Bogus Philippine Independence, Freedom, and Democracy

Martin Montana
Chadli Molintas Command
New People's Army
Ilocos-Cordillera Region
June 12, 2004

More than 140 people were killed, one-third of whom belonged to Bayan Muna and other progressive party-list contenders, in election-related violence. This makes the recent elections one of the bloodiest in our history. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spent more than P5 billion during the elections - not from her own pocket, but from public funds - to ensure her victory and satisfy her lust for power. The national treasury is bankrupt. That is democracy - Philippine style: public funds are used to dupe the public. The incumbent President spent nothing yet gained everything!

In a country where imperialism and bureaucrat capitalism reign, the people bear the brunt of the government's excesses. Not a month has passed since the May 11 elections when the Big Three petroleum companies jacked up their prices. This, together with the massive electoral spending, has led to the inevitable domino effect of inflation of basic commodities and services.

These issues reveal the real score: the Philippines is not truly independent. Neither is it truly free and democratic. We cannot be truly independent when petroleum companies and other big businesses are allowed to dictate their prices while the great masses of workers are not even granted their demand for higher wages. There can be no real independence when we have a President that bootlicks Uncle Sam and his imperialist policies, supports imperialist wars in the guise of anti-terrorism, and surrenders Philippine sovereignty by allowing US military troops in our country in the guise of joint military exercises. Our foreign relations kowtow to Big Brother America's foreign policy. Our national culture is bastardized and prostituted by American culture.

American colonialism of the Filipino nation 106 years ago continues to this day, but in a more insidious, exploitative, destructive, and oppressive manner, in cahoots with the local ruling classes and puppet governments from the time of Manuel Quezon in 1935 to the present Macapagal-Arroyo regime. It is the main scourge and cause of our country's economic, political and cultural backwardness. The Philippines is now second to Bangladesh at the bottom of economic development among Asian countries.

Our country is not really free when political power is in the hands of the elite, instead of the toiling masses who produce the wealth of this country. There is no real freedom when the great majority of the Filipino people who are the marginalized sectors of peasants, workers, and urban poor remain marginal, mere stepping stones for the ruling class during elections. Freedom is a sham when progressive party-list such as Bayan Muna and Anak Pawis are brutally suppressed and cheated even of their beggarly share in political power.

There is no real democracy if there is no economic equality, when the gap between the rich and the poor is daily widening, when the ruling classes steal and use government funds to perpetuate themselves in power, when they uphold imperialist interests over those of the Filipino people. What we have is pseudo-democracy where the role of the people is reduced to choosing who their next exploiters and oppressors will be.

Real freedom and democracy exist only when political power truly emanates from the greater majority of the people especially the workers, peasants, and middle class. Real independence can only be achieved when we are free from the dictates of American imperialist companies and military-industrial complex.

And thus the protracted people's war for genuine Philippine independence, freedom, and democracy continues to be waged through the New People's Army. This revolutionary war is the continuation of the unfinished 1896 revolution, of the gallant fight for freedom and democracy joined in by our forefathers in the Ilocos and the Cordillera during the Filipino-American War in 1899-1901, and again by the guerilla fighters in the war against Japanese imperialism in the 1940s.

Onward with the struggle for genuine national freedom and democracy!