U N I T YRepr in t

NEWSPAPER OF THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARV STRUGGLE <M-U

THE PHILIPPINEREVOLUTION

newspaper of the League of Revolutionary struggle1 r e p r i n t i n g t h e s e a r t i c l e s o n t h e P h i l i p p i n e r e v -olution as a concrete reflection of our support for the

Filipino people's struggle against US imperialism and thedictatorship. Within the Filipino community

f ? h a v e s e e n a n u p s u r g e i n a n t i - m a r t i a l l a wactivity, greatly contributing to the Philippine struggle.Workers, oppressed nationalities and all progressive people inUS society as a whole should better understand and fully support the aspiration of the Filipino people for liberation, in-dependence and national democracy. We hope that this pamphletdkH- contribution in building greater support for thePh i l i pp ine revo lu t i on i n t he US.

UNITY interviews Pilipina activist Charito Pianos

Wo one can stopthe pendulum of changein the Philippines today''

In the Philippines and here in the U.S., CharitoPlanas is known as one of the most outspoken andeloquent opponents of the Marcos dictatorship. InMay, the Philippine Education and Support Committee of the San Francisco Bay A rea and the Friendsof the Filipino People worked with many othergroups to sponsor Ms. Planus on a tour of California. The largest response came from the Pilipinocommunity, with hundreds turning out to programsin Delano and Daly City.

Ms. Planas was also asked to speak by thePilipino-American Alliance of UC Berkeley,Pilipino Studies teachers at San Francisco SlateUniversity and the City College of San Francisco,and a Pilipino hotel restaurant workers caucus. Inaddition, Ms. Planas spoke to church groups, Asianstudent organizations and cultural workers.

This interview wasconductedduring her lour. Ms.Planas may be contacted by writing the Friends ofthe Filipino People, 110 Maryland Ave. N.E.,IVashingion, D.C. 20002; phone: (202) 543-1093.

UNITY: Charilo, could you tell us aboul how youcame (o the U.S.?

Planas: Well, it would be good to mention a littleabout my background. 1 am a lawyer and director ofthe Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, andhave been involved in so many civic and social andlegal organizations in the Philippines.

1 belong to the opposition, and so I have been actively criticizing the Marcos regime. A little after

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martial law was declared — it was sometime in 1973— I was arrested and imprisoned for 14 months with-out charges. After having been released temporarily,an election was called in 1978.1 joined in that election and then an order of rearrest was issued. . .andwe decided I should go into hiding. It (would havebeen) stupidity for me to surrender. Upon consultation with the people who were hiding me, it wasdecided that I should leave the country. So I camefrom the Philippines with a heavy heart. I escaped,not to enjoy the comforts of this country, but to remain alive and join the many voices of the Filipinosstruggling for democracy in the Philippines.UNITY: Could you talk about life under martiall a w ?

Planas: Visitors who come to the Philippines on thesurface arc impressed by clean streets, beautifulbuildings and classy hotels. Quite a number are impressed by the fact that the GNP (gross national product — ed.) has increased under martial law, andthat for the first time we have stopped importingr i ce .

Of course, we can't deny these accomplishments.But the question of these accomplishments iswhether they have benefited the people. Studiesmade by the Center for International Policy based inWashington, D.C., have shown that the so-called"development" that took place under martial lawhas not benefited the people. In fact, what has happened is that the poor have become poorer. We havenever had so many poor in our country as now underm a r t i a l l a w.

The reason why the people become poor in thePhilippines today is the policy initiated by Marcos ofattracting foreign investors in the Philippines, andthe attraction that he offers is that we provide thecheapest labor in Asia, and that they are guaranteedrepatriation of their profits, as well as assuring thatno strike will ever take place. Our workers are paidonly from $1.50 to S2.00 a day, when studies weremade by impartial organizations in the Philippineswhich show^ the worker would need S6.(X) to $7.00to live simply.

Workers who go on strike to demand better wagesget arrested and imprisoned, and others tortured.

