Pahayagan ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas

Pinapatnubayan ng Marxismo-Leninismo-MaoismoANG

On Duterte'ssteps backward

Vol . XLVI I No. 22

November 21, 2016

www.cpp.ph

EDITORIAL

Over the past few days, GRP President Duterte has been taking onestep back after another, particularly in relation to his much-vaunted independent foreign policy.

Instead of taking concretesteps towards the path of nationalfreedom, he took backward steps.As a result, the people's skeptic-ism grows over his capability tostand by his declared patrioticavowals.

Duterte first raised the flag ofindependent foreign policy aroundthe middle of September. He de-nounced US meddling and lookedback at its history of colonizationand brutality. He reserved thestrong denunciation for theinterference of the US governmenton the question of human rightsover the increasing number ofincidents of killings in the courseof his "war against drugs."

Duterte followed through withsuch declarations as US troops inMindanao "must go", that "there

will be no more war exercises"between the US and Philippinesafter Phiblex last October and thatthe Enhanced Defense CooperationAgreement (EDCA) might be abro-gated in two years. In his visit toChina, he declared "I am sepa-rating from the US" in military andeconomic terms.

Duterte raised people's hopesthat he would carry out measuresto uphold Philippine national inde-pendence. The Filipino peoplewaited for him to stand by hiswords and undertake big steps toend US military presence in thePhilippines, US intervention in thecountry's internal affairs and useof the country as platform for itswars of aggression against othercountries.

However, in just a few days,

Reverse

the historical wrong

DENUNCIATIONS AND protestactions threaten to escalateagainst the Duterte regime forexalting the erstwhile fascistdictator Ferdinand Marcos by gi-ving him a hero's burial last No-vember 18. Duterte must takeimmediate steps to reverse the hi-storical wrong of glorifying Marcos.

The people are outraged overthe hero's burial for Marcos notonly because it is the ultimate actof rehabilitating the hateddictator, but also because Dutertedepicts him as model for his ownrepressive rule.

Many a time did Duterte praiseMarcos for being "bright". Notonce did he condemn the abusesand brutalities under the US-Marcos dictatorship.

The most cruel legacies of theMarcos dictatorship have not beenfully dismantled and are in placeup to the present. More than 430political prisoners remain in prisondespite promises that they will befreed en masse through an amne-sty proclamation. The suppressionand arrests of activists andstruggling people continue. Wideswathes of the countryside remainunder military rule.

Duterte has yet to end theAFP's repressive Oplan Bayanihanwar. To the people in the country-side, the presence, marauding andravaging by armed soldiers in theircommunities are the starkest re-minders of martial law and proofthat nothing has changed in thestate's oppressive rule over thepast three decades.

to be continued on p. 3

November 21 , 2016 ANG BAYAN2

Editorial: On Duterte's stepsbackward 1Reverse the historical wrong 1Condemnation on Marcos burial 3Gear for intensified anti-imperialiststruggles under Trump 4Anti-Trump protests 5No ceasefire document 6Harassment of Lumad schools 7Masbateños against OpBay 7AFP targets relief workers 8HLI massacre anniversary 8Significance of OctoberRevolution of 1917 9

Vol . XLVI I No. 22 | November 21, 2016

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Duterte took back these decla-rations after another. The biggest ofhis steps back is declaring that hewill allow the continuation of theBalikatan exercises, the annuallarge-scale military exercise whichinvolves thousands of US troops to-gether with the AFP.

Recently, Duterte once againallowed the US military to undertakeanother joint military exercise withthe AFP. The Balance Piston Exerci-ses in Palawan involving an unspeci-fied number of American soldiersare set for one month (November 14to December 14).

Duterte wants to make theseacceptable by parroting US claimsthat these exercises will focus on"humanitarian" and "disaster re-sponse" operations. Such labels ordescriptions are US euphemisms formilitary intervention in the Philip-pines and other countries. It de-ploys rescue and other emergencyequipment forward to sugar-coatthe maintenance of US military ba-ses and facilities and deployment ofwar materiél.

Duterte's change of mind with

regard to allowing American troopsto continue entering the country formilitary exercises are said to be inresponse to recommendations of theDepartment of National Defense(DND). The DND is led by its secre-tary Delfin Lorenzana who, from thestart, has been defending the pre-sence of American troops in thePhilippines.

The push to reverse all the de-clarations made by Duterte againstthe presence and intervention of theUS military in the Philippines was ledby Lorenzana and other pro-US ca-binet members.

