Red October - page 2

Communist Party of the Philippines
02 October 2018

Duterte and his minions in the AFP have gone completely cuckoo in claiming that the CPP is “pushing” Duterte to declare martial law nationwide through its wildly concocted “Red October” ouster plot. AFP Chief-of-Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez made the idiotic statement in the senate budget hearings this Tuesday, after red-tagging 10 Metro Manila universities supposedly involved in the plot.

Again, there is no Red October plot orchestrated by the CPP. The more Duterte and the AFP are trying to prove this so-called plot, the more they sound incredulous. To now claim that the CPP will “create chaos,” supposedly “like in Plaza Miranda” to “force” Duterte to fulfill his most ardent wish, is at best, lazy and clumsy. The claim simply defies logic. Why should the CPP “push” for martial law nationwide when it has repeatedly condemned and called for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao? Why should it “push” for something which has relentlessly inflicted atrocious crimes on the people? At worst, the claim demonstrates the AFP’s willingness to perpetuate and even repeat the myth of the Plaza Miranda bombings which Marcos used to justify imposing martial law nationwide in 1972.

Furtheron, to tag people’s protests as part of a so-called plot is a threat against legitimate people’s organizations mounting these democratic mass actions. To misrepresent the broad coalition against tyranny as a mere conspiracy is to make its members open to suppression through state terrorism. Duterte and his ilk are even planning militarize state agencies against these organizations in the guise of creating an inter-agency task force to “end the communist insurgency.” The AFP and Duterte are determined to silence and suppress the widespread social grievances of the people.

It is no secret that the CPP is calling on the people to unite and struggle to overthrow the Duterte regime. Statements issued by the CPP to this effect are publicly available in its website and in social media.

But as the CPP has also repeatedly pointed out, it will be the confluence of various democratic forces that will ultimately bring down Duterte. Given the increasingly difficult economic conditions of the people and rising internal political conflicts within the Duterte regime, the Party anticipates protests to continue to mount in the coming months.###