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By Dante A. Ang
Second of three parts
Only 5 feet 1.5 inches tall, Ka Roger commands
the respect of his peers and his detractors alike. When he speaks,
you can’t help listening. He has depth. He is, after all, the
party spokesman.
Turning immediately to James, he asked if the
young man had brought with him the vest he had ordered. James said
yes. While putting it on, Ka Roger said he wanted to wear the vest
during the interview.
It was a little past four p.m. We started to set
up the television camera for the interview while there was still
light. We came prepared. We brought along tapes good for a 10-hour
interview.
It was past six p.m. when we concluded the first
part of our interview. As dusk fell, we retired in the hut to
prepare for dinner. Two gas lamps lighted our dinner table. Together
with Ka Roger, James, the two NPA who fetched us, the other armed
NPA and the women in the hut, we ate the Max fried chicken and
pancit canton that we brought along and the fried tulingan (a local
saltwater fish variety) that they prepared for dinner.
As we prepared to go to bed, they cleaned the
table and somebody suggested that I sleep on it. They had a banig
(mat) laid out as my bed for the night. I decided to sleep instead
on a bench nailed to the wall that served as a backstopper.
The bench surrounded the table in rectangular
shape so that it allowed me to share the pillow with Ka Roger, who
slept on the other end of the bench. All through the night, he had
stories to tell. Quite honestly, I could not recall his stories the
night before. I was too sleepy and too tired from the day’s trip.
I could hardly sleep that night. In the first
place, my back was aching. I am no longer used to sleeping on a hard
surface. Besides, the bench was too narrow. Good thing it was nailed
to a wall else I would worry falling off only from one side. But if
the bench I was sleeping on was narrow, my driver was sleeping on a
narrower, stand-alone bench. How he managed to sleep remains a
wonder to me.
The mosquitoes also did a good job of keeping me
awake almost the whole night. They certainly gave me a warm welcome.
With their buzzing, they made sure I wouldn’t forget the occasion.
Boy, they really had a grand time.
I knew it was already dawn when I heard the AM
radio turned on. I couldn’t tell, however, which station they were
listening to. Must have been one of the more popular AM programs.
Soon after, Ka Roger was already being interviewed on the air. I was
still sleepy and too tired from trying to get some sleep the night
before. I didn’t want to get up. I tried to catch up with a few
more hours of sleep. But it was almost daylight and the cocks were
crowing all over the place.
Besides, I could hear people walking, talking,
preparing for daybreak. Somebody was boiling something and the smoke
partly filled the hut, which made me lose sleep even more. The smoke
bothered me no end.
Faces of contentment
I finally decided to pull myself up and got out
of “bed.” A few meters from the hut, under a mango tree, Ka
Roger was busy talking on his mobile phone to one of the morning
radio announcers. His security detail was busy for the morning
chores. One of them was boiling corn for breakfast. I ate the corn
and almost choked. The corn was so tough it took quite an effort to
chew it. I would not recommend it for people wearing false teeth.
Yet the guerrillas showed no displeasure; no
irritation; no dissatisfaction. On the contrary, they were the faces
of contentment, of satisfaction as they ate their corn with gusto no
different from the average family thankful for the blessings of the
day.
They must have noticed that I had barely touched
my corn. One small bite, and that was it. I thought I had known
poverty until the two days and one night I spent with the NPA. I was
too embarrassed not being able to finish my corn. But I guess they
understood.
We proceeded to prepare for the morning
interview with Ka Roger the better to finish it as early as
possible. I did not think I could endure another sleepless night at
the camp, occasioned by the welcoming committee of pesky mosquitoes.
And so, over a cup of very strong, fresh salabat
(ginger brew) we resumed the interview with Ka Roger. He said he
likes his salabat extra strong and very sweet. Very appropriate
indeed for a man who is much feared by his detractors, yet a very
charming and regular person.
Ka Roger was careful enough to distance the NPA
from the “electoral process by the present government.” He was
being consistent. They consider themselves a separate, independent
government. Throughout the negotiations with the government, they
maintained that they have attained a belligerent status for being in
control of substantial territories in the country, mostly in the
rural areas.
Being “revolutionaries,” they do not believe
that the election could bring about a meaningful change in the
country. In their view, the only change that would occur would be a
change in personalities or leaders who will run the government.
Ka Roger said it doesn’t matter who becomes
President, whether installed by the United States or not; he or she
will predictably do the bidding of the Americans because up to now
we still depend on them economically.
‘Self-serving statements’
Whoever wields economic power wields political
power. That is why, it matters little, according to Ka Roger,
whether we were given political independence by the Americans
because we are still economically controlled by them.
Malacañang was not surprised by his statements,
which it said were “self-serving.” “We cannot expect any
favorable comment from [Ka Roger] on anything that is happening in
the country or on any efforts being exerted by the government to
solve the country’s problems,” said the President’s spokesman,
Ignacio Bunye, “The NPA has its own agenda.”
Elections, Ka Roger said, merely bring changes
in names. From Marcos who was deposed through a popular people’s
revolution in 1986, to Corazon Aquino to Fidel Ramos, to Joseph
Estrada, who also fell through People Power, paving the way for Vice
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to claim the presidency by virtue
of constitutional succession.
Ka Roger, however, deplored the lack of an
alternative program of government by the opposition. He noted that
it did not present to the electorate a program that was
substantially different from that of the President’s platform.
That is why the NPA does not believe that the
election can bring a meaningful change. So much money was spent
around during elections and Ka Roger is afraid so much spending
could sink the economy further down the hole. Worse, he said, the
winning politicians will recover their campaign expenses immediately
after the election.
Ka Roger had admirable words for Vice President
Teofisto Guingona Jr., whom he described as the “voice of the
propeople businessmen.” Regrettably, the political system prevents
him from carrying out his nationalistic views, because, Ka Roger
said, the majority of those in government are antipeople.
He said it is good that Guingona advises the
presidential aspirant Fernando Poe Jr., but he is not sure whether
Guingona’s nationalistic views would prevail or be listened to,
given the people around Poe who are mostly traditional politicians.
Some of the most “deplorable” businessmen
are supporting Poe, according to Ka Roger. They may not be