Around 100 US soldiers be-longing to the US Joint Special Ope-rations Task Force-Philippines(JSOTF-P) who were involved in thebloody Mamasapano operation inJanuary 2015 remain in Camp Na-varro in Zamboanga City until now.Nothing happened over Duterte'searlier declaration that JSOTF-Pforces "must go." Neither has any-thing come out over the threat toreinvestigate Mamasapano tounearth the role of US officials.

With the victory of the ultra-

right Donald Trump as new US pre-sident last November 8, Duterte saidthe Philippines and the US will re-main "friends and allies" and that hewill respect all agreements signedwith the US. In changing his tune,Duterte has practically bound Phi-lippine foreign policy to his personalrelations with the US president.

Duterte must remember thatgenuine and equal friendship withthe US cannot be attained merely byhis words. US imperialism will not bea true friend as long as the Philip-pi-nes is tied down to unequal militaryagreements which allow the buildingof military bases, while Americansoldiers freely enter and leave thecountry's sovereign territory andmeddle in its internal affairs.

The US cannot be regarded afriend especially when neoliberaleconomic policies are imposed tofavor foreign big capitalists and fo-ster unequal trade between thePhilippines and US imperialism andother big capitalist countries.

The Filipino people must adviseDuterte to stand by his words andtake concrete steps to abrogate theEDCA, the Visiting Forces Agree-ment and Mutual Defense Treaty,dismantle all US military bases andfacilities including the JSOTF-Pheadquarters and to end the entryof American soldiers, US warshipsand jet fighters and the launchingof military exercises.

If instead of carrying out thesemeasures Duterte chooses to takemore steps back, his declarationsfor an independent foreign policywill turn out to be hollow.

This will rouse strong dis-approval from the people. If Du-terte continues to fail to stand byhis patriotic declarations and turn adeaf ear to the people's outcry, hisefforts to forge an alliance with thepatriotic and democratic forces ofthe Filipino people will be fore-stalled. If that happens, the oldneocolonial system will just persistand overwhelm him and nothing willchange in the situation of the Fili-pino people.

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ANG BAYAN November 21 , 2016 3

Duterte is challenged to provethat he is no Marcos. He must re-verse his historical wrong by takingsteps to withdraw his acclaim forMarcos and to support the people'saspiration to put to account theMarcoses for their plunder and fa-scist crimes against the people.

He will be able to show that heis different from Marcos by endingall legacies of martial law includingpolitical detention and wagingOplan Bayanihan which is a war ofsuppression against the people.

He can show he is no Marcos bylistening to the people's outcry forfree distribution of land to pea-sants, higher wages and endingcontractualization, free educationand health service, ending the pre-sence of foreign troops and militarybases and so on.

Duterte must listen to the peo-ple's anger against his exaltation of

Marcos. He must not turn a deafear so that his efforts to build apatriotic and democratic alliance

will not be forestalled and as such,will pave the way for the changesdemanded by the people.

Widespread condemnationgreets Marcos burial

Widespread condemnation greeted the sudden and treacherous burialof the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani

(Heroes Cemetery or LNMB) last November 18.Up to 3,000 students from the

University of the Philippines (UP-Di-liman, Ateneo de Manila Universityand Miriam College gathered onKatipunan Avenue in Quezon City.There were also protests in UP-Ma-nila, De La Salle University (DLSU),Technological University of the Phi-lippines, and even in the PhilippineScience High School and ManilaScience High School. There wereassemblies in Luneta in Manila, Mo-numento in Caloocan and in Mariki-na City. Church people launchedprotests in Mariana Park at E. Ro-driguez Jr. Avenue in Quezon City.That night, groups from Katipunanproceeded to the People Power Mo-nument in EDSA to join those whowere already there.

In Davao, progressive groups

gathered near the city hall to ex-press their condemnation. Theycalled the dictator's sneaky burial"cowardly." There were also pro-tests in Baguio, Naga, Cagayan deOro, Zamboanga, Iligan, Bacolodand Cebu. In all these places, thecall "Marcos, not a hero!" re-sounded.

In Metro Manila, students andemployees from UP, PolytechnicUniversity of the Philippines (PUP),University of Sto. Tomas (UST),DLSU and other schools have beenhoding protest actions for severaldays. As the students say, it is nottoo late for the youth to correct therevisions in history. They promisedto continue their protests until theDuterte regime listens to them.

In the assembly called by the

alliance CARRMA (CampaignAgainst the Return of the Marcosesin Malacañang), martial law victimsand their families said that they cannever accept the rehabilitation ofthe Marcoses and their style of rulebased on "swindling, lies and de-ception." Together with the youth,the alliance is gearing up for a pro-test-action to convey to the Duterteregime their rage and dismay.

