Will A “Hugo Chavez-type” End the Filipino Revolution?

[The question arises: Can populist rhetoric sway hearts and minds without petrodollars?  —  Frontlines ed.]

Joma sees Duterte as Pinoy-version of Hugo Chavez

October 10, 2015

by JEFRY M. TUPAS, CORRESPONDENT, The Manila Times

UTRECHT, The Netherlands: Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), made himself clear—he did not endorse Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as his preferred next president of the Philippines.

“But how can I do that when he did not yet declare that he is running for president?” he said laughing, in front of him a cup of brewed coffee sitting cold – untouched – on a long white table, the ‘centerpiece’ inside the office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) here.

Philippines: Peasants Shut Down Trial of Political Prisoners

Tiamzon couple hearing suspended as Quezon City Courthouse Shuts Down

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court suspended work today, as peasants and activists protested on its grounds and called for the release of political prisoners Wilma and Benito Tiamzon.

 

BY DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat.com

 

MANILA – The pre-trial hearing of political prisoners Wilma and Benito Tiamzon was deferred today, Oct. 21, as the Quezon City Hall of Justice suspended work for the day at around 8:30 a.m., prompted by a protest of more than 1,000 peasants outside the court.

Filipinos protest US military presence

14 Aug 2013, Bangkok Post Online news

MANILA – The Philippines and the United States on Wednesday opened talks on increased American military presence, amid protests by leftist groups warning against foreign interference.

Filipino activists hold up placards as they stage a lie-in before a police line during a protest against a meeting between Philippine and US officials in Manila on Wednesday. The protesters were opposing the talks over an increase in US military troops in the country. (AFP photo)

Activists picketed the principal military base in Manila, where the first round of negotiations on a “framework on increased rotational presence” was being held.

The demonstrators denounced the talks and called on the Philippine government not to give the US military more access to the country, which shut down American air and naval bases more than two decades ago.

Philippines Recalls ’86 Revolt with Eye on Middle East

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By JIM GOMEZ / AP WRITER

Thursday, February 24, 2011

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MANILA — From the fist-pumping crowds to the anguished dictators, the pro-reform revolts reshaping Arab history resemble the Philippine uprising that booted a strongman 25 years ago. But the similarity ends with the killing of protesters from Tunisia to Libya.

The four-day “people power” revolt a quarter century ago that Filipinos commemorate this week saw multitudes of civilians and rosary-clutching nuns and priests mounting a human barricade against tanks and troops to bring down dictator Ferdinand Marcos with little bloodshed as the world watched in awe.

The democratic triumph has been hailed as a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes in Asia and beyond. Since then, democratic revolutions have ended autocracies and military rule in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia in relatively peaceful feats that seemed unimaginable before 1986.

But the Philippines also became a showcase of post-dictatorship pitfalls that revolt leaders say could provide lessons to Arab nations, which will have to grapple with daunting uncertainties once the euphoria wears down.

Aside from democracy, little has changed in this Southeast Asian nation of 94 million. It remains mired in corruption, appalling poverty, rural backwardness, chronic inequality, long-running Marxist and Muslim insurgencies and chaotic politics. A restive military often tries to undermine civilian rule.

Philippines: An agreement by government and CPP-NDF to end the People’s War in 18 months

[Is the Communist Party of the Philippines-NDF is about to join the Prachanda-led forces in Nepal in bringing an end to people’s war and adopting the “peaceful road” strategy?–a strategy which, in other countries, a number of formerly revolutionary parties have proclaimed when becoming parliamentary parties.  While the CPP-NDF has not yet, to our knowledge, spoken directly to this, this article from the Manila Standard raises the question to a public and prominent level. — Frontlines ed.]

Manila Standard Today, February 23, 2011

Govt, Reds target peace treaty by June 2012

by Joyce Pangco Pañares

THE government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front have agreed to sign a final peace agreement by June 2012 to end the communists’ 40-year insurgency.

In a joint communique, government chief negotiator Alexander Padilla and his NDF counterpart, Luis Jalandoni, said both sides agreed to finish drafting agreements on socio-economic, political and constitutional reforms, and on ending hostilities and the disposition of forces, within 18 months.

The two sides issued the statement after a week-long negotiation in Oslo that ended a six-year impasse after talks bogged down in 2004.

Padilla described the talks as “difficult, frank and candid.”

Communist Party of the Philippines welcomes order for release of the Morong 43, demands end to human rights abuses

International delegation of lawyers visit the Morong 43 at an army base

From http://www.phippinerevolution.net

[The Morong 43 are health workers who were arrested in February 2010 by units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines while they were attending a seminar in the coastal town of Morong in Rizal Province. The army accused them of being members of the banned New People’s Army.–Frontlines ed].