In spite of the repression that is now taking placein the Philippines, opposition is growing. There areorganized opposition forces in the Philippines today. We have the legal opposition, legal in the sensethat they are able to surface and they are the traditional opposition. We also have what you call the National Democratic Front. This group comprisesworkers, peasants, progressive religious groups, urban poor and the Communist Party. They have anarmed group called the New People's Army. Beforemartial law, they were only a very small group, butnow they are almost all over the regions of the Philippines today. We have about 12 to 13 regions in thePhilippines and they are now seen in about 9 to 10.Their mass-based support is growing.

Another group is called the social democrats.They also have workers and peasants and urban poorand the religious groups. They are anti-communist.Recently they just formed an armed group called theSandigan. They are mostly based in the urban areasor in metropolitan Manila.

In the south, we also have the Muslims, the MoroNational Liberation Front, which also engages inarmed struggle. The bulk of the strength of Marcos'army is concentrated in the south, because the MoroN a t i o n a l L i b e r a t i o n F r o n t h a s m o r e a r m s t h a n t h eNew People's Army and the Sandigan.

These are the opposition groups that are underground, but with an armed support group, and are instruggle with the armed forces of Marcos.

UNITY: Given the existence of a number of armed .opposition groups and the unpopularity of the Marcos regime, how has he managed to stay in power?Pianas: When martial law was first declared, the firstfew years one can say the people gave him a chance tofind out what he could do with his promised new society. He instituted a land reform at the time, and hedeclared a revolution from the center. Now thatmartial law is in its eighth year, the people are convinced that his regime is a f ure. Because first of all,martisd law is based on fear, and people are now starting to overcome that fear. In fact, in spite of the factthat strikes are prohibited, strikes are taking place inmany corporations. At the same time, people are beginning to talk, expressing their opposition to theMarcos regime.

During the early part of martial law, only one opposition group believed in force or armed struggle.Now all the opposition groups in the PhUippines areunanimous in the need for the use of force in order toattain a meaningful change in the Philippines today.

UNITY: Could you talk about the role of the U.S. in^e Philippines?Pianas: With regard to the U.S., participation in themaitiai law regime—you know nothing can happenin the Philippines without the U.S. knowing aboutit. So when martial law was declared, it was with theknowl^ge and consent of the U.S. government.

Marcos is supported by the American government. In fact, military aid has increased by 138%during martial law. One may ask, why is theAmerican government supporting Marcos, in spiteof the fact that Carter has initiated his human ri tspolicy. For the reasons that Marcos is committed toprotect the multinational corporations' investmentsin the Philippines, which were the ones which weret h r e a t e n e d b e f o r e m a r t i a l l a w w a s d e c l a r e d . T h eother reason is for the unhampered use of the military bases in the Philippines. Carter has promisedone billion in aid.

But this regime is now on its way out. No dne, andno amount of military aid to Marcos, can stop thependulum of (±ange in the Philippines today.

F ree JoseMana S i son !

— Fel ix Razon

"You can imprison a revolutionary, but not therevolution." This saying encapsulates in memorable form the current thrust of the struggle to affirm and defend the people's rights in the Philippines.

This struggle centers on about 6,000 politicalprisoners, and on one prisoner in particular whomthe Marcos dictatorship identifies as the "head" ofthe nationwide resistance — Jos6 Maria Sison.

Sison is alleged, to be Amado Guerrero, chairman of the Central Committee of the CommunistParty of the Philippines, which is guided byMarxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. TheParty today spearheads the raging people's waragainst U.S. imperialism and its local henchmen.

With Sison's capture on November 10, 1977,the Marcos dictatorship announced the demise ofthe Communist Party and the collapse of itsmilitary arm, the New People's Army.

Such propaganda turned out to be hopelesslypremature. The Marcos regime came to realize thatthe revolution's motor force is the united energiesof the masses, not single individuals.

In 1977 and April-May of 1979, the New People's Army demonstrated its phenomenal accumulation of strength and support by occupying severaltowns on the is land of Samar. This is an unprecedented feat, owing largely to the throreticalguidance and practical leadership that Sison hasprovided to the movement since the early 1960's upto his arrest in November 1977.

Although the Marcos military claims to havekilled or arrest^ 20 of the 26 members of the Central Committee of the Party, the underground hasreported that in April 1978, a completely reorganized Central Committee met for its fourth plenum.

