Robert Reid | Chairperson FFPS
We join the Filipino toiling masses in mourning and honoring the 3 recently martyred revolutionaries Ariel Arbitrario (Ka Karl), Danielle Marie Pelagio (Ka Seed) and Erin Sagsagat (Ka Jorly) as heroes of all anti-imperialists world-wide. As part of the New People’s Army (NPA) they served as models of courage and selflessness.
Ka Karl, Ariel Arbitrario, served as a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during peace negotiations in 2016-2017. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it has reason to believe that Arbitrario was captured alive and held for at least a day, during which he was subjected to severe torture before being summarily executed.
According to the Cagayan regional committee of the CPP, Ka Seed was a talented artist, writer, and poet. Despite only being 28 years old, Ka Seed had already taken up various tasks as part of the revolutionary movement and played a major role in expanding and consolidating the membership and organization of the masses. She was not selfish or self-centered; rather, she always prioritized the interests of the collective. In difficult times, she always returned to the question, “For whom?”
The red fighters were three among the thousands who continue to choose to tread the difficult path of armed struggle to advance and defend the democratic rights of the oppressed and exploited classes and to achieve true freedom and democracy. As part of the NPA they served as as the powerful weapon wielded by the toiling Filipino masses and as an essential part of the comprehensive revolution that is already now building a new society, starting in the rural and far-flung areas.
When the mass organizations of peasants, women and youth are advancing the agrarian revolution in the countryside, this happens with the strength of the people’s army supporting from the rear and flanks, ensuring gains can be protected and advanced. Without the revolution and the armed struggle it wages, the Filipino people would be left without teeth to defend itself against the armed oppression of the feudal landlords and imperialist intervention.
The advance of tactical offensives and the gaining of military strength by the NPA further emboldens the people to participate in the national democratic revolution. At the same time, the NPA and the armed struggle would not be able to grow if they did not pay attention to all other aspects of revolutionary mass work and base building.
The unbreakable triangle of mass base building, agrarian revolution, and armed struggle is the seed of the revolutionary society being built today. Together, they ensure the victory of the Filipino people’s struggle and reveal the possibilities of a new, liberated society – where the people selflessly wield their collective democratic power, and free themselves from imperialist and feudal exploitation and oppression.
The Filipino people understand that liberation will not come on its own and instead, they have taken their future into their own hands.
To be selfless and brave like Ka Karl, Ka Seed, Ka Jorly and all other red fighter of the NPA is something that all of us should aspire to, even those of us not engaged in armed struggle. As Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) we vow to continue to stand with the Filipino people and their revolution, and to do our best in being selfless to give all we can to support their liberation.
In the words of CPP Cagayan region, “The enemy is mistaken in thinking that her death will weaken the resolve of her comrades and the youth. Little do they know, many more Ka Seeds have been molded—from the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Madre, the fishers of Valley Cove and the Pacific, to the farmers in the plains of northeast Cagayan—who are now enraged and ready to take up the arms Ka Seed left behind to continue the struggle to which she gave her life. Truly, Ka Seed is a seed of the revolution that has been planted and will flourish.”
