Red Revolution

(Opinion)

Red Revolution

(solution to the rotten Philippine Polity and Governance)

There is no way for me to refuse Red Revolution until the despicable polity and governance has not yet truly changed here in our country where the democracy should always exist and the authoritarian power should be acquired by the one who truly deserves it– the masses.

I’ve been observing how Philippine polity and governance is actually practiced in our country and one thing that I have observed is the ruthless division between the administration and the opposition and how one is better than the other, the blatant corruption of Philippine officials and how desperate the most of them of even committing such heinous crimes just to win the governance or to consolidate more authoritarian power in the society. Just as how President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA), when she committed the very immoral electoral fraud in her “Hello Garci?” controversial issue. Now, election time is just around the corner and PGMA is so obsessed to amend the constitution into charter change. It is an absurd to change the constitution knowing the fact that PGMA’s hidden goal is to stay long in her position and serve as the scrupulous ‘puppet’ of the imperialists. More, the administration is also calling for national unity and reconciliation. We need to stop all these political bickering and such for our country to move on. It is ironic for a government to call for unity and reconciliation if its instrument for peace (i.e: the military and police) are primarily the cause of disunity. How many activists, students, priests, lawyers, women, and such have been killed allegedly or have been abducted by the military?

Nevertheless, ruthless number of extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture are becoming so rampant here in this country, most especially when PGMA started her presidency. Until now, the progressives UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, journalist Jojo Burgos, and such still haven’t found for years since they were abducted no one else but by the military.

Here comes also the unequal or lack of budget allocation of the government in public services such as the budget cuts in different State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) leading to commercialization and privatization. Worse, the problem on Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI) continuously arise such as, the University of the Philippines (UP) has already increased 300% in tuition, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) has been paying a developmental fee added in their miscellaneous fee, and the Philippine Normal University (PNU) would increase 5% in tuition every year. While on the other hand, the government allots large budget in Philippine military pushing for military exercises. PGMA even allowed Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of US despite its many threats to the people in the country just to save her deteriorating hegemony.

However, there are also the wishy-washy political parties and a weak political system here in the country. It seems sarcastic how main parties are too personality-oriented, and not program-oriented. In fact, they are indistinguishable from one another in their political beliefs and programs. They have a weak membership bases and operate only during election time. Political turncoatism is a venerable tradition, as Felipe Miranda puts it. Post-Marcos parties, in particular, are said to reflect the undeveloped or malformed character of the Philippine political party system. Far from being stable, programmatic organizations, they have proven to be nebulous entities that can be set up, merged with others, split, resurrected, regurgitated, reconstituted, renamed, repackaged, recycled or flushed down the toilet anytime. Just as a butterfly-politician flits from one party to another, the party flits from one coalition to the next. Most politicians have come to be derogatorily called “trapo”, which is short for “traditional politician” but ordinarily means ‘dirty old rag.” The Philippines’ trapo parties may seem to be feeble, sapless creatures, but collectively, they play a key role in the institutionalization of political corruption in the country.

It is also ironic that the government is clamoring for economic reforms that would lead to economic stability and development, but has failed to see who is directly affected by the Expanded Value-Added Tax or E-VAT and the oil deregulation law–none other than the masses.

Despite anomalies where PGMA is involve such as the ZTE-NBN deal that seems to have been faded now, electoral fraud, and different faces of corruption, she is still have the guts to stand in front of the public here in the country and abroad to boast her lies saying that the country is bearing fruit when the truth is many people dying from intense hunger.

Sometimes, I would think if Gat Bonifacio is still alive right now, he would most likely lead another revolution. Indeed, the ideas of the Communist Party are needed to have genuine political and economic reforms. That is why for me, the New People’s Army (NPA) is actually the real army of the people. If this government can’t do anything to stop its mediocre political and economic reforms, the left would be the only remaining answer to the problems of majority of the people. I would not hesitate to be part of the red revolution and be ready for any circumstances if in return would be for the benefit of the people in majority.