Press Statement by Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
July 20, 2021
The ATC Resolution No. 21 designating the NDFP as a terrorist organization is clearly intended to achieve the following:
1. to close further every possibility of resuming the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations at least for the duration that Duterte is in power,
2. to harass, silence, arrest or even kill the NDFP consultants and resource persons and others involved in the peace negotiations and target even the broad range of peace advocates, critics and oppositionists,
3. to allow Duterte to control and rig the 2022 elections, stay in power together with Sara and prevent his arrest for crimes against humanity on the prospective warrant that may be issued by the International Criminal Court,
4. to pave a wider path for the Duterte regime to declare martial law and impose a fascist dictatorship on the people either before the anticipated 2022 elections or after this is rigged in order to preempt the 1986 type of people’s uprising.
The diabolical purpose of the Duterte regime in designating the NDFP as terrorist cannot be understated because this has been preceded by the murder of NDFP consultants committed so flagrantly by Duterte death squads.
The NDFP consultants who have been murdered by this evil regime include : Randy Malayao, Randall Echanis, the Topacio couple, the Cabanatan couple, Reynaldo Bocala and Rustico Tan.
Others have been arrested and imprisoned on trumped up charges by planting firearms and explosives. The victims include Adelberto Silva, Rey Casambre, Vicente Ladlad, Renante Gamara, Ferdinand Castillo and others.
The tyrant Duterte is clearly on the path of undertaking a series of foul actions to defeat extrajudicially the petitions before the Supreme Court against the unconstitutional and antidemocratic provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The designation itself is at war with basic principles of international humanitarian law on the legitimate status, rights and character of national liberation movements.
The holding and rigging of the 2022 elections do not necessarily prevent the Dutertes from the use of martial law to preempt the highly probable people’s uprising similar to that which overthrew Marcos in 1986.
In any case, the armed revolution will benefit greatly from the people’s opprobrium of the fraudulent elections and the rapidly worsening socio-economic crisis and pandemic. Duterte will be swallowed by his own crimes.
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