Editorial:
Take advantage of the reactionary Estrada regime�s crisis of rule

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The crisis of the ruling political system is rapidly intensifying, as the reactionary Estrada regime�s hold on power grows more tenuous. Estrada is digging himself a deeper grave by carrying out rabidly antinational and oppressive policies. The possibility is becoming ever apparent that, like Marcos, Estrada will be toppled from his Malaca�ang pedestal due to severe reactionary conflicts, widespread people�s uprisings and relentless armed blows by the New People�s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The crisis of the ruling system and the tottering rule of the Estrada clique is a good thing and should be taken advantage of by the Party and the revolutionary movement. This further exposes the rottenness of the ruling exploitative system and opens the opportunity for the revolutionary forces to gather strength and to intensify armed and non-armed struggles.

Because of its all-out implementation of antinational and antipeople policies, the Estrada regime continues to be isolated from the masses.

Estrada�s sham �pro-poor� slogan has easily been exposed as he exhibited himself as an out and out puppet and fascist. Estrada assiduously carries out the commandments of the IMF-WB-WTO to completely open up the country to foreign investments and the dumping of foreign goods, worsening even further the country�s semifeudal status and deepening the crisis of the local economy.

Estrada brazenly insists on auctioning off the national patrimony as a condition for survival in the so-called age of globalization. That is why he is deadset on rewriting the constitution and make it worse by granting foreigners the unrestricted right to plunder the country�s natural resources and own all types of businesses, including public utilities (such as water service, electricity and transportation), banks, retail, schools, mass media and advertising.

The Philippines is now experiencing a worse economic crisis due to all-out liberalization since the start of the 1990s. Still, and despite growing criticism against liberalization even by reactionary client-states, Estrada continues to be foolishly obsessed with completely opening up the Philippines in order for it to be plundered by foreign big capitalists.

In insisting to rewrite the 1987 constitution and implement pro-imperialist laws and policies, Estrada fires up the people�s patriotic spirit and reinforces the resolve to resist the puppetry of the reactionary government.

Estrada�s unabashed puppetry makes it ever clearer to the people that their poverty and misery are directly connected to the rule of foreign big capitalists in the Philippines.

The Estrada government is bankrupt. In a desperate attempt to supposedly revive the economy, the government has accumulated a budget deficit of over P100 billion. Almost all public assets have already been sold, tax collections are down and tariffs are being eliminated in line with liberalization.

Moreover, a large portion of the budget is wasted on unproductive spending such as those for debt servicing and for fattening the behemoth military force.

There is open conflict among the Office of the President, Congress and other departments and local officials over who would pocket the largest chunk of the rapidly dwindling budget.

There is a similar struggle among the closest cronies within the Estrada camp over control of the largest funds and contracts.

Because of this scrambling among reactionary politicians, corruption and crime honeycomb the civil and military bureaucracy. They thus deprive the public of the most necessary services, and worse, pocket and use public funds to fund their illegal operations.

In a desperate bid to hold on to power, Estrada is revving up the entire fascist machinery to suppress the people�s resistance as well as that of his reactionary political rivals. The so-called anti-crime campaign is being used to rationalize the strengthening of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, especially in terms of carrying out counterrevolutionary warfare in the countryside and surveillance and other oppressive measures against the legal democratic movement in the cities. Dovetailing this is the appointment of the notorious fascist Gen. Panfilo Lacson as PNP chief.

The strengthening of the fascist machinery and fascist intensification are directly related to the worsening exploitation by imperialists and the ruling reactionary clique. It is the reactionary government�s response to the blows it has been receiving from the growing opposition of rival reactionary politicians, the militant protests and struggles of the toiling masses against antipeople and antinational policies and the increasing number of tactical offensives by the NPA. On different occasions in the past year, the reactionary rivals of Estrada exhibited their capability to pool resources and launch street demonstrations. These were widely supported by the people, especially the urban petty bourgeoisie because these upheld the democratic stand against the return of the Marcoses, suppression of press freedom and the planned rewrite of the 1987 constitution.

The intensity of protests and mass struggles in the cities continues to heighten, especially those of workers struggling to achieve a just increase in their wages. Noteworthy as well are the struggles of government employees, public school teachers and other oppressed sectors who are being bludgeoned by the crisis and by policies that further weigh down on their already burdened shoulders.

Consequent to the Second Great Rectification Movement, the NPA now has the capability to launch more numerous and bigger tactical offensives nationwide in accordance with the military capability of the NPA and the deepening mass support enjoyed by the revolutionary movement in the countryside. It is these armed offensives that deal the most telling blows on the reactionary government, compel the regime to squander an enormous amount of resources on strengthening its military machine, shatter the illusion of civil democracy and give the Filipino people inspiration and courage to struggle.

THE STRUGGLE of the revolutionary movement against the US-Estrada regime is part of the more strategic struggle to overthrow the ruling system.

Its political crisis will be taken advantage of by the CPP in order to aggressively expand the Party membership, further strengthen the armed revolutionary movement and solidify the national democratic unity of the Filipino people. The Party strengthens its revolutionary integrity and initiative in order to effectively build unity among or cooperate with various forces to oust the ruling reactionary Estrada clique or compel it to relinquish power.

12 November 1999
English Edition

	Editorial: Take advantage of the reactionary Estrada regime�s crisis of rule
	Editorial: Greet the 21st century and new millennium with the resolve to intensify the revolution
	Regarding basic and special tactical offensives
	Storm of resistance against globalization
	The expanding empire of Lucio Tan
	Lacson�s appointment as PNP chief: Sharpening the fascist fangs of the US-Estrada regime
	Intensifying fascism of the US-Estrada regime
	The Rights of Filipino Children: On the Rights of the Filipino Children
	The Rights of Filipino Children: On the NPA�s alleged mass recruitment of child guerrillas
	The Rights of Filipino Children: Pertinent Facts
	The Rights of Filipino Children: Memorandum on the Minimum age requirement for NPA fighters
	The Rights of Filipino Children: Organizing children
	The Rights of Filipino Children: The miserable state of child workers in the Philippines
	The Rights of Filipino Children: Counterrevolutionary violence against children in the countryside
	On the nationality question and the right to self-determination
	Widespread mass actions for human rights launched
	Sham negotiation between the US-Estrada regime and the Tabara-dela Cruz clique
	NDF condemns inhumane treatment of Ka Parago
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