Category: Philippines

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Nov. 11 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Carry out all-out mobilization for relief support to disaster victims

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) calls on the entire Filipino people, including those overseas, to mobilize and generate the maximum possible emergency funds and supplies for the victims of the recent super typhoon Yoland (international name Haiyan).

An estimated nine million people, or 10% of the entire Filipino population, suffered the wrath of the storm considered to be the strongest in recorded history, which barreled through 36 provinces. Majority of the victims of the storm are small peasants, farm workers, fisherfolk, mountain people, workers and other poor people who are the most vulnerable to the storm.

Wide swathes of land were engulfed by the surging seas resulting in massive destruction of public infrastructure, homes, property and agricultural land. It is feared that the number of deaths may run up to several thousand people.

The revolutionary forces under the CPP commiserate with the entire Filipino people, especially those who lost friends and family members and who are suffering from the grave impact.

The CPP calls on all progressive and democratic forces to immediately organize the collection of funds and supplies for relief and rehabilitation work and ensure their immediate transport of these to the affected areas. Main attention is justifiably centered on extending assistance to Tacloban and the Eastern Visayas provinces. There should also be sufficient attention given to other areas in Central Visayas, Panay, Negros, Masbate, Mindoro and Palawan as well as in Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Eastern and Northern Mindanao.

THe national mobilization of resources is necessary to sufficiently extend assistance to all areas devastated by the storm. There must be appropriate national coordination and cooperation in order to appropriately distribute help and supplies. Priority should be given to those requiring immediate medical attention, the children and the elderly.

The CPP calls for the formation of organizations of disaster victims in order to facilitate the distribution of emergency supplies and prevent the situation from leading to widespread chaos. The people need these organizations of disaster victims in order to extend information about their situation and needs.

The commands of the New People’s Army (NPA) units operating in the devastated areas have immediately changed their mode of operation and have carried out search, rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Within the guerrilla front areas, barrio (village) committees, provisional revolutionary government units, and revolutionary mass organizations have immediately been mobilized to carry out efforts to assist the people and organize rehabilitation efforts to help the people resume production and other aspects of their normal lives.

In line with policy, the concerned NPA commands, including the NPA Mt. Amandewin Command (NPA-Leyte Island), and leading committees of the CPP can issue appropriate ceasefire orders to their respective units, putting NPA units on defensive mode but ever vigilant to enemy offensive operations. These can seek to facilitate the entry of organizations and agencies extending relief and emergency supply and ensure the safety of relief workers. The people should vigorously oppose continued suppression activities being conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines under Oplan Bayanihan, especially in areas ravaged by the storm.

The Filipino people are angered over the Aquino regime’s slow and terribly inadequate response to the disaster. They critize Aquino for blaming the people for being unprepared. In the hours immediately after the storm, the Aquino government was practically absent in

Tacloban and other parts of the country. They further criticize Aquino for making use of the disaster to make a pitch for the much-detested President’s Social Fund and Disbursement Acceleration Program when, in fact, it has allotted only a minuscule for calamity response.

On the other hand, the CPP extends the people’s gratitude and commendation to various local and international media agencies which have made use of their resources to provide crucial information service to disaster victims. The Filipino people welcome local and foreign volunteer civilian organizations and agencies whose contributions have been invaluable.

The CPP calls on all international civilian agencies to extend maximum possible support to the victims of the disaster. The CPP denounces the Aquino and US governments for taking advantage of the disaster to again deploy more US warships and armed US soldiers in various areas in violation of Philippine sovereignty. The CPP urges foreign governments who wish to extend aid and direct help to course their assistance through their civilian agencies or organizations.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Nov. 9 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

CPP calls for mass mobilization, international support for relief operations

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today extended its sympathies to the millions of people affected by super typhoon Yolanda which ravaged provinces in Eastern and Central Visayas, in Panay, Negros, Masbate, Mindoro, Palawan, and other islands, as well as in areas in Eastern and South Eastern Mindanao, Northern Mindanao and provinces in Southern Luzon.

At the same time, the CPP called for mass mobilization across the country and abroad, to generate emergency supply and funds for rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts. The CPP called on “people in the areas least affected by the storm to extend maximum possible help to the people who are most in need of emergency assistance.”

Yesterday, tropical storm Yolanda (international name Haiyan) barreled across the Philippines, leaving a wide swath of destruction. Yolanda is considered to be among the strongest typhoons ever to hit land, and one of the most powerful of storms over the past 30 years.

The CPP said that among the areas which were devastated by the strong winds are revolutionary base areas which are within the scope of authority of the provisional revolutionary government, and in the areas of operation of the New People’s Army and other revolutionary mass organizations.

The CPP also pointed out that many of the areas ravaged by the typhoon were those recently hit by powerful earthquakes where people were most vulnerable to the strong winds and rains.

“These areas are among the most impoverished in the entire country, where the majority are poor peasants, unemployed farm workers, small fisherfolk and indigenous peoples,” said the CPP. “They have long been abandoned by the reactionary government and will not be among its priorities for assistance.”

