Fight for a People’s Transitional Council without the Generals and the Oligarchs!

We welcome the calls by National Democrats of BAYAN and the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) for an alternative to the corrupt Marcos/Duterte oligarchs, a government that represents and fights for the interests of the masses. While liberals and their social democratic allies of the Trillion Peso March Movement have opposed demands that Marcos be forced to step down, the BAYAN/PLM proposal to establish a People’s Transitional Council has roused militant workers, leftist youth and oppressed masses in the hope that this Council will bring together the most militant, consistent and committed fighters and lead the struggle for power to achieve national and social liberation.

Contrary to the expectations of leftist supporters, BAYAN leader Teddy Casiño later announced that the People’s Transitional Council will also include “reformist business leaders” and “retired AFP/PNP officers with integrity”. Casiño has even dropped hints that conservative politician Senate President Tito Sotto is being considered for the role of senior leader of the Council. In a similar right-ward turn, the socialist PLM launched their own alliance in which a retired commodore of the Philippine Navy plays a leading role.

This is nothing but a replay of the failed EDSA “people power” model. We have been through this three times in the past and the result is more neocolonial slavery. Why? Because the oligarchs and their generals are committed to maintaining the social order in this country where they are the commercial agents and labor contractors for the United States, which in turn props up the corrupt government with military, financial and diplomatic support.

Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!

The maneuvers by BAYAN/PLM leaders are not welcome! These represent surrender to the oligarchs, who seek to control and manipulate the anti-corruption movement to advance their self-interest. We denounce in the strongest terms the ongoing horse-trading with the bourgeois military cliques, politicians, and business and financial interests. We call on BAYAN and PLM: Advance the struggle for a Government of the Masses! There needs to be a socialist, working-class alternative for people’s liberation.

No to the Generals! The senior military brass belongs to the ruling class and are the loyal guard dogs of the United States, which trains and supplies them with arms. Their hands are stained with the blood of the masses. As part of the bourgeois establishment, the generals will not hesitate to unleash state terror against the workers and rural masses whenever our struggles threaten to overturn Philippine neocolonial society. To those who think the generals can be our friends, there is a long list of police-military atrocities which include the massacres in Mendiola Bridge (1987) and Kidapawan City (2016), the wholesale destruction of the Muslim majority city of Marawi in 2017, and the Bloody Sunday slaughter across Southern Tagalog in 2021.

No to the Tycoons! Business leaders, no matter how reformist or progressive they posture, have no place in the People’s Transitional Council. Wherever in the Global South, capitalists under pressure from the restive masses will claim to be champions of the people. But this class cannot play a progressive role. The fortunes of many “reformist” business tycoons grew rapidly thanks to the privatization, denationalization and low wage policies imposed on the country by the World Bank-IMF and American imperialists. As members of the neocolonial ruling class, they are highly dependent on U.S., European and Japanese banks and companies for loans, logistics and business contracts. Like their predecessors during the Filipino-American War and the Japanese Occupation, the neocolonial bourgeoisie will be the first to turn balimbing and capitulate to imperialist pressure.

Against “Civil Society” and Church Meddling! This is perhaps a most controversial issue among the Philippine left, who have for years been tied to the Non-Government Organization networks and the Church agencies for funding and support. As revolutionary Marxists, we assert that the NGOs, civil society organizations and the Church hierarchy should have no representation in the People’s Transitional Council. Today it is the Church, NGOs and the CSO actors that are foremost opposed to ousting Marcos. They act as a control valve for mass unrest, keeping the outrage within check then safely releasing the pressure into the channels that are considered acceptable by the ruling class. Funded by the imperialists and oligarchs, the Church agencies, NGOs and civil society actors will not bite the hands that feed them. Instead, these forces actively work to undermine and compromise the struggle for national and social liberation.

It is urgent that the militant youth and socialist left of BAYAN and PLM act now! To stop the sell-out, it is necessary to wage a political fight inside our parties and mass organizations against the right-wing elements and the compromisers, who think a coalition with the generals and other bourgeois forces will aid the struggle to resolve the burning national and democratic demands.

Let us make Bonifacio Day a show of force for the left and workers movement and inscribe on our banners: Fight for a People’s Transitional Council with No Generals and No Oligarchs!

Magkaisang Hanay tayo! Sulong sa Luneta sa Kaarawan ni Gat Andres Bonifacio!