In the last few weeks, Sara Duterte is under public scrutiny for spending Php125 million of people’s taxes within an outrageous short period of time. This is just a sample of the deep-rooted bureaucratic corruption in the reactionary government. Duterte may be the one in the spotlight now but both she and Marcos Jr, the two highest state officials, and their respective families and cohorts are responsible to the people for squandering millions up to billions of people’s money for many years.

The revolutionary movement has long been used as scapegoat by bureaucrat capitalists like the Marcoses and Dutertes to justify the allocation of large sums intended for education, healthcare, infrastructure and a wide-selection of dole-out programs to the anti-insurgency campaign. The pockets of corrupt generals of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) are on the receiving end. The AFP, for example, has been declaring insurgency-free barangays to siphon corruption money to LGUs under the Barangay Development Program and repeatedly presented numbers of ‘surrenderees’ which automatically gives them access to the E-CLIP fund.

#DiMasaligan79IB and its forced or fake surrenderees

The AFP recently celebrated the presentation of a dozen of so-called former rebels from northern Negros to the public. This was a prelude to their declaration of ‘weakened’ Red forces in Negros Island.

The surrender program was maliciously conducted weeks after the successful Calatrava ambush on August 9 when Red fighters recovered three HPRs from Calatrava police officers. However, the AFP contradicted itself since it claimed then that the Northern Negros New People’s Army (NPA) had only eight Red fighters left.

Roselyn Jean Pelle Command of the NPA (RJPC-NPA) categorically denies that the 12 presented ‘former rebels’ were active combatants. They were a mix of ordinary civilians forced to surrender as NPA, and dishonorably discharged Red fighters turned traitors who have pending cases before the people’s court long before the successful tactical offensive in Calatrava.

Further, the ‘top NPA official’ presented to be both Secretary of the Northern Negros Party Committee and Commanding Officer of the RJPC-NPA is utterly fabricated.

Now, with the truth at hand, the AFP’s true purpose in presenting forced and fake surrenderees is unveiled. The #DiMasaligan79IB and its higher ranks clearly wants to attain recognition based on lies and deception, consequently expecting rewards and promotion. As mentioned earlier, more forced and fake surrenderees mean millions of E-CLIP funds.

Moreover, land grabbing and environment-destructive projects by big corporations await insurgency-free (or weakened) pronouncements to have free reign in northern Negros where the North Negros Natural Park, home to the biggest watersheds in the province, is located. This is another source of corruption for local officials and the military. It all boils down to money.

LGU’s road projects and their request for BDP fund restoration

Even on the local level, the recent week witnessed the screaming corruption of the reactionary government as a local resident of Barangay Bandila, Toboso, Negros Occidental forwarded his grievance to a TV program of an elected senator on the issue of an unfinished road project commencing four years ago.

The interview exposed that the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental allocated almost PhP20 million for the concreting of a 1.7-kilometer road from Barangay Tabun-ac to Barangay Bandila, both in Toboso town, in 2019. As of today, the road is still incomplete and poses more danger to the riding public as the two-way road is now an alternating spread of cemented and dirt road.

The mentioned road project is not an isolated case. It is rampant in mountain barangays, such as Barangay Bandila, where residents are still struggling to bring their goods to the market; left to endure the local official’s negligence, incompetence of contractors and hacienderos’ request to halt projects during milling season so that roads are passable by their cane trucks.

Lately, a few Northern Negros mayors and the Negros Occidental governor are in unison in asking for the restoration of PhP20 million for insurgency-free barangays under the Barangay Development Program (BDP) of NTF-Elcac. These local officials, in connivance with the military, are so keen on asking for funds that benefit their interests while the actual project implementation is haphazard, at best, to the detriment of the people.

Systemic corruption and its uprooting

Corruption, plunder, and misappropriation, among other crimes of public officials are rooted to the question of serving the people. Putting the people’s objective interests before personal gain and comfort is easier said than done, especially when bureaucrat capitalism is a systemic problem dialectically existing with imperialism and feudalism.

Thus, the national democratic revolution is being waged, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), to address the basic problems of a semicolonial and semifeudal Philippine society. It aims to seize political power from the US-controlled big comprador-landlord state and replace the rotten reactionary government with a people’s revolutionary government that develops the people’s capability in the conduct of government.

With the rampant issue of corruption in the reactionary government, the toiling masses suffering the aftermath and seeking alternatives are pushed to armed revolution and are ever welcomed in the NPA. ###