El Niño and state fascism worsen Negros Island’s economic crisis

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
May 16, 2024

The drawn out El Niño phenomenon has put the Negrosanon masses in immensely dire straits. Roughly 16,000 farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk all over the island  are affected by drought and extreme heat.

Damage caused by El Niño to agricultural products, livestock and fisheries in Negros Occidental is more than Php300 million affecting 5,864 hectares of rice lands and 178.91 hectares of corn fields; while it has reached over Php1.6 billion affecting around 4,900 hectares of agricultural lands in Negros Oriental. The monocrop sugar economy on the island has been particularly hit with more than Php200 million of damages to 4,705 hectares of sugarcane fields in Negros Occidental.

The reactionary government has already declared the entire province of Negros Oriental under state of calamity. Meanwhile two cities and one municipality in Negros Occidental, namely San Carlos City, Kabankalan City and San Enrique, are now under state of calamity.

As the drought has spanned for months, the reactionary government’s efforts prove to be lackluster. The US-Marcos II regime has given more promises than actual aid to the people. The corruption inside the bureaucracy has rotten it to the core to the point that it exploits the people’s demand for their economic rights and welfare to serve their interests and swell up their pockets. The reactionary bureaucracy is now more focused on preparing for next year’s reactionary elections.

Meanwhile, it is utter insult to small planters, farm workers and sugar mill workers that the reactionary government, through the Sugar Regulatory Administration, is pushing to meet the 24,700 metric tons US raw sugar export quota by June to September this year and at the same time planning to import sugar in the second half of the year to respond to the impending sugar deficit as a result of the El Niño phenomenon. These farcical moves will only benefit big traders who are also the comprador bourgeoisie and big landlords.

Furthermore, the economic crisis impacted by El Niño is worsened by intensified militarization on the island. Large-scale military operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continue to attack the disaster-stricken hinterlands of Negros. Recently in Himamaylan City, soldiers of the 94th IB Charlie Company based in Barangay Mahalang with elements of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) hindered local farmers of Sitio Kangkiling, Barangay Buenavista from cutting sugarcane in their small communal farm because it allegedly belonged to the New People’s Army (NPA). The military threatened the farmers with violence if they dare to continue cutting the sugarcane.

In the midst of extreme hunger, landlessness and poverty, reactionary state forces also enforce community hamletting and curfews akin to martial law. Cases of human rights violations perpetrated by the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP), and the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac throughout Negros Island keep increasing. Red-tagging and filing of trumped-up charges against legitimate community organizers also continue despite the recent Supreme Court ruling on red-tagging’s threat against life and liberty.

Ultimately, only the NPA along with the revolutionary mass organizations led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has shown sincere interest in helping the Negrosanon masses during times of crises and calamities. Cooperation of the masses and Red fighters prove to help in the recovery of damages in livelihoods and production during El Niño. Collective action of the people has reaped way more compared to false and hollow promises of the reactionary government.

The efforts of the National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros and its allied organizations will carry on as the socioeconomic and humanitarian crisis on the island lingers. We enjoin patriotic and progressive individuals and organizations to work hand-in-hand with the peasantry to overcome the El Niño and the burden of state terrorism. ###

Condemn the fascist US-Marcos II regime’s crimes against children

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
May 13, 2024

The long list of atrocious crimes perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Negros Island since its illegitimate commander-in-chief Marcos Jr came to power continues to grow. Among these are vile crimes committed by reactionary state forces against children in the past two years. National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros has recorded not less than 90 cases of human rights violations on the island under the reign of Marcos Jr that directly involved more than 1,300 minors.