Protests first erupted last No-vember 8 after the Supreme Courtallowed the burial. That day, rallieswere launched in Metro Manila,Naga, Baguio and other urbancenters. The youth declared No-

. . . from page 1

November 21 , 2016 ANG BAYAN4

Gear for intensifiedanti-imperialist strugglesunder Trump

The Communist Party of the Philippinescalled on the Filipino people to firmly

advance their national democraticstruggles and revolutionary armed re-sistance upon the assumption of powerof ultra-rightist Donald Trump as pre-sident of the US. The CPP also urged the Ame-rican workers to wage widespread classstruggles and lead the people in their demo-cratic mass struggles.

Promises to be brokenby the new president

The incoming Trump presidencywill prove to be fundamentally nodifferent from the Obama regimeand past US governments in repre-senting the interests of the mono-poly capitalists. It is bound by thelaws of development of imperialismwhich determine the US drive toexert and establish itself as a domi-nant economic and political powerin the widest possible spherearound the world.

It will be confronted by the ba-sic problem of the persistence ofthe capitalist crisis of overpro-duction. There is a global glut invirtually all classes of commoditiesfrom electronics to constructionmaterials, steel, petroleum pro-ducts, cars and so on. There is aglobal manufacturing slowdown,even in China which has become themain production hub of the worldcapitalist system over the past de-cade or so.

Over the past three decades,the US economy has been hollowedout by the export of manufacturingjobs to China and other countrieswith cheap labor for semi-manu-facturing. American workers areconfronted with the problem ofwidespread joblessness.

Trump's promise to “makeAmerica great again" and give prio-rity to "bringing jobs back home" is

highly unlikely to be fullfilled. Hewill have to convince or compel thefinancial oligarchy to invest capitalin the US labor market and dome-stic production. He is set on lowe-ring regulations and cutting taxeson Wall Street banks.

He will have to subject Ameri-can workers to wage reduction andfurther labor flexibilization in orderto make domestic capitalinvestment profitable. Loweringwage levels, however, will tend toconstrict the US market andcounteract on the protectionistthrust to sell US-made commodi-ties. Furthermore, this will surelybe opposed by the Americanworkers who are already sufferingfrom severe indebtedness,unemployment, increasing inacces-sibility of education and health-care services, homelessness andother social miseries.

Further misery will come fromhis promoted ultra-right measuressuch as the deportation of millionsof undocumented immigrants,shutting all doors to refugees, gunrights for the protection of privateproperty and building a wall in itsborder with Mexico.

Trump insisted at the start ofthe elections campaign that US

vember 11 as a "Day of Rage" andlaunched protests in their campu-ses. Students from Laguna, Ba-guio, Cebu, Pampanga, Tacloban,Iloilo and Mindanao followed suit.

CPP in solidarityThe Communist Party of the

Philippines (CPP) joins the peoplein condemning the interment ofMarcos as a hero. The said burialis the "last step in the rehabili-tation" of the Marcoses, a pro-cess long started by the previousregimes and aided by the US. It isan insult to the people whofought and ousted the dictator,especially the thousands of hu-man rights victims.

By ordering the military tohonor Marcos, Duterte has provenhimself a "trapo" (traditionalpolitician) who is ready to pay hispolitical debts against the peo-ple's call for historical and socialjustice. He displayed disrespectand insensitivity to the people'ssufferings under martial law. Du-terte should reverse this historicalwrong, the CPP says, or else facemounting protests and isolation.

Prior to this, the CPP also ca-stigated Duterte for his efforts tomake acceptable some measuresMarcos used to expand his controland extend his rule. Last No-vember 11, Duterte threatened tosuspend the writ of habeas corpusin line with his "anti-drug war."

This followed his earlier pro-nouncement that he wished to re-establish the Philippine Consta-bulary and put the police undermilitary control. His spoke-spersons scrambled to retract histhreat to suspend the writ, sayingit was only a "hyperbole."

Hyperbole or not, the su-spension of the writ of habeascorpus is against the fundamentalhuman rights that the police andmilitary will surely exploit. Thewrit of habeas corpus is the obli-gation of the police and militaryto produce to the court whoeveris arrested or charged.

ANG BAYAN November 21 , 2016 5

soldiers "cannot be the policemen ofthe world." While declaring his planto build a 350-ship US Navy (fromthe current 272), he has also ex-pressed plans to withdraw from theNATO (North Atlantic Treaty Orga-nization) and put an end to the mili-tary alliances where the US spendsbillions of dollars to supposedly"help its allies." He has hinted onplans to reduce US forces and closemilitary bases in Japan, and hasopenly expressed willingness to endanimosity with Russia and Chinaand push for more economic coope-ration. In spite of this, inter-impe-rialist contradictions are bound toarise and intensify whether in theunipolar or multipolar system.

