Editorial:
The US is arming the Arroyo regime to the hilt

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Gloria Arroyo received a reward for her unconditional puppetry to US imperialism during her visit this May to her master US President George W. Bush. Bush declared his total elation over Arroyo's full support for his "global anti-terrorist war" and the US invasion and forcible takeover of Iraq. Bush also applauded Arroyo's declaration of advancing the all-out war in the Philippines against the revolutionary movements led by the CPP and the MILF.

As a reward for his loyal puppet, Bush named the Philippines as one of the supposedly major US allies outside of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the Asia-Pacific, in the same category as Japan and Australia. Bush also augmented the Arroyo government's instruments of repression, granting it the largest amount of alms ever received by any puppet president since the US military bases were kicked out in 1992.

The Bush government will be subsidizing the Arroyo regime by up to $47 million for launching Balikatan 03-1 in Sulu in June or July. Two million dollars ($2 million) will be allotted for the "rehabilitation of Sulu" or the psywar component after US and AFP troops wreak havoc throughout the province.

In addition to the arsenal of repression that Bush has gifted the regime with, he will be providing an additional 15,000 M16 rifles, aside from the 15,000 sent last April; $30 million for training and arming light reaction companies, light reaction battalions and Philippine Navy SEALS; 33 combat helicopters; money for their repair and that of airplanes, trucks and warships previously pledged by the US; and $10 million for training and equipment for the "war against terrorism" � the surveillance and suppression of those waging resistance against the state.

This aid serves no other purpose but to increase the Arroyo regime's capability to launch fierce military operations characterized by unrestrained bombing, artillery attacks and assaults on the people, especially in the countryside. It also means the intensification of the "salvaging" or summary execution of mass leaders and activists, and the surveillance and suppression of militant organizations.

On the eve of her visit to the US, Arroyo announced the order to bomb and bombard with artillery fire, places suspected of being bases of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao. For ten days, largescale military operations pounded four provinces in Mindanao, resulting in the forcible evacuation of more than 400,000 civilians. Over 60 of the evacuees died in cramped and unsanitary evacuation centers, most of them children.

The puppet Arroyo gladly carries out all of her master's biddings because she has also received the much coveted mandate to stay in power. In her latest move to appease her master, Arroyo forged an agreement with the US government on May 13 not to subject any American to prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Retaining Arroyo in power is favorable to the US because it could continue intensifying US armed intervention in the Philippines.

Any day now, Arroyo may declare that "she has changed her mind," and that "she can no longer turn her back on the challenge of the times," or "on the call of duty," and she will run again for president in 2004. The US is nonetheless grooming Defense Sec. Angelo Reyes as a reserve in case there is no chance for Arroyo to win the election.

Arroyo and Bush are dead wrong in assuming they can suppress the struggle of the people and the revolutionary movement through more weapons and ammunition. The New People's Army is not afraid of the fact that the AFP has received many more arms from the US. Many of these weapons will surely fall into the hands of Red fighters through the tactical offensives that will be launched against the fascist troops.

They are also mistaken in assuming that they will be able to banish the grave political and socio-economic crisis from the people's minds through crumbs of "development aid." In fact, the US and the regime's terrorist campaign further inflames the civil war in the Philippines and the patriotic spirit of the broad masses of the people.

Gloria Arroyo will gain nothing from her shameless subservience to her imperialist master but the repudiation of the people and her unmistakable place as one of the worst puppets of US imperialism in the history of the puppet republic.

07 June 2003
English Edition

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