DEEP DIVES | How the CPP Orchestrates International Solidarity Missions in the Philippines

This two-part investigative report dives deep into the covert operations behind so-called International Solidarity Missions in the Philippines, exposing how these foreign-assisted “fact-finding” trips are orchestrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines to shape global opinion, recruit sympathizers, and secure funding for its insurgency. Drawing on testimonies from former cadres, community leaders, and local officials, it unravels how humanitarian narratives are weaponized to advance the CPP-NPA-NDFP agenda under the guise of solidarity.

MANILA, Philippines—What appears on the surface to be a series of humanitarian missions advocating for climate justice and Indigenous rights are, in fact, operating under a more complex and politically charged agenda. This is the collective revelation of several former rebels and leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army–National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

An investigation into the International Solidarity Missions (ISMs), such as the recent International Learning and Solidarity Mission (ILSM) spearheaded by People’s Rising for Climate Justice, reveals links to organized efforts directed by cadres of the CPP-NPA-NDF. These missions, often attended by foreign humanitarian and progressive organizations, have been designed as part of the broader strategy of the national democratic movement led by the CPP to expand its mass base, recruit members into the revolutionary underground, and secure funding streams to sustain the operations of the insurgency.

A Closer Look at the ILSM 2025

From October 11 to 15, 2025, ILSM delegates, composed of foreign climate activists, human rights observers, and environmentalists, visited three regional areas: Mindoro, Eastern Visayas and Negros. Their findings centered on supposed land grabbing, militarization, displacement, and environmental degradation. But while the concerns raised are undeniably real, what has been overlooked—or at least deliberately obscured—is who orchestrated these missions, and for what purpose beyond public advocacy.

Philippine-based organizations at the forefront of ILSM 2025 have been widely identified by former members of the CPP and the Philippine intelligence and security sectors as part of the legal national democratic organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDFP. These “progressive” groups, while operating legally, have long been flagged for acting as the aboveground communist movement.

While the ILSM’s published findings emphasize alleged “militarization” and “human rights abuses” in rural areas, multiple local accounts and recent community declarations suggest that the narrative was deliberately framed to obscure a different reality.

In Tanay, Rizal, Barangay Captain Adrenico N. Zubiaga said in an interview that the delegates refused to respect barangay policies on accounting for outsiders, which is a normal operating procedure for villages. “Ang mabigat pa doon, nung hapon ng makaalis sila, nakita po namin naka-post doon na sinabi nila na hinarass sila. Hindi po totoo ’yan,” he said [What made it worse was that, later that afternoon after they left, we saw a post saying they were harassed. That’s not true.]

In the same interview, the president of the Indigenous People’s group Dumagat-Remontado in Sta. Ines, Rizal, said that when IP communities are visited, proper coordination with the LGU and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) is normally done to comply with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) process. “Hindi ko gusto ’yung ginawa nila na hindi sumunod doon sa mga alituntunin ng batas. Hindi ko kinokontra ’yung maganda nilang layunin na magbigay ng pagkain… Kaya lang, ’yung proseso nagiging masama kasi hindi nila sinunod,” he said [I didn’t like what they did, disregarding the rules of the law. I’m not against their good intention of giving food… But the process becomes wrong because they didn’t follow the proper procedures.]

Similar sentiments have emerged in Eastern Visayas, where families of NPA victims have questioned the missions’ silence on atrocities committed by the communist armed group. Former rebels and local peace advocates in radio interviews in Leyte and Samar said that solidarity delegations by the CPP have repeatedly ignored their testimonies about NPA-perpetrated killings, recruitment of minors, and extortion from farmers. “They say they are here for human rights, but they only listen to one side,” said a former NPA fighter. “It feels like our suffering doesn’t fit their story.”

Peace advocates in these regions warn that such selective framing does more than distort the truth. They say it also undermines ongoing reconciliation efforts and fuels distrust between communities and legitimate humanitarian actors. As one former CPP organizer put it: “By erasing the voices of those who suffered under the NPA, these solidarity missions do not promote peace. They protect the narrative of the Party.”

Recruitment Funnel

Former CPP cadres with intimate experience on high-level missions in the past, both from the armed and activist revolutionary underground, explain that ISMs are strategically used to expose and indoctrinate so-called Level 1 or L1 (el-one) supporters: those not yet formal members of NDFP organizations and who have not embraced armed struggle as the main form of struggle, but are sympathetic to the national democratic cause.

These L1 individuals typically come from mainstream humanitarian, church-based, academic, youth and student, or climate justice circles. Their initial involvement is framed around shared values such as environmental protection, Indigenous rights, anti-corruption. However, the mission's structure is designed to deepen their political education, framing these issues within the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist lens of class struggle, state oppression, and violent revolutionary change.

According to one source familiar with CPP organizing tactics: “Solidarity missions are not neutral. They are soft entry points. You bring someone to see the poverty and injustice, then you show them how the Party is the only real force fighting it. That’s how you recruit someone from L1 to L2 (el-two): from sympathizer to mass activist.”

L2 recruits—often emerging from multiple exposures or solidarity trips—are those who begin to formally join underground NDFP collectives (typically organizing groups) or Party-affiliated cells. In the explicit aim of advancing the armed struggle, they are tasked with deeper organizing roles, ideological education, and, in many cases, fundraising, logistical support, or even direct involvement in revolutionary activities.

If their political development deepens, they may be recruited higher up the revolutionary ladder—as a candidate and later a full member of the CPP—while some eventually decide to join the NPA as full-time Red fighters.

Read PART TWO tomorrow — where we uncover how International Solidarity Missions become funding channels and recruitment pipelines sustaining the CPP’s revolutionary network.