The most recent case was the arrest of two minors, paraded by the 79th IB as “child warriors” in Sitio Humayan, Barangay Pinowayan, Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental last April 25. This old and overused tactic of parading “child warriors” in public has been repeatedly debunked by the New People’s Army (NPA) who, unlike the AFP, has a sterling and principled commitment to uphold and defend the interests of children in line with the Communist Party of the Philippine’s (CPP) Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution, the Basic Rules of the NPA, the Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols on International Humanitarian Law and Rules on Warfare, the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

Cases of AFP atrocities against children under the current Marcos regime also include the 94th IB’s massacre of the Fausto family in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental last June 2023, wherein two minors (12 and 13 year old) were cruelly murdered with their parents, and the brutal killing of Everly Kee Jacolbe (16 years old), together with her pregnant mother and their relative, by 62nd IB soldiers in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental on July 2022. Everly Kee was wounded when she pleaded to be taken to the hospital, but she was finished off by said troops.

These victims were killed with their family members who were repeatedly red-tagged and harassed by the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac over the years to maintain a culture of fear among the masses.

Baby Marx or Marx Cairo Salino, three year old son of Red fighters, remains a hostage of the reactionary government and the military after they took him away from his guardians in Talisay City, Negros Occidental in 2021. Baby Marx’s mother, Emarie “Ka Jandy” Pastidio, and father, Ka Peeta, resisted the deceitful scheme of the reactionary government that ruthlessly used their son to force them to surrender. Ka Jandy did not have the chance to see her son until her martyrdom in an encounter in Escalante City, Negros Occidental last February 21.

The AFP’s diabolical tactic of exploiting children to pressure Red fighter parents to surrender and fall prey to the corrupt Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) and amnesty program of the Marcos II regime is rampant throughout Negros Island.

Unashamed of their consistent and blatant disregard of international law, the AFP is spreading intrigue and disinformation to discredit the revolutionary movement. In truth however, US imperialism’s saber-rattling against China on Philippine shores using Filipino soldiers and its imposition on the AFP to defeat the revolutionary movement by 2024 have pushed reactionary state forces to terrorize even Filipino children.

In communities where the AFP is conducting the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSPs), presence of soldiers have only promoted sex, violence, gambling and other rotten influences to the children and youth. Thus, the AFP’s accusations against the NPA are better pointed at themselves for being the real terrorists to children and the entire people of Negros Island.

NDF-Negros reaffirms the NDFP’s Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection and Welfare of Children. With the entire revolutionary movement in Negros, we hold Ferdinand Marcos Jr accountable for all violations of children’s rights committed by the AFP/PNP/NTF-Elcac all over the island as these fascist institutions are under his command. All commanders from battalion, brigade and division level on Negros Island must also answer to their crimes as notorious violators of children’s rights.

NDF-Negros calls on all children’s rights and human rights advocates, in the Philippines and the international community, to conduct independent investigations into these cases, expose the truth and seek justice for all children victimized by reactionary state forces. ###

Resist the neoliberal and militarist imperialist offensive! Strengthen the united front for national democracy!

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
April 24, 2024

The revolutionary forces and revolutionary mass organizations on Negros Island commemorate the 51st founding anniversary of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) with utmost zeal and optimism, determined more than ever to topple the semi-colonial and semi-feudal grip of imperialism in cahoots with local feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.

Negrosanons are increasingly enraged over the worsening crises brought about by the imperialist neoliberal agenda on top of the El Niño phenomenon. Both multinational companies and local big compradors owning destructive mining and quarry operations, solar farms, ecotourism, export-oriented agribusiness ventures, among others, continue to displace Negrosanon peasant communities from their land and livelihoods. “Super” and “smart” cities in Bacolod and Dumaguete aim to demolish urban poor communities and exploit natural resources for profit. The PUV modernization scheme will result to thousands of jobless drivers and impoverished families amid extreme crisis.

As real wages dwindle in value compared to skyrocketing prices of basic goods, the El Niño phenomenon has further unmasked the reactionary government’s neglect of Negrosanons. Sugarcane, rice and corn fields and even agricultural work are adversely affected by severe drought while the Marcos regime has done nothing but pump militarization into communities both in cities and the countryside.