If Trump is to seriously reorientUS foreign policy, he is bound to beopposed by the neoconservativeswho have long been advocating PaxAmericana. They hold dominantsway over much of the US state ma-chinery, especially at the helm ofsecurity and defense agencies.

Social unrest in his own countryTrump rode on the people’s

seething anger over the Obama re-gime’s failure to salvage the everplummeting economy. But withinhours of his election, tens of thou-sands of people marched to thestreets across several states to ex-press their disgust over Trump'santi-immigrant, anti-Islam, anti-gay and anti-minority standpoint,his misogyny and racism.

Such protests are a likelyportent of intensified social unrestand mass resistance in the UnitedStates in the years to come as itseconomy remains in the doldrumswith no clear sign of recovery. Overthe next four years, the Trump pre-sidency will surely be confrontedwith rising demands for promisedjobs, higher wages and greater so-cial security.

The American working class,including millions of undocumentedimmigrants and minorities, blackworkers, young workers and scoresof millions of unemployed people,

have long been suffering fromworsening social conditions. Fornearly a decade, the US economyhas faltered from one depressionyear to another with no clear reco-very in sight.

US society has become moredeeply divided between the big mo-nopoly capitalists who are awash inwealth and the working class miredin poverty and social hardships inthe course of four decades underthe neoliberal policy regime.

The incoming Trump regime willbe confronted with the widespreadclamor for it to step back from theneoliberal policies which have beco-me widely discredited for havingfailed to re-energize the US econo-my and for having brought aboutsevere misery and oppression.

The class and democraticstruggles of the American proleta-riat and people that are bound tointensify cannot be disconnectedfrom the intensifying anti-imperial-ist struggles of the world’s peopleand proletariat who are crying toend US world hegemony and theneoliberal policy regime. The rise ofthe ultra-right Trump governmentunderscores the need for the revo-lutionary proletariat to take firmhold of Marxism-Leninism-Maoismin order to put forward a sharpanalysis of concrete conditions andput together a revolutionary pro-gram of action in order unite theworking class and people in the re-

volutionary socialist cause.

Implications forthe Filipino struggle

The Filipino people must takeadvantage of Trump's declarationsof reducing foreign militaryspending by amplifying the demandfor an end to US military presencein the Philippines.

In light of Trump's declaredintention of withdrawing from theNATO and other military alliances,the Filipino people must reiteratetheir demand for the abrogation ofthe Cold War-era Mutual DefenseTreaty (MDT) of 1951 as well as itsderivatives including the VisitingForces Agreement (VFA) and theEnhanced Defense CooperationAgreement (EDCA).

The Filipino people must de-mand the Duterte regime to besteadfast in its earlier de-clarations for an independent fo-reign policy. They must censureDuterte for backtracking on theearlier pronouncements putting anend to all US military exercises withthe AFP.

Duterte must be reminded thatthe demand to abrogate all unequalmilitary treaties with the US andend US military intervention andpresence is based on the principleof national sovereignty and doesnot change even though he findshimself liking Trump for being afellow cusser.

Anti-Trump protests erupt in the US

PROTESTS ERUPTED after it became apparent that Donald Trump wonthe elections. Rallyists condemned his anti-immigrant and anti-womenstance and popularized #NotMyPresident and #StopTheHate on thestreets and in social media.

The night he was elected, thousands trooped to the Trump Towers inNew York, his campaign headquarters. There were also protests in Ore-gon, where dozens of protesters were arrested, as well as in Californiaand in Washington D.C. where the White House, the president’s officialresidence is based.

Faced with this, the far-right ruling class faction continues to conso-lidate its hold on the state. Trump has appointed known far-right perso-nalities to important positions in his cabinet. He has also reiterated hisstand to deport three million illegal immigrants presently in the US .

November 21 , 2016 ANG BAYAN6

No ceasefire agreement being crafted

At odds with what the Government of the Republic of the Philippines(GRP) would like to project, the National Democratic Front of the Phi-

lippines (NDFP) is not, nor is it close to, signing an agreement for a bilateralceasefire. The GRP's announcements that the sides have exchanged drafts,that the only issues left are small technicalities such as monitoring, and thatan agreement will be signed on December 10, are clear disinformation.

According to Benito Tiamzon,NDFP panel member, it is obviousthat the GRP has a campaign tospread false news so as to glossover the serious obstacles put up bythe GRP in the forging of a morestable ceasefire.

