The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today welcomed plans by Philippine Pres. Benigno Aquino III to expose in his state of the nation address (SONA) what he describes as “shocking cases” of unprecedented corruption by the Gloria Arroyo government, but added that “that will not be enough”.
The CPP reminded Aquino of the need for “swift and decisive efforts to prosecute and punish Arroyo and her cohorts for their grievous crimes against the people.” The demand to prosecute Gloria Arroyo for capital crimes of plunder and gross human rights violations within the new administration’s first 100 days is the most urgent demand of wide sections of the people, said the CPP.
“Aquino has been in office for almost a third of that deadline. Yet, except for the appointment of the chairman of the Truth Commission, no definitive steps have yet been taken towards initiating the criminal
prosecution of Arroyo. Questions have also been raised loudly about the propriety of appointing a chairman who benefited a lot from the past administration,” the CPP pointed out.
The CPP said further that “Everyday that Gloria Arroyo and her ilk remain unpunished for wanton plunder, gross human rights violations and other capital crimes, the Filipino people become more and more critical about the new administration itself.” The National Democratic Front of the Philippines also warned that Aquino’s failure to fulfill his promise (to prosecute Arroyo) within the first 100 days of his rule will “outrage the people”.
The CPP also pointed out that “Aside from Arroyo’s prosecution and punishment for gargantuan cases of corruption and plunder, she must be held to account and be punished for the several thousand cases of
human rights violations perpetrated by the fascist military and security forces under her overall command as commander-in-chief.”
“It is of prime importance not only to make Arroyo responsible for the crimes against humanity perpetrated by fascist state agents in the nine and half years of her reign. Aquino must also to put a stop to the impunity with which the AFP has carried out its attacks against activists and unarmed critics of the government (of the Republic of the Philippines),” said the CPP.
“Aquino’s failure to punish Arroyo and her key officials responsible for the military campaign of suppression and annihilation under the Oplan Bantay Laya of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will not only mean a failure of justice for the people. Worse, it will embolden the fascists to continue their war of terror that only victimizes the people,” the CPP added. “As the new commander-in-chief of the reactionary armed forces, Aquino himself will be responsible for the blood spilt from the acts committed by his men since his first day in office.”
The CPP said further that prosecuting and punishing Arroyo is only one of the crying demands of the people. “There are long-standing basic demands that have become more and more pressing in the face of
the worsening decay of the antiquated semicolonial and semifeudal political and socio-economic system, and the resulting increasing sufferings of the mass of the Filipino people.
Even as the CPP expects Aquino’s SONA to pin all the blame on his predecessor for the people’s suffering and make lame promises for the people’s political and socio-economic upliftment, the CPP called on the Filipino people to advance all the more their demand and struggle for national freedom, people’s democracy and their socio-economic interests, including genuine land reform, national industrialization and social services.
“They must raise their awareness of the fact that the US-Aquino regime is just the new caretaker of a decadent social system that engenders exploitation and corruption, poverty, injustice, state violence and oppression. Aquino’s empty rhetoric and shallow gimmickry can only mask the intensity of the social crisis and the people’s sufferings.”
“Given the new puppet’s all-out espousal of neocolonial and neoliberal policies dictated by its US imperialist master, the people have no choice but to rely on their own struggles and forces for revolutionary change in order to achieve their aspiration for national freedom, social liberation and progress.”
