Arroyo flaunting unbounded puppetry to Master George--CPP
October 16, 2003

The brief eight-hour stopover of US President George W. Bush on October 18 serves to highlight the unabashed puppetry of the Arroyo regime and caricature the neocolonial character of the state and entire ruling system in the country.

Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, spokesman of the CPP, said that President Arroyo is "flaunting unbounded puppetry to her Master George. She is displaying unabashed servility to US imperialism. The Arroyo government's grandiose preparations for such a brief stopover of Bush is truly reprehensible."

Rosal said, however, behind all this overly grandoise and extravagant welcome, the imperial visit highlights the grievous character of the neocolonial rule and system obtaining in the country. Rosal explained that the visit will serve to tighten all the more US imperialist stranglehold over the economic, political and military affairs of the Philippines.

Rosal added that "during the past years under the Arroyo government, the Philippine's status as a semicolony has been made worse by unequal agreements and laws that allow increasing US political, military and economic intervention and aggression in the Philippines."

He cited among others the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, the Terms of References for the Balikatan "exercises" and the secret agreement giving US soldiers immunity from jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court. He also cited the Mining Act, the Bank Liberalization Law and other laws and policies which give US and other foreign multinational corporations effective control over public resources, utilities and other important aspects of the economy.

Rosal added that neoliberal government policies since the 1990s has unidirectionally served US economic interests. He noted the massive dumping of goods from the US and other imperialist countries. He also noted that the US is the biggest importer of cheap Philippine raw and semiprocessed goods. "The plan to forge a bilateral trade and economic agreement between the US and the Philippines especially in the wake of the collapse of the Cancum WTO meet will only result in more intensified US plunder of the country and the further worsening of the economic crisis and hardship for the Filipino people."

Rosal also said that the US is insistent on constitutionalizing foreign ownership and "parity" rights to land, natural resources, strategic industries and services as well as allow foreign control of other aspects and the entirety of the Philippine economy and has thus also been aggressively and persistently pushing to remove provisions that still have even a mere semblace of protecting national patrimony.

"Arroyo has also been ardently supporting the Bush government's drive to impose Pax Americana around the world under the guise of 'global war against terrorism.' Bush has gone on a rampage trampling on the sovereignty and integrity of other countries and causing great hardship and oppression among the people of Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan," Rosal added.

"In fawning support of the US' so-called war against terrorism, the Arroyo regime has scuttled peace talks, ripped apart all previous agreements with the National Democratic Front, worsened the militarization of the countryside, induced the military to violate human rights and international rules of war with impunity and allowed the US to intervene in the civil war and in the anti-Moro war in the Philippines," Rosal added.

"To describe the relationship between the US and the Philippines as 'allies' clouds the fact that the Philippines has long been a colony and semicolony of the US," Rosal said.

He added that "it is utterly revolting for the Arroyo government to roll-out the red carpet for the world's number one terrorist while tearing down urban poor shanties."

"Arroyo is devoid of any sense of national self-respect," said Rosal. "It is totally degrading even for a puppet to allow US security personnel to survey the insides of Malaca�ang and the Philippine Congress." Rosal asked, "Would the Americans in turn ever think of allowing security personnel of another country to do the same thing when the head of that country visits the White House or the US Congress?"

"Malaca�ang has been shed off its pretentions. With American flags flying around the puppet's palace, it has practically returned to its original state of being the US governor-general's headquarters," Rosal added.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553

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Arroyo flaunting unbounded puppetry to Master George--CPP October 16, 2003

Arroyo flaunting unbounded puppetry to Master George--CPP
October 16, 2003