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today welcomed President Benigno Aquino’a order for the Department of Justice to withdraw charges against the Marong 43 as a boost of goodwill for the forthcoming resumption of peace negotiations.

Formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are scheduled to resume in February 2011, in Oslo, Norway.

The withdrawal of charges against the Morong 43 is expected to be finalized by the DOJ [Department of Justice]  on Monday and pave the way for the immediate release of the detained health workers. Aquino’s order came weeks after repeatedly insisting that he cannot do anything except to await the court’s action, despite recognizing defects in the arrest of detainees and despite the fact that they have yet to be brought to court.

“The CPP and the revolutionary forces congratulate the Morong 43, their families, colleagues and supporters for their tenacious struggle and outstanding victory. These serve as inspiration in the fight of thousands of other victims of military abuses to defend their rights and in the effort to seek redress for the grave injustices inflicted on them by the puppet reactionary state and its fascist forces.”

Philippines: Farmers groups’ week of marches against Aquino government

Riot police block farmers from marching to the Presidential palace in Manila

Bulatlat, October 16, 2010

Calling the Aquino government as a “haciendero regime” and the “number one enemy of peasants,” progressive farmers’ organizations from Central and Southern Luzon would converge at the office of the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform before marching to the historic Mendiola bridge on October 21.

MANILA — Farmers and agricultural workers from all over the country are asking for nothing less than genuine agrarian reform when they start observing Peasant Week on Oct. 18, Monday. “We have proven that for more than a year after it was passed, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension (CARPER) is also inutile,” Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano told Bulatlat. “It is now time to look into the free land distribution scheme, which is the framework of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill.”

The Peasant Week is annually observed by progressive farmers’ organizations to renew their vow to fight for a genuine agrarian reform program that will solve the centuries-old land problem in the country.

The theme of this year’s peasants march is “Lakbayan ng mga Magsasaka Laban sa Hacienderong Rehimen ni Aquino” (Long March of Farmers Against the Hacienda Regime of Aquino). At the north leg of the march in Luzon farmers would hold their first vigil in Tarlac on Oct. 18 while the Southern Tagalog Wing 1 and 2 would hold their vigil in Alabang and Batangas, respectively. The different groups are expected to converge at the Department of Agrarian Reform office in Quezon City on Oct. 21 before marching towards Mendiola in Manila.

The Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK or Federation of Farmers’ Associations in the Southern Tagalog Region) said they are already anticipating that the military and the police would attempt to stop them from continuing with their protest action, either by forming blockades or adding checkpoints around the region. “But we (have) warned them that nothing could stop our rage against this regime’s deafness to the peasants’ plight,” Kasama-TK secretary general Axel Pinpin said, adding that the election gun ban might also be used to file more trumped-up charges against peasants to prevent them from reaching Manila.

Call from the Philippines to Advance Mass Movements and People’s War

Editorial, Ang Bayan, September 21, 2010

Mobilize the people in their millions to advance the Philippine revolution!

Current conditions are exceedingly favorable to arouse, organize and mobilize the Filipino people in their millions to tread the path of militant struggle and revolutionary war. The key requirement for the further advance of people’s war towards the stage of strategic stalemate in the next five years is the creation of an extensive mass movement nationwide.

Social conditions continue to deteriorate under the Aquino regime. The people are severely impoverished and gravely suffer in the face of massive unemployment, slave wages, intense feudal and semifeudal oppression, skyrocketing prices and transport fares, a growing tax burden, widespread corruption and scarce social services.

The intensity of the crisis has caused the hollowness of the US-Aquino regime’s braggadocio to be rapidly exposed. Its pretensions of being an agent of change have quickly faded. Aquino has been in office for less than a hundred days, but disillusionment already abounds among many of those who supported or believed in him.

The US-Aquino regime is merely perpetuating imperialist economic polices (especially the furtherance of denationalization and privatization). Its handling of Hacienda Luisita provides a striking example of how land reform has been relegated to the sidelines. Factional strife, incompetence, corruption and in the latest incident, the involvement of a number of key officials in the illegal jueteng numbers game have all very quickly reared their ugly heads. The intervention of foreign troops continues to be allowed. Human rights violations, terrorism and intense psywar go on without letup with the extension of Oplan Bantay Laya even as a new operational plan to suppress the people’s resistance is in the works.

We must arouse, organize and mobilize the people in their numbers to enable them to defend and advance their interests in the face of the worsening crisis under the current rotten government and system. The Party’s mobilization of millions of people in a broad mass movement is the single, most important political requisite in advancing the people’s war.

