Philippine Situation After the 2010 Elections

AJLPP NEWS
July 12, 2010

Philippine Situation After the 2010 Elections

( Presentation of Marc Ramos of the KmB to the PSL. July 2, 2010 after the Inaguration of the new Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.)

We are here today because Benigno Aquino III was elected president of the Philippines.

He has promised to bring CHANGE to the Philippine government, eliminate corruption, fix the education system, improve health care, improve the economy and provide housing for all Filipinos. He has said that he is the president because the people believed in HOPE.

Does this sound familiar?

The Reality of the history in the Islands: Economic Crisis

The Reality of the Philippines is that the islands are still ruled by US imperialism, and run by its Filipino puppets. Aquino has assembled an economic team from the same breed of pro-imperialist pro neoliberlization economists who have dominated economic policy-making in the Philippines for the past three decades. Some of whom have even served the US arroyo regime.

These same policy makers pushed for denationalization, privatization, deregulation, and liberalization of the economy – the ingredients needed to maintain status quo: the Philippines being a source of raw materials, cheap labor, and a dumping ground of surplus goods for foreign corporations.
The national economy is ruins and the Philippines is dependent on foreign loans/investors and remittances of overseas contract workers.

Underemployment is up to 19.7 % and deficit spending has jumped from 12.4 billion to 298.5 billion in the last three years, only compounding the national debt the Philippines is bound by. This is the economic reality of the Philippines and we name imperialism as the root cause.

US Puppets: the Philippine government is stacked with them - Supreme Court, Congress, Imelda, etc

Now, in order to preserve this lopsided relationship established by US imperialism, the United States has dictated what the Philippine government leaders will do or not do since the Americans’ initial occupation in 1898. These puppet leaders continue to run the Philippines.

More than 100 old and new political dynasties still rule the Philippines.Even though Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is no longer president she retains her power in the Philippines. She is the president of the political party Lakas- Kampi. She has made sure that her minions control the Supreme court, the Sandigangbayan which is equivalent to the US court of appeals and the Ombudsman, and some big cases against her have been dismissed.

She has mad sure that lakas-Kampi still has many governor and mayors. Arroyo has made sure that she has direct share of power. She heads the Lakas-Kampi as a congresswoman in the House of representatives.

Even Imelda Marcos the wife of the former US backed Dictator Ferdinand Marcos has even managed to grab a seat as a congresswoman. Puppet politicians are an important ingredient in the maintenance of the imperial formula.

Capitalist Landlords – Aquinos

People in the Philippines and Filipinos around the world talk about their relief that Arroyo is finally out of power, that Noynoy Aquino will serve the legacy of his parents – Benino and Corazon Aquino - opposition to former dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies. They cite democracy in the election process…

However, we KmB/AJLPP know that it is no coincidence that the electoral machines were cited as faulty just days before the election….that 18 people can be politically killed within the span of one weekend just before the election….we know that it is no coincidence that Aquino has become the new pet of the US government – just like Corazon Aquino, his mother, and the previous Philippine presidents.

We know this because we know the true background of Noynoy Aquino: a member of one of the wealthiest landlord families in the entire country – the Cojuangco/Aquino clan. The same clan that has no problem massacring peasants asking to be paid more than 8 cents/day, land-grabbing, and violating union contracts, and human rights to this day.

Aquino may attempt to position himself as a champion of democracy in contrast to his predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – but we know – just as we knew when Obama took office from George W. Bush – that these electeds will only answer to their class interests. Aquino promises to strengthen the armed forces to protect ordinary people, but we know what to expect from the strengthening of the military – a heightened war on the people’s movements.
The vast majority of the Filipino people will never see the so-called democracy that Aquino is said to bring to the country.

Bourgeoisie Elections not the answer: Bottom-up politics/class struggle

We in KmB/AJLPP can only come to one conclusion for this cycle of puppetry, the service of imperial interests, and the continuing oppression of the Filipino people – bourgeoisie elections are not the answer. As long as the structure of Philippine society remains intact in its semi-feudal, semi-colonial state, where 98% of the population are peasants, workers, urban poor, and less than 2% of the population, in cahoots with the United States, both own the land/industry, and run the political system, there will be no supposed change…no matter which landlord or capitalist takes office. This election only shows history repeating itself.

Instead, we say that the REAL hope, the REAL change lies in the class struggle – in the possibility of dismantling the current system and replacing it with a sovereign state which meets the needs of the people.