^O^M^SFRfsSS^MREVOLUTIONARYB U T N O T A R E V O L U T I O N . . .

Sison — a great revolutionary

Why was Sison considered by the U.S.-Marcosdictatorship as "the Philippines' most wantedm a n " ?

Primarily because it was Sison who, togetherwith other comrades, reversed the revisionistcourse of the vanguard party of the Piiipiiio working class and reestablished it on Marxist-Leninistprinciples. The Soviet-inspired revisionists later onsurrendered to Marcos and at present serve hisb u r e a u c r a t i c m a c h i n e .

In 1964, after decades of repression of the left,Sison founded the Kabataang Makabayan (Nationalist Youth) which sparked the fires of a deep,ongoing cultural revolution among students, intel-lectuals'and the middle strata of 45 millionPilipinos.

In the years 1964-1968, as General Secretary ofthe Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN) and one of the leaders of the WorkersParty, Sison concentrated h is effor ts in totransforming what he called then "the idea of thenational democratic revolution . . . into a materialf o r c e . "

Sison was instrumental in reorganizing theCommunist Party of the Philippines on December26, 1968, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-MaoZedong Thought.

The two documents that crystallize the complexideological and political conflicts underlying such ahistorical movement are: Rectify Errors andRebuild the Party (1968), a party document; andPhilippine Society and Revolution (1972), byA m a d o G u e r r e r o . T h i s l a t t e r b o o k h a s b e c o m e aprimer for Marxist-Leninists in the Philippinesand, with appropriate modifications, in other partsof the third world. A summing up of the experienceby Amado Guerrero since 1972 was published inSpecific Characteristics of Our People's War(1974).

On March 29, 1969, the New People's Armywas formed by the Party, signaling the onset ofprotracted people's war against U.S. imperialismand its three class allies in the Philippines: thefeudal landlords, compradors and bureaucrat-capitalists now temporarily led by the Marcos clique.

It is to Sison's credit that those decisive qualitative leaps in the Philippine revolution occurred. Heapplied materialist dialectics (the concrete analysisof concrete conditions) to Philippine society. Thisenabled cadre, progressive militants and other anti-imperialist forces to engage in class analysis,distinguish friends and enemies, and form a broadunited front using all means necessary to isolate theenemy and focus the people's forces against it.

Sison's imprisonment

Because of these tremendous gains which theenemy attributes to him, Sison has experiencedsevere physical and mental torture since his capture. Isolated in his detention cell, separated fromhis wife, Juliet de Lima-Sison (also a politicalprisoner), with feet and hands manacled to his bed,Sison has so far surv ived.

In a statement issued March 13, 1979, as hiscase was scheduled for a hearing before the Philippine Supreme Court, Sison described his harrowingexperiences as a political prisoner. His caseepitomizes the plight of thousands of political

prisoners (70,000 since martial law was declared in1972). Marcos' violation of the people's rights hasbecome a celebrated example, heavily indicted byworld opinion, as represented by Amnesty International, the World Commission of Jurists, NationalCouncil of Churches, and so on.

Sison's imprisonment at the maximum securitystockade of the Philippine Army Military SecurityUnit at Fort Bonafacio near Manila has beenextremely long and harsh, even compared to otherprisoners.

Because Sison is viewed to be the living symbolof the nationalist and anti-imperialist resistance, hehas been marked for "salvaging" — Marcos' policy of unofficial execution or assassination of"subvers ives . "

Of course, Sison is more than a symbol ofmassive opposition to Ihemartial law regime. He isthe living historic personality who embodies theprofound needs and lohg-range aspirations of theFilipino people for freedom, sovereignty, genuineindependence — the struggle for national

democracy and national liberation.

Free S ison !

The National Democratic Front, the broadcoalition of all sectors of the people opposing theU.S.-Marcos dictatorship, is appealing to all advocates of human rights and justice throughout theworld to help free all political prisoners in thePhilippines, in particular, Jos6 Maria Sison.

We urge all our friends and allies to demandthat the Philippine government end the torture ofSison, transfer him from isolation to regular detention, and assign his case to a nonmilitary judicialbody instead of the military court controlled by theMarcos dictatorship.

