Reliance on military strength and the abuse of power are typical indications of a regime's desperation and imminent death. It shelters itself under the echo of bullets, violence and the suppression of people's rights and freedom in order to keep its grip to power.
United States-backed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo revealed her militarist position ever since she came to power. As early as 2001, the country's Southern Tagalog Region served as experimental grounds for what would later be a nationwide military campaign of persecution against political activists. Under the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) "Oplan Balangai" and "Oplan Habol Tamaraw," hundreds of activists and innocent civilians in Southern Tagalog accused to be sympathizers or members of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party - New People's Army) were killed, while thousands more fell victim to human rights abuses.
Oplan Balangai and Habol Tamaraw were blueprints for "Oplan Bantay Laya" (OBL), a national counter-insurgency campaign that started in 2002. Like other military policies and campaigns of past regimes - Oplan Kadena de Amor, Oplan Katatagan and Martial Law of the Marcos Dictatorship; Total War Policy and Oplan Lambat Bitag 1-3 (patterned after the CIA's Low Intensity Conflict) of the Aquino and Ramos regimes; and Oplan Makabayan of the Estrada regime, OBL's objective was to crush the revolutionary movement by targeting legal people's organizations and civilian communities it accuses of being communist fronts and symphathizers.
But like its predecessors, OBL failed because of people's resistance. Despite the unprecedented number of extra-judicial killings perpetrated mostly against militant leaders and members of progressive organizations and other forms of political repression such as the Calibrated Preemptive Response or CPR and Presidential Proclamation 1017, the OBL failed in quelling the mass movement.
By the second half of 2006, the Arroyo regime started implementing OBL II which envisions to end insurgency by 2010. This meant neutralizing the mass movement through increased and relentless killings and abductions. And as a gesture that she condones the policy of extra-judicial killings, Arroyo glorified Jovito Palparan in her 2006 State of the Nation Address. Palparan is the retired general notoriously known as "the butcher" after his alleged command role in the killing of hundreds of activists in Mindoro, Eastern Visayas and Central Luzon. In line with OBL II, Arroyo declared an all-out war policy against the left, citing the province of Quezon in Southern Tagalog as one of its target.
Since Arroyo took the presidency in January 2001 up to July 2007, the human rights group KARAPATAN has documented 2,733 cases of human rights violations in Southern Tagalog alone. While there are almost 900 documented cases of extra-judicial killings in the country, 153 of which happened in Southern Tagalog.
By 2007, Arroyo succeeded in pushing for a US-backed anti-terror law despite massive protests from the progressive movement, church, politicians and the media. The Human Security Act of 2007 or Republic Act 9372 would be an additional license for Arroyo to suppress all her critics which she considers "enemies of the state."
This policy of repression clarifies well the real intent of the US-Arroyo regime, which is to continue its hold to power. The Human Security Act only reinforces the Arroyo's subservience to its master, the United States, at the expense of the Filipino people.
But contrary to this intent, the Filipino people holds a deepening and widening disgust over the anti-people, corrupt, and fascist US-Arroyo regime. The outcome of the recent national elections reflects this fact. In spite of the massive cheating done by the regime especially in Lanao and Maguindanao, it failed to pitch in its candidates for the Senate under its ticket Team Unity. The result in the senatorial elections 9-3 in favor of the opposition clearly demonstrates the people's loathing over this regime.
This regime is further isolated from the international community because of its human rights record. Criticisms from the European Union, Inter-Parliamentary Union, the United States Senate including other foreign organizations and countries that emphasize the respect for civil and political rights come in handy for the Philippine government. Even the United Nation's special rapporteur Philip Alston who visited the country questioned the counter-insurgency program of the regime. Alston likewise criticized the denial of AFP high officials in the involvement of the military in extra-judicial killings and abduction.
The Filipino people has nothing to be afraid of. The Arroyo regime's downfall is imminent and history will show once more that injustice will not prevail against the people's determination and collective strength.