A document for a bilateral cea-sefire was supposed to have beensigned last October 29 but was ni-xed due to the widespread militaryoperations of the Armed Forces ofthe Philippines (AFP) in thecountryside in the guise of ope-rations by "peace and developmentteams" (PDT). According to the ND-FP, AFP operations are making thesituation on the ground untenableand endangering the fragile unilate-ral ceasefires currently in place.

"Though the NPA exercises re-straint and steers clear ofencounters, the patience of the NPAand the NDFP have bounds," Tiam-zon said. "If the military's ceasefireviolations and aggressive persecu-tion of farmers and communitiessuspected of supporting orsympathizing with the NPA conti-nue— especially taking into conside-ration that talks for the release andamnesty of political prisoners havenot progressed—it is likely that theNPA will end its unilateral ceasefi-re," he adds. "The NDFP wouldrather continue the peace talksaccording to past conduct."

Likewise, NDFP peace panelchief Fidel Agcaoili said that theGRP has not informed them on anytalks regarding the bilateral cease-fire, either formally or through aphone call. "The GRP seems to benegotiating with itself," he said.

According to Karapatan, therehave been 16 cases of political

killings and 16 cases of frustratedextrajudicial killings from July toSeptember alone. There are alsomore than 13,000 victims, mostlyfarmers and national minorities, offorced evacuations.

The following are the latest ca-ses of militarization, harassment,abuses and counter-revolutionarydeception in the guise of PDT ope-rations:

Samar: Troopers from the 14thIB carried out combat operations inMabuhay, Jipapad in Eastern Samarand Gook, Catubig in Northern Sa-mar last November 5-7. Accordingto the NDF-Eastern Visayas,soldiers were also present in ba-rangays Agsamana and Cagmanabain Jipapad.

Meanwhile, CAFGU element andgoon-for-hire Jonas Boller shot deadRex Arandia, 35, a member of theParag-uma ha Matuguinao(PANGUMA) in Odiong Riverbetween the barangays Hinayaganand San Antonio in Gandara, We-stern Samar. Arandia, along withother farmers and village mates, wasthen walking home from the Ganda-ra poblacion fiesta when Boller ai-med and fired at him. Arandia is anactive member of PANGUMA whichis involved in the relief and rehabili-tation campaign in areas devastatedby successive typhoons.

Panay: PDT operations persistin barangays Tagpuan, Ingay, Ma-yang, Bundoc, Boloc, and San Jose,(Tubungan); barangays TacuyongNorte and Nalbang (Leon); Cabla-dan, Sibalom and Osorio II, SanRemigio, (all in Antique). Accordingto the NPA-Panay (Coronacion Wa-ling-waling Command), aside fromPDT operations, the 82nd IB

maintains detachments in the inte-rior villages of Passi and Igcabugao(Igbaras). There are also PDT ope-rations in the boundaries of Maa-sin-Janiuay and in Brgy. Jayubo,Lambunao. PNP special forces arealso deployed in upper Calinogwhere the mega dam is to be built.The 61st IB's PDT presence arevirtually permanent in barangaysAcuna and Katipunan, as well as itsjoint detachment with the CivilianArmed Auxiliary in Brgy, Daan Sur,Tapaz, Capiz.

Sorsogon: The 31st IB's PDToperations are currently carried outin the barangays of Fabrica, SanAntonio, Sta. Lourdes and San Ra-mon in the town of Barcelona andBrgy. Cabagahan, Matnog.According to the NPA-Sorsogon(Celso Minguez Command), PDTshave been conducting military ope-rations for the past months in theinterior barrios of Barcelona, Gubatand Matnog.

In Matnog, human rightsgroups have documented cases ofharassments, intimidation andphysical abuse in Brgy. Balocawelast August. In some of the resi-dents' complaints, 31st IB troopers,headed by a 1st Lt. Meneses and aSgt. Asares, singled out those whoattended the rally in Manila forPresident Duterte's SONA. Theywere questioned on the reasonswhy they went, forced to admit thatthey were NPA members orsupporters, their pictures taken andpressured to sign a blank paper. Abarangay tanod was physicallyattacked during his investigation.The residents also complained ofthe soldiers' extortion wheneverthey sell their charcoal products atthe Matnog town center.

Camarines Sur: In Ragay andDel Gallego, Camarines Sur, no lessthan a hundred soldiers from 49th,31st and 22nd IB have encamped inhealth centers, barangay halls andhouses in barangays Cabadisan,

ANG BAYAN November 21 , 2016 7

Harassment forces Lumad schools to close

EIGHTEEN SCHOOLS under the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services(CLANS) in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat were forced to close temporarilydue to harassment and persistent threats from the local government,police and other government agencies. There are more than 1,000 stu-dents in these schools.

