It is especially relevant to mark in the coming days the Edsa Uprising in the face of attempts of the Marcos family, in collusion with the ruling Duterte clique, to steal the upcoming elections and install themselves in power. Holding to history’s lessons, the Filipino people must firmly resist the Marcos-Duterte schemes, while persevering on the revolutionary path to end the rotten system giving rise to fascist hardliners and dictators and ruled by exploiters and oppressors.

The uprising of millions in Edsa and other major streets in Manila and across the country in February 22-26, 1986 is the culmination of the 14-year perseverance in all forms of resistance. Previous years were marked by relentless giant mass actions, along with the expansion and strengthening of nationwide armed resistance led by the Party and New People’s Army. These shattered all fears and ceaselessly rocked the dictatorship.

In this year’s commemoration, the people, especially the youth, must recall how Marcos wielded absolute power to aggrandize himself, his family and cronies. How Imelda and their children wallowed in luxury and extravagance. How the congress and courts were padlocked and Marcos became sole law maker and judge of all. How he corrupted the military and police and used both in his campaign of suppression to terrorize and paralyze the people. How peasants were massacred in Culatingan, Palimbang, Daet, Sag-od, Escalante, Culasi and other places. How he bankrupted the economy and burdened the country with mountains of debt. How different forms of exploitation and oppression intensified, unemployment worsened, prices skyrocketed, the peso devalued and poverty and hunger aggravated.

The Edsa Uprising is the Filipino people’s historical judgement of the Marcos dictatorship. The ouster of Marcos from Malacañang is a show of the people’s power draw from their unity and collective action.

Inconsistent with the people’s judgement in 1986, the Marcoses were able to return to the country after a few years after US imperialism brought together and settled conflicts between rival factions of the ruling classes with the aim of stablizing the neocolonial state. Not soon after, big businesses were restored in the hands of Danding Cojuangco and other big compradors and bureaucrat capitalist cronies of Marcos. A large portion of the billions upon billions of the Marcos stolen wealth remain in their hands. The Marcoses and Romualdezes returned to Ilocos and Leyte politics, and later in congress and the senate.

Using the billions of pesos of stolen wealth, the Marcoses are spreading disinformation to deceive the people through mass media, social media, schools, the church and other means. Memories of the dark days in the country’s history are being deleted even as illusions of progress and prosperity under martial law are conjured to obscure the Marcos dictatorship’s plunder and crimes. The apex of this deception was reached when Duterte allowed Marcos’s remains to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in 1986.

In line with the long-standing ambition of the Marcoses to return to Malacañang, Marcos Jr. is now running as president in tandem with Duterte daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio as vice. They are handing out left and right seemingly bottomless amounts of stolen wealth to create the illusion of widespread support. Marcos Jr. is using the slogan of “unity” to fool and make people forget all the Marcos crimes and sins against them.

In commemorating the Edsa uprising, all the Marcoses’ lies and distortion of historical truths must be determinedly exposed, condemned and resisted. There is need for a daring, clamorous and widespread education and propaganda campaign, street actions and other measures to counter the Marcos-Duterte lies and manifest how they are hated and rejected by the people. Further broaden the ranks of democratic classes and forces to block the path of the Marcoses and Dutertes and prepare for a widespread uprising.

Exert all efforts to intensify mass struggles amid intensifying economic and social crisis. Mount valiant, daring, creating and broadening mass actions in streets, communities, factories and campuses to fight the incessant increases prices of oil products, food and other necessities, low wages, joblessness, more burdensome taxes, dumping of imported rice, meat and vegetables and other anti-people policies. Show the people’s wrath against Duterte’s thieving, murderous, treacherous and terrorist reign.

The attempt to restore the Marcoses and perpetuate the tyrannical reign of the Dutertes show the further rottening of the ruling system, where political and economic power is being concentrated more in the hands of the worst fascist and criminal cliques of the ruling classes, while people are made to suffer worse poverty and oppression. While it rots, the system engenders the likes of the Marcoses and Dutertes whose hunger for power is insatiable.

The people should take advantage of the elections to aggressively and openly promote the national democratic analysis and program on issues. Put forward clearly the call for a revolutionary end to the semicolonial and semifeudal system.

Use every opportunity to strengthen the Party and revolutionary mass organizations and intensify recruitment to the people’s army. While fighting the Marcos and Duterte schemes, assiduously carry forward the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the puppet and bureaucrat capitalist state, and the exploitative and oppressive class rule of big landlords and big bourgeois compradors, and to establish the people’s democratic government.