Editorial:
Take advantage of the grave political crisis of the ruling system!
Advance and further strengthen the revolutionary movement!

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The aggravation of the political crisis of the ruling reactionary system is creating a situation that is ever favorable to the rapid advance and all-sided strengthening of the revolutionary movement. The revolutionary forces should firmly carry out tasks and untiringly work to unite and lead the people in their millions to overthrow the ruling regime; and militate and organize them for the more protracted and difficult revolutionary struggle.

The ruling system is suffering from a grave political crisis. It is marked by broadening people's mobilizations, open conflict among the reactionary factions and the extreme isolation of the ruling Estrada regime. Despite a consensus among the different factions of the ruling class that the political crisis needs to be resolved quickly, they are hardpressed finding a solution because of tangled personal and factional ambitions, interests of big business, criminal syndicates and others.

It is a good thing that Luis "Chavit" Singson bolted the Estrada-Atong Ang criminal syndicate and testified against widespread corruption and the criminal operations and rottenness of the Estrada government. This has encouraged the anti-Estrada reactionaries to come forward and unite with the call to struggle to oust Estrada and has sparked the current political crisis of the ruling system.

The anti-Estrada united front of patriotic and democratic forces continues to broaden. This is composed of organizations of the basic masses of workers and peasants, women, youth, professionals, government employees as well as major religious sects, academic institutions and anti-Estrada politicians.

There is formal and informal, open and secret coordination and cooperation in the effort to end the Estrada regime. Jaime Cardinal Sin and Corazon Aquino have called for Estrada to resign or take a leave of absence. Slowly, the resolution to impeach Estrada is gaining support in congress while the Senate continues to conduct hearings on the jueteng case, providing more details of the illegal operations and corruption of the Estrada government. In the mass media, the several hundred millionpeso mansions of Estrada and his wives are being exposed, further fuelling the people's ire.

All these contribute to the overall effort to overthrow the Estrada government. But more than anything else, attention and efforts should be directed towards the more democratic and powerful participation of millions of people in gigantic street protest actions. The latter's importance has been proven by the EDSA uprising of 1986 that, along with a military and police rebellion, overthrew Marcos.

The continued broadening of protest actions will be the determining factor in the struggle against Estrada. Because it provides strength and gives weight to all other methods of ousting Estrada, there should be cooperation among all anti-Estrada forces in this endeavor.

Estrada is laboring under the illusion that the political crisis rocking his power will pass. He is working to break the anti-Estrada united front by dishing out populist slogans and mocking broadening protests, claiming that these are being instigated by his "wealthy" political enemies. He uses the urban poor to put up zarzuelas of land title distribution; and like Marcos, Estrada organizes fanatic loyalists, using government funds to bus them into pro-Estrada rallies.

In order to justify the suppression of mass actions, Estrada employs scare tactics, claiming that there are bombing and arson plots. But these steps only further enrage the people and push them to further wage resistance.

Estrada is also using the small counter-revolutionary groups, particularly, Sanlakas-BMP. By calling for the resignation of all national officials of the reactionary government and a "change in the system", these groups hope to cause a rift in the anti-Estrada united front, erroneously broaden the target of the protests in order to weaken or deflect the attack on Estrada and create the illusion that the system of government can be changed without undertaking revolutionary struggle or through the simple removal or resignation of officials. They could also launch insurrectionist schemes, such as burning buses, destroying property and others in order to justify Estrada's option of imposing martial law.

All of Estrada's plans to stay in power, however, are sure to be swept away by the wave of protests. His regime is tottering. It is not long before it is overthrown the way the Marcos dictatorship was overthrown.

U.S. Imperialism has actually already dropped Estrada because it has become a liability to the stability of the ruling system. The most glaring signal is the IMF's denial of the new $310-million loan package after it refused to allow a higher government budget deficit target.

US imperialism is pushing for the quick resolution of the crisis of the ruling system. It is worried that as the crisis extends, the cracks in the ruling system, including the possibility of armed confrontations among the opposing reactionary factions, will become deeper and more difficult to mend. The US is worried as well that this crisis will engender the broadening and strengthening of the legal democratic movement and of the armed revolutionary movement in the countryside.

Despite the signals from the US, Estrada stubbornly clings to power. He has rejected all legal options, including his resignation, taking a leave of absence and calling for snap election. Because of this, the prospects of quickly and smoothly resolving the political crisis of the ruling system grows dim. On the other hand, this opens the opportunity for protest actions to broaden and strengthen until they gather sufficient strength to overthrow Estrada.

Whatever the method that puts an end to the Estrada regime and whoever takes his place as head of the reactionary state, the ruling system will not enjoy stability as a result. The room for peaceful accomodation and division of spoils among the opposing factions of bureaucrat capitalist operations and other benefits and privileges of state power has grown ever narrower.

The new government will have to reckon with the people's democratic and patriotic interests. The mass actions that will bring down Estrada will surely raise the people's consciousness, determination and capability to fight. The new government will also have to confront the ever growing strength of the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside. It will not be as easy for this new government to unrestrainedly abuse, and trample with impunity upon, the national and democratic interests of the people for fear that it will suffer the same fate that befell Marcos and that shall befall Estrada.

It is certain that the government that will be established after the overthrow of the Estrada regime will also become a puppet of US imperialism and will serve as the caretaker of the neocolonial state. The revolutionary process of liberating the Philippines from imperialist control is much more complicated and difficult than overthrowing the Estrada government.

Thus revolutionary forces should take advantage of the current political crisis of the ruling system in order to rapidly advance and strengthen the revolutionary movement.

Towards this, the Executive Committee- Central Committee of the Party stated on October 14 the following tasks: (1) launch tactical offensives and intensify armed struggles; (2) intensify protests and mass struggles; (3) broaden and invigorate antifeudal campaigns and other mass campaigns in the countryside while intensifying guerrilla warfare; (4) daringly broaden links and develop expertise in united front tactics; (5) expand propaganda work and political education; and (6) daringly expand the Party without letting a single undesirable in. It is the responsibility of all Party members and units to study this statement and appropriately carry out these tasks in their areas of responsibility.

The revolutionary forces are taking the lead in exposing and opposing the puppet, fascist and rotten Estrada government. It will remain at the forefront of the effort to expose and oppose the succeeding puppet government that will be put in charge of the neocolonial state while continuing to carry out the more strategic tasks of accumulating armed and organized strength step-by-step and crushing the enemy bit by bit until the situation is ripe for the overthrow of the ruling system.

October 2000
English Edition

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