The need for unity is of great urgency as the tyrant and his minions carry out a blitzkrieg of hostile attacks against the people, thus stressed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in a statement yesterday, as it extended solidarity with the organizations, alliances, groups, parties and individuals which declared unity under the banner SONAgkakaisa.
These organizations have vowed to show their unity in a planned big demonstration on July 27 during tyrant Duterte’s state of the nation address (SONA), to protest Duterte’s terror law, against the shutdown of ABS-CBN and against the continuing incompetent and militarist response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The coming together of this broad range of democratic forces reflect the widespread indignation against the Duterte regime and the Filipino people’s ardent desire to see an immediate end to the reign of tyranny and state terrorism,” the CPP declared.
Shutdown of ABS-CBN an attack on press freedom
The CPP said that tyrant Duterte shut down ABS-CBN on July 10 as political vendetta against a media outfit that has allowed the airing of criticism against his regime. The CPP said it is a grave attack on press freedom and a thinly-veiled threat against those in the media who cross the tyrant. The shutting down of ABS-CBN, the CPP noted, also paves the way for Duterte’s favored big business partners to make a bid of ownership of the broadcast company.
Anti-Terror Act to worsen state terrorism
The signing of the Anti-Terror Act (ATA) came just a few days after the attack against ABS-CBN, the CPP said. The terror law is far worse than Marcos’ martial law in 1972 as it gives him the power to order the arrest of anyone without a judicial warrant and detain people for up to 24 days without filing charges and denying them the right to defend themselves. With the terror law coming into effect, Duterte’s reign of state terrorism is bound to worsen, the CPP explained.
Just days after Duterte signed the ATA, state forces were unleashed to mount attacks across the country.
“Last July 5, police and military forces massacred three peasants in Masbate, the 19th, 20th and 21st victim of political killing perpetrated by state forces since May. Successive arrests and harassment were carried out against activists and human rights workers. Mass demonstrations, even Catholic masses, are being subjected to police surveillance, using pandemic lockdown restrictions as pretext,” underscored the CPP.
More attacks against the people expected
“With the law on state terrorism, Duterte is set on mounting even more attacks in the coming weeks and months, in anticipation of seething unrest and rising protests as a result of its incompetent response to the Covid-19 pandemic, worsening corruption, its devastation of the economy and complete disregard of the people’s livelihood and well-being. Duterte vainly hopes to silence all protests and resistance as he pursues his scheme of establishing a fascist dictatorship and securing his rule or that of his chosen successor beyond 2022,” stated the CPP.
The CPP emphasized that to grow in strength, the various sectors must act as one in defense of their democratic interests and that by supporting each other’s demands, the democratic sectors provide each other the much needed strength to get organized and the courage to stand alongside the rest of the Filipino people against Duterte’s tyranny.
While amplifying the clamor against the terror law and to bring back ABS-CBN, the CPP also stressed that democratic forces must also support the demand of nurses and health workers for protection and salary increases; of jeepney drivers to get back on the road; of workers for higher wages and safety at work; for immediate and sufficient subsidy for millions who lost their jobs and whose livelihoods were lost due to the lockdown; of peasants and fisherfolk against destructive infrastructure projects and entry of mining operations that are driving them away from their homes, land and fishing grounds; of the indigenous peoples and rural folk against military occupation of their communities, intimidation and the brutal campaigns of killings, abductions, aerial bombardment, artillery shelling and human rights abuses that characterize the regime’s counterinsurgency; of the children, youth and teachers to open classes safely.
Duterte – a sick and dying monster
“Duterte presents himself as a rabid monster, but a sick and dying one. He exploited the pandemic to claim extensive powers, accumulate wealth through corruption and used public funds to make purchases of overpriced protective gear and medical equipment. He forced big business to their knees by threatening to close or take over their property and operations. He placed the entire population under martial law control causing widespread misery and hardship, and apprehended tens of thousands, all in the name of public health. He murdered activists, imprisoned critics and enacted the terror law. He bought billions worth of jet fighters, attack helicopters, artillery systems and other war matériel, all while accumulating more than $5 billion of foreign loans for his favored infrastructure projects to the detriment of the local economy and the people’s livelihood.”
“However, each time Duterte strikes at the people with repressive and oppressive measures, he only succeeds in further isolating himself from more and more people and inciting more and more sectors and a wide array of forces to fight back. When he struck at press freedom by ordering his minions to shut down ABS-CBN, he roused the indignation of journalists and media workers, as well as broad segments of Philippine society. When he signed the terror law giving him extraconstitutional powers, he roused the indignation not only of the Filipino people, but also of people and organizations around the world. Duterte and his minions are now poised to push for charter change to allow 100% foreign ownership of enterprises and land, as well as to allow removal of term extension limits in order to pave the way for Duterte’s stay beyond 2022,” the CPP stressed.
Broad consensus: tyrant must be ousted from power as soon as possible
The CPP said Duterte’s state terrorism has galvanized the Filipino people and steeled their determination to act and seek his resignation or ouster at the soonest possible time. A whole range of democratic forces are now arrayed against Duterte’s tyrannical regime, from sectoral organizations, alliances and movements among the workers, peasants, semiproletariat, health workers, students, teachers, women, religious workers and other oppressed sectors and classes; to the opposition forces in the conservative opposition, as well as in the Church hierarchy, big business and secretly within the government bureaucracy and in the AFP and PNP.
Revolutionary forces to defend people from Duterte’s terrorist attacks
The CPP sees that street marches and large demonstrations are bound to erupt in the coming weeks and months and that the bigger and more frequent these demonstrations become, the higher probability that disgruntled military and police officers, as well as the international community, will openly withdraw support and push for a process of succession in line with the 1987 constitution.
“All the revolutionary forces under the leadership of the Party are aligned with the aspirations of the Filipino people to see an end to their sufferings under the tyrannical regime. While continuing to conduct public health and economic work with the peasant masses, the armed revolutionary forces under the New People’s Army must mount tactical offensives to defend the people against the Duterte regime’s terrorist attacks against the people,” the CPP emphasized.#