Around 500 members of revolutionary groups staged a lightning rally from Carriedo St. to Recto Ave. in Manila on December 19 to mark the 45th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP was established on December 26, 1968, and leads one the longest-running communist insurgencies in the world. The revolutionaries hailed the “advance” of the Philippine revolution, the establishment of a “democratic people’s government” in the countryside, and said that the seizure of political power by revolutionary forces, led by workers and peasants (symbolized by the hammer and sickle) was the only way to solve poverty.