As the anti-people onslaught continues, the tiempo muerto has become a perennial ordeal for majority of the population on the island reliant on the monocrop sugar economy. The AFP, PNP, and NTF-Elcac let loose increasing reactionary violence on the island causing monstrous human rights violations against the poor and oppressed Negrosanons.

The AFP’s ludicrous effort to defeat the revolutionary movement after uncountable extended deadlines prove their eagerness to appease their US imperialist master. They are rushing to an impossible target of surmounting the armed struggle that will eventually blow up in their faces.

Furthermore, US imperialism is desperate to impose global hegemony. It is utilizing its cohorts in the AFP to push its rival, China, into “pulling the trigger.”

The threat of an inter-imperialist war grows more imminent as the US war machine has ramped up the Philippines and its other allies to engage in saber-rattling to push China until it is brought to the brink of an armed confrontation. The US is maximizing its neocolonial grip on the Philippines to use it as a military base and cannon fodder against China, while also leeching off the country’s rich natural reserves.

Amid this volatile situation, the NDF-Negros and its allied organizations are committed to broadening the united front against imperialism and continue to be at the forefront of the Filipino struggle against monopoly capitalism. At a time of sharpening socio-political crises, the masses must be aroused, organized, and mobilized in millions to resist the neoliberal and militarist imperialist offensive.

The NDFP represents the oppressed and exploited classes and sectors in Philippine society. It strengthens itself and its allied organizations in the cities and the countryside to fight for national liberation and democracy and overthrow the exploitative and oppressive ruling system by means of a national democratic revolution through protracted people’s war.

Along with the NPA and through the leadership of the CPP, the NDFP ensures the basic alliance of peasants and workers, the progressive alliance with the petty bourgeoisie, the patriotic alliance with the national bourgeoisie, and maximize the splits in the ruling class. Through this, the broadest number of people will be organized against imperialism, and struggle for national liberation, democracy, and just and lasting peace. ###

A Red Salute to Hannah Jay “Ka Maya” Cesista and All Revolutionary Martyrs in the Recent Bohol Encounter

Kabataang Makabayan – Negros
February 24, 2024

Kabataang Makabayan (KM)-Negros gives its firm red salute to Hannah Jay “Ka Maya” Cesista, along with Domingo “Ka Silong” Compoc, Parlito “Ka Aldrin” Segovia, Marlon “Ka Darwin” Omosura, and Ka Juaning, who were martyred after an encounter between Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA)-Bohol and combined fascist troops of the Bohol Police Provincial Office and 47th Infantry Battalion last February 23 in Barangay Campagao, Bilar, Bohol.

We extend, as well, our sympathies to their families and the broad masses of workers and peasants whom they chose to fight for to their last breath. We mourn the loss of such valiant comrades, but grief shall serve as fuel to the revolutionary flame in our hearts that can never be extinguished until the national democratic aspirations they offered their lives for are achieved.

We particularly raise our fists to our fellow youth, Hannah Jay “Ka Maya” Cesista, whose revolutionary martyrdom serves as inspiration in expressing our militancy through joining the ranks of the NPA. Her pursuit of championing human rights took her to the difficult path of armed struggle after witnessing state fascism and terrorism and, by extension reactionary law, as but utilities of the ruling class to exploit and oppress the people.

Ka Maya offered her expertise and intellect to strengthen the revolutionary ranks of the NPA in Bohol, serving the people wholeheartedly. Despite the incessant smear campaign of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Ka Maya’s life was far from wasted. In fact, she has proven, along with the thousands of martyred Red fighters, that the revolution continues through the ceaseless flow of new blood from the youth who are radicalized in the cities and the countryside, eager for genuine national democracy and lasting peace.

In this semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, it is both just and necessary to revolt against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. Fellow youth, let us succeed Ka Maya’s revolutionary aspirations that can only be realized through a people’s democratic revolution.

