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STATEMENTS & PRESS RELEASES
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Press Statement
December 29, 2002
Patricio Ramirez
Spokesperson
Partido ng Manggagawang Pilipino
GMA's ouster through an
uprising is a possibility
Rejection of rival's rise to power is a necessity
In the coming
year, the revolutionary movement must prepare for the distinct
possibility that the puppet GMA regime will be ousted through a people's
uprising. The task of the revolutionary forces is to reject the
ascension to power of any of GMA's reactionary rivals and popularize the
call for a thoroughgoing social revolution.
The CPP's move to intensify the armed struggle in order to overthrow the
GMA regime but without calling on the people to repudiate her contenders
is a patent betrayal of the revolution. The CPP is setting up the
scenario for a worse sequel to EDSA Dos by forging a united front with
reactionary forces for GMA's ouster and Guingona's rise to power. When
Armando Liwanag's declares "Guingona is open to replacing GMA before
2004," he is not stating a fact but leaking a conspiracy.
GMA replacing Estrada was a tragedy but Guingona supplanting GMA will be
a farce, both in terms of the standards of the ruling system and the
interests of the oppressed masses. At least GMA was an elected
vice-president but Guingona is only an appointee. Guingona, or De
Venecia, have no track record to speak of to merit being rewarded by a
victorious people's uprising. Guingona may be a nationalist but he is
bourgeois nonetheless. De Venecia was and still is the epitome of the
traditional politician. Both have been silent while the workers struggle
for protection against globalization, the urban poor and vendors resist
demolitions and the peasants fight for land reform. |
Hand in hand
with the CPP's opportunist tactic for GMA's ouster, is its anemic
reading of the task for the 2004 elections. It is not the business of
the revolutionary movement to defeat GMA in the 2004 elections for it
only means the success of any of her rivals.
The PMP calls on the people to intensify the mass struggles and forge
the mass movement independent of the competing reactionaries. Amidst the
profound split within the ruling class, the independent mass movement
must put the stamp of the people's demand for social reform and social
change.
With the prospect of a war breaking out in Iraq and a recession blowing
up the world economy, the conditions are ripe for a rapid advance of the
revolutionary movement. The ruling class cannot and will not halt the
collapse of the economy and the worsening of poverty under the blows of
imperialist globalization that is itself in crisis.
The prospect of a people's uprising maturing rests on mass struggles,
like the PLDT strike and the vendor's struggles, expanding and
deepening. Such is the preparation for a plebian- not patrician-led
people's uprising like three previous EDSA's. Nevertheless, if an
uprising does not mature before 2004, then the independent mass movement
will intervene in the elections by projecting a progressive platform and
supporting progressive candidates for Congress. ### |
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