Duterte will continue to fail in destroying CPP-NPA, Joma says

The Duterte administration won't succeed in its attempt to destroy the armed revolution, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria (Joma) Sison said on the group's 52nd founding anniversary on Saturday.

"When the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army were still small and weak from 1968 to 1972, Marcos exaggerated their size and strength and referred to them as his pretext for imposing fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people... But instead the fascist dictatorship became the biggest stimulus for the armed revolution to gain strength and spread nationwide," Sison said in a statement.

He added that the Marcos regime's successors had boasted of destroying the armed revolution using "military suppression and deception" but "all have failed miserably."

"Now the Duterte regime is trying hard to surpass the state terrorism and brutality of the Marcos fascist dictatorship. He will continue to fail in his futile attempt to destroy the armed revolution and will continue to drive more people to take the road of armed revolution," he said.

Sison pointed out that the armed revolution will be "fertile" for as long as its root causes persist, which include imperialism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. He argued that the government is accountable for the gross underdevelopment, high unemployment and mass poverty in the country.

"The people and their revolutionary forces are determined to fight for national and social liberation. The crimes of this regime drive the people to take the road of armed revolution," Sison said.

Sison made the statement as the Anti-Terrorism Council designated the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army (CPP-NPA), as well as other groups, as terrorist organizations.

The council said it found probable cause to designate the CPP/NPA as a terrorist group "for its violent and armed activities that resulted in the destruction of properties, loss of lives, and damage to business and economy as cited in the pending proscription case and other collated reports from the security and intelligence sector."

Further, the ATC said the CPP-NPA used "deception, threats, and violence to be able to raise funds through unlawful exaction of money, extortion, collection of so-called permit-to-campaign (PTC) and permit-to-win (PTW) fees during the campaign period, and soliciting material support from international NGOs under the guise of being a pro-people and humanitarian organization."

On the other hand, the CPP said it would hold "simple but joyous" activities to commemorate the party's founding anniversary.

Both the CPP and the Philippine government did not declare a ceasefire for the holigays this year. President Rodrigo Duterte pronounced there would be no more truce with the rebels for the rest of his term. —LBG, GMA News