As part of its regular efforts to hone the skills and abilities of Red fighters including national minorities, the New People’s Army (NPA) held a basic military course in the third week of July in Western Samar. More than 30 Red fighters finished the training amid continuous military operations in the area, reports Ang Bayan, the official publication of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

In its 21 August issue, Ang Bayan also narrates the NPA’s efforts to hone the local fighters’ various skills as in the case of Ka Lubid, Ka Ran and Ka Jana.

Ka Lubid is a newly appointed commander of an NPA unit in Mindoro, having long prepared to serve as a Red commander since joining the NPA. According to the correspondence, the long years of training in various revolutionary work gave him “deep grasp of the masses’ situation to carry out correct war maneuvers and thwart the enemies’ incessant attacks.”

“I realized leading the Army is difficult...(But) to us comrades, everything can be done, as long as there’s unity,” shared Ka Lubid.

Ka Ran, a Party branch's cultural officer in an NPA unit in Quezon, is a Dumagat youth who was unable to finish basic education because his family was constantly hounded by fascist soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). He exhibited dedication to writing even as a child and was already involved in propaganda and cultural work in his community before joining the NPA. 

"I want to express through art the correctness of waging revolution to encourage the masses to join the people's war," said Ka Ran.

Meanwhile, Ka Jana was the first among her peers to have reached college. After graduating, she returned to her community to serve her tribe. She finished her medical course, not from a bourgeois university, but in one of NPA’s Red academy. Ka Jana now serves as a full-time doctor, dentist and acupuncturist to communities covered by her unit.

Ka Jana “has masterful hand control, is gentle but pinpoint in acupuncture, and precise in performing operations. Patients truly trust her," said Ka Maru, Ka Jana's medical training instructor.

“National minorities in the Philippines lack access to education and health services due to the reactionary state’s neglect. They also face various forms of oppression and exploitation under the semicolonial and semifeudal social system,” Ang Bayan concluded.