Long live all revolutionary martyrs and heroes!
Advance the people’s war!
Join the NPA! ###

Reject both Marcos and Duterte

February 3, 2024

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros

Barely two years later, the unholy alliance between tyrannical plunderer families of the Marcoses and Dutertes have shattered. Both sycophants to imperialism, their true colors as representatives of the ruling class are exposed as they feud over power to pursue their own selfish interests. If anything, their in-fighting is a testament of the necessity to topple the status quo and establish a genuine people’s democratic government.

The fake people’s initiative for charter change spearheaded by Marcos and Romualdez aims to solidify their control of the reactionary state, while also depriving the Dutertes of an opportunity to seize the upcoming 2025 senatorial and 2028 presidential elections. As both cliques incessantly bicker against each other, genuine issues of the people are forsaken.

By now it is crystal clear to the exploited and oppressed Negrosanon masses that the same fascists who emboldened tyranny and violence on the island are still very much birds of the same feather. Both Marcos and Duterte are their class enemies. Neither is a lesser evil, especially after the neoliberal economic attacks and countless human rights violations that continue both in the cities and the countryside.

The turmoil between bureaucrat capitalists, however, are reflective of the rapidly disintegrating semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. The despair of both sides manifests their willingness to contribute further to the socioeconomic crisis and appease their also-bickering-masters at the brink of war, the US and China, at the expense of the Filipino people.

Now, more than ever, the broad toiling masses, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines embodying proletarian class leadership, are determined to follow and uphold the revolutionary class line—to isolate and destroy the worst of the enemy, represented by Marcos and Duterte. With this, NDF-Negros enjoins all patriotic and progressive sectors, organizations, and individuals, to rally efforts in building a broad alliance against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. It is high time that the people of Negros Island, together with the entire Filipino people, muster courage to end the culture of impunity and terror and to advance the national democratic revolution, in pursuit of a just and lasting peace. ###

Negrosanons top victims of human rights violations

NEWS RELEASE
February 3, 2024

The National Democratic Front (NDF) – Negros called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to conduct more independent investigations in peasant communities and far-flung areas on the island where mainly farmers, farm workers and indigenous peoples are victims of human rights violations (HRVs) perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and their paramilitary forces, and the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac.

“Negrosanons remain as top victims of HRVs as the island is a priority of state-sponsored violence,” NDF spokesperson Ka Bayani Obrero said.

According to Obrero, they have documented at least 345 cases of HRVs with more than 14,000 victims in 2023. “There are already 30 incidents of human rights abuses all over Negros involving over a thousand victims just this January 2024, increasing the US-Marcos II regime’s HRV toll to almost 600 cases with nearly 40,000 victims just on the island.”

Obrero listed the cases for January: extrajudicial killings – 2 (four victims), frustrated killing – 1 (one victim), illegal arrest – 2 (three victims), physical assault – 1 (two victims), indiscriminate firing of firearms – 2 (90 victims), illegal search and seizure – 1 (five victims), threat, harassment and intimidation – 14 (582 victims); forcible evacuation and displacement – 1 (50 victims), coercion – 1 (50 victims), and encampment in populated areas – 5 (400 victims).

“There are certainly undocumented cases, as well. What’s clear is the continually escalating and intensifying attacks by the AFP, PNP, and NTF-Elcac in the countryside and even in the cities,” he added.

Obrero also pointed out that the recent CHR complaint count is left wanting in grassroots data, especially that “the culture of impunity enveloping reactionary state troops has turned them rabid and on a rampage threatening, harassing, and silencing civilians in the countryside.”

“Additionally, the CHR should take supposed ‘encounters’ with a grain of salt, taking into account the military’s consistent history of faking encounters to justify their crimes against hors de combat revolutionaries and peasants,” said Obrero.

The rebel spokesperson noted that there have been 39 fake encounters in Negros Island under the current US-Marcos regime wherein 23 occurred last 2023 and two this January 2024. The most recent victims were two farmers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental.

