The additional P1 billion allocation to fund Gloria Macapagal Arroyos pipe dream of crushing the New Peoples Army in two years is nothing but a display of fascist braggadocio typical of swaggering generals and dictators. It reveals the depths of Arroyos ignorance of the dynamics of revolution and the heights of her counter-revolutionary fantasy, which proves to be a costly yet deadly misadventure.
Arroyo is committing the same mistakes of past GRP presidents: raising the ante for a militarist strategy under conditions of extreme poverty, social discontent and political polarization favors the revolutionary movement more than anything else, Rubi del Mundo, National Democratic Front Southern Mindanao spokesperson said. Martial Law and recycled presidential proclamations of all-out-wars thereafter failed to halt the advance of the revolutionary movement, much less defeat it, Del Mundo added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police generals are having a heyday under an embattled Arroyo regime whose political survival they almost exclusively determine on a daily basis. With billions of pesos at their disposal, corruption at the highest level of the reactionary regime and police officers corps shall continue without letup.
To say the least, it could only spell more GMA-made disasters for the people. Enlarging her war chest means lesser funds for education, health, housing and other basic social services, which have all but dried up. Worse, anti-Arroyo activists in the cities and provinces shall continue to bear the deadly brunt of state terrorism with AFP death squads given outright licenses to kill. The human rights atrocities shall continue to be on the upswing as AFP combat battalions and special operation units go on a rampage in the countryside.
Arroyo is indeed fortifying herself in a military-ruled regime by feeding the greed of generals and sowing fear among the people. But in all certainty, her two-year timetable is doomed. And notwithstanding her boorish conceit, that may well turn out to be a timetable for a regime change, with her dream ending in a nightmare.
(Sgd) RUBI DEL MUNDO
Spokesperson
National Democratic Front Southern Mindanao
