📷: Underground groups march in Manila urging armed struggle, Dec. 21 | Pinoy Weekly
by Diego Morra
After the Marcos Jr. administration rejected the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) covering all new People’s Army (NPA) units nationwide, at least six member organizations of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) mounted a lightning rally at the very heart of Manila on Dec. 21 to celebrate the 57th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26 and call for intensified armed struggle.
Similar actions were launched during the annual lantern parade at the University of the Philippines in Diliman on Dec. 17, hours after the Oblation Run was held on the 100th anniversary of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. On Dec. 6, the Malayang Samahang Pangkalusugan (MSP) also held its regional congress in Metro Manila. These actions , along with regional celebrations, put the lie on the claim by Malacanang, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that guerrilla fronts had been dismantled in Cagayan, Isabela, Quezon, the Samar provinces and much of Mindanao.
In fact, Malacanang itself was so sanguine about ending the insurgency within the year, after the unlamented Duterte regime had vowed to destroy the CPP, the NPA and the NDFP only for its big boast to crash, that it has been delaying any meaningful resumption of backchannel talks with the NDFP consistent with its vow to resume the peace negotiations with the NDFP in November 2023. After more than two years, the needle of peace hasn’t moved. Ecumenical groups pushing for the resumption of formal NDFP-GRP peace negotiations have been urging both parties to resume negotiations, only to be smothered by the scandalous flood control projects that stole billions of pesos of the people’s money. The promise of Marcos Jr. to write finis to the revolutionary movement hasn’t come to pass. That dog won’t hunt.
Indeed, there has been a rash of brutal military and police operations in Masbate, Occidental, Samar, Bicol, the Cordillera as Dec. 26 drew near. In Cataingan, Masbate, a wounded NPA fighter was captured and summarily executed on Dec. 13 after an Army officer and a soldier were killed in battle. A civilian reportedly suffering from a mental problem was also nabbed on Dec. 9 in the same town and slapped with murder charges. In Occidental Mindoro, Mangyan Iraya woman Dolores Mariano Solangon, 47, was arrested, tied to a tree and interrogated for several hours on Dec. 2. Several soldiers were killed in a clash in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro on Nov. 26.
The NPA reported five separate military actions in Negros and Samar that killed a police intelligence officer and led to the seizure of a pistol on Dec. 7. On December 13, a military asset responsible for the deaths of a peasant leader and NDFP consultant Ericson Acosta was likewise slain while another intelligence asset was killed in Sipalay City on December 4. A day earlier, two soldiers of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) and the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) were killed in an armed encounter with the NPA in Western Samar. In Bicol, the military reported killing three NPA leaders and two guerrillas in Camarines Surt on Dec. 23.
In its Dec. 21, 2025 statement, the CPP declared a unilateral ceasefire even as the NTF-ELCAC shunned it, preparing the way for military offensives. CPP noted that this year “saw a worsening of the economic and political crisis of the ruling system, increased US imperialist military intervention, and a deterioration of the social conditions of the majority of the population. At the same time, it saw the intensification of struggles against corruption and fascism of the US-Marcos regime. The conflict among the ruling classes, particularly between the Marcos and Duterte factions, became more overt.” US military intervention was unprecedented throughout the year. In collaboration with the Marcos regime, and using the AFP. it opened new military bases and facilities. The US deployed additional military equipment to the Philippines. Provocative military exercises were continuously conducted within and around the South China Sea, to the detriment of Filipino fisherfolk.
“The conflict between the ruling classes intensified further following the exposure of large-scale corruption cases related to anomalous flood control projects and infrastructure contracts. The people’s anger boiled over as it was revealed that Marcos and corrupt government officials had pocketed enormous amounts of money. A massive protest movement against corruption and bureaucratic capitalism swept across the country. For two months from September, students in various campuses staged continuous walkouts and rallies. A broad alliance of anti-corruption forces from different sectors and areas was formed, despite some forces attempting to divert the people’s anger away from Marcos,” CPP said.
“The movement against corruption erupted amid the deepening economic crisis, worsening conditions for the broad masses of the population, and the numerous programs and measures of the Marcos regime that further burdened the people. The people are disgusted by low wages of workers, unemployment, almost weekly increases in oil prices, steep charges for poor water, electricity, and transportation services, jeepney phaseout, privatization of markets, destructive and livelihood-destroying reclamation of the sea, land grabbing, eviction of farmers, and other hardships. Claims of peace are hollow amid intense oppression and suffering of the people… The movement against corruption erupted amid the deepening economic crisis, worsening conditions for the broad masses of the population, and the numerous programs and measures of the Marcos regime that further burdened the people,” CPP concluded.
