Buencamino is a fellow of Action for Economic Reforms. This was published in the December 29, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror, page A6.
“Communism to me is one-third practice and two-thirds explanation.” – Will Rogers
I read the eight thousand-word 42nd anniversary message of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines just for the hell of it. Hell is an apt description for the experience of laboring through the annual pastoral letter from the native communist party hierarchy, that perennial pathetic reaffirmation of faith in Marxist economics, Leninist politics, and Maoist armed struggle.
“Don’t you have better things to do other than dumpster diving?” asked my bourgiosecapitalistfeudalimperialistpuppet friend.
“Not everything discarded is trash,” I replied.
“Did you find anything useful?” he asked.
“I discovered a couple of gems: waste-basketting and continuing condonement.”
“Huh?”
“Waste-basketting” as in “the waste-basketting by the Arroyo-dominated Supreme Court of the so-called Truth Commission,” and “continuing condonement” as in “as well as by the continuing condonement not only of the Arroyo regime’s human rights violations but also those of the current regime itself,” I explained.
“The current regime…” he mused ignoring the new additions to my vocabulary. “But didn’t Aquino drop the charges against Morong 43?”
“Yes, but the native communists said it was only because of intense pressure from human rights group here and abroad.”
“But doesn’t that show the Aquino administration listens?”
“The communists said it’s just a ploy.” I quoted the relevant passage from the anniversary message.
“By all indications, the Aquino regime is hellbent on using the slogan of human rights in order to continue the gross and systematic human rights violations. It is obviously going to use the peace negotiations with the NDFP and the MILF as an occasional propaganda device and to block the demands of the people for basic social, economic and political reforms to address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis for a just and lasting peace. So far, most important to the Aquino regime is beefing up the military, police and paramilitary forces and unleashing them against the people and the revolutionary forces.”
“Wow, that’s a mouthful!” he exclaimed. “Aren’t peace talks scheduled soon?”
“The communists think that’s also a ploy. Besides, they aren’t settling for anything less than the transformation of the country into a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist paradise.”
“How’s that?”
I read from the message again, “The US-Aquino regime intends to use the peace negotiations with the NDFP as an instrument for deceiving the people and pressuring the NDFP towards capitulation. It is scheming to junk the peace negotiations when these cannot be bent towards the counterrevolutionary objectives of the regime. The revolutionary forces and the people are aware of these objectives and thus, even if they push for whatever can be achieved through peace talks, they harbor no illusions that revolutionary objectives could be achieved through these alone or in the main. They are fully aware that their patriotic and democratic aspirations can only be effectively pushed in peace negotiations alongside the primacy of people’s war and mass struggles.”
“So the peace talks are a waste of time,” he concluded. “The communists talk peace but they wage war.”
I continued reading, to rile my friend some more.
“Benigno Aquino III has emerged as the chief representative of the exploiting classes, having drawn the biggest amount of campaign funds from them, enjoyed the support of the media lords, run the most guileful propaganda campaign and benefited from the manipulation of the US-controlled automated voting system. Thus, he is hellbent on continuing the US-dictated policies of neoliberal globalization, the preservation of the neocolonial fascist state and support for the global war of terror.”
“There’s really no point talking to them. They don’t even believe Aquino is his own man, they just called him a puppet of the US.”
“No, I think talking to them is an excellent idea.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we might pick up a couple of new words.”
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