Editorial:
Intensify the people's struggle to overthrow the US-Arroyo regime

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Massive cases of corruption both in Malaca�ang and the AFP, which were brought to light by the July 27 military uprising and by Arroyo's political enemies are now being unearthed before the public. The Arroyo regime's responsibility for the terrorist bombing in Davao in the first half of the year as well as the damage and destruction wrought by militarization in the countryside due to Arroyo's terrorist all-out war are likewise being dredged up.

The broad masses of the people are thoroughly incensed by the Arroyo couple's cases of big-time corruption as well as those of the personalities close to them, especially since Arroyo's regime came to power through an uprising launched by millions of people opposed to the corruption of the Estrada government.

This fuels the Filipino people's rising anger over the Arroyo regime's puppetry and militarism. The economic crisis, the destruction of productive forces and the lives of the toiling masses have worsened as a consequence of the pro-imperialist and antipeople policies of the puppet republic under the Arroyo regime. The latter has paved the way for escalating US military intervention and ordered the intensification of militarization at the prodding of the US, resulting in ever-growing cases of human rights violations.

Under the leadership of the legal national-democratic forces, the people continue to go all-out in opposing the puppet and militarist policies of the US-Arroyo regime. The regime has sustained severe blows from the actions of patriotic and democratic forces opposed to the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), which allows the US military to use the entire country as one large military base; against the Balikatan war exercises which pave the way for more extensive US military intervention in the Philippines; and against Arroyo's blind support for the US' wars of aggression and its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Likewise, the people protest the Arroyo regime's failure to put a stop to successive increases in the prices of oil, water and electricity rates. The Arroyo regime is further isolated from workers and government employees because it refuses to pave the way for raising their minimum wages and salaries in the face of continued hikes in the prices of basic goods and services.

The peasant masses hold the Arroyo regime accountable for the absence of genuine land reform, and worse, for the reconcentration of land in the hands of landlords of the old and new types. A most striking example is the regime's facilitation of Eduardo Cojuangco's seizure of several tens of thousands of hectares of farm land and his absolute control over hundreds of thousands of hectares more, which he has converted to cassava plantations. Arroyo has severely offended the peasantry by allowing the large-scale onslaught of genetically-modified plants into farms, yielding enormous profits for foreign agribusiness corporations while eradicating the peasants' natural crops and destroying the environment.

At the same time, the peasant masses are also at the forefront of struggles to oppose rising militarization in the countryside. They have been the principal victims of the all-out war that Arroyo has declared and which has been directed at none other than the peasant masses. Arroyo was met with intense fury when she pinned a medal on Col. Jovito Palparan of Mindoro � her regime's paragon of terrorism.

The intense crisis is resulting in escalating intrigues and infighting within the ranks of reactionaries, which in turn lead to further violence especially since no one has emerged with a clear edge in the 2004 presidential race and the factional, national and social issues causing unrest across the entire nation are mounting. The reactionary opposition is in the thick of plotting various maneuvers and schemes, including coups d'�tat or destabilization, and even resorts to insults to cause Arroyo's immediate resignation and prevent her from using her position to win the 2004 election.

It is but fitting for the Party and the revolutionary forces it leads to exploit the exceedingly favorable situation by further invigorating the mass movement, mass struggles and propaganda work, further expanding the revolutionary united front and further intensifying tactical offensives.

The democratic forces will further advance mass struggles and large-scale street mobilizations against the Arroyo regime's puppetry, militarism and corruption to press for the ouster of Gloria Arroyo. In combination with sweeping agitation and propaganda work, it is most important to put stress on conducting intensive propaganda and further organizing and mobilizing the masses in barrios, factories, communities, schools and streets.

Arroyo's extreme isolation encourages evergrowing numbers of forces ready to unite with the patriotic and democratic forces to take action against the regime. We must pay attention to linking up with, mobilizing and organizing the patriotic forces who are becoming cognizant of Arroyo's shameless puppetry. They include employees of the reactionary government and the forces of the reactionary military and police, as well as their immediate superiors in the lower ranks who are restive, whose consciousness has been raised and who have launched protests in the face of the worsening anomalies in the government and its armed forces now being exposed.

We exploit and intensify rifts between rival reactionary factions, and even within the armed forces of the reactionary state. It is correct for us to link up temporarily with other reactionaries to isolate the principal enemy in power. Nevertheless, we should not allow the situation to be exploited by big-time criminal murderers and plunderers of the people who remain unrepentant and have not yet been completely held accountable nor allow the despised remnants of the Marcos and Estrada cliques to hold sway with their views, stage a comeback or seize power. We must continue to isolate, repudiate and oppose them.

Simultaneously, the Party calls on the New People's Army to intensify and persevere in launching tactical offensives against the armed forces of the reactionary state as a response to the reactionary military's rapid shifting of forces to priority guerrilla fronts; to make them pay for the Arroyo regime's rising fascist terrorism in the countryside and cities; and to oppose US armed intervention in the country. More frequent and stronger tactical offensives by the NPA will bring about a significant intensification of the political crisis of the entire reactionary ruling system.

In the face of the intensifying crisis, the tactical steps we have taken and the acceleration of our tasks to take advantage of the excellent situation, it is important for us to explain to our forces and the people what the very roots of this present crisis are, and the need for thoroughgoing revolutionary social change to decisively eradicate these roots. Towards achieving our goal of resolutely resolving the people's basic problems and realizing total victory, we prepare for and look beyond the downfall of this and other succeeding reactionary regimes.

07 September 2003
English Edition

	Editorial: Intensify the people's struggle to overthrow the US-Arroyo regime
	Quarrel between thieves: Lacson exposes Arroyos' ill-gotten wealth
	Victorious NPA Offensives: NPA seizes 22 firearms in raids and ambushes
	AFP soldiers encouraged to join revolutionary movement
	AFP, CAFGU troops in Agusan del Sur defect to the NPA
	In Eastern Visayas: Excellent Party leadership in the locality
	From the ranks of youth and students: Ka Leo in the countryside
	Developments Overseas: Iraqi armed resistance spreading
	News