The new bloc was formed by leaders who were expelled last year from the CPP, according to Nicolas Magdangal, head of the bloc's provisional committee.

''It is a political group ready to unite with political forces in the context of tactical issues in contrast to the sectarianism within the CPP,'' Magdangal told a group of reporters recently.

Among those that the bloc is said to have won over are party units in the provinces and in urban areas, including provincial commands of the New People's Army in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and the Visayas.

A number of members of the National Democratic Front have reportedly also expressed interest in joining it.

The realignments were pushed by factionalism within the CPP, Magdangal said.

Its formation reportedly came on the heels of the ''second wave'' of a split within the CPP.

The party expulsions were supposedly triggered by disagreements and issues raised by Magdangal and key leaders of the Central Luzon regional party committee on policies regarding the immediate and long-term direction and design of the legal political movement, the NDF concept and the long-term direction of the armed struggle.

The CPP is divided into two main blocs. One is composed of the ''reaffirmists,'' who remain loyal to Jose Ma. Sison, CPP founding chair now based in The Netherlands.

The other bloc is composed of the ''rejectionists''--CPP leaders who either rejected the Sison leadership or were expelled by the CPP.

In 1994, the CPP central committee abolished all party units of the open legal movement, except those in Metro Manila.

Magdangal said that move dropped the concept of an open legal movement, where workers, farmers and several sectors could unite to address issues and pursue practical reforms.

Party units in Southern Tagalog were the first victims of this new policy, he said. Opposition to it, however, fizzled out for lack of organized resistance.

In the same year, the central committee narrowed the avenues among progressives by making ''socialist perspective,'' rather than an ''anti-imperialist and anti-fascist'' stance, the basis of unity among NDF members.

A disdain for legitimate issues such as wage increase through the legal struggle while focusing on revolutionary education among mass organizations is believed to have loosened the CPP's influence over its base in the urban areas.

Of late, the CPP labeled other political forces as ''pseudo progressives,'' further dimming the prospects of alliances with them on tactical issues.

Three factions, branded as ''rejectionists,'' broke away from the CPP in 1992--a development known as the first wave of the party split.

''The CPP is fixated with the trauma of 1992. In the witch-hunt within the party, it has altogether dismissed the debates on policies as a question of wrong line, thus branding those who speak their minds out as counterrevolutionaries. It has a warped concept of what a revolution is, amounting to fanaticism,'' Magdangal said.

''We would like to believe that we are the one upholding the original principles and policies of the CPP and the NDF.''

He said NPA rebels who joined their bloc would be organized into a new ''peasant-based armed group led by a Marxist party.'' ''The new communist party will lead and unite all progressive forces,'' Magdangal said.

Magdangal said they had yet to name the new party but added that it would also have its own united front group similar to the NDF.

With reports from Benjie Villa, PDI Central Luzon Desk

By Tonette Orejas, PDI Central Luzon Desk