Philippines: from GLW archives. 7

["Alan Bradley" <alanb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From issue 431 of Green Left Weekly (http://www.greenleft.org.au)

Philippines: Anti-Estrada movement deepens ruling class crisis
BY REIHANA MOHIDEEN

MANILA ? In November alone, more than 300,000 demonstrators here have
called for the resignation or sacking of President Joseph Estrada (known as
Erap). The mass protests have continued to put pressure on the regime and
have deepened the split in the ruling class.

On November 4, 100,000 people attended a prayer rally called by former
president Cory Aquino and Catholic Archbishop Cardinal Sin. On November 14,
and again on November 30, 160,000 people demonstrated. On both days,
thousands rallied in cities and towns across the country.

The Estrada regime responded by mobilising its supporters in Christian
fundamentalist organisations for a Manila prayer rally. The rally attracted
1 million people. However, many people were paid hefty sums of money to
attend.

A broad range of political forces, ranging from the anti-Estrada wing of
the ruling class ? the ?yellow? forces of Aquino and the Catholic Church ?
to left-wing political parties and mass organisations, have mobilised
through informal collaboration and several formal alliances.

The three main alliances involved are: RIO (Resign, Impeach, Oust), which
consists of the main opposition capitalist party Lakas-NUCD and Bayan, the
broad front aligned with the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP); KOMPIL (Congress of the Filipino People), an alliance led by
social-democrats in alliance with the ?yellow? forces of Cory Aquino; and
PARE (People's Action to Remove Erap), an alliance of left and some
social-democratic forces.

While calling for the resignation (and sometimes for the ouster of Erap),
RIO supports vice-president and Lakas-NUCD member Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
(known as GMA) as Estrada's replacement. This has been publicly supported
by the CPP leadership and CPP members enforce this line strictly, even
discouraging militant chants against GMA at rallies organised by RIO.
KOMPIL has the same basic position as RIO.

In contrast, PARE is calling for the sacking of the Estrada regime and the
rejection of GMA as replacement. PARE calls for a government of the people
as an alternative to the Estrada regime i.e. PARE campaigns for an
extra-constitutional solution to the crisis.

The pressure of the mass movement has forced Congress to begin impeachment
proceedings against Estrada on corruption and bribery charges, and for
violation of the constitution. The impeachment charges have passed the
lower house and are now being heard by the Senate.

The impeachment trial of the president is set to begin on December 7.
Estrada still has the numbers in the Senate and there is general scepticism
about the outcome of the Senate hearings. Plans are being made for daily
mobilisations outside the Senate in December.

Divide and Rule

The government has launched a red-baiting campaign in an attempt to split
the opposition. Leading members of the regime have accused communists of
?infiltrating? the anti-government alliances and manipulating the
?moderate? forces. Four organisations have been named as ?communist
infiltrators? and ?enemies of the state? ? Bayan, Sanlakas, the Socialist
Party of Labor (SPP) and the Movement for National Democracy (KPD).

SPP chairperson Sonny Melencio said in response: ?These are divide-and-rule
tactics to isolate the socialist forces from the broad anti-Erap movement.
These are classic tactics used by dictators, from Hitler to Marcos, and are
aimed at destroying the entire opposition.

?The existing constitution, the so-called `Cory constitution' forged
through the people's power rebellion of 1986, recognises the right of
people to change the government by direct mass intervention or
extra-constitutional means. In calling for the ouster of the regime we are
reclaiming this right to change the government through people's power.

?The SPP has been labelled as an `enemy of the state'. We maintain that we
are truly an enemy of this despotic state but we are, however, the true
friends of the people.?

The regime's tactics have partly succeeded. Some left organisations have
called for the ?reform? of the regime under the guise that the opposition
does not offer a viable alternative. The National Federation of Labor
Unions (NAFLU), which has traditionally been a part of the progressive
labour movement, endorsed a full-page advertisement in the leading English
daily Inquirer calling on the regime to reform.

NAFLU president Ka Simo Carullo is also the president of Alab Katipunan, a
broad front aligned with the Revolutionary Workers Party (RWP). Alab
Katipunan has followed NAFLU by placing prominent newspaper advertisements
rejecting the anti-Estrada movement, calling on the people not to get
involved in the ?quarrels? of the ?trapos? (traditional politicians) and
urging the people to put forward their ?day-to-day demands? instead.

A coup scenario

Meanwhile, the crisis in the ruling class continues to deepen. Sections of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines have made it known that they do not
support the Estrada regime. The Philippine National Police, on the other
hand, is under the control of the Estrada regime's supporters.

A group called the New Democratic Alliance (NDA), which consists of
sections of the armed forces including the Revolutionary Nationalist
Alliance (RAM), which has a history of coup plots against the former Aquino
government, has called for a civilian-military junta. RAM members have been
prominent participants at some of the rallies organised by RIO. RAM is
amenable to a government headed by GMA.

An SPP leaflet issued in response to this threat stated: ?The SPP will
resist any coup attempt by the military. A coup will be used against the
people and the mass movement. Its intention is to have GMA as the
figurehead president while the military takes full control. Groups such as
the NDA only project the wishes of the right-wing nationalists within the
army and the government. We call on the broad mass movement to be alert to
this threat. We must unite against the possibility of a coup.?