On her 63rd birthday: Workers wish prison term for Arroyo

By Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)

A prison term starting June 30 is the wish of workers for Gloria Arroyo’s 63rd birthday today, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said.

KMU also wishes that the Judicial and Bar Council, which is holding its meeting today, will not give a pleasant gift to Mrs. Arroyo, in the form of expediting her appointment of the next chief justice.

“Happy Ba-bay day, Madame President. We hope that this will be your last birthday in the Palace, for our birthday wish for you is no less than a prison term. You deserve no less than the realization of this wish because you have committed countless crimes against the Filipino workers and people,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“Since 2001, and especially after 2004, we activists have been celebrating, with tears in our eyes, the birthdays of our comrades who were killed or disappeared by this regime. Today, as she celebrates her birthday, we remind Mrs. Arroyo of the sad birthdays caused by the deaths and disappearances that she has ordered,” Labog added.

KMU, together with Anakpawis Partylist, called on the public to observe what it called “Birthday ni Gloria, Ba-bye day ng masa,” and hold a noise barrage from 4:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon. About 200 KMU and Anakpawis members gathered in Trabajo Market for the noise barrage. They then marched to Mendiola to present a “gift” to Mrs. Arroyo.

“Our gift is a cage. This is a symbol of the workers’ and people’s birthday wish to put Mrs. Arroyo behind bars for her crimes – from corruption to human rights abuses, and from electoral fraud to murderous criminal neglect. We really look forward to June 30, the day that she loses her immunity from suits and punishment,” Labog said.

“If Arroyo refuses to grant the people’s wish for prison term and pursues her devious schemes, then she must brace for a citizen’s arrest. She can run but she cannot hide from the wrath of Filipinos,” he added.

JBC Meeting

The labor leader also said the public wishes that the Judicial and Bar Council will not grant Mrs. Arroyo’s request for a pleasant birthday present today, as the body meets to screen nominees for the next chief justice of the Supreme Court.

“We hope that the JBC understands that what is legal is not necessarily good for the country. We hope it refuses to grant Mrs. Arroyo’s birthday wish to receive a pleasant gift from the body, in the form of a list of CJ nominees that she can easily appoint,” said Labog.

The JBC is set to meet on the day of Mrs. Arroyo’s birthday, to screen nominees for chief justice of the Supreme Court. The administration has been pushing for Mrs. Arroyo to appoint the next CJ, a move seen by workers and people as paving the way for Mrs. Arroyo’s continued hold on power and for her immunity from prosecution.

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Mrs. Gloria Arroyo treads the path of Dictator Marcos

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) vigorously condemns Mrs. Gloria Arroyo's declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. It is reminiscent of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus a year before declaring Martial Law in 1972.

Prominent law professors have denounced her declaration as a contemptuous violation of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines which requires an invasion or rebellion for such declaration. Moreover, the Supreme Court has exposed as false her claim that the judicial system in Maguindanao is not functioning.

She relies on her loyal followers in the House of Representatives to outvote the opposition in the Senate. Both houses of Congress have to approve by simple majority her declaration.

This testing of the waters by Ms. Gloria Arroyo in preparation for possible declaration of martial law in other areas or all over the country is one scheme she has for clinging to power. It is ominous that Major Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, AFP vice-chief of staff for operations, has just recommended that the martial law proclamation be extended to the May 2010 elections.

Mrs. Arroyo has also filed her candidacy for a congressional seat in her home province of Pampanga. This would pave the way for her to be elected Prime Minister once a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) would be convened to amend the Constitution.

The US and other foreign powers are pushing for amending the Constitution to allow 100% ownership of land by foreigners and other amendments advantageous to their interests. Mrs. Arroyo can therefore bank on their support for her Con-Ass move. As Prime Minister she would enjoy immunity from prosecution for her many crimes against the people.

Another scheme of Mrs. Arroyo is No-El or failure of elections together with the declaration of a “Transition Government” under her leadership. Widespread violence, instigated by her warlord cronies, like the Ampatuans of Maguindanao, may be used as the excuse for “Failure of Elections”. The scheme of “Transition Government” under Mrs. Arroyo has been pushed and publicized by her National Security Adviser, Norberto Gonzales, who is concurrently Secretary of Defense.

Mrs. Arroyo has also prepared for the coming elections by making sure that her favorite general, Delfin Bangit, formerly Presidential Security Guard (PSG) chief and head of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, will be the Chief of Staff of the AFP at the time of the elections in May 2010. Other favored generals are placed in strategically important positions.

Even the Maguindanao massacre may be considered suspect as a plot by Mrs. Arroyo and her crony warlord, Andal Ampatuan Sr., to lay the ground for the declaration of martial law. Up to now, Malacanang has not given any explanation why Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the governor of Maguindanao and his son, Zaldy, governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were in Malacanang just prior to and during the Massacre in Maguindanao, for allegedy “an emergency meeting”. It is widely known that Andal Ampatuan Sr. used.force and fraud in Maguindanao to provide Mrs. Arroyo a wide margin of more than 130,000 votes in the 2004 elections. In the entire ARMM, Arroyo won by a margin close to 300,000.