The CPP said it is still awaiting detailed reports from its local committees, as well as mass organizations and NPA units in the areas.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Nov. 7 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

CPP calls on forces to collectively confront incoming storm Haiyan

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today called on all revolutionary forces, especially barrio revolutionary committees in areas within scope of the most likely path of the incoming super-typhoon, to immediately put into place plans to collectively confront the possibly disastrous impact of the strong winds, rains, floods, landslides and mudflows in order to minimize the loss of lives and immediately undertake rehabilitation efforts.

According to international weather monitoring agencies, tropical storm Haiyan (local name Yolanda) is set to impact any part of the Philippine archipelago from Bicol to Northern Mindanao on Friday afternoon with winds reaching more than 215 kph.

“All revolutionary government committees down to the Barrio Revolutionary Committees, local branches of the CPP, basic units of the New People’s Army and revolutionary mass organizations in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Negros Island, Southern Mindanao, North Eastern Mindanao, North Central Mindanao and adjacent regions should immediately undertake efforts to prepare for the impact of typhoon Haiyan,” said the CPP.

“BRCs in populated areas in geologically hazardous areas, including those at the foot of mining areas and logged over mountains, must prepare to mobilize for organized mass evacuation, putting into place measures to collectively monitor the exact path of the typhoon in the crucial hours before impact, as well as areas of likely floods and mudflows, in order to act with dispatch in the face of any contingency.”

“Every BRC should ensure the safety and welfare of the entire population in their areas of responsibility,” said the CPP. “They must give special attention to the elderly, the sick, the children, the widows and others who may not be able to sufficiently prepare for the storm.”

“The BRCs should be able to account for the entire barrio population during and immediately after the storm and promptly carry out emergency rescue operations when the need arises,” said the CPP.

“In the past, the organized mobilization and swift action of the local Party branches and the barrio committees have been the most crucial factor in ensuring the safety of the population, minimizing the impact of storms and assisting the masses in immediately resuming their lives,” pointed out the CPP.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Sept. 25 statement by Fortunato Magtanggol, spokesperson, for the Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions, Southern Tagalog Chapter, on a victorious strike in the Philippines.

The Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions – National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog (RCTU-NDFP-ST) salutes the workers under the Unyon ng Manggagawa Driver, Forklift Operator, at Picker (UMDFP-IND) of the Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. Sta.
Rosa Plant for a victorious strike launched in May 2013. The collective action that was directed at the heart of the capitalist’s interests has once again proven that workers are indeed the decisive force in production.

As the memorandum of agreement nears implementation this October, the RCTU-NDFP-ST reminds and urges workers to fearlessly fight the worsening working conditions under the US-Aquino regime, take back the power of strikes, and track the revolutionary road that will bring them genuine victory in the fight for a society without capitalist oppression.

On 20 May 2013, workers under the UMDFP-IND decisively took their anger to the streets outside the CCBPI-Sta. Rosa plant and declared a strike after months of trying to negotiate with transnational Coca Cola.

Members reached a resolution to launch the strike via strike voting after the Department of Labor and Employment Office of the Secretary blatantly reversed the previous decision released by DoLE-region 4A Med Arbiter Tongzon regarding the workers’ right to certification election abreast their regularization.

The strike that lasted for three days brought workers from other factories and other sectors together to call for the immediate recognition of the previously released decision from Tongzon.

Taking back what is rightfully theirs, the workers paralyzed the factory and ceased, for that particular moment, the capitalist’s seemingly endless acquiring of surplus value from the workers’ labor. For three days, the striking workers, with the support of workers from other factories and unions, have temporarily reversed their economic and social status — forcing the capitalist to bow down and heed the workers’ calls. For this particular moment, workers become the masters, and the capitalist becomes their slave.

Coca Cola lost more than an estimated cost of 100 million pesos during the three-day strike, which left them with no other choice but to face the workers and settle with a set of agreements including the regularization of the workers under UMDFP. Based on a series of talks
during the past 4 months, the capitalist has promised to fully implement the decisions based on the memorandum of agreement on 6 October.

In the whole region and even the whole country, the victorious strike of the UMDFP-IND truly sets a new development in the long been oppressed trade union sector. The fight for job security, which has become a crucial struggle for the working class, has now reached a new
level, at which we can truly say that there is still hope through our unified ranks and determination.

While it is just right to acknowledge the power of strikes in giving workers economic and political power, there is great necessity in recognizing its momentary effect. Following their brief rise from oppression, workers return to their usual places in production and once again become modern day slaves who trade their labor for measly alms. At the end of the day, they have been able to lessen the capitalist’s rate of exploitation through better working conditions, but remain abused because of the latter’s natural interests in expanding their capital.

RCTU-NDFP-ST calls on all Coca Cola workers, as well as other workers from other factories, to continue the fight for regularization and right to union, escalate their struggle from economic to politically motivated actions, and aim their strength at the heart of the capitalists’ interests not only by intensifying the strike movement, but most importantly, through leading the national democratic revolution that will end all forms of capitalist oppression.