PHILIPPINES: Remember Martial Law!

The political climate today is similar to 1970-72, when Marcos was preparing for martial law. Unlike Marcos, however, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has no clear electoral mandate and she does not have firm control of the military. Unable to buy legitimacy for her illegitimate government, she is performing all sorts of legal tricks to ensure her political survival. One trick she learned from the late dictator is to monkey around with the constitution.

The ‘people’s initiative’ is a thinly disguised attempt to keep her in power. It will come as no surprise if the Supreme Court (most of whose justices are her appointees) will reverse the permanent injunction it issued in 1997 on a people’s initiative to pave the way for charter change. GMA’s allies in the House of Representatives are doing their evil best to twist the arm of the Senate into setting up a constitutional assembly.


Her "war against terror" has engendered a spate of extra-judicial killings of political activists and journalists. Like Presidential Decree 1017 and the calibrated preventive response, this aims to curtail of the political freedoms of the people who have been clamoring for her ouster.


Like Marcos, GMA and her relatives and cronies are plundering the nation and driving the masses to the depth of poverty while making our economy subservient to foreign capital. The neo-liberal policies that GMA has sponsored in compliance to the impositions of the IMF and World Bank allows the transnational corporations unhampered liberty to exploit our labor and natural resources.

Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the Masses) will join thousands who will flock the streets to commemorate the anniversary of martial law on September 21. We reiterate our call for the ouster of GMA, an end to elite rule, and the establishment of a Transitional Revolutionary Government.

Thursday, 21 September 2006

http://www.labanngmasa.org/

Related article: http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=22326