**Critical points of analysis on the worsening ruling class rifts
under the Aquino regime**
Communist Party of the Philippines
13 December 2011
The impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona can be
considered as an expedient albeit minor course of action towards
putting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before the bar of justice. Corona is
an Arroyo lackey. Foreseeing legal battles, the former president
appointed Corona as Chief Justice at the eleventh hour so that she
could avail of the powers of the Supreme Court when she needs to.
Corona's impeachment was carried out swiftly last Monday by a
coalition of anti-Arroyo forces in the House of Representatives. The
effort was supported by the small minority of progressive parties
which has long opposed Arroyo's rotten and brutal rule. To succeed in
having close to 190 congressmen sign the impeachment resolution
against Corona in so short a time, however, Aquino and the Liberal
Party leadership would have had to wield threats and dangle promises,
using the extraordinary "convincing" power of the congressional pork
barrel as a pressure point. Not a few allies of Aquino were nauseated
with what they viewed as the railroading of the impeachment
resolution.
It is utterly hypocritical for Aquino and his spokesmen to claim that
the Corona impeachment resolution is an "independent act" of Congress
and then hold a "celebration party" afterwards to "thank"
congressional allies.
Aquino has launched an aggressive PR binge against Corona who he has
accused of being the "biggest stumbling block" to his regime's
so-called anti-corruption drive and effort to prosecute Gloria Arroyo.
Aquino has shorn off all things gracious and statesmanly and delivered
one vitriolic speech after another attacking Corona, and couching his
campaign with populist anti-Arroyo diatribes.
Working together with the Malacañang-supported Akbayan party, he has
stepped up his attacks against Corona in the hope of generating
political pressure to push him to resign instead of going through a
lengthy trial at the Senate. This, however, is a thinly veiled attempt
by the landlord president to hide his personal animosity towards
Corona over the recent Supreme Court decision ordering the
Cojuangco-owned 6,500-hectare Hacienda Luisita to be subjected to land
distribution.
The ultimate objective, however, is not only to remove Corona from
the Supreme Court, but to compel all other members of the high court
to toe the line.
To the chagrin of Aquino, Corona has only become more bellicose and
has himself engaged in political alliance-building, consolidating the
ranks of judges and lawyers and gearing for a showdown. He has styled
himself as a "democrat" at the forefront of what he denounces as
Aquino's creeping dictatorship. By pitting himself against Aquino,
Corona hopes to win over support from the Filipino people who have
grown disenchanted with the ruling regime.
The impeachment of Corona and the earlier arrest of Gloria Arroyo
underscore the continuing deep-going dissension and political fissures
within the ranks of the ruling reactionary classes. The maneuvers and
counter-maneuvers of rival political cliques are setting forth an
intense crisis that is shaking the ruling political system.
Before the 2010 elections, the Arroyo clique agreed to allow a smooth
transition of power in exchange for political accommodations under the
Aquino regime. Such an agreement, however, had become increasingly
untenable for the Aquino clique. It had to face the growing clamor of
the people to prosecute and punish Arroyo for her crimes. Prior to
causing Arroyo's hospital arrest last November, it was also fast
losing popular support because of its failure to address the people's
worsening socio-economic conditions.
The Aquino regime charged Arroyo with a relatively minor crime
compared to the high crimes of plunder and violations of international
humanitarian law. The charges were calibrated in such a way as to
allow future accommodations for Arroyo. However, the Supreme Court's
subsequent decision on the Hacienda Luisita case--widely seen as a
response against Arroyo's arrest--was too much of a counter-punch for
Aquino.
By delivering the impeachment counterblow, Aquino hopes to punish
Corona and ensure a more pliant Supreme Court. He, however, has also
raised the ante and risks intense political backfire.
The people and their democratic and progressive forces can take
advantage of the crisis of the ruling system by building alliances on
several levels and fronts in order to isolate the ruling Aquino clique
and attain justice for Arroyo's crimes.
They must press for the prosecution and punishment of Arroyo. They
can forge ties with various groups and personalities, including those
supportive of the Aquino regime but are not necessarily its rabid
apologists or defenders. They can unite on the basis of the people's
clamor to make Arroyo pay for the biggest cases of corruption and war
crimes at the soonest possible time. They can serve as watchdogs
against any political accommodation between the Aquino and Arroyo
cliques.
On the other hand, they can also take advantage of the mounting
grievances against Aquino of people who are not necessarily allies of
Arroyo but are repelled by Aquino's brusque and high-handed attacks
against Corona.
Corona can gain broad popular support if he asserts his independence
from Arroyo by steering the Supreme Court to the people's side over
the numerous crimes of Arroyo and her minions. If he succeeds in
distancing himself from Arroyo, Corona can further earn the support of
broad sections of the people by following up the Hacienda Luisita
decision with more pro-people jurisprudence.
Corona's Supreme Court should be challenged to revoke the policy of
labor-only contracting, repudiate the budgetary cuts on social
services, issue a temporary restraining order against all urban poor
demolitions, repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, the Mining Act of 1995,
the CARPER, the Foreign Investments Act and many other laws that
oppress the people.
Furthermore, a broad united front can be built on the basis of
exposing and opposing the corruption of the Aquino regime. Corruption,
in particular, is rife in the implementation of the regime's key
programs, specifically the Public Private Partnership Program and
Conditional Cash Transfer Program. This united front can help expose
corruption in the cancellation and renegotiation of state contracts to
favor Aquino's "Kamag-anak, Kaibigan at Kaklase" allies.
The Filipino people are acutely aware that underneath all the
anti-Arroyo din being generated by the Aquino regime is the fact that
Aquino has failed to carry out any policy shift, implementing
basically the same debt-driven, anti-poor programs carried out under
the Arroyo regime that favor foreign big business and their local
counterparts. From a broader perspective, they can see that the
Aquinos and Arroyos are strategic allies in terms of their shared
interest of maintaining the ruling system.
The Filipino people should not be distracted by the empty noise being
created by the Aquino regime and press on with their basic demands.
They must continue to push forward their struggle for land reform and
demand to scrap the CARPER law. They must continue to press for
nationalist economic policies that will give emphasis to generating
local jobs, providing decent wages and reducing the prices of oil
products and other basic commodities. They should continue to clamor
for bigger budgetary appropriations for health, education and other
social services and expose the debt-dependent CCT program.
They should continue to oppose the campaign to demolish urban poor
dwellings to provide land for foreign and local big comprador
projects. They should continue to oppose the incursion of foreign
mining companies and big plantations that despoil the environment and
grab thousands of hectares of land and ancestral domain from the
peasants and poor minority peoples. They must expose and oppose the
brutal war of suppression being carried by the Aquino regime, demand
the release of political prisoners and condemn the widespread cases of
military abuses, torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial
killings and the reign of military terror in rural communities.
The people's revolutionary movement can definitely gain from the
political crisis of the ruling system. The deepening rifts between the
rival political cliques are bound to spill over to, weaken and
demoralize the armed forces and national police. As in the past,
disgruntled junior officers and rank and file of the AFP and PNP are
bound to seek discussions and link up with the revolutionary forces.
The New People's Army (NPA) should consciously plan to actively reach
out to these officers and personnel in order to conduct political
education among them and to win them over to the side of the
revolution. At the same time, the NPA should continue to launch more
frequent and bigger tactical offensives in order to weaken the state
armed machinery, help defeat its campaign of suppression against the
people, strengthen the people's army and advance to the next strategic
stage of people's war.
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