According to the Save Our Schools Network report, a meeting led byPalimbang mayor Abubacar Maulana for the 4Ps and Kalahi-CIDSS inOctober 11 was used to close the CLANS schools. The mayor accusedCLANS teachers as members of the NPA and threatened to have themarrested. He called the schools illegal, deceptive and “communist.”According to residents of Barangay Kidupong where one of the schools islocated, Maulana even offered P5,000 to anyone who could take apicture of CLANS teachers whom he threatened with arrests.

Progressive representatives strongly condemned Maulana’s harass-ment. According to Arlene Brosas, Gabriela Women’s Party representati-ve, it is an outrage that children are deprived of their right (to study) onthe occasion of Children’s Month.

This malicious red-baiting of the schools and their teachers is beingused by the AFP to launch military operations in the said communities,said her fellow GWP representative Emmi de Jesus.

Panaytayan Nuevo, San Pablo, andBagong Silang. According to Kara-patan-Bicol, since July 26, soldiershave been coming in and out of saidvillages to conduct surveillance andharass residents. They conducthouse-to-house operations to askwhether residents have relativeswho are members of the New Peo-ple's Army and telling them tosurrender. Soldiers also regularlyengage in drinking sprees in ba-rangay centers. In some barangays,they even made foxholes to "prepa-re" for "NPA attacks."

Soldiers also harassed JovitaArgente, wife of political prisonerRamon Argente. They also interro-gated Bayan Muna members Angeland Helen Mendoza.

Caraga: Up to the present,there are about 20-30 soldiers ineach of 61 Lumad and peasantcommunities in the region's 14 mu-nicipalities. Karapatan-Caraga saystroops from the 30th, 29th, and75th IB, as well as from the 3rdSpecial Forces Battalion, routinelyconduct harassments, intimidationand surveillance operations. Theyforce members of organizations whoparticipate in protest actions to"surrender." They also carry outhouse-to-house operations sup-posedly for census-taking, and callthe residents to their meetings toforce them to participate in theircivil-military operations.

Other activitiesTogether with combat ope-

rations, AFP troops also continuallyconduct civil-military operationsunder Oplan Bayanihan. Theseinclude launching "seminars" inschools to propagate counterrevo-lutionary propaganda, an activitybanned by international institutionsto safeguard children's rights in ti-mes of war.

In other areas, the AFP main-tains operations and presence in theguise of medical missions and othersocial services that should be underthe ambit of civilian agencies.

Masbateños launch campout against Oplan

Bayanihan

MASBATEÑOS held a campout against Oplan Bayanihan from November 15-20 in front of the Cawayan and Dimasalang municipal halls. Groups de-manded the withdrawal of AFP troops back to their barracks.

According to Vince Casilihan ofBayan-Bicol, the campout alsoaimed to hold dialogues with theirrespective local officials urgingthem to remove military units de-ployed in their communities. Prote-sters carried reports of humanrights violations committed by AFPtroops.

Peasants also slammed localgovernment officials for turning adeaf ear to their demands andsimply offering the victims somemeasly benefits through the 4Ps orsome relief goods to keep them si-lent.

Meanwhile, BHB-Masbate (Jo-se Rapsing Command or JRC)warned the AFP about the latter'songoing militarization to terrorizethe people and its declaration that"only the NPA has a ceasefire,"despite the GRP's declaration of aunilateral ceasefire.

According to Luz del Mar, JRCspokesperson, the NPA forces re-main in active defense mode andare always ready to defend thepeople.

The JRC statement also de-clared that militarization of TicaoIsland villages have persisted andintensified since 2014 up to thepresent. Since October 12, troopsfrom the 9th IB have been terro-rizing towns of Monreal and villa-ges of Rizal, Real, Cantorna, To-goron, Maglambong, MacArthurand Sto. Nino. The AFP have alsodeployed combined troops of theAlpha Coy, 31st IB, 9th IB andtroops from the CMO Bn of 9th IDbased in Pili, Camarines Sur in thevillages within the towns of Dima-salang and Cawayan since October6, 2015.

"These operations aredisguised as Community Peace and

November 21 , 2016 ANG BAYAN8

Cultural caravan launched on

Hacienda Luisita Massacre's anniversary

CARRYING BANNERS for land and justice, peasants and other sectorslaunched a cultural caravan from Manila to Tarlac last November 14. Thecaravan was held to commemorate the 12th year of the Hacienda Luisitamassacre where police and military troops opened fire on the picket line ofstriking farm workers last November 16, 2004. Seven farmers were killedwhile hundreds were injured in this massacre.

