MILITANT WIRE: An Interview with Marco Valbuena of the Communist Party of the Philippines on Guerrilla War and Geopolitics
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is engaged in a guerilla war that has been ongoing for over 50 years and is by some accounts the world’s longest-running insurgency. CPP says it is a revolutionary organization and its movement is waging an armed people’s resistance against a corrupt, tyrannical, capitalist government dominated by the “bourgeoisie” and backed by the imperialist USA. Conversely, the United States and European Union (EU) have designated the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terrorist organizations — a label the communists vehemently reject.
Due in part to its location in the Philippines, the CPP’s media apparatus functions as a kind of geopolitical weathervane in detecting and commenting upon broader regional and international developments, particularly in the context of US-China great power competition. In this interview, Militant Wire spoke to Marco Valbuena, the CPP’s chief spokesman, about the past, present, and future of the Red insurgency, international affairs, and more.
Can you tell us about yourself, your background, and what your role is with the CPP?
I am presently the Chief Information Officer of the CPP. I am tasked to issue statements and articles on behalf of the Party to promote, elaborate, and clarify the views of the CPP on the key issues facing the Filipino proletariat and people, as well as outstanding issues facing the oppressed people around the world. I work with the CPP Information Bureau. I correspond with media and other organizations through email and social media platforms.
Who are the CPP/NPA and what are you fighting for? What outcome do you hope to achieve?
The CPP or the Communist Party of the Philippines is the party and advanced detachment of the Filipino working class or proletariat. It was established on December 26, 1968. It is guided by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is the vanguard of the Philippine revolution. It organized the New People’s Army (NPA) on March 29, 1969, to wage revolutionary armed struggle.
The CPP has tens upon thousands of members among the workers, peasants, and various segments of the petty-bourgeoisie and elements of the national bourgeoisie. The NPA does not disclose its numbers but has established around 110 guerrilla fronts in more than 70 of the 82 Philippine provinces.
The Philippine revolution is a people’s democratic revolution. It aims to end the semicolonial and semifeudal system dominated by US imperialism. It seeks to overthrow the class rule of the comprador big bourgeoisie and big landlords. It plans to establish and lead a people’s democratic government, in order to carry out land reform and national industrialization. The objective is to create a modern and progressive social and economic system that addresses the needs of the people and create the conditions for socialist revolution.
The armed communist resistance in the Philippines is one of the longest-running insurgencies in the world. Why is this, and what about the movement enables it to continue on after so many decades?
The NPA has persevered through more than five decades of revolutionary resistance primarily by relying on the support of the peasant masses. To win over the peasant masses, the NPA carries out a land reform, with the minimum objective of reducing land rent, eliminating usury, raising farm wages, and prices of peasant produce. The NPA assists the peasant masses in building their mass organizations which serve as the foundation for establishing basic units of the people’s government.
The NPA also enjoys the support of and recruits fighters from workers and middle-class sectors through underground organizations in the cities.
As a smaller military force facing a large US-supported military and police force, the NPA wages guerrilla warfare in order to slowly gather strength and weaken its enemy. Having mainly local peasants serving as its fighters, the NPA has mastery of the physical and social terrain. It strikes only at the weak points of the enemy and avoids decisive battles. It has withstood 14 years of martial law under Marcos, a series of counterinsurgency campaigns over the past 36 years, including the all-out military offensives and aerial bombardment campaign in the past five years.
As a revolutionary organization that has been fighting since 1969, have you had to take a long view of your struggle or has the CPP/NPA always known it would be a protracted conflict? Do you see victory anytime in the near future?
Since the outset, the CPP/NPA knew that the armed resistance will be a protracted war. This is a necessary course because it started out weak and small and is confronted with a large enemy force that is funded, armed, and advised by the biggest military force in the world.
In addition, the Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands and does not have borders with other countries. It does not receive foreign military support and has had to rely on painstaking political and military work to build up its strength.
We cannot predict precisely how soon the Philippine revolution will attain victory. But the economic and political crisis of the ruling system in the Philippines and the crisis of the global capitalist system generate exceedingly favorable conditions for the steady advance of the armed struggle and the people’s democratic revolution.
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