DAVAO CITY – Communist rebels in Southern Mindanao said they were ready to face “the full-scale war” that the Duterte administration would be unleashing on them next year.

In a statement issued for the founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines on Tuesday, Ka Joaquin Jacinto, the National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesperson in the region, also said the New People’s Army (NPA) would continue to exist to oppose the government’s abuses.

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“Despite the use of airstrikes, armed drones and prolonged focus operations, not one single NPA unit in Mindanao was wiped out. The number of platoons and companies has in fact increased this year,” he said.

Jacinto said NPA members were “ever willing to sacrifice their lives for the revolution and the people than be servile to the fascist dictatorship of the US-Duterte regime.”

“In spite of the constant black propaganda, bogus peace caravans and the incessant parade of fake or recycled surrenderees, NPA Red commanders and fighters never faltered,” he added.

He said 2017 spelled victory to the NPA in Southern Mindanao, where it launched more than 300 attacks.

“There were a few well-chosen and well-executed head blows as wells as numerous attritive actions against operating enemy troops, military camps and police outposts, making them suffer a casualty rate of more than a battalion,” he said.

Jacinto said in total, NPA units in Mindanao confiscated high-powered firearms enough to arm a battalion of rebels – including those who recently finished training.

“Given these resounding achievements of the revolutionary movement under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the NDFP-Mindanao calls upon all revolutionary forces and the struggling masses to redouble efforts in undertaking our basic ideological, political and organizational tasks to advance the people’s democratic revolution until complete victory,” he added.

Jacinto also called on the NPA “to launch more and more tactical offensives, combining multiple attritive actions with well-chosen and well-planned annihilative blows against the fascist AFP/PNP/paramilitary troops” as the Duterte government intensified its counter-revolutionary moves.

“The NPA must be determined to bring the people’s war to new heights,” he added.

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