"Let us show the injustice thatthey did to us. And let us show thatwe are unbowed and still fighting,"said Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bu-kid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA).

"The massacre is considered tobe the bloodiest attack in the conti-nuing struggle for land of HaciendaLuisita peasants," AMBALA added.

In spite of the lives lost and theCojuangco-Aquino clan's tighteninggrip on the land in the past 12years, Hacienda Luisita farmers arenow even more eager to lay theirrightful claim to ownership of theland, as they continue their bungka-lan or the land cultivationcampaign.

The caravan took off from theDepartment of Agrarian ReformOffice and held short cultural pro-grams at Bulacan and Pampanga.

They were welcomed by the lo-cal chapter of Kadamay in Balagtas,Bulacan. In Malolos City, studentsfrom Bulacan State Universityadded their call for the right toeducation and jobs.

Malolos vice mayor GilbertGatchalian welcomed the caravanand expressed solidarity with thestruggle of Hacienda Luisita farmworkers for land and justice fortheir martyrs.

The caravan also made shortstops in Capas town and in front ofthe Nolcom headquarters in SanMiguel, Tarlac.

According to Danilo Ramos, se-cretary general of Unyon ng mgaManggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA),twelve years have passed, yet noland was distributed. Instead, theDAR led by Virgilio delos Reyes used

AFP targets relief workers for harassment

THIS NOVEMBER 14, Alay Bayan Luson Inc. (ABI), an organizationconducting relief operations in Central Luzon, lamented the continuedstalking and intimidation of their members who were distributing relief goodsin areas struck by typhoon Lawin in Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya.

According to the ABI, their relief workers on the ground reportedpersistent surveillance by the military, listings and interrogations, as well asspreading malicious information against them. The group considers asharassment the phone call made by an official from the 7th ID to one of theirstaff last November 4.

Due to these incidents, the group has decided to stop their operations.These include relief operations in Barangay Pelaway, Alfonso Castaneda inNueva Vizcaya last October 24. The ABI say that on the way to the area, twoof their workers learned of the soldiers' presence in the said barangay andtheir intention to "invite" them for "questioning." Because of this, the groupdecided not to proceed to the area despite pleas from its residents.. Evenafter the soldiers left Pelaway, the group still decided not to proceed becauseof a nearby military detachment.

The ABI has long been a victim of harassment and red-baiting. The worstwas when military agents murdered Willem Geertman, the group's executivedirector and a Dutch missionary, on 2012.

Development Teams (CPDT)under Oplan Bayanihan (OPB).Through this, the military's Ba-yanihan Team Activities are fo-cused on intelligence-gathering,violence and intimidation ofvillagers," Del Mar said.

On October 22, 2016, a ci-vilian was illegally arrested, hishouse searched and plantedwith revolutionary readingmaterials and seven M16 bulletsto make it appear that he is amember of the NPA. The victimwas also forced to act as guidein combat operations andcontinuously investigated.

The military also conductedhouse-to-house operations andillegally arrested a peasantyouth.

At present, around 100 AFPtroops of the 31st IB are de-ployed in barangays Boracan,Mambog, Buenaflor, Cabreraand Cabanayuan. They stay inbarangay halls, day carecenters, waiting sheds and pla-zas.

4Ps beneficiaries also re-portedly being asked by soldiersfor the whereabouts of NPAmembers, and being threatenedof removal as 4Ps beneficiariesif they attend any protestactions.

Meanwhile, attendance hasdecreased among students be-cause many are scared of thesoldiers' presence in theircommunities, said GeraldineCodera, a Barangay Cabreraofficial.

Teachers say that the stu-dents might not graduate if theyfail to return to school beforeJanuary.

"Oplan Bayanihan is beingused by AFP troops to harasspeople. It brings fear and hu-man rights violations in the re-gion. The remnants of martiallaw will continue if the peopledo not take a stand against mi-litary operations," Casilihanadded.

ANG BAYAN November 21 , 2016 9

The significance of the OctoberRevolution of 1917 in the eraof neoliberalism

Amid neoliberalism's ruthless attackagainst the world's proletariat and

people, the need for revolution to endimperialism and establish socialism has be-come crystal clear. The October Revolutionof 1917 was a most glorious event in thestruggle of the proletariat and the firstgreat strike against imperialism in the hi-story of the capitalist world.

The October Revolution of 1917signifies the Bolshevik Party's greatachievements in the establishmentof dictatorship of the proletariat,overcoming civil war and foreignintervention, economic revitali-zation, socialist industryconstruction, collectivization andmechanization of agriculture, deve-lopment of the toiling masses' edu-cation and culture, support for theinternational communist movement,and struggle against imperialismafter the Second World War.

