CPP wants to increase guerilla fronts to 180

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it needed to expand its guerilla fronts and recruit more members to win its war against the government. In a statement released during its 41st anniversary on Saturday, December 26, the CPP said it needed to “draw strength from the mass base in areas of expansion." The party, founded by Jose Maria Sison in 1968, currently has 120 guerilla fronts, which it wants to increase to 180. A guerilla front refers to the area of operation by the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP. The party said the expansion would help the NPA "cover the rural congressional districts and gain ability to deploy armed city partisan units in the urban congressional districts." Meanwhile, the CPP belittled President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s promise to crush the party by 2010, saying it would just be another failed “pipe dream." The party claimed that it had achieved “resounding victories" against the Arroyo administration in 2009. It vowed to “intensify (its) tactical offensive" next year against the government. - ANDREO C. CALONZO, GMANews.TV