The NDF-Negros urged the CHR to dig deep into the data offered by the AFP, PNP and NTF-Elcac, and assist the exploited and oppressed in their struggle for justice.###

Reference:

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros

Resist the anti-poor jeepney modernization and neoliberal agenda of Marcos Jr

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
January 4, 2024

The National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros lauds the efforts of drivers and small operators in Bacolod City to confront the sham and anti-poor “jeepney modernization program” that is a neoliberal scheme to allow the privatization and monopolization of the transport sector. Through transport strikes and protests they were able to raise the awareness of Negrosanons and gather support against the transport monopolization program of the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) dutifully implemented by the US-Marcos II regime.

The current Marcos regime is abandoning thousands of drivers and small operators in forcing them into losing their livelihoods and is depriving the riding public of cheap transportation. According to recent data of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), only 23 percent or 540 of the 2,313 traditional jeepneys in Bacolod have ‘consolidated,’ which means a vast majority of them are bound to be disenfranchised and thus affecting almost two thousand families.

Marcos Jr has callously dismissed the successive nationwide jeepney strikes as only a ‘minority’ who are against the franchise consolidation, when in fact the solidarity shown by various sectors and its burdensome effect on Filipinos’ daily lives reveal otherwise. At the whim of imperialism, especially the WB and the ADB, the reactionary government is poised to insist on another neoliberal agenda of handing over the public transportation sector to the hands of foreign corporations in connivance with big compradors and bureaucrat capitalists.

The Marcos regime promotes the dominance of foreign companies over public utilities, including transportation. Old surplus vehicles from Japan, Korea and even China, packaged as ‘modern jeepneys,’ are being dumped in the Philippines to continue profits for foreign monopoly transport corporations. Due to the excessive prices, poor drivers and operators are either forced out of their livelihoods or further exploited in ‘franchises’ that are bound to control their wages and earnings, and minimum fares.

In Negros Island, the socioeconomic crisis forces farmers and farm workers from the countryside to search for odd jobs likely in the construction and transportation sector in the cities in the hopes of supporting their families only to experience another kind of oppression and exploitation. They barely even make the minimum wage far from the family living wage of Php996 in Western Visayas and Php1,253 in Central Visayas.

On top of the bogus jeepney modernization program, the reactionary government fails to address the absence of genuine land reform and national industrialization. The NDFP’s Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) tackled these very problems in the peace talks so despised by the previous Duterte regime.

Instead of solving the transport crisis, jeepney phaseout will only cause further problems for the Filipino people along with the continuous rise of oil prices and basic commodities, joblessness, perennial poverty and hunger, landlessness, lack of social services especially health and education, and militarization, among others.

Ultimately, ending the imperialist domination of Philippine economy through a national democratic revolution is the only means to truly achieve national liberation that will end the oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people, including drivers and small operators. ###

Lasting peace necessitates justice

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
December 10, 2023

The masses of Negros have consistently been targeted by state violence. Particularly since the Duterte regime and the current illegitimate Marcos regime, Negrosanons—especially farmers and farm workers—have become victims of counterrevolutionary violence and human rights violations. As we commemorate the 75th International Human Rights Day, it is important to underscore the ongoing culture of impunity promoted by the fascists and their ilk.

Under the Marcos II regime alone, there have been 55 victims of extrajudicial killings, or three Negrosanons arbitrarily killed per month. This includes the brutal massacres of the Jacolbes in Guihulngan City (including 16-year old Everly Kee Jacolbe) and the Fausto family (including two minors) in Himamaylan City and five hors de combat (including a six months pregnant woman) in Kabankalan City, and the cold-blooded murders of NDFP peace consultants Rogelio Posadas and Ericson Acosta.

Abductions have also increased under the current Marcos regime. Out of the 11 desaparecidos since July 2022, four are from Negros Island. Lyn Grace Marturillas, Deah Lopez, Renel delos Santos and Denald Mialen remain missing until today.

