Vol. VII, No. 08 - April 30, 2025
On the 52nd anniversary of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), we mark a renewed call to action in the face of intensifying crises. Formed in 1973 amid the fascist terror of the Marcos dictatorship, the NDFP arose as the revolutionary united front fighting for national liberation and democracy. Today, its relevance persists, rooted in the enduring exploitation, landlessness, foreign control, and elite rule that define the Philippines’ semicolonial and semifeudal conditions.
The roots of the armed struggle lie in the chronic and systemic injustices that have plagued the Philippines for generations. Despite successive administrations promising reform and development, the fundamental problems of the Filipino people remain unresolved. Land remains concentrated in the hands of a few landlords, forcing millions of peasants to toil under tenancy or informal arrangements. Philippine industry is stunted by foreign monopoly capital and dependence on imported goods, leaving workers with low wages, precarious jobs, and no future. Political power remains the domain of entrenched dynasties and big comprador elites, propped up by US imperialism. The state’s response to organized dissent has been red-tagging, imprisonment, torture, and murder. In this context, the people’s democratic revolution ceases to become a matter of choice, but of necessity.
Central to the struggle for liberation is the task of building and strengthening Red political power in the Philippine countryside. This involves organizing the masses into NDFP-allied revolutionary mass organizations as well as establishing structures of governance that challenge the authority of the reactionary state. This also includes the implementation of genuine land reform, health programs, and the establishment of people’s courts that work to empower the people and develop a self-reliant revolutionary government that operate independently of the corrupt and oppressive reactionary regime. The formation of revolutionary mass organizations therefore serve as the embryonic forms of the people’s democratic government. This parallel governance challenges the authority of the reactionary state and empowers the Filipino masses to govern themselves based on their interests, not those of landlords, capitalists, or foreign powers.
The NDFP calls for broader international solidarity and the active participation of Filipino migrants in the people’s democratic revolution. As millions of Filipinos are pushed abroad by economic displacement and political persecution, the revolution must expand beyond Philippine borders. Migrants, who often experience firsthand the brutality of global capitalism, are not just victims but vital agents of resistance. They can and must organize, contribute resources, and amplify the calls of the movement back home.
The NDFP stands firm in its vision of a liberated Philippine society, free from imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. This struggle for liberation is a long and arduous journey, but the course is clear: the only way forward is through the people’s democratic revolution with a socialist perspective. This is the task that lies ahead, and it is a task that the NDFP and the Filipino people will continue to carry out with unyielding determination and revolutionary spirit.