Volume IV, Number 9. 15 May 2022.
International observers are asking us in disbelief, how can the greediest political dynasty in the world come back to power? Also, compatriots who were deeply engaged in the electoral campaign against the Marcos-Duterte gang are in shock and in rage, seeking answers on how the son of the infamous dictator and daughter of the notorious tyrant managed to win the May 2022 elections, and even so by a ‘landslide’.
In fact, in the period leading to 9 May, the thousands of cheering crowds in the Robredo-Pangilinan campaign sorties all over the country dwarfed the lackluster attendances in the Marcos-Duterte rallies. This was reflected in the gatherings of overseas Filipinos in unprecedented numbers in many cities around the world to campaign for the Leni-Kiko tandem. These led many to predict that the opposition will win the vote. Then came the bombshell.
But others are not all surprised at the results of the election, conducted in the elite-controlled neocolonial and semifeudal Philippines. Here, elections can only be a showcase or pretense for democracy, at best. Thus, on a regular basis, sections of the ruling classes joust among themselves for various levels of political positions, each position ripe with rich opportunities for bureaucratic corruption.
In particular, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Communist Party of the Philippines have pointed out much earlier that the May 2022 elections were destined to be stolen by the Duterte-controlled Commission on Elections through the use of the Smartmatic vote counting machines. This was to be combined with massive vote-buying, falsification of ballots, armed coercion and red-tagging, especially in the rural areas. All of these predictions happened!
This preprogrammed election process and its ‘landslide’ results obscure the fact that the vast majority of the Filipino people are disgusted with tyranny and dictatorship, corruption and incompetence under the Duterte and preceding regimes.
As the CPP points out, the US imperialists and the local ruling classes wish to stabilize the ruling system and have their interests protected and promoted under Marcos II and Sara Duterte. This incoming regime will continue and even outdo the past six years of Duterte's state terrorism and puppetry to foreign imperialist powers.
The rigged election is a clear indication of how the moribund ruling system is rotten to the core and dominated by the vilest of the reactionaries.
The menace of the coming six years under Marcos II will certainly lead to the democratic, patriotic and revolutionary forces of the Filipino people to strengthen and multiply their ranks. Conditions for strengthening the revolutionary armed struggle are widening.
Yet another Marcos, just like his father, is coming in to be a big recruiter for the New People’s Army.