Philippines: Mass action of urban poor stops community demolition

Ang Bayan, October 7, 2010

Mass action averts North Triangle demolition

Collective action by the residents of Sitio San Roque, Barangay Bagong Pag-asa in North Triangle, Quezon City successfully prevented the attempt of National Housing Authority (NHA) personnel to demolish their homes for the implementation of the QC-CBD project.

The residents began setting up barricades as early as September 22. They lighted candles outside their houses, with some of them holding a vigil to prevent the police and NHA demolition teams from entering the area. Others fortified their homes. Mass meetings and discussions were held to explain the importance of defending the livelihood of the poor and resist the demolition.

The residents massed up the following day to stop the demolition, getting out of their homes and barricading the streets. The mass action swelled up to Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), where the people linked arms and put up obstacles to block the police.

Violence erupted when the demolition teams forced their way in and destroyed some houses. Some policemen threatened residents with their guns. Those manning the barricades were hosed down with water. Seven residents were injured and two were arrested. The people resorted to throwing stones at the NHA personnel to stop the destruction of their houses.

At around 3:00 in the afternoon, the Regional Trial Court Branch 226 issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the demolition. Even Benigno Aquino III who was then in the US was compelled to order the NHA to temporarily stop the demolition. The poor residents have vowed to remain on guard and block any attempt to demolish their homes.

Philippines: The Remoteness of Real Land Reform

[Throughout the world–in semi-colonial and dependent countries–the struggle of peasants for land is an essential part of the revolutionary struggle for state power and new democracy. While comprador politicians often disguise themselves with the populist language of land reform, experience has shown that such phrase-mongering deceives few for very long. Real land reform is won through the revolutionary seizure of power.  This article from IBON exposes the empty promises of land reform by recent and present comprador Philippine governments.-ed.]

Peasants at work at Hacienda Luisita

October 15, 2010

The bitter plight of Filipino farmers continues past the Aquino administration’s first 100 days and into October which the peasant movement marks as Peasant Month.

By IBON Features

The First 100 Days Report of Pres. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino’s administration made no mention of its program for land reform. This was also true in Pres. Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, which only mentioned public-private partnerships for farming facilities and infrastructure.

All these betray that working for real land reform is not in the list of priorities of Pres. Aquino, a known haciendero. In the past, he had declared support for the one-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extended with Reforms (CARPer), which peasant groups have denounced as a futile law that is biased against peasants. In fact, a year after the enactment of RA 9700 or the CARPer, past the new administration’s first 100 days and into October which the Philippine peasant movement marks as Peasant Month, the bitter plight of Filipino farmers continues.

Philippines: 66 year old peasant activist leads colleagues in storming Aquino’s palace

 

10 peasant leaders stage mass burning of 100 pictures of PNoy

 

Oct 1, 2010

By Axel Pinpin and Gerry Albert Corpuz

MANILA, Philippines -Sixty six year old fisherfolk activist Pedro Gonzalez led 29 other farmer and fisherfolk leaders from Southern Tagalog in conducting an all rural people’s lightning rally or surprise rally some 200 meters near Malacanang Palace to denounce President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III and his running policy of land reform denials and political repression in the region.

Gonzalez, survivor of the ambush staged by elements of death squad allegedly from the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) during the May 2004 elections, along with farmer and fisherfolk leaders aging from 50 to 60 years old and all members of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas-Timog Katagalugan (Pamalakaya-TK) trooped to the heavily guarded gate of Malacanang to warn Aquino of “intensified peasant war” over the President’s failure to address the land problem in Southern Tagalog.

“If Aquino wants war, we will give him war. There’s no turning back. They can’t stop me and the rural people from fighting for land and justice. His first 100 days in office is checkered with agrarian injustice, scores of human rights violations, triple platinum corruption and extreme disregard of people’s rights and welfare. This regime of Aquino is doomed,” added Gonzalez.

Philippines: Students splash pig’s blood in education budget cuts protest

INQUIRER.net October 06, 2010 MANILA, Philippines—Militant youth on Wednesday stormed the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Quezon City to protest the increase in defense budget while the 2011 national appropriation for education is slashed.Over 20 members of Anakbayan rushed to Camp Aguinaldo’s Gate 2 past 11 a.m. and hurled pig’s blood at the AFP gates, as they called for the rechanneling of the military budget to education. Anakbayan spokesperson Charisse Banez slammed the impending P1.1 billion cuts in the budget of state universities and college and the P4.14 billion increase in the defense outlay. “The 2011 national budget is an austerity budget in contrast with Aquino’s boast that it is a ‘reformed budget’ and is ‘biased to the poor.’ This year’s education budget translates to P7.9 per Filipino per day based on the current population of 94 million, P1.12 for health and P0.17 for housing,” Banez said.   The group also criticized Malacañang over the continuing extrajudicial killings, which it claimed have already reached 16 in the first 100 days in office of President Benigno Aquino.

