CPP: Duterte unleashed ‘wars of death, destruction’ in first year

President Rodrigo Duterte has failed to fulfill his promises of “change” in the country, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said as it hit the President for his strongman rule, brutal drug war, and subservience to the United States government.

“The crisis of the ruling system continues to worsen in the first year under the Duterte regime as it fails to fulfill its promises of change,” the CPP said in a statement on Friday.

“It has unleashed wars of death and destruction as it adopts iron-fisted tactics and fascist methods to secure its rule and serve the interests of the ruling exploitative classes and foreign big capitalists,” it said.

The CPP also denounced Duterte for failure to implement “serious policy reform in the social, economic and political fields,” even as he claims to be a socialist and a sympathizer of the Left.

“Rodrigo Duterte has zero to show to buttress his claims of being a Leftist and socialist… He has turned his back on his promise of sweeping changes made during the 2016 elections. He has continued the neoliberal policies of the past three decades which perpetuates the exploitation and oppression of the people,” it said.

The CPP also said the Duterte administration proved to be no different from the previous regimes when it comes to subservience to foreign economic and security policies.

The party also hit Duterte for allowing US intervention in the government’s fight against the Maute group in Marawi City.

Both the Palace and the military have clarified that the US’s participation was limited to providing “technical and intelligence support.”

“Fearing potential embarrassment, Duterte has chosen to ignore reports that US military forces and AFP officials planned, carried out and botched the Mamasapano-like operation to capture terror-listed Abu Sayyaf-leader Isnilon Hapilon, which ignited the Moro resistance leading to the AFP siege and destruction of Marawi,” it said.

The CPP said Duterte’s declaration of independent foreign policy by launching verbal attacks against the US government was merely to “impress China and Russia as an anti-US ally with the hope of encouraging economic and military assistance in the face of the strategic decline of the US and its limited support and resources.”

The party, too, criticized Duterte for giving favors to the Marcoses, including his allowing of the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and his threats of adopting a Marcos-style dictatorship.

“Duterte has increasingly employed strongman tactics to establish and reinforce his rule. He has displayed all-out ruthlessness believing he can use his large number of electoral vote as license to attack the people,” it said.

Like many other sectors, the Communist party condemned his “anti-poor” war against drugs, stressing that while many small-time drug peddlers and killed, high-profile drug lords remain untouched.

“Duterte’s ‘war against drugs’ is a virtual campaign of mass murder which has resulted in the killing of more than 8,000 people, mostly poor users and street peddlers. Community social activists have also been targeted. They have been killed by police agents in supposed arrest operations; and by death squads reportedly run and financed by the police. Duterte is using the anti-drug war to make it appear that killings and fascist methods are necessary and ideal in addressing social problems which are rooted in poverty. Meanwhile, big drug lords including Peter Lim and others known to be close to Duterte remain untouched,” it said.

With Duterte’s unfulfilled promises, the CPP said its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) will not stop launching tactical offensives against the government forces.

In February, after a series of NPA attacks against the police and military, Duterte declared an all-out war against the communist rebels.

“In the face of the Duterte regime’s all-out war, the NPA must continue to seize the initiative and carry out more and more tactical offensives nationwide in order to derail and blunt the all-out attacks of the AFP, punish the most notorious human rights abusers, defend the interests against the people and bring forward the people’s war,” it said. JPV/rga