On August 26, organizations and allies of the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) staged a Global Day of Action to denounce the Marcos government’s intensifying repression. Coordinated actions in more than 10 countries, participated by over 30 organizations, called out the administration’s sham ‘peace’ agenda and rallied in solidarity with the Filipino people.
“How can Marcos claim to champion ‘peace’ when he is the number one sower of unpeace?” said Robert Reid, chairperson of FFPS. “While the Filipino people endure landlessness, low wages, rising prices and other systemic problems under Marcos’ presidency, the government relentlessly attacks anyone who dares dissent. We should call it for what it is: a war of suppression. Massacres, murders, military control and bombings of rural communities have become the policy of this government.”
As of June 2025, human rights watchdog Karapatan has documented 51,206 victims of bombing; 67,204 victims of indiscriminate firing; and 45,097 victims of forced evacuation, all in the course of the Marcos regime’s counterinsurgency war.
Reid denounced Marcos’ so-called peace programs and also criticized the role of the US and other international support to the Philippine government. “Foreign military aid and political support fuel Marcos’ war crimes. The only ‘peace’ they are buying is a peace of the grave. A just and lasting peace requires addressing the root causes underlying the armed civil conflict.”
Under Marcos, PH-US ties have deepened, with the US heavily embroiled in the counterinsurgency war. Examples include the $5.58 billion US arms sale in 2025 and direct involvement in spy-plane operations and ground patrols during Balikatan exercises.
From the capitals of Europe to cities across North America, and across the world from Hong Kong to New Zealand, activists echoed the call for a just and lasting peace. At mobilizations outside Philippine embassies and consulates solidarity activists voiced out their condemnation against the war of suppression, whilst other groups organized film screenings, teach-ins, postering and wheat-pasting, graffiti, and other creative actions to show their support to the Filipino people’s struggles for national and social liberation.
“The revolutionary movement represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) offers the most genuine path to change,” said Lidia Rodenburg, Coordinator of Maya Solidarity in the Netherlands. “Its program addresses the real problems driving the Filipino people to take up arms. A just and lasting peace can only come when the people’s desire for national liberation and social change is fulfilled.”
Activists also slammed Marcos’ State of the Nation Address claim that no guerrilla forces remain and vowed their continued support to the revolutionary fighters.
“If there were no more guerrillas, why are Marcos’ bombs raining down on communities and his battalions occupying villages?” asked Jonathan Bagot, Chairperson of FFPS-CST in Vancouver. “These claims are part of counterinsurgency tactics, and are directly and daily contradicted by the reality of continuous counter-revolutionary violence on the one hand and expanding revolutionary armed resistance by the Filipino masses on the other.”
Rei X of the Canada-Philippine Solidarity Organization in Toronto added, “We reject US-Marcos’ fake peace and call on people worldwide to support the Philippine revolution until victory. The national democratic revolution is the expression of the Filipino people’s will for genuine change, and the people’s war waged in the countryside is a legitimate means to achieve it.”
Coni Ledesma of the NDFP emphasized the ongoing struggle: “Today we continue to commemorate the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the cry for freedom and liberation, because we are still struggling and fighting for the full liberation of the Philippines. The revolutionaries that are building a new Philippines are building peace.”
“History has proven that no amount of fascist suppression will succeed in extinguishing the revolutionary fire of the Filipino people’s democratic revolution,” Reid concluded. “As internationalists, we have to also be irrepressible and intensify our support to contribute meaningfully to their struggle.”
About Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS):
Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) / Friends of the National Democratic Front (FNDF) is a global organization that supports the Filipino people’s struggle for genuine national liberation as outlined in the 12 point program of the NDF. For more information, visit https://ffps.info.
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