Program for a People’s Democratic Revolutionary Government
for people with unequal political power. Where the distribution of social wealth is much heavily in favor of the rich, the distribution of democratic rule cannot be equally in favor of the poor. As it is often cited, 99 percent of the wealth of the land is owned by 1 percent of the population. Necessarily, 99 percent of political power is controlled by that same 1 percent of the population.
Without a truly radical shake-up of the system of polity — free enterprise, press freedom, civil rights, human rights, democratic processes, etc. — rammed down the throats of the Filipino people by the American aggressors, the ideal of democratic elections can only be a farce. No poor man can ever win in an election. So, political power remains clutched tight in the hands of the rich. Look at what happened to the party-list concept. Theoretically, it was good for the marginalized sectors of society. But once put into practice, it became just one more powerful weapon for the rich to enrich themselves and entrench themselves further in power. Today, the richest congressman is a representative of a party-list.
Unequal wealth distribution
The unevenness of the distribution of the wealth of the land has over the past century become a most fertile ground for planting the seeds of rebellion across the land. It is true for both the Sisonite rebellion of the CPP/NPA/National Democratic Front triad and the Muslim insurgencies in Mindanao. Experience teaches us that no amount of political negotiations can ever reach a peaceful settlement of armed
1976, reached by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with the Marcos government, got snagged in its implementation up until the downfall of Marcos in 1986 and all throughout the succeeding six years of Cory rule. Nonetheless, no sooner
- ment with the government under President Fidel V. Ramos than the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) launched its own insurgency, culminating after decades of raging in the passage recently of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). But then even before the BOL could take off, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) suddenly springs into action, beginning its own terrorist attacks, evidently directed at forging with the government its own “peace settlement.” At the same time, leaders of the Sulu, Tawi-tawi and Basilan Muslims have already expressed their rejection of the agreement forged by the MILF with the government.
On the other hand, on the communist front, the Sison revolutionary clique, as indicated by its agenda of negotiations, have their eyes set mainly on the enjoyment of shared political power with the Duterte government. Failing to get that concession, they have now aligned themselves with the Oust-Duterte movement of the Yellow Cult. And where the Yellow Cult is, can the United States be far behind? The greatest myth in recent Philippine history has been that Cory Aquino brought down Marcos; it was the US that did it.
Oust Duterte movement
The Oust Duterte movement, therefore, cannot but be taken in the context of the simmering China-US con
China Sea. It has been the urging of the US for the Philippines to push its deemed victory over China in the arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague. Since China has from the very beginning declared its rejection of the PCA proceedings, a Philippine insistence on that body’s ruling can only meet with Chinese belligerence. This is the kind of situation the US wants the Philippines to be in to justify its military intervention in the South China Sea region. The US must be foreseeing an advantage over China in this respect, but in any event, such US military intervention will be to the great cost of the Philippines. It will transform the country into a sad theater for a proxy war between the US and China, as Syria has been over the past seven years, rendered in shambles by the proxy war between the US and Russia.
Quite commendably, President Duterte has consistently stayed out of that strait, instead charting a friendly course toward China. There must be a determined effort to frustrate the intensifying movement to oust Duterte and thereby divert the nation from the warpath with China in the event another leader is put in his place. Only the declaration of a people’s revolutionary government can prevent this eventuality.
President Duterte must take the bold step now. From the inception of the so-called independent Philippine republic in 1946 up to the present, the country’s electoral process has consistently suffered from its inher
for elective posts. Consequently, as it has become a cliché, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.
At a time when the masses of the common are increasingly having a hard time procuring such staple poor man’s fare as rice and due to increasing prices, and the hordes of Filipino domestic helpers are increasingly migrating abroad, risking lives, limbs and human dignity, radical decisions need to be made.
It is high time President Duterte proved himself a president of, for and by the people. He cannot shirk from his responsibility to bring to fruition the long-cherished dream of the people for a truly just, humane and prosperous society as in the days of primordial social bliss.