NDFP International Information Office
[Utrecht, 22 September] Countering claims by the chief of the reactionary Armed Forces of the Philippines that a military takeover in the Philippines would “never happen”, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines today asserted that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “gang of generals” are actually calling the shots for the Manila government and that Arroyo is keeping herself in power through an undeclared martial law.
NDFP International Information Office
[Utrecht, 22 September] Countering claims by the chief of the reactionary Armed Forces of the Philippines that a military takeover in the Philippines would “never happen”, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines today asserted that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “gang of generals” are actually calling the shots for the Manila government and that Arroyo is keeping herself in power through an undeclared martial law.
AFP chief General Hermogenes Esperon yesterday claimed that a military takeover in the Philippines would never happen, a day after Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a military coup.
In a statement sent to media, Luis G. Jalandoni, member of the NDFP National Executive Committee, pointed out that “Arroyo and her gang of military and police officials staged their own coup in May 2004 by manipulating the elections to make it appear that Arroyo won the presidential race.”
Arroyo has since been hounded by allegations of electoral fraud, leading to a dozen impeachment complaints being filed at the House of Representatives in 2005 and 2006. All complaints were defeated by the pro-Arroyo loyalists in Congress even before plenary deliberations. “The presidential title is just a façade”, asserts Jalandoni, “Arroyo wields power mainly because of her other position, as ‘commander-in-chief’ of the reactionary Armed Forces of the Philippines. Without the military and police officials who backed her ‘election’ and her subservience to the Bush government, Arroyo is just a wimp.”
The NDFP international representative also lashed back at Arroyo’s executive secretary, General Eduardo Ermita, for “pontificating about Martial Law”. He is “a junior implementor and a US-trained ‘psywar expert’ during Marcos’ martial rule”, continues Jalandoni, “Ermita was part of the dictatorship’s psychological warfare program which became a major component of fascist rule.”
“The fact alone that Arroyo and her generals can commit a spate of extra-judicial executions, abductions, enforced disappearances and numerous other human rights violations and still create a task force and a commission in order to wash their hands off these atrocities attests to the supremacy of the military over the so-called civilian bureaucracy”, Jalandoni concluded.
Ermita earlier claimed that “the conditions that led to the declaration of martial law in 1972 will not reappear”.
In a separate interview by a Manila newspaper yesterday, Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant, said that the Arroyo cabinet is like a military junta, owing to the preponderance of retired and active military officers holding key positions. Sison drew comparisons between the successful coup d’etat staged by Marcos in 1972 in declaring Martial Law and Arroyo’s fraudulent victory during the 2004 presidential elections.
According to Sison, the fraudulent 2004 presidential elections can be considered Arroyo’s coup d’etat, where she successfully used the office of the president and the AFP in declaring herself president. [NDFP-IIO]
