao sila, pero isang pangmatagalang pag aaral ang kailangan mo kapatid.
sino ba ang nagpapahirap sa bayan? sila ba? sino ba ang kurakot sa bayan? sila ba? kung ibabaon natin ang CPP-NPA sa ilalim ng lupa uunlad ba ang bayan?
December 29th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD_Ij2yN61M&fe… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPS0tGOmSS8&NR…
Panoorin natin ang mga mandirigma ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan sa YouTube. Let us listen to what the NPA fighters are saying, what motivates them. The peace negotiations will have to address their concerns, if it is to succeed.
December 29th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Any serious person contemplating if peace is possible must confront the truth of the following “simple” propositions:
1. The earth is a finite resource.
2. The few who are wealthy control these resources.
3. The vast majority of people don’t benefit from these resources in a way that improve their lives.
4. The government is controlled by the wealthy few.
5. The police and military guarantee the control of government by the wealthy.
6. Wealth is created by the work done by people using the earth’s resources.
7. Wealthy people, who are very few, get richer and richer through the labor done by the vast majority of workers.
8. The wealthy get wealthier by paying the workers less and less.
9. Workers’ wages are falling more and more as workers compete against each other for these jobs.
10. Sharing of the earth’s resources by the workers who produce all wealth is the only way to lasting peace and survival of our planet.
Happy New Year!
“Peace is not the mere absence of war. Peace is the presence of justice and equality.”
December 30th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
right!peace is the presence of justice and quality .
January 1st, 2011 at 2:13 pm
bulag at pipi ang gobyerno kapatid sa mungkahi ng mamamayan. Ang simpleng pagpapalaya nga lang ng lahat ng mga detinidong pulitikal ay di magawa, lalo pa kaya ang mga sosyo-ekomikong isyu na siyang nagpapahirap sa tao.
kapatid, habang meron sa bayan natin ng nagsasamantala sa kanyang kapwa tao ay di mawawalan ng mga taong mag-aalay ng buhay para ipagtanggol ang mga maliliit at pinagsasamantalahan.
at panghuli kapatid,di extortion ang ginagawa ng mga kasama kundi pagpapatupad ng isang lehitimong pagbubuwis sa lahat ng mga negosyo na saklaw ng pampulitikang kapangyarihan. rest assured kapatid na ang mga buwis na ibinibigay ay napupunta sa tama, di tulad nang sa reaksyunaryong gobyerno na dinadambong ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan(the likes of Estrada, gma,gen.garcia,et.al.)