Conditions that gave birthto the October Revolution

At the beginning of the 20thcentury, the world entered the eraof modern imperialism and proleta-rian revolution. Monopoly capital-ism became dominant in theadvanced capitalist countries, fi-nance capital emerged from themerger of bank and industrial capi-tal, and the export of surplus capi-tal exceeded the export of surplusgoods.

The crisis created by the acute

competition of monopolists for moreforeign markets and fields ofinvestment peaked into an inter-imperialist war. This was the FirstWorld War in 1914. Vladimir IlyichUlyanov (Lenin), then chairman ofthe Bolshevik Party, clarified thatthis was a war between imperialiststo expand their markets and re-sources.

Lenin published in 1916 his ex-position on imperialism as thehighest stage of capitalism. This ischaracterized by decay and parasi-tism, and more intense exploitationand oppression of the proletariat inits own country and the people in itscolonies. The development of capi-talism proceeds extremely unevenlyand by leaps. The crisis of overpro-duction comes in cycles, each worsethan before. Decadence, aggressionand destruction are its characteri-stics.

Russia at this time was a hugecountry with a few islands of indu-strial development in the midst of

an ocean of feudalism. It was theweakest among the imperialist po-wers, thus an object of interventionand manipulation by the strongerimperialist powers. However, it inturn oppressed nations and peoplesunder the Russian empire.

It was in Russia's impoverishedand desperate conditions that theBolshevik Party led the advance ofthe revolution to overthrow theTsar and install a democratic repu-blic. It galvanised the militance ofthe workers around the call for an8-hour working day and rallied thebroad masses of peasants for landreform and nationalization.

After the victory, the Commu-nist Party of the Soviet Union ledthe socialist bloc to frustrate USimperialist efforts to gain worldhegemony. The constant anti-imperialist threat of the socialistbloc lent advantage to national li-beration movements in the era ofintense anti-communist hysteriapropagated by the US then. The

a tambiolo to pick the names of beneficiaries.Ramos noted that military officials accountable in

the massacre are yet to face justice, and were even pro-moted to top positions, such as current Armed Forces ofthe Philippines chief of staff Lt.Gen. Ricardo Visaya.

However, with the persistence of farm workers, theywere able to reap fruits of their struggle through theirbungkalan. In the past years, they were able to harvestrice, vegetables and fruits from the former sugar lands.

Recently the DAR under the leadership of Ka PaengMariano has recognized the bungkalan system andordered the distribution of the cultivated land. TheDAR also nullified the tambiolo system which theprevious administration used to deny the beneficiariestheir land. The group also supported enactment ofHouse Bill 555, the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, whichwill dismantle land monopoly and bring social justice tothe peasantry.

November 21 , 2016 ANG BAYAN10

socialist bloc stood as a formidablerear for countries launching armedstruggles against US imperialismduring the Second World War andthereafter.

The Soviet Union stood as a so-cialist country for almost four de-cades. It had to take decades formodern revisionists to subvert anddismantle socialism in 1991, evenwith the aid of a series of imperia-list attacks during the Cold War.

Enduring relevance of socialismContrary to claims of bourgeois

economic and political experts, thecapitalist system was notstrengthened by the restoration ofcapitalism in the former socialistcountries. Instead, it intensifiedthe exploitation and oppression ofthe toiling masses. The expansionof the capitalist system to include

Russia and China today resulted indeeper inter-imperialist contra-dictions.

Neoliberal globalization failedmiserably to resolve the crisis thatthe imperialists have tried toconceal through burdensomeindebtedness, at the expense of theproletariat and people of the worldwho are subjected to denationali-zation, liberalization, privatizationand deregulation. There is a gro-wing trend towards protectionismin capitalist countries. Inter-impe-rialist contradictions are escalatingand aggravating. We are practicallyback to conditions of great disordersimilar to before World War I.There is no other solution to thegrave crisis but a socialist revolu-tion.

In this period of the temporarydefeat of socialism on a global sca-

le, proletarian revolutionaries mustbe able to answer the questions ofthe proletariat and people aboutthe past, present and future of therevolutionary cause of socialism.They must sharply belie themocking claims of the imperialiststhat socialism is "passé" or nolonger necessary, that neoliberalglobalization is the only path forcapitalist development, and thatthere is no future for the peoples'struggles for liberation, democracyand socialism.

The October Revolution repre-sents the firm grasp of imperia-lism's true character and the greatstruggle of the proletariat and thetoiling masses. The working classmust grasp its lessons andconstantly use this to inspire theadvance of struggles of the oppres-sed people of the world.