Barely two years later, the unholy alliance between tyrannical plunderer families of the Marcoses and Dutertes have shattered. Both sycophants to imperialism, their true colors as representatives of the ruling class are exposed as they feud over power to pursue their own selfish interests. If anything, their in-fighting is a testament of the necessity to topple the status quo and establish a genuine people’s democratic government.

The fake people’s initiative for charter change spearheaded by Marcos and Romualdez aims to solidify their control of the reactionary state, while also depriving the Dutertes of an opportunity to seize the upcoming 2025 senatorial and 2028 presidential elections. As both cliques incessantly bicker against each other, genuine issues of the people are forsaken.

By now it is crystal clear to the exploited and oppressed Negrosanon masses that the same fascists who emboldened tyranny and violence on the island are still very much birds of the same feather. Both Marcos and Duterte are their class enemies. Neither is a lesser evil, especially after the neoliberal economic attacks and countless human rights violations that continue both in the cities and the countryside.

The turmoil between bureaucrat capitalists, however, are reflective of the rapidly disintegrating semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. The despair of both sides manifests their willingness to contribute further to the socioeconomic crisis and appease their also-bickering-masters at the brink of war, the US and China, at the expense of the Filipino people.

Now, more than ever, the broad toiling masses, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines embodying proletarian class leadership, are determined to follow and uphold the revolutionary class line—to isolate and destroy the worst of the enemy, represented by Marcos and Duterte. With this, NDF-Negros enjoins all patriotic and progressive sectors, organizations, and individuals, to rally efforts in building a broad alliance against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. It is high time that the people of Negros Island, together with the entire Filipino people, muster courage to end the culture of impunity and terror and to advance the national democratic revolution, in pursuit of a just and lasting peace.