Furthermore, political prisoners in Negros comprise 17% (about one out of every five) of the country’s total. Majority of them are farmers and farm workers maliciously red-tagged and subsequently arrested for trumped-up charges by the AFP/PNP/NTF-Elcac combined, abusing the draconian Anti-Terror Law to hasten their witch-hunting.

Militarization of the entire island through focused military operations and Retooled Community Support Programs are, contrary to reactionary state propaganda, is the bane of the people. Mercenary forces have been emboldened by their authoritarian commander-in-chief, both current and predecessor, normalizing human rights violations such as red-tagging, assault, threats and harassment, illegal detention and arrest, indiscriminate firing, rape, and salvaging, among other brazen violations under the guise of “winning the peace.”

While the National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros and its allied organizations welcome the recent joint communique released by the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on efforts to resume peace talks, it also recognizes that this is a long and arduous process that requires the utmost sincerity from a state imposing de facto martial law. After all, building a lasting peace entails justice for all victims of the reactionary state.

Duterte and his henchmen must be made to answer for their crimes. In Negros, it means holding him accountable for the Sagay Massacre, Oplans Sauron 1 and 2, and the subsequent murders and massacres that made Negros into a fascist breeding ground and killing field. The victims and kin of the current regime should be given justice as well, by punishing the uniformed terrorists behind the heinous state-sponsored crimes.

The release of NDFP consultants and political prisoners must be made a priority for the peace process to effectively progress. The NTF-Elcac and the Anti-Terror Law, which have enabled the AFP and PNP to brazenly violate the CARHRIHL to the point of even glorifying their crimes as “achievements” and other displays of delusion of grandeur, must be abolished. Even Marcos’ bogus amnesty program will only worsen the corrupt campaign of fake surrenderees that must also be stopped.

Despite cracks within the ruling Marcos-Duterte clique, they are united in counterrevolution. But they are also in each others’ throats for the biggest share of bureaucratic corruption. Sara Duterte and her allies in government are pushing the narrative to continue wanton brutality and corruption. She further exposes their faction as genuine terrorists and power-hungry thugs.

The anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and anti-fascist alliance in Negros must broaden and consolidate its ranks among the oppressed and exploited sectors to confront the ruling Marcos-Duterte clique. Negrosanons must continue to defy and resist state fascism and terrorism, and fight for justice against relentless human rights violations. Ultimately, without justice, there can be no just and lasting peace.###

Propagate NDFP’s CASER draft on the first death anniversary of Ka Ericson Acosta

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
November 30, 2023

Today, we commemorate the first death anniversary of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Ka Ericson Acosta. A year ago, he and peasant leader Joseph Jimenez were summarily executed while unarmed and totally defensely by treacherous snakes of the 94th and 47th Infantry Battalions at Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

Coincidentally, Ka Ericson was murdered on Bonifacio day. Like Gat Andres, he was murdered by mercenary lapdogs of the reactionary state who were fearful of the change he sought and fought for.

Ka Ericson was one of the NDFP peace consultants who worked on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). The CASER is the heart and soul of the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and NDFP. The NDFP’s CASER draft seeks to end the rotten semicolonial and semifeudal system dominated by big compradors and big landlords and the imperialist domination of Philippine economy, and to break land monopoly in the countryside by carrying out free land distribution to tillers.

The CASER is very significant for the Negrosanon masses who have been chained to slave-like conditions in sugarcane haciendas for more than a century. They continue to endure an oppressive and exploitative system and aspire for just and lasting peace that is based on social justice. As a seething social volcano, it is of no surprise that the current civil war in the country has deep roots in Negros Island; no wonder that Ka Ericson Acosta chose to come here and was killed violently by the fascist military.

