Editorial:
The people and the revolutionary movement will defeat the US-Estrada regime's military solution

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Like a mad dog, the reactionary US-Estrada regime mindlessly and rabidly insists on using a military solution to resolve social questions and its political problems. However, just like his fascist mentor Marcos, Estrada has only succeeded in digging his own grave. Estrada is exacerbating the crisis of the ruling system and is provoking the intensification and broadening of antifascist and anti- Estrada struggles. And just as the iron fist of the Marcos dictatorship was crushed, the people and the revolutionary movement will defeat Estrada's military solution.

Upon assuming power in 1998, Estrada immediately carried out Operational Plan (Oplan) Makabayan that stresses military means as the method to combat the revolutionary movement. The reactionary state made this adjustment in response to the all-sided restrengthening of the Party and the revolutionary movement since 1992 consequent to the Second Great Rectification Movement; as well as to the reintensification of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) armed struggle since 1996. After the Party exhibited its militant determination, Estrada set aside the political tactics of cooptation and inducing capitulation as the major method of fighting the revolution.

Under Oplan Makabayan, the military and police are being greatly strengthened. The same is true of paramilitary forces such as the Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Unit and vigilante groups. Oplan Makabayan seeks to provide the fascist military with modern munitions, raise its intelligence capability and expand the counterrevolutionary vigilante groups.

In line with this is the campaign of disinformation and slander against the Party and the New People's Army (NPA) and the anticommunist witch hunt against the national and democratic legal organizations.

In 1999, Estrada's popularity nose-dived, anti-Estrada protests and tactical offensives of the NPA gathered momentum and the crisis of rule of the US-Estrada regime deteriorated. In his desperation to secure his hold on power, Estrada unleashed simultaneously his bloodthirsty fascist troops and heightened a corresponding anticommunist and antipeople propaganda campaign to sow terror among the people, silence them, suppress their democratic rights and try to hinder the rapidly intensifying mass protests and armed struggle.

Presently, the US-Estrada regime is concentrating its firepower in Southern Tagalog and MILF-BIAF areas in Mindanao while increasing its capability to rapidly deploy forces anywhere in the Philippines. Through brigade-sized operations, the fascist regime hopes to win tactical victories in the distorted notion that this will fortify its rule.

A vicious counterrevolutionary war is being waged in the countryside and cities. The people's civil rights, rules of war and international humanitarian law are wantonly being violated. All aspects of martial law prevail especially in the countryside. The policies of torture, "salvaging", food blockades, bombings, forced evacuation, illegal arrests and the filing of trumped-up criminal charges against suspected revolutionaries are being carried out. In the cities, the so-called policy of "maximum tolerance" in dealing with demonstrations has been put aside to give way to the all-out use of force to break up militant rallies of workers, students and other sectors.

Based on partial records, the reactionary Estrada government can be expected to surpass the Marcos dictatorship and subsequent fascist regimes in terms of the number of cases and victims of human rights violations.

By giving up political methods to combat the revolutionary movement, the reactionary government has set aside as well its pretensions to being a respecter of human rights and international humanitarian law. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has collapsed the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to scrap the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and eliminate any impediment to conducting all-out war.

The Estrada regime is also bent on hastening the collapse of the GRP-MILF peace negotiations. Despite continuing negotiations, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has deployed thousands of troops and carried out a large-scale assault against the MILF's Camp Omar this February. This is in violation of earlier GRP-MILF agreements and a direct provocation to the MILF to withdraw from the peace negotiations.

In its hunger for war, the fascist military disregards even the welfare of its personnel who are prisoners of war. Instead of reciprocating the NDFP's humanitarian offer to release prisoners of war such as Maj. Noel Buan and P/Chief Insp. Abelardo Martin, Estrada has ordered brigade-sized operations in Southern Tagalog.

However, the laws of history stipulate that as long as it employs guerrilla tactics and adheres to the line of protracted people's war that upholds the interest of the masses and relies on them, the revolutionary armed movement will continuously grow and strengthen and weaken the gigantic reactionary army step-by-step. For the Party and the entire revolutionary movement, the reactionary Estrada government's adamance in pressing a military solution creates a much better situation for the all-sided advance of revolutionary work, especially in the field of armed struggle.

The unity and capability of the NPA should be raised. It is important to carry out political training that focuses on the study of Philippine society and revolution, Party documents and directives, the particular problems of the masses and the methods of organizing and mobilizing them. Military training should also be carried out in order to raise the capability of fighters in offensive and defensive maneuvers, firing and other military skills; and the capability of officers in evaluation and planning and leading operations.

In this regard, units of the NPA should take advantage of opportunities to strike at the troops of the reactionary army. In guerrilla fronts, fighters can take advantage of the blind maneuvers of the AFP and the PNP, the low morale of their troops and the unequal deployment of their forces. By cooperating with the masses, the maneuvers of the fascist groups can be monitored in order to come up with appropriate plans for launching tactical offensives that the NPA is capable of winning.

The unity of the Army and people should also be strengthened. This can be achieved by addressing their problems and encouraging their support and participation in the armed struggle. From their ranks, we must aggressively recruit as fighters of the NPA, able-bodied men and women who pass the minimum age requirement and possess a good record.

The people's militancy and courage should be raised in order to confront and fight the viciousness of fascist groups and demand justice for military abuses. The most notorious units and officials of the reactionary army and police, as well as the worst reactionary politicians, should be punished for their crimes against the people.

By exposing the idiocy of Estrada's military solution, widespread political support for the armed struggle can be harnessed. Attention should be given to encouraging different forms of support for the people's army from the urban petty bourgeoisie and other sectors in the cities. Take advantage of all opportunities, including those offered by the mass media, to expose military abuses and atrocities and violations of human rights, international humanitarian law and rules of war.

As Estrada grows more pigheaded about his military solution, it becomes more evident that his fascist regime has no intentions of resolving the fundamental social problems that cause widespread poverty and political and economic crisis. The more the antipeople and counterrevolutionary war of the reactionary Estrada government heightens in its brutality, the more certain it is to fail--and the more will it feed the fires of the Filipino people's burning revolutionary struggle.

January 2000
English Edition

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