No amount of theatrics can conceal the Dutertes’ crimes vs. the Filipino people
- Published: 06 December 2024 06 December 2024
Vol. VI, No. 22 - November 30, 2024
The implosion of the Marcos-Duterte ruling coalition has become a grand political spectacle that has laid bare the rottenness of bureaucrat capitalism in the Philippine reactionary state. What began as the so-called “UniTeam” tandem of Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte has now unraveled into public bickering and shameless mudslinging. These political squabbles however, no matter how sensationalized, cannot conceal the Duterte family’s crimes against the Filipino people.
Sara Duterte’s profanity-laced Facebook broadcast last November 23 singled out First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Marcos Jr. himself, claiming they would be the ones responsible should she get killed. By peddling this narrative, Duterte aims to distract the people from pressing governance issues plaguing her office, and the fact that her father and former president Rodrigo Duterte just admitted to mass murder during a congressional hearing on his bloody war on drugs last November 28. This melodrama however is calculated – it shifts public discourse away from the systemic corruption and incompetence of Sara herself. In this context, efforts to impeach Sara Duterte are a welcome development, as they embody the people’s outcry for accountability and serve to clarify, amidst the political noise, the urgent demand for justice and genuine change.
On the other hand, Sara’s public outrage is a response Marcos Jr. also tacitly allows—and even benefits from. The spectacle of their feud inadvertently redirects public attention away from his administration’s glaring failures, including his criminal negligence toward typhoon victims and continuing attacks against peasant communities in the countryside.
The human cost of this political circus is profound. The country’s inflation rate accelerated for the second straight month after the typhoons, eating away at the purchasing power of ordinary Filipinos, with food and fuel costs hitting unprecedented levels. The public education system remains grossly underfunded, leaving millions of Filipino children ill-equipped. The country’s healthcare system, battered by the pandemic, is still in shambles, and workers are fleeing abroad in droves for better opportunities in other countries.
The infighting between the Marcos and Duterte camps is a clear indication of the worsening economic crisis. As the economic pie shrinks due to rising debt, inflation, and stagnant economic growth, the elite factions are scrambling to redivide their spoils. With the 2025 midterm elections looming, the stakes are even higher. Both camps are greedily maneuvering to secure resources for their respective “kitty funds” to maintain influence and power through vote-buying and patronage politics.
At the same time, the need to bring the Dutertes to justice for their crimes against humanity has never been more urgent. The extrajudicial killings during Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, Sara Duterte’s blatant misuse of public funds, and their brazen disregard for human rights demand urgent accountability. Marcos Jr., however, remains indecisive on whether or not to assist the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation. His dilly-dallying reflects his own vulnerability, as his own administration faces mounting isolation from the masses due to its failure to address their most urgent concerns. This inaction only deepens public frustration and widens the cracks further within the ruling class.
The Marcos-Duterte split is further exposing the rotten politics entrenched in the reactionary Philippine state. It highlights the self-serving nature of those in power, who prioritize factional rivalries over the welfare of the people. For the revolutionary movement, this division presents an opportunity to advance the national democratic revolution.
Reject US-NATO interference in South China Sea affairs
- Published: 21 November 2024 21 November 2024
Vol. VI, No. 21 - November 15, 2024
The recent signing of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act is being touted by the reactionary government as a move to "safeguard" the country’s national interests. These laws institutionalize the 2016 decision of the International Arbitral Tribunal, which affirmed the Philippines' rights over its exclusive economic zone and rejected China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. While these measures are framed as a victory for national sovereignty, they risk serving as instruments for the United States and NATO to exploit the ongoing dispute and provoke China militarily, further entangling the Philippines in a war not of its own making.
Read more: Reject US-NATO interference in South China Sea affairs
Marcos Jr. and AFP’s callous use of “disaster response” as pretext for military operations
- Published: 05 November 2024 05 November 2024
Vol. VI, No. 20 - October 31, 2024
The Marcos Jr’ administration’s callous and duplicitous use of disaster relief as a front for its ‘counterinsurgency’ operations is a glaring betrayal of the victims of the recent floodings in the country. Last week, while the Bicol region lay in devastation following severe floods and landslides, the administration chose not to prioritize emergency relief for affected communities. Instead, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), under orders from its US imperialist master, mobilized troops in a purely combative mission under the guise of “relief operations.”
