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PRESS STATEMENTS & INTERVIEWS, 2001 - Present |
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INTERVIEW WITH PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON ON THE INCOMING AQUINO REGIME Translation of Pilipino original posted in http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2010/06/panayam-kay-prop-jose-maria-sison-hinggil-sa-papasok-na-rehimeng-aquino/ By Ilang-Ilang Quijano Pinoy Weekly 7 June 2010 1. Why do you think Noynoy Aquino won in the last election? JMS: Noynoy Aquino won because prior to the elections he had been chosen by the US imperialists and the local ruling classes of big compradors and landlords to be the new president of the ruling system. Despite his pretense at relying on one-peso donations from the common people, it was the big foreign and Filipino businessmen that poured the massive financial support to his campaign. In the course of the campaign, Noynoy surpassed Manny Villar in collecting and spending the funds for various types of propaganda . The big mass media supported Noynoy. His aides were clever at propaganda. To obscure his vacuous track-record and lack of accomplishment, his media handlers emphasized the notion that he is the spotless heir of his father and mother, and the attack on the corruption of the Arroyo regime. In this regard, the Villaroyo phrase attacking Villar as the agent of Arroyo took effect because Villar did not attack Arroyo. There are also indications of pre-programming done in the automated electoral system of Smartmatic, which is controlled by the US and its agents, to ensure the victory of Aquino and Binay. It is obvious that a large number of votes were shaved off from Manny Villar and Loren Legarda. It is a case of overkill. Their sudden fall is unbelievable. There are reports that six weeks before election day, high representatives of the CIA, the Aquino family and the Arroyo regime decided the pre-programming of the results of the elections. The conversation between Pinky Aquino-Abellada and Mrs. Arroyo had paved the way for this arrangement. 2. At this stage it is said that the public sentiment is still optimistic about the incoming administration. Will this optimism last? JMS: There is optimism in the public sentiment because the detestable Arroyo regime is over and the people are hoping that Aquino would fulfil his big promises such as making Gloria M. Arroyo and her cohorts accountable for the numerous crimes of corruption and violations of human rights. Various parties and organizations are pushing Noynoy to fulfil his promises. Even the National Democratic Front of the Philippines issued a statement challenging the incoming Aquino administration to fulfil its most important promises during its first 100 days to improve the atmosphere and course for the resumption of peace talks between the NDFP and the reactionary government. If within the first 100 days Noynoy would fail to fulfil any important promise and the crisis in the country would continue to worsen, the broad masses of the Filipino people would hate the Aquino regime and Noynoy himself for being a traitor and deceiver of the people. It would then be evident that Aquino is a dummy of the collaboration between the US imperialists and local ruling classes, including the Arroyo and Aquino families. It is publicly known that these two families have long been in connivance with each other. 3. How can the mass movement ensure that Gloria M. Arroyo is held accountable for her crimes against the people? JMS: The mass movement has to be vigilant, prompt and militant. Always remember that Arroyo and Aquino belong to the exploiting classes. They are rivals in the contest to acquire more power and wealth. But they collaborate in confronting the aspirations and interest of the masses. They can unite in deceiving the oppressed masses and in suppressing the mass movement against exploitation, oppression and government corruption. Even as Arroyo is no longer president, she still has power. She is the president of Lakas-KAMPI. She has made sure that her minions control the Supreme Court, the Sandigangbayan and the Ombudsman and some big cases against her have been dismissed. She has made sure that that Lakas-KAMPI still has many governors and mayors. She has made sure that she has a direct share of power. She heads the Lakas-KAMPI bloc in the House of Representatives. Arroyo can try to make herself or one of her stooges the speaker of the House or she can strike an agreement with Aquino that one of his cohorts becomes the speaker if Arroyo is not made accountable for her crimes and in return Aquino is not put under threat of impeachment in the future. The mass movement can find out the alignment and realignment of political forces inside Congress because there are progressive members of the House. Most important of all is the firm stand of the mass movement against the crimes of Arroyo and the vigorous efforts to hold her accountable. It should watch and fight the probable connivance between the Aquinos and the Arroyos. Aquino should be held accountable if he does not fulfil his promise to run after and prosecute Arroyo. The mass movement should also be watchful of the new wave of crimes that will certainly arise from the new regime. 4. Aquino promised that he would act on the most outstanding cases of violations of human rights. What do you think of this promise of his? JMS: Let us see whether Aquino is capable of fulfilling his promises. If he is serious, he can do a lot within his first 100 days to render justice in the cases of abduction, illegal detention, torture and extrajudicial killings. These cases are very well documented. It is fine if he can do something good. But there are obvious reasons that he would renege on his promises. Noynoy is possibly afraid of f the whole or a section of the reactionary army and police. He may not be capable of thinking and doing a reshuffling of the military and police officers in order to create a favourable condition for obtaining justice in the many cases of violations of human rights during the time of Arroyo. But there may not even be a question of Noynoy's fear of the military and police. Despite his declared dislike for the violations of human rights, what might still prevail over him would be his allegiance to the greedy and brutal character of the reactionary state and his class of big comprador-landlords, as well as his obedience to the policies and orders of the US imperialists on the use of the military, police and paramilitary to suppress the revolutionary forces and the legal democratic forces. 5. Some individuals in the Aquino camp were active in Red-baiting during the election campaign. Is this an indication of what the situation of human rights and peace talks will be under the Aquino administration? JMS: The active and gross red-baiting done by his prominent henchmen during the campaign is a strong indication or clear signal of what would be the policy of Aquino on the issue of human rights and peace. Aquino himself indicated in his speech before the foreign correspondents that he does not need peace negotiations because he could handle the pacification and suppression of the revolutionary movement through the simultaneous use of military force and the so-called four-part policy of 1) good governance, 2) delivery of social services, 3) economic reconstruction and development and 4) security reforms. This reveals that he was chosen to be president by the US imperialists and big comprador-landlords because they saw in the Hacienda Luisita massacre and the subsequent killings in Tarlac, Noynoy's penchant and capacity for violence against the toiling masses and those branded as communists and thus, he can be relied upon to enforce the so-called anti-terrorist policy and, in particular, the US Guide to Counterinsurgency. There are indications that the human rights situation will become worse than during the times of Marcos, Cory Aquino and Arroyo. There are also indications that the new regime will do away with peace talks so that Noynoy can carry out the orders of the US imperialists. It is likely that he will be driven by his penchant for the use of violence to preserve the power and wealth of his family and his class.###
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