In the 2007 elections, Andal Ampatuan, Sr. ensured a 12-0 sweep for the Administration senatorial candidates. On the contrary, 19 opposition candidates, including the 12 in the “Genuine Opposition” did not get a single vote in 20 out of 22 municipalities in Maguindanao. Soon after her “victory” in the 2004 elections, Mrs. Arroyo threw a big party in Malacanang for Andal Ampatuan, Sr.

It is no wonder that officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been identified as among the leaders of the massacre. Units of the PNP and AFP have been part of the private army of the Ampatuan clan, and many of its weapons were provided by the AFP and PNP.

Mrs. Arroyo and her regime must be condemned and held accountable for the impunity she gives to Ampatuan and her other favored warlords to whom she is deeply indebted for giving her hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes. She must also be held accountable for the massacre in Maguindanao and many other gross violations of human rights because of her schemes to prolong herself in power.

Luis G. Jalandoni

Member, NDFP National Executive Committee

#Philippines #NationalDemocraticFrontOfThePhilippines #GloriaArroyo #Asia

Take the Road to Revolution

8 March 2008

No other woman in the nation’s history has earned the ire of the Filipino people than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. No, this has nothing to do with gender. But yes, it has everything to do with her corruption, her cheating, her lies, her killings that have marked her years in power.

Arroyo has surpassed the sins of past administrations. For all of these, not even Imelda Romualdez-Marcos has earned the distinction of being called “evil” during her time. The evil one is one hell of a kind.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, March 8, Filipino women from all walks of life and from all parts of the world have vowed to turn out in great numbers to join tens of thousands who want Arroyo out of Malacanang Palace. The controversial ZTE-NBN deal is just the last straw. Scams, kickbacks and payoffs have piled up pointing not just to the President’s men but to her husband and herself as well. Daily, doubts about the morality and legitimacy of the regime are rousing the nation’s anger. Nothing that Arroyo can do can stem the tide of protests leading to her ouster, except perhaps the use of extreme military force.

But make no mistake about this. Every day that this regime stays in power brings the women of the Philippines closer to the path of armed revolution. Increasingly, women have seen through the guiles, the scams and the fascism of the regimes’ and Arroyo’s. Inevitably the ranks of the New People’s Army have increased with the participation of women.

The revolutionary movement in the cities has swelled with more women, overtly and covertly, forming organizations, launching protest actions, educating and mobilizing, supporting armed partisans, doing intelligence work, comforting sick or wounded comrades in battle, and sending material support to the red guerillas in the countryside. The more Arroyo holds on to power, the more it stokes the fire of revolution.

Bringing down Arroyo’s regime is a matter of survival for women and their families. Under this regime all talks about women’s empowerment or advancement is a sham. One look at the country’s poverty, unemployment, mass migration and violence against women belies all claims by the regime to women’s liberation.

On this day, March 8, 2008, MAKIBAKA calls on the women of the Philippines: take the road to revolution! Women can be free when the nation is free. The overthrow of the Arroyo regime is one important step in that direction. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men, and free this nation from the shackle of corruption, tyranny, repression. In the heroic tradition of Gabriela Silang, Tandang Sora and Lorena Barros, help bring forth a people’s democratic government committed to public welfare, peace and prosperity.

The road to revolution is long and winding. But every step taken in the struggle against a corrupt and tyrannical regime weakens the reactionary system. The force of change gains ground and the people ultimately, will triumph in the end. And the women, with a voice and strength more forceful than before, shall push for their liberation with even more vigor.

The future looks brighter for women but dimmer and dimmest for this regime.

Overthrow the Arroyo Regime!

Advance the National Democratic Revolution!

Onward to Women’s Liberation!

MAKIBAKA – NDFP

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Gloria M. Arroyo is ripe for ouster by the broad mass movement

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chief Political Consultant

National Democratic Front of the Philippines

15 February 2008

Gloria M. Arroyo, the fake president, is ripe for ouster by the broad mass movement of the Filipino people as a result of her record of moral bankruptcy, subservience to foreign interests, brazen corruption and systematic human rights violations.

The flagrant use of bribery to remove Rep. Jose de Venecia from the speakership and the use of kidnapping in an attempt to silence Rodolfo Jun Lozada have served to underscore the issue of corruption and to outrage the broad masses of the people.

The Arroyo regime has become so isolated and so desperate that it has directed its military and police minions to concoct tales about anti-Arroyo assassination plots and spread fears about possible violence in mass actions in order to intimidate the people and the legal democratic forces.

The regime is seeking to justify the state violence that the military and police are poised to unleash in order to disrupt and stop the growth of the mass actions. In this regard, the regime and its military and police henchmen are being called upon to respect the right of the people to speak and assemble.

As far as I know from the official pronouncements of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) is sympathizing with and encouraging the legal and peaceful mass actions in the urban areas and is directing its military tactical offensives against the people’s enemies in the countryside in consonance with the strategic line of protracted people’s war.

The sheer growth of the legal and peaceful mass actions in the national capital region and on a national scale in the coming days, weeks and months can encourage the military and police to withdraw support from the Arroyo ruling clique and can suffice to cause the resignation, impeachment or outright ouster of the illegitimate and morally bankrupt president.

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