The Partidong Mangaggawang Pilipino (PMP) has criticized the destabilization plot allegedly instigated by former President Rodrigo Duterte’s camp and said that the Chinese government “was in agreement” with it based on the intelligence report they received.
In a statement, the PMP, an organization of workers established in January 2000 by the late Felimon “Popoy” Lagman, said it is still confirming whether the intelligence report came from state security agencies.
Last week, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año declared that China is creating “division” among Filipinos amid the tensions in the West Philippine Sea. He made the announcement during his visit to the Philippine-held Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, west of Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
“China’s multifaceted approach includes information operations specifically designed to create divisions within our country, while we strive to unite the Filipino people in our stance on the issue of the West Philippine Sea,” said Año.
To this, PMP spokesperson Clara Obrero said: “This unusual situation or collaboration shows an added dimension to the already existing conflict within the dominant political faction and between the prevailing elitist interests. This is a conflict between powerful states and governments in the world — particularly the United States and China.”
“This shows that the independent foreign policy will not be promoted by any camp of elitists, who will not hesitate to become a pawn when the proxy war of the United States and China is ripe. This is no different from the attitude of the intellectuals during the first anti-colonial struggle at the turn of the 20th century,” Obrero narrates.
Neither Duterte not the Chinese Embassy have yet to react to this report as of posting time.
PMP pointed out that in the “growing division, it also shows that the elitists will prioritize their own interests, not what the Filipino masses are clamoring for an immediate response to the economic, price, food, employment, rights, and climate crises that continue to plague them.”
“Because of this, the lesson of (national hero Andres) Bonifacio’s life was proven again. The independent interest of the Filipino people in our foreign relations and the immediate response to the various crises is in the hands of the working class and the toiling masses, not in the hands of the pro-American or Pro-Chinese elitists,” the PMP spokesperson elaborated.
Obrero said that in history, Bonifacio was betrayed “because he was misunderstood by other members of the Katipunan and murdered at the behest of some ilustrado (intelligent class) of the Katipunan.”
Bonifacio, whose 160th birth anniversary the country just celebrated last Nov. 30, wanted to achieve complete liberation from the Spanish rule, but other members of the revolutionary government preferred equality among Filipinos to Spaniards, the spokesperson added.
The PMP reminded the public that “in the strife of the elitists, it will surely influence the masses, especially in the organized sector, to join their political faction. So, in this situation, the Filipino masses must maintain the independent interest of the working class for the preparation to promote real and meaningful changes.”
According to the PMP, when the conflict between the ruling classes matures into a political crisis, their group “wants not only regime change but social change, which is the way to establish a government of the masses.”