Today, the struggle to save Sison's life andultimately to free him occupies an urgent foreground position on the agenda for all revolutionaries in various anti-imperialist fronts, fromNicaragua and Palestine to Kampuchea.

( U N T I T L E D ) M A R I A S I S O H

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They keep you Zn 6hacklei and chainsBut youA looAd they cannotA n d Z t A h a l l b e . '

8 A u g u s t 1 9 7 8

Support theN a t i o n a l

D e m o c r a t i cF r o n t

In April 1973, the Prepatory Commission for thePhilippines National Democratic Front (NDF)issued a manifesto entitled, Unite to Overthrow theU.S.-Marcos Dictatorship, which included a "TenPoint Program" as the NDF's basis of unity and toguide the revolutionary struggle for nationaldemocracy.

Since that time, the NDF has grown to encompass

such ideologically diverse forces as the CommunistParty of the Philippines and the Christians for National Liberation. It is presently a major force in themass movement against martial law. Like all groupsopposing martial law, the NDF is forced to operateunderground.

The Ten Point Program not only calls for theoverthrow of the Marcos regime, but also for thetransformation of the existing exploitative, corruptand foreign dominated system that led to martiallaw. In particular, the program calls for genuineland reform and an end to U.S. domination of thee c o n o m y .

The NDF recognized from its inception that theresistance movement must develop its armed struggle against the dictator, as he would never surrenderpeacefully. The Ten Point Program endorses boththe New People's Army and the Bangsa Moro Army, and calls for material and moral support fort h e m .

At the same time, the NDF seeks the widest possible unity by supporting the demands of theminority nationalities, patriotic businessmen, andall others being downtrodden under martial law.

In contrast to others who rest their hopes on theU.S. or USSR, the NDF relies on the masses of theFilipino people, unites with the third world, and opposes both superpowers. While the U.S. is the principal backer of the Marcos dictatorship, the SovietUnion has also offered aid in attempts to woo Marcos. The revisionist, pro-Soviet PKP (PartidoKomunista Filipino) backs martial law and evenholds positions in the government!

The NDF, in a special issue of their organ,Liberat ion, condemned the Soviet -backed Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea. Lately, RadioHanoi has been attacking the resistance movementin the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries as terrorist. This shows the growing danger ofSoviet social-imperialism in the region.

These are only some of the main points coveredby the Ten Point Program. On November 12, 1977,the Prepatory Commission reaffirmed the programas it was issued in 1973, and further expanded on itspoints:

Following is the Ten Point Program of the NDF:

t

T E N P O I N T P R O G R A M 'O F T H E N A T I O N A L

D E M O C R AT I C F R O N T,P H I L I P P I N E S

1. Unite all anti-imperialisl and democraticforces to overthrow the U.S.-Marcos dictatorshipand work for the establishment of a coalitiongovernment based on a truly democratic system ofrepresentat ion.

2. Expose and oppose U.S. imperialism as themastermind behind the setting up of the fascist dictatorship, struggle for the nullification of all unequal treaties and arrangements with this imperialistpower, and call for the nationalization of all itsproperties in the country.

3. Fight for the reestablishment of all democratic rights of the people, such as freedom of speech,the press, assembly, association, movement, religious belief, and the right to due process.

4. Gather all possible political and material support for the armed revolution and the undergroundagainst the U.S.-Marcos dictatorship.

5. Support a genuine land reform program thatcan liberate the peasant masses from feudal and

semi-feudal exploitation and raise agricultural production through cooperation.

6. Improve the people's livelihood, guaranteethe right to work, and protect national capitalagainst foreign monopoly capital.

7. Promote a national, scientific and massculture and combat imperialist, feudal and fascistcul ture.

8. Support the national minorities, especiallythose in Mindanao and the mountain provinces, intheir struggle for self-determination anddemocracy.9. Punish, after public trial, the ringleaders ofthe Marcos fascist gang for their crimes against thepeople and confiscate all their ill-gotten wealth.

10. Unite with all peoples fighting imperialismand all reaction, and seek their support for thePhilippine revolutionary struggie.

Copies of this document are available for $.50from the Philipines Research Center, P.O. Box 101,Mansfield E)epot, CT 06251

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