Ang Bayan Editorial: Hold The Dutertes Accountable And Resist The Anti-People Marcos Regime
Ang Bayan | January 21, 2025
Against the Filipino people’s demand for justice, Marcos is now dragging his feet in pushing for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, and in arresting former President Rodrigo Duterte to make him face the International Criminal Court. This is despite the overwhelming evidence of Sara’s grave corruption and Rodrigo’s crimes against humanity.
Marcos is acquiescing to the advice of his imperialist US masters to deescalate confrontation with the Dutertes to avoid alarming foreign monopoly capitalist investors in the country. Instead of heeding the people’s cry for justice, Marcos is prioritizing the consolidation of his power to gradually strip the Dutertes of their power and influence. These moves include the “loyalty check” and reshuffling of AFP and PNP officers and the reorganization of the National Security Council.
Marcos’ ultimate goal is to tighten his control over political power to protect his own bureaucrat-capitalist interests. One of Marcos’ main concerns now is the upcoming May elections. He is using the state’s full force and public funds to ensure that his stooges control the Senate, Congress, and local governments. Marcos’ consolidation of power is being used against the people and against his political rivals.
In an attempt to drown out the people’s cry for justice and intimidate the congressmen and groups pushing for impeachment, pro-Duterte leaders of the Iglesia ni Cristo spent hundreds of millions of pesos to its million members in rallies last week. They used the deceptive theme of “unity and peace” to drown the people’s demand for justice and accountability for the hated Duterte father and daughter.
More than a month has passed since three impeachment cases were filed in Congress. However, on instructions of Marcos, who said that impeachment is a “waste of time” and “untimely,” not one of the three has been processed. Some say that Marcos is waiting to secure a Senate majority to ensure that Sara Duterte will be convicted. In truth, Marcos is turning a deaf ear to the people’s cry and is dismissing and discrediting the initiatives of various democratic sectors to hold Sara Duterte and her father Rodrigo accountable.
Marcos’ delay in the impeachment case against Sara Duterte is further fueling the anger of the Filipino people. They can no longer bear to see how the vice president, who is behind the anomalous use of hundreds of millions of pesos in public funds, continue to flaunt herself. And they cannot bear to see the billions of pesos in the reactionary government’s budget, which comes from the taxes paid by ordinary people, being pocketed by corrupt government officials, led by the bureaucrat-capitalist Marcos.
The Filipino people’s anger is deepening in the face of the worsening economic crisis, particularly the successive price increases of food, oil, and other commodities in the first weeks of 2025. Marcos continues to turn a deaf ear to the cry of workers and ordinary employees to increase their wages and salaries, which are insufficient to cover costs for decent living.
The Marcos regime has no solution to the problem of widespread unemployment, and is leaving the people to fend for themselves. Worse, millions of farmers, fishermen, jeepney drivers, and other sectors are being denied their sources of income in the face of the attempts of the bourgeois-comprador and their foreign company and bank allies to grab their land and livelihood.
In the face of the people’s widespread suffering and economic hardships, the Marcos regime’s response is to intensify repression in an attempt to silence their grievances. The number of cases of surveillance, harassment of organizations, filing of trumped-up charges, arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings against ordinary people organizing to fight for their interests and welfare is rising. Marcos is using the “anti-terrorism” laws to suppress the people’s rights. The situation is worse in the countryside, where martial law is being enforced in thousands of barangays controlled and dominated by fascist soldiers.
To advance the welfare and rights of the Filipino people, they must unite and give a powerful form to their anger against the crimes and transgressions of the Dutertes, and against the continuing bureaucrat-capitalist and fascist rule under Marcos. The broad united front must be strengthened to gather all sectors, organizations, and individuals in the call to hold the Dutertes accountable. Various forms of alliances and organizations, formal or informal, must be formed to encourage the broadest masses to participate in various forms of action and expression of grievances.
The democratic mass movement must be advanced to hold the Dutertes accountable and strengthen the fight against the Marcoses and the entire bureaucrat-capitalist system. The situation is ever favorable for arousing the masses and rapidly expanding their organized ranks. The ground is fertile for multiplying the number of unions and mass organizations in both urban and rural areas.
Seize the favorable situation to carry forward and achieve in the economic and political struggles of the masses. These must be linked to the fight against the US-Marcos regime and the advancement of the national-democratic movement.
The cadres and members of the Party must act decisively and firmly serve as the backbone of the mass struggles. They serve to enlighten and guide the masses in forging ahead on the difficult path of struggle. Underground mass organizations that directly support advancing the armed struggle must be formed, and the masses must be encouraged to join the New People’s Army.
Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/2025/01/21/hold-the-dutertes-accountable-and-resist-the-anti-people-marcos-regime/