Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Sept. 20 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Almost five decades ago, Ferdinand Marcos placed the entire country under martial law which launched his brutal dictatorial rule. For 14 years, the Filipino people resisted valiantly and fought on all arenas of struggle. Serving as the strongest bulwark of anti-fascist resistance, the Party and the New People’s Army waged underground and armed struggle, inspiring and militating the Filipino people to unite and struggle for democracy. Culminating long years of anti-fascist resistance, the Filipino people rose up in their millions in 1986 causing the overthrow of the US-Marcos dictatorship.

The Filipino people today are subjected to the same fascist brutalities and cruelties under Duterte as the crisis of the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system worsen ever more rapidly. The attacks against the people are far more brazen and are on a greater scale, particularly in terms of killings perpetrated by state forces.

The resort to fascism of the Duterte ruling reactionary clique indicates the overall crisis of the ruling system and its inability to perpetuate itself without using barefaced state terrorism. It further weakens the ruling state because it intensifies the contradictions not only between the oppressed masses and the ruling state, but also that between the different rival factions of the ruling classes.

The Filipino people must firmly resist and seek to end Duterte’s reign of fascist terror. They must fight for their democratic rights. They must vigorously struggle to prevent Duterte from perpetuating his rule, and demand that he be made accountable for all the crimes perpetrated by state forces under his regime.

Duterte’s fascist demagoguery and lies must be thoroughly exposed and repudiated. All its crimes must be roundly and widely condemned. The demand for justice must resound across the country. Duterte’s exercise of absolute power, his treachery and corruption must be denounced. The aggrandizement of the military into the civil spheres of society must be opposed. The people should be infused with courage in the difficult fight against Duterte’s fascist tyranny.

All democratic forces must come together in a broad anti-fascist united front against the Duterte regime. This must bring together the oppressed and exploited classes, the intellectuals and professionals, the academics, church, media workers, women, the youth and the anti-Duterte political opposition. They must be able to bring together millions of people in various forms and arenas of struggle.

The CPP and NPA remains the most consolidated bastion of the Filipino people’s anti-fascist resistance. All cadres and members of the CPP and Red fighters of the NPA must strengthen and steel themselves ideologically, politically and organizationally in order to be at the vanguard and core of the people’s struggle against the fascist Duterte regime.

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