Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte’s One-Man Revolution and the CPP (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian vision is no way forward for the Philippines.
Arroyo, Philippine military, police face torture raps from 8 of Morong 43 (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Eight of the 43 health workers collectively known as the Morong 43, who were arrested in February 2010 during a medical training, filed criminal charges against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several military officials before the Department of Justice.
CPP-NPA Permit to Campaign Fees: Fundraising or Opportunism? (tags)
The Philippine Left and the 2010 Elections The issue of the New Peoples Army collecting ‘permit to campaign fees’ (euphemistically named ‘revolutionary taxes’ by the Communist Party of the Philippines) from capitalist traditional politicians (trapo or rug) wanting to campaign in NPA strongholds has once again resurfaced in the lead-up to the May 2010 elections. The fees buy these trapo politicians a ‘permit to campaign’ in NPA areas. According to a February 5 Dateline news report, documents obtained from an NPA leader arrested in January this year, pegs the taxes from P30 million for a presidential candidate to P5000 for a candidate for local council. It’s a well-known ‘secret’ in the left that this practice of tax collection during elections is a lucrative source of fundraising for the CPP-NPA.
WHOSE COUNTRY IS IT ANYWAY? (tags)
After 11 years of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the two sides were close to a deal known as the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. This was essentially an agreement that would have granted points of autonomy to the Moro people in Mindanao and the Southern Philippines. Just before the signing, the government stopped the negotiations on Sept. 3 and plunged into attack mode. They launched joint police-military offensives against the MILF and civilians. Since then, more than 500,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to abandon homes and thrown into refugee camps. Now, one-third of the Philippines is on the verge of erupting into open warfare. I'm not talking about your garden variety guerilla skirmishes here and there. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their allies have proven capable of launching conventional maneuvers into the theater in the past. Add to that milieu the very vibrant Communist led New People's Army Southern Command and of course the reactionary group Abu Sayyaf - then you have a situation that could explode into a conflict that could rival the Balkans in the 90's.
PHILIPPINES: Melissa Roxas' fighting stance against Arroyo regime (tags)
Melissa Roxas, member of BAYAN-USA and the cultural group Habi Arts in Los Angeles, California, returned to the country on July 20 to face head on those who abducted and tortured her and her two companions and pursue the cases she has filed against them. She attended a Court of Appeals hearing on her petition for a writ of amparo. She also testified before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Committee on Human Rights of the House of Representatives regarding her abduction and torture.
DAAO CITY MAYOR LAMBAST AFP (tags)
Enough is enough. Even the City mayor is angry at the military abuses. Military abuses are driving more and more people to join communist rebels, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said here Friday. This is what AJLPP sources learned today.
COMMUNISM NOW DOWN TO THE LOWEST IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Despite the tremendous efforts of the Communist Party in the Philippines to destabilize the government, its popularity is at its lowest.
Philippine Government Launches New War on Muslim Groups (tags)
War officially came to southern Philippines again as the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo unilaterally put an end to eleven years of negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) September 3. A month early the government abruptly broke off talks with the MILF on the eve of signing an autonomy pact. There are numerous reports of U.S. Special Forces accompanying Philippines Army units on their deadly sweeps in the Bangsamoro (land of the Moro people) region. More than 100 people have been killed so far and half a million refugees have fled from the fighting. Bourgeois liberals and the petty-bourgeois left lamely call on the government to resume the “peace process,” which in any case was only intended to wear down the insurgents. Revolutionaries instead seek to mobilize Philippine workers to drive out all U.S. forces, whatever their legal status; to force the withdrawal of the AFP from the contested southern areas; and to defend the Bangsamoro people and their right to self-determination.
Open Letter to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Canada (tags)
We, the undersigned Canadian-based organizations and individuals, strongly condemn the harassment by armed men of Rep. Satur Ocampo on his return from a Human Rights Mission to Canada. We also condemn the threat of his imminent arrest. We are seriously concerned for his safety and that of the other members of the Mission, Rep. Crispin Beltran and Rep. Luz Ilagan.