Part II
The advent of neoliberalism almost coincided with the collapse of the ideological competition between the socialist bloc of Eastern Europe and the capitalist West. Easily this means that the ideological competition has ended. To others, this means a transformation of ideological perspectives in identifying our enemies. We assume we can now have the support of any group without antagonizing them, as was the case during the Cold War.
The socialist camp, hampered by the surge of metaphysical freedom, could not cope with the nuances of liberal democracy. Their vulnerability stems from the fact that they remain economically backward in contrast to the economy of the West that concentrated in producing consumer goods. The envy of uneven economic development only heightened political instability to speed up the privatization process in the name of freedom and democracy. This marked the period in what we might say “ideological reformation” to voluntarily modify their political system.
The West led by the US took this epochal transition to propagate the virtue of this new breed of capitalism called neoliberalism. It wanted to complete the vanquishment of a defeated enemy. The reaction from the East was to slow down the pace of the transition called in the West as liberalization or, to put it bluntly, slow down the pace of freedom that transcended to a call for privatization. Leaders know that should they not put a break to the transition as such could lead to a serious political convulsion as seen in the rise of colored revolutions.
As the conflict between the erstwhile ideological protagonists intensified, the tendency to curtail freedom turned to one of nasty reaction often resulting in the accusation of human rights violations, an issue that perfectly suited those communists seeking to cling on to their ideological dogmatism. The issue of human rights was even applied to countries that have perfectly embraced free enterprise but refused to tow the line of complete free trade.
As these leaders react to these pressures and began to concoct charges of human rights violation and instigate unfounded charges of extrajudicial killings of suspects involved in the sale of illegal and prohibited drugs. Countries suffered the pinch from these unfounded criticisms not exactly for rejecting the issue of human rights, but for using it as tool to demand more economic concessions.
It was the various NGOs that were constitutionally guaranteed their legal existence that made their initial attack against the government that hankers much to bring itself closer to the people. What made the issue complicated is that both the yellow opposition and the front organizations of the Left is both castigate the administration in a bid to capture power or win in the scheduled election.
This explains why there has been a proliferation of elitist foundations and almost all of them support the policies of the Church vis-à-vis its stand against the government, particularly during the administration of President Duterte. The Cory Aquino government granted NGOs full tax exemption to foundations under Section 30 of the NIRC. Moreover, the recipient like the Catholic Church cannot be questioned about their source just as the donor cannot be forced to reveal the amount it donated. In fact, the donor can use it to reduce its tax liabilities.
The Left, as usual, raise the cry of fascism while the oligarchy and its umbilical partner, the Catholic Church, extended their support to make themselves spiritually closer to the people. In fact, even the communist themselves are guilty of systematically killing their own kind on mere suspicion of being “deep penetration agent” (DPA). The Church, the oligarchy and their foreign brokers took turns in condemning President Duterte even seeking his prosecution before the ICC, but remain uncannily silent of the bloody pogrom carried out by the CPP.
The same can be said of our press freedom. The opposition never bothered to analyze that press freedom is not without limitations like prohibition from foreign ownership. To date, both Rapper and Vera Files refuse to admit that they are funded and operated by foreign corporations having close ties with the CIA. The concurrence of the Left with the opposition makes one to conclude that these front organizations are not entirely separate but united in their cause to advance their interest.
It is on this basis why the oligarchy, the yellow opposition and the Church coalesce. Their view of freedom is circumscribed to overthrowing the government although each has its own agenda on how to do it. The neoliberal ideology has opened the door to anybody who will contribute to weaken the government, using it to their advantage whatever civil and political right that is provided in the Constitution.
No country today can assure the government it will not be subverted on the misguided belief it is an ally. The “me first” slogan adopted by US President Trump placed in complete disarray existing alliances. Today, it is the interest of the most powerful states like the US that predominated in international arena justified by its policy of unilateralism. This explains why many of the organizations identified as fronts of the CPP, NDF and NPA are not only being supported but even financed by the US-based NGO’s like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
This “metamorphic” transformation of organizations allowed them to carry out specific task. They have their media outfit to fabricate their version of propaganda like Rapper, and Vera Files; an organization to assist us in our electoral exercise like Namfrel and PPCRV, an organization to condition the minds of the people of who are likely to win like the SWS and Pulse Asia, created NGOs parallel to the functions of the Commission on Human Rights, and an array of NGOs to help them in every issue they might raise against the government.
Given this scenario, one could draw the suspicion that either the government is being misled or is being pressured to sensationalize issue to allow prospective candidates of the opposition to gather sympathy and win in the next election. In other words, there is more of politics than of real issues to help bring the government closer to our people. Even identifying each organization and their members have become hazy because ideology has become amorphous.
This is exactly the same problem encountered by the government in its fight against terrorism and the separatist movement. At the height of the terrorist bombing in May 2002, the government accidentally found an American by the name of Micheal Terrence Meiring seriously wounded inside a Davao Hotel after the bomb he was tinkering with exploded. Before the government authorities could question him, he was whisked by embassy personnel to Manila and eventually allowed to leave the country, thus avoiding questions about his possible involvement in the spate of bombing in Mindanao. It is on this basis why we have difficulty in identifying and classifying which group is with us or belongs to the so-called hard core, or those considered conciliatory, a euphemism for those wanting to negotiate on the terms suggested by their foreign brokers.
rpkapunan@gmail.com
READ First Part: Tax the communists on their source of funds