MANILA, Philippines -- The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno’s arming of civilian “police auxiliaries” in Mindanao is a prelude to building a vigilante army along the lines of the Nazi “Brown Shirts.”

Following attacks by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on communities in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato provinces earlier this month, Puno announced that the Philippine National Police would arm civilian auxiliaries with shotguns to defend their home against the rebels.

The CPP said Puno’s plan, which news reports say could involve arming as many as 12,000 auxiliaries, was akin to an alleged attempt by the official to transform barangay tanod (village watchmen) into a “civilian army for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"Puno has, since the Marcos martial law days, been obsessed with building the local version of Brown Shirts storm troopers, [German dictator Adolf] Hitler's loose 'civilian' army whose unabated, sanctioned rampage against Jews and communists and all remaining resistance to the establishment of Nazi power preceded the official fascist transformation of the German state," the CPP said in a statement.

The CPP, which leads the almost 40-year old communist insurgency, claimed Puno established "secret training schools" for the alleged Marcos civilian army, including a facility in Tagaytay City.

However, the plan was scuttled by the 1986 People Power uprising that ousted Marcos, the CPP said.