By CPP Information Bureau
The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today responded to the government's push for "all-out war" in Eastern Visayas by saying that Arroyo is worse than typhoon "Feria" and that "people's war is the answer to all-out war." The NDF-EV spokesperson, Fr. Santiago Salas, said that, "The storm moves on, but Arroyo wants to stay on. "Feria" may have destroyed lives and property in some areas, but Arroyo is ruining the whole country. The people cannot avoid a calamity like a typhoon, but a disaster like Arroyo is vulnerable to ouster by the people's armed and unarmed resistance."
He also added that the New People's Army has been tried and tested in 40 years of armed struggle, and the one-year deadline to defeat the NPA is meant to justify martial law conditions in the country. "The NPA has proven that it is capable of fighting and prevailing in a long war against government forces with US military support. The NPA is supported by the people because it is fighting for a country that is sovereign, democratic, just and developed.
"On the other hand, the Arroyo regime is hated by the people because it is plundering the country, selling sovereignty and national patrimony to foreign interests, murdering its critics, and keeping the people backward and impoverished. The Arroyo regime's "all-out war" eventually aims to keep Arroyo in power under martial law measures such as widespread political killings, massive human rights violations in the countryside, suppression of press freedom and curtailment of civil liberties. These in fact are already happening and are planned to be railroaded through charter change."
Fr. Salas also dismissed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales's claim that armed struggle and people power movements are over. "It is Arroyo, who wants to become like Marcos, who is obsolete. The Arroyo regime itself proves why armed struggle and people power are necessary. The Arroyo regime is responsible for over a thousand political killings, none of which has been solved and that still continue. The regime is also maneuvering to remain in power through charter change. It is just for the people to wage armed struggle against a regime that uses the military and police to murder its opponents and hold the country hostage. It is just for the people to oust a regime that refuses to step down and be held accountable for its crimes."
