By Jose Maria Sison
November 21, 2019
It is fine that from 64 there are now 78 congressmen signing the petition to stop the crackdown on the legal patriotic and progressive organizations. They deserve appreciation and congratulations. They are a significant number in view of the usual mechanical majority of congressmen that line up with the Duterte regime on foul legislative acts that rob, exploit and oppress the people.
What are those foul legislative acts of the majority of the House? To cite some: those aligned with the neoliberal economic policy and state terrorism, the mounting tax and debt burden, pork barrel from which to get cuts from private contractors, acquiescence to high interest loans and overpriced infrastructure projects, expanded coverage of endo system, imported rice to kill the local rice farmers, lopsided budget in favor of the president, the military and police at the expense of social services (public education, health and the like) and doubling of salaries of military and police and stagnation of the lower salaries for public school teachers, health personnel and so on.
The Duterte regime is unwittingly making the conditions exceedingly favorable for the armed revolution of the people by engaging in the gross and systematic violations of human rights in the urban and rural areas, in the militarization and fascisation of government and society under EO 70, in the corrupt misallocation of public resources and in excessive local and foreign borrowing to finance the consumption-driven importation of foreign manufactures and to prevent the industrialization and development of the Philippines.
Even while in office, Duterte will be hit hard by the consequences of his anti-national and anti-democratic policies and acts because of the rapidly worsening crisis of both the domestic ruling system and the world capitalist system, the intolerable suffering of the people from oppression and exploitation, the increasing anger of the people and the impending outbreak of widespread and intense mass protests, already bursting out in so many countries on a global scale.