Arrest of NDFP Consultants Porferio Tuna and Simeon Naogsan violates JASIG, undermines prospects for peace
- Published: 21 October 2024 21 October 2024
The arrest of NDFP peace consultant Porferio Tuna by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on October 2 in Tagum City and the arrest of Simeon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan in Ilocos Norte this October 21 are clear violations of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Their illegal arrests raise concerns about the government’s sincerity in pursuing a resolution to the decades-long armed conflict in the Philippines. JASIG is a crucial agreement borne out of the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). It ensures the safety of those involved in the peace negotiations.
Ka Filiw is the spokesperson of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF), an allied organization of the NDFP. Ka Filiw actively pushed for genuine autonomy and self-determination of the Cordilleran peoples, opposing big mining concessionaires and infrastructure businesses that are encroaching the mountains and rivers of the Cordilleras.
As NDFP consultant especially during the 2016 negotiations, Tuna provided crucial insights on the conditions of peasants, plantation workers, and national minorities in Southern Mindanao. His contributions helped shape the NDFP’s draft Comprehensive Agreement on Socioeconomic Reforms (CASER), which aims to address the root causes of armed conflict, including by resolving landlessness, exploitation, poverty and the lack of employment and national industries.
By detaining Tuna and Naogsan, the Marcos administration effectively obstructs the path to meaningful socioeconomic reforms in the peace process. Tuna and Naogsan’s arrests are a clear act of reprisal. The charges filed against them are all trumped up cases, which directly contradicts the guarantees provided by JASIG. Signed in 1995 by both representatives from the GRP and the NDFP, the JASIG explicitly guarantees that peace negotiators and their personnel will be free from arrest, detention, or harassment to ensure the continuity and integrity of the peace talks.
Inside jail, reports indicate that Tuna is being subjected to intense psychological torture, coerced by military officers and turncoats working for the US-Marcos regime. Such inhumane tactics highlight the brutal strategy of the GRP, which has long used political imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, abductions, and torture to silence critics and dissidents.
This is also not the first time that the GRP violated the JASIG and other peace agreements in the past years. The arrest of Naogsan and Tuna form part of a disturbing pattern of the GRP’s utter disregard for agreements made in the negotiating table. The killing of NDFP peace consultants Wilma and Benito Tiamzon in August 2022 stands as a glaring example of the GRP’s disregard of JASIG, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and other peace agreements. The Tiamzons, senior NDFP officials, were reportedly captured, tortured, and summarily executed by the AFP. The case of Concha Araneta, an NDFP peace consultant and member of the Joint Monitoring Committee based in Panay Island, follows the same deadly pattern. Araneta, a prominent figure in the peace talks, was also assassinated by state forces on August this year. Similarly, the extrajudicial killing of peace consultants Randall Echanis and Ericson Acosta in 2020 and 2022 respectively, highlights the government's continued campaign of violence against those involved in the peace process.
Beyond these high-profile killings, countless other NDFP peace consultants have been arrested, abducted, and forcibly disappeared in recent years. Many remain missing, their fates unknown, in what amounts to a systematic attack against the NDFP negotiating panel, its negotiators and consultants. If the Marcos regime is really serious about resolving the armed conflict in the Philippines, it must stop the state-sponsored attacks on peace consultants, uphold the JASIG, and demonstrate its commitment to the peace process by immediately releasing Porferio Tuna, Simeon Naogsan, and all other political prisoners.
Bureaucrat capitalism under Duterte-Marcos bring immense suffering to the Filipino people
- Published: 03 October 2024 03 October 2024
Vol. VI, No. 18 - September 30, 2024
In the Philippines, the reactionary government is controlled by the ruling classes of big bourgeois compradors and landlords, run by bureaucrat capitalists who serve the interests of imperialists and their own factions. This system, characterized by corruption, sees some of the worst bureaucrats siphoning billions of pesos into personal overseas accounts. Currently, tensions between the rival Marcos Jr. and Duterte factions are escalating as the 2025 midterm elections approach, with Marcos attempting to consolidate power and Duterte trying to preserve his political influence.
Read more: Bureaucrat capitalism under Duterte-Marcos bring immense suffering to the Filipino people