The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) admitted that its armed movement suffered setbacks, but it said it is ''fully confident'' that it can ''gain unprecedented strength, lead the revolutionary movement in the Philippines to steadily advance in the coming years and achieve victories.

Revolution is ripe because “the entire country sits on top of a social volcano that is constantly rumbling and ready to explode," the CPP said in a statement.

The CPP made the statement Monday as it marked its 54th anniversary in the midst of a mourning period for its founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, who passed away recently in Utretcht, the Netherlands.

The Philippine communist insurgency is one of the longest in the world, with officials estimating around 40,000 died during the five-decade fighting.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Monday the CPP ''suffered significant strategic losses.''

''In 2022, the Communist Terrorist Group was reduced to 2,112 members with 1,876 firearms as a result of the AFP's campaign and the whole-of-nation program being implemented by the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict,'' AFP said.

The CPP's guerrilla fronts are down to 22 from 89 six years ago, AFP said. The military added that the CPP extortion activities fell ''from as high as P4.2 billion in 2017 to P8.5 million in 2022).

Describing Philippine military and defense department’s claim that NPA guerilla fronts are “down to five” as “ludicrous”, the CPP said, “the declarations of the AFP of strategic victory against the CPP-NPA is a public relations line to justify before the people the five years of squandering hundreds of billions of pesos of people’s money to fund its relentless military offensives and rampant military abuses."

The CPP leadership directed its armed wing, the New People's Army “to heighten guerilla warfare, expand its territories, deepen the mass base through a widescale land reform movement, and launch tactical offensives to take away the enemy's weapons and arm more NPA Red fighters.”

The CPP detailed the conditions in "military hamlets" in rural areas where entire communities are under military rule. It said people who refuse to bow to the military are "subjected to arrest, torture and extrajudicial killing." People are "being driven to fight back." DMS