CPP eyes 5-year expansion plan for NPA

MANILA, Philippines - The military has until 2010 to make communist rebels "irrelevant." But the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has no intention of making it that easy for government troops, as it is even planning a five-year expansion plan for the New People's Army (NPA). In its message on its 40th anniversary, the CPP central committee said the NPA should now deal with the impunity of high bureaucrats and military officials in violating human rights. Following is part of a statement issued by the CPP central committee in its website (www.philippinerevolution.net): "We can have a five-year central plan of work. It must have clear objectives to be accomplished from year to year involving cumulative growth as well as flexibility and adjustability in order to achieve better results. It must be based on the current level of strength, track records and plans of the lower Party organs and organizations, on further inquiries to confirm current strength and estimate potential growth and on a determination to be clear about tasks and methods of carrying out the tasks and undertaking the necessary check-ups, follow-ups and necessary adjustments." It said the overriding objective must be to increase the strength of the revolutionary forces and approach the goal of destroying the ruling system and replacing it. The CPP also said the plan should be based on educating and training party cadres and members and accelerating the recruitment of party candidate-members. Also, it said it must intensify the campaigns to arouse, organize, and mobilize people and intensify the revolutionary armed struggle and hit the targets to maximize political and military victories. "The NPA must advance from the stage of the strategic defensive to that of the strategic stalemate and finally to that of the strategic offensive," the statement said. "At every strategic stage, it must launch tactical offensives to change the balance of forces by inflicting more and more defeats on the enemy and gaining more and more armed strength through increased fighting experience, weapons and technical capabilities." It added the NPA must deal with the impunity of high bureaucrats and military officials in perpetrating treason, plunder, and human rights violations. "Those who commit these grave crimes are subject to summons for investigation and arrest and if armed and dangerous or protected by armed personnel are subject to battle by the NPA arresting unit," the CPP said. "Retirement from reactionary government service does not free the suspects from criminal liabilities, arrest or battle. Close relatives and friends who benefit from the criminal offenses or fruits thereof must be treated as accomplices in crime. Dynasty-building and cronyism must be combated." The CPP said it must also develop the guerrilla fronts toward becoming relatively stable base areas, with at least one in each congressional district. "The guerrilla fronts must be increased to the level of 168. This means having a guerrilla front in every congressional district in all the provinces in consonance with the line of intensive and extensive guerrilla warfare based on an ever widening and deepening mass base. Armed city partisan units with specific missions in highly urbanized congressional districts can be deployed and directed from the nearest guerrilla front commands in coordination with the appropriate urban district Party organ," it said. - GMANews.TV