RPA members gather in front of the flags of the RPA and the RPM-M

The Revolutionary Peoples’ Army (RPA) successfully concluded its 2^nd Military Conference and Combatant Retraining at Camp Ceilo, one of the major camps of the RPA in Central Mindanao. The month-long two successive activities were aimed at strengthening the organizational and military capabilities of the RPA to facilitate smooth and effective functioning of all its commands and to maintain and ensure the Pol-Mil capabilities and readiness of the organization in order to effectively fulfill to the various needs of the different areas and fronts.

The 2^nd Military Conference was called upon by the Central Committee of the RPM-M as stated in its second Congress and Mindanao Operational Command (MOC), the leadership body of the RPA in order to, among others, review the framework and basic documents of the RPA, assess its conduct and concrete victories and shortcomings, elect a new leadership, and come up with a strategic plan for the next couple of years. It was attended by 35 cadre-representatives from different RPA fronts in the cities, towns and countryside communities of Mindanao. The representatives were a mixture of Indigenous Peoples, Bangsamoro people and majority nationality.

Right after the military conference, a POL-MIL training followed. The training was organized and managed by the RPA’s Politico-Militar Academy (PMA). Several platoons of units from the regular RPA, local militias and Partisan Units from different fronts and districts participated. These participants are expected to become the instructors when the retraining will be replicated in their respected fronts. Among others, the retraining focused on the discussion and actual conduct of the Revolutionary Mass Movement, RPA’s code of Ethics and Conduct, RPA’s Police Function, Rules of War (Landmine Ban Commitment – continuity of the previous workshop facilitated by Geneva Call a Switzerland based institution, Ceasefire Commitment, etc.) and a review of RPA’s Military Strategy and Tactics and the participants’ Military Skills during the defensive period of the revolutionary camp and during the peace talks period.

Participants of the Military Conference

These new successes of the RPA are dedicated to the furtherance of the struggles of the peoples in Mindanao. According to Ka Raul, director of the RPA-PMA, despite the ceasefire agreement signed by the GRP and the RPM-M, to which the RPA binds itself, the whole RPA organization should, by every inch and every minute, be ready to take on any obstacle that will hinder the peoples’ democratic and anti-imperialist struggles. This is in the light of the reality that in Mindanao many of the threats against the peoples’ rights and rightful struggles come not just from the state and its formal instruments, but also from such actors as warlords, local capitalists, foreign corporations and their minions, and corrupt government officials – to name only some.

In a message read by Ka Joshua of the Executive Committee of the RPM-M, the leadership and the entire membership of the RPM-M congratulate and salute the graduates of the RPA-PMA batch 2010. He further read that the sharpening of the graduates’ consciousness and skills will be instrumental in our successful struggle for socialism in Mindanao, in the Philippines and the world.

Gathering at Camp Ceilo