Every society needs an establishment whose prime responsibility and duty is the protection of its citizens, its territory, its government, and everything that pertains to its preservation and integrity as a nation-state. Hence, the existence of a military organization that serves as its armed security force—an army or a police force, or both. In a figurative sense it is the spear and shield of the society.
In the reality of its day-to-day operation, however, the army and the police are in the service of the ruling power that represents the dominant class or sector in society. And this is the basis for designating the chief executive as commander-in-chief of the State’s security forces. In the case of the Philippines, the army and police are at the beck and call of the President, even if in the rhetorics of its theoretical foundation it is said that all the powers vested in the apparatuses of the State, such as the government and the armed forces, are bestowed by the fundamental law of the land, its Constitution.
So be it.
But in a presidential form of government such as ours, the chief executive exercises awesome extraordinary powers. He arrogates unto himself the prerogative to determine what is suitable and appropriate for the nation under his watch. He seems to be the supreme dispenser of what is good and right for the people at all times. He wears a cloak of authority as though he acts in accordance to what is mandated by the constitution and in the best interest of all the citizens He cultivates in himself a kind of egotism to swagger around with the belief that he knows what is best for the country and therefore must not be opposed or contradicted, much less criticized, for whatever he does as an act of State.
It must not be forgotten, however, that the top leadership in Philippine government has invariably come from the economic elite of society—the big landlords and the big comprador capitalists who, under the auspices of their former colonial masters, generally own the means of production. In the relations of production he stands over the shoulders of the toiling masses of the people. The President who comes from these ruling classes, even if he does not belong to the inner circle of the economic elite, represents them in ways that makes him privy or within their circle of interests. In fact, every Filipino pseudo-leader who has resided in Malakanyang always acts in deference to, in representation of and in favor of the interests of the privileged economic elite. He is moulded to the ideology of their class.
And so the armed security forces of the Philippine State have always kowtowed to the dictates of the privileged class in power. They are in theory and in practice in the service of the Chief Executive, the chief representative of these ruling classes. The military organization, in a very real sense, is like their “private army”.
In a society sharply divided between the privileged affluent classes and the underprivileged deprived masses of the people, irreconcilable contradictions are an inherent reality. Under normal conditions, these contradictions between the privileged and the underprivileged may not warrant the intervention of the security forces because they may be within tolerable limits. But even then, stringent regulations are often imposed that clip the constitutional rights of the people to prevent the contradictions to step up to unmanageable levels.
And so we witness even in ordinary climes certain school campuses being “militarized” whenever students show restiveness, or there are imagined threats of organized collective actions brewing which may be seen to jeopardize the interests of the school owners or the educational establishment. Much more so in contradictions between the rich hacienderos and the poor farmers, or between the factory owners and the worker-employees. All sorts of regulatory measures are enforced by the landlords or the capitalists through the army or the police whose mere presence or visibility is already an intimidating factor towards suppressing the masses or resolving the contradiction in favor of the dominant class. Other subtle ways of violent control of the grassroots masses are in constant readiness to effectuate their perpetual subjugation in the midst of exploitation and injustices.
But whenever the disputes escalate that appear to threaten or jeopardize the interests of the ruling classes, the military is the first to be alerted to implement open force of arms to their defense. Or when the government senses or imagines that the disputes can not be resolved by the usual normal processes of the courts or arbitration agencies, the army or the police readily come in to violently curtail the people’s constitutional rights. The countless incidence of union-busting, breaking up of workers strikes, and forceful eviction and demolition of informal settlers are stark illustrations of the use of the military and police as instruments of suppression and repression against the legitimate exercise of the people’s rights.
Even the right to peaceful assembly and association and the right to hold rallies and demonstration for the redress of grievances are mockingly disregarded and violated. In spite of the fact that these rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, the government seeks justification to disperse them, raising lame excuses as the absence of permit from proper government authority, or invoking police power to avert imagined violence, and the like. All these, in the name of the much touted “rule of law” which invariably favors the dominant classes and only demonstrate their diehard stance to frustrate and defeat the people’s demands to ameliorate their conditions. Their paramount concern is how to maintain their dominion and perpetuate their privileged position in society.
The military establishment exists for no other purpose than to safeguard the interests and concerns of the powers that be. It would have been hailed as a worthy undertaking if the ruling power in Philippine society were a truly democratic government run by genuine nationalists and progressive elements who nurture the sincere desire to liberate the masses from enslaving poverty and other forms of human bondage. Or if it is in keeping with the goal of promoting social justice that renders high premium to the dignity of the human person. But as it is, the military and the police are weapons to consign the underprivileged and the disadvantaged to unspeakable indignities and inhumanities by virtue of their robotic obeisance to the anti-people State established by the exploiter and oppressor classes.
Because the “logic of being” that begets the military and police is the pursuance and promotion of the interests of the ruling classes it earns the distinct character of being “a fascist army and police”. Its existence is premised on social injustice and its function is founded on violent repression of the masses to let exploitation and oppression flourish. By that, it stands in direct opposition to the well-being and welfare of the masses. It is by any sensible argument or reasonable consideration of its classist function the enemies of the people.
All the events and incidents that have since unfolded before our very eyes eloquently affirm the Hitlerian nature of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). And this makes the Philippine Republic a fascist state, bereft of any semblance of humane consideration ad concern for the underprivileged masses of the population.
[To be continued]