Militants denounce Aquino’s failures in his first 100 days

10/08/2010, LBG/VVP, GMANews.TV

Unimpressed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s report about his first 100 days in office, militants protested near Malacañang Palace on Friday to denounce the chief executive’s alleged failures.

Radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported farmers from Southern Luzon were the first to reach Mendiola bridge near Malacañang Palace, where they burned an effigy of what they called the “Hacienda Republic.” “Hacienda” refers to the embattled “Hacienda Luisita,” the 6,435-hectare plantation estate of Aquino’s family.

As anti-riot police watched from a distance, the farmers burned the “Hacienda Republic” effigy hung on one of the rolls of barbed wire barrier. The previous night, some of the farmers were hurt in a clash with police.

On Thursday, a day before Aquino marked his first 100 days in office, he delivered at La Consolacion College near Malacañang, a 20-minute report about his first 100 days in office. Aquino boasted of strengthening the Philippine economy and ending certain anomalous government practices but remained silent on the controversial August 23 hostage incident.

Human Rights lawyers from 10 countries visit Morong 43, hear of squalid jail conditions

International rights lawyers outside maximum security jail.

[The Morong 43 are health workers who were arrested at a community health care training seminar in Rizal province, and were falsely accused of being members of the New People’s Army.-ed]

“It’s amazing to see how strong you are despite everything that had happened to you…It’s fantastic. I am moved and it has given me more encouragement to take your case,” Michael Gooding, a lawyer from United Kingdom, told the Morong 43.

By RONALYN V. OLEA, Bulatlat.com, September 22,2010

MANILA — They came to express their solidarity with the Morong 43, but were instead inspired and moved by the militancy of the detained health workers.  Fifteen lawyers from Haiti, France, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, India, Sri Lanka, Belgium, Canada, Pakistan and Indonesia visited the Morong 43 detainees at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Sept. 20.

The 43 health workers were arrested by 300 combined elements of the police and military on Feb. 6 in Morong, Rizal while conducting a health skills training. The Morong 43 were held in military captivity at the Camp Capinpin for almost three months before they were transferred to a regular detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa.

The 15 lawyers, meanwhile, were delegates to the recently concluded Fifth Conference of Lawyers in Asia and the Pacific (Colap V) held in Manila.  “We are here to send solidarity greetings from almost 300 lawyers. The whole world is now watching your case,” Jeanne Mirer, president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) told the Morong 43 detainees. Delegates of the Colap V unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the immediate release and dropping of charges against the Morong 43.

Quezon City, Philippines: Urban poor assaulted, defy demolition of their homes

Demolition crews at work

September 23, 2010

Anakbayan to Bistek, NHA: Why don’t you try living in the San Roque relocation sites?

“Before Bistek and (Nat’l Housing Authority head) Chito Cruz portray the residents of San Roque, why don’t they try to live in the ‘relocation sites’ they are boasting about and see if they can stand it”.  This was the message of Anakbayan spokesperson Charisse Bañez to Quezon City mayor Herbert ‘Bistek’ Bautista and NHA head Cruz over the ongoing violent demolition of homes in Sitio San Roque, Quezon City near the Trinoma Mall.

Dozens of residents of the said community were injured after being attacked with rocks and crowbars by demolition teams under the NHA, after the residents resisted an order to leave their homes. The agency, hand-in-hand with the Ayala Corporation, is eyeing San Roque as part of a so-called ‘Q.C Central Business District’ which is modeled after the Makati Business District.

According to the urban poor group Kadamay, more than 6000 families will be displaced by the said project, as well as a host of government agencies whose national offices are in the vicinity.  “The relocation site is not even fit for pigs to live in. Even the original residents want to move out” said Bañez. She said that the site does not have any electricity, access to potable water, plumbing, and is prone to flooding as shown during the Ondoy and Pepeng storms last year. It is located in Montalban, Rizal.

“Ang kapal lang talaga ng mukha nila. They portray the San Roque residents as ‘unreasonable’, yet I bet they won’t last two days in the relocation site” said the youth leader.   The Anakbayan spokesperson added “What the people of San Roque want is simple and definitely reasonable: living quarters that are fit for human beings. Unless the NHA can provide it, the people have every right to resist the demolition”.

More Than 6,000 Urban Poor Families Defy Order to Resettle in ‘Mental-ban’

The relocation site is right in the middle of the Marikina fault line. There are no livelihood opportunities available and the houses are made of light materials.