It is an opportune moment that the Oslo Joint Statement and Communiqué was released two days ago. The first anniversary of the martyrdom of Ka Ericson Acosta is a reminder of the immense importance of addressing the roots of the armed conflict, more so amid imposition of neoliberal policies, bureaucratic corruption, subservience to US imperialism, worsening human rights violations, and heightening state terrorism on the island and the entire country under the US-Marcos II regime.

In commemoration of Ka Ericson’s and Joseph Jimenez’ death anniversary and Bonifacio day, as well, NDF-Negros calls on all revolutionary forces on the island to continue all efforts in gaining revolutionary strength to contribute in pushing the GRP into tackling the objective realities of the toiling masses of workers and peasants. Armed struggle continues to be not only the hope, but the solution to the masses’ woes in this moribund society.

The anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and anti-fascist mass movement must grow and expand. All revolutionary organizations must propagate the NDFP’s CASER draft and launch discussion groups on agrarian reform and national industrialization as key points to addressing the roots of armed conflict. It is important that these discussions reach the homes of the workers and peasants who will benefit most from it.

At present, sustained and focused military operations are relentless in Negros’ countryside. Negrosanons, inspired by Ka Ericson Acosta and all revolutionary heroes and martyrs, will continue waging the national democratic revolution through protracted people’s war and march towards a society of just and lasting peace.###

Building peace requires a conscious effort away from state terrorism

Ka Bayani Obrero
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front – Negros
November 29, 2023

The National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros and its allied organizations express utmost support to the recently released joint statement of the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) that signified renewed endeavours to resume peace talks between co-belligerents in the on-going civil war in the country.

The Oslo Joint Statement is a genuinely positive stride to address the roots of the armed conflict. While the peace process still has a long and arduous road ahead, mutual efforts will shed light on issues that adversely affect Negrosanons and the entire Filipino people.

Even during the Duterte regime, Negrosanons bore the brunt of state terrorism and socioeconomic woes, now aggravated under the current Marcos regime.

Since the Duterte regime issued Memorandum Order 32 (MO32) along with Proclamations 360 and 374, and Executive Order 70 (EO70), it unleashed the AFP/PNP/NTF-Elcac combined against the Filipino masses. Reactionary state forces were cloaked with impunity and this emboldened them to commit even more crimes. Negros Island has become one of its killing fields wherein majority of the victims were civilians, mostly farmers and farm workers in the countryside, and hors de combat revolutionaries.

As justice continues to evade the victims of the Sagay massacre, Oplans Sauron 1 and 2, and other Sauron-like operations, Negrosanons likewise cry for justice for over 38,000 victims of human rights abuses on the island under the current Marcos regime.

Thus, the masses in Negros demand more than a mere declaration. Sincere actions must be shown by the Marcos regime to show its good faith in achieving genuine peace. Negrosanons expect that neoliberal schemes plaguing them such as reclamation projects, eco-tourism, destructive mining operations, and environmental plunder threatening lives and livelihoods will be stopped. Militarization of peasant communities that protect these projects and has resulted to numerous human rights violations must be ended, as well.

Furthermore, we urge the GRP to heed the long-demanded release of NDFP peace consultants and political prisoners. Of the current 778 political prisoners in the country, 139 or 20 percent of them are in Negros Island, while three NDFP peace consultants are from Negros—Ka Frank Fernandez, Ka Cleofe Lagtapon, and Ka Ramon Patriarca. Such actions must be expedited in pursuing and building the common notion for a society based on a just and lasting peace.

The Anti-Terrorism Law, as well as EO70 and MO32, must also be junked, and the ‘terrorist’ designation of the CPP-NPA-NDFP abrogated.

Considering the half-step forward, NDF-Negros calls on revolutionary mass organizations and various individuals, organizations and institutions who support the call for the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace talks to remain optimistic but vigilant of the renewed peace building efforts. We must grasp the valuable lessons learned from peace negotiations with past reactionary regimes. Advancing the national democratic revolution through a protracted people’s war continues to be the only recourse to genuinely establish a society based on just and lasting peace.###