Strengthen and expand the NDF, fight against US imperialism

April 21, 2025

The Party and the New People’s Army join the upcoming celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the National Democratic Front on April 24. Let us honor and celebrate the achievements and victories of the NDF in its more than five decades of uniting the Filipino people, in promoting and representing their national and democratic aspirations, and in advancing the people’s democratic revolution through people’s war.

The significance of commemorating the founding of the NDF cannot be overstated. As the most consolidated part of the national united front and the iron core of the Filipino people’s patriotic front, it is crucial for the NDF to stand firm and strong today. This is in the face of the intensifying intervention and control of US imperialism in the country’s military, politics, economy, and culture, as it escalates its conflict with its imperialist rival China. This is bound to bring unprecedented destruction, suffering, and threats to Filipino people’s freedom, security and dignity.

The NDF must build a broad unity of the people against the false “deterrence policy” of the US, supposedly to deter China from attacking. Under this policy, the US military uses the Balikatan and other war games to deploy its weapons and personnel in various parts of the country. The goal is not to deter China from attacking, but to intimidate and provoke it.

The US is now focusing on the Batanes islands, where it is deploying more missiles aimed at China. Every day, large US warships enter and exit the Philippines, attracting more Chinese ships to the South China Sea and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. The US is dragging the Philippines into its conflict with China, using the country as a proxy in its campaign to contain China.

The puppet Marcos regime is shamelessly submitting to US dictates. It allows the use of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to assist US military operations. The US is using the Philippines as a proxy in its conflict with China, and the traitorous Marcos is allowing himself to be used by the US in its provocations and intimidation of China, instead of representing the interests of the Filipino people in building friendly and peaceful relations with China.

The NDF must lead in strengthening the people’s resistance against foreign plunder and domination of the economy. It must be a strong voice against the Trump government’s threats of slapping tariffs against Philippine exports, which would further open up the country to US dumping of its surplus commodities.

The NDF must strongly criticize the Marcos regime for its neoliberal economic policies, which favor big foreign capitalists and their local partners, allowing them to grab more land, exploit the country’s natural resources, destroy the environment, and sink the country in debt. It must hold US imperialism and the neocolonial state accountable for keeping the economy and local production backward, and for the suffering of the Filipino masses.

The US is now waging relentless psychological warfare and cultural offensive to manipulate the minds and consciousness of the Filipino people. Using media and social media, it presents itself as a “friend, partner, and ally” of the Filipino people, while covering up its blatant disregard for the country’s sovereignty. In collusion with the Marcos regime, the US is fueling Sinophobia or anti-China sentiments, and repeatedly portraying China as an “enemy” or “threat.”

All this is part of the escalating global conflict resulting from US imperialism’s attempt to reshape the world order and reestablish itself as the sole superpower. The conflict is heating up amidst the ongoing crisis of the global capitalist system. The US is using its military might to dominate the global market and resources, and to contain the growing power of its rival China. In the US pursuit to establish dominance, the threat of war rises in various parts of the world.

It is imperative to strengthen the NDF and the patriotic front of the Filipino people to promote the stand for national freedom: freedom from foreign military intervention, economic freedom, political freedom, and cultural freedom. We must reject and fight the neocolonial state of the ruling classes, which is used to suppress the patriotic aspirations of the people.

We must strengthen the NDF by strengthening its allied organizations that are united and working together to advance the people’s war. We must intensify the propaganda movement to arouse and galvanize the patriotic spirit of the workers, peasants, youth, the impoverished masses, women, teachers, and government employees, and other democratic sectors.

The NDF and the national democratic movement should strengthen and expand their reach to academics, church people, lawyers and professionals, small businessmen, and all sectors that must be united under the freedom banner. They should also strengthen their ties with patriotic-minded officials and personnel of the reactionary military and police, and encourage them to stand against the traitorous Marcos regime that allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to serve US imperialism in its rivalry with China, and to suppress the struggling Filipino people who are fighting for freedom.

The NDF should expand its ties with all movements and organizations around the world that oppose imperialist war. It should help build a strong backbone of a broad anti-imperialist movement and take advantage of all contradictions among the imperialists to benefit the broad masses of the people.

The most important task of the NDF now is to exert all efforts to advance the protracted people’s war, especially strengthen the New People’s Army (NPA) and reinvigorate the armed struggle and revolutionary mass movement in the countryside. The revolutionary armed struggle of the Filipino people is the primary and most effective form of resistance to stop the imperialist war being provoked by the US, and to achieve national freedom and democracy.