By his own public declarations and expressions of admiration for the fascist dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte has long been obsessed with his scheme to establish his own iron-fisted rule through martial law and extrajudicial killings by way of asserting “strong man” leadership and intimidating the opposition and the people under the pretext of solving not only the problem of illegal drugs but also far graver social, economic and political problems of the US-dominated ruling system of big compradors and landlords.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) reiterates its firm solidarity with the heroic Venezuelan people and His Excellency, President Nicolas Maduro, as the Constitutional and elected President of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela.

By all major indications, the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) headed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the revolutionary forces represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are heading for the rocks, despite the strong clamor for these negotiations by the public and a broad range of peace advocates and despite the patient and efficient third party role of the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) as facilitator.

The Communist Party of the Philippines just learned of the passing of Charles Boylan, a communist and a comrade. We send our sincerest condolences to his partner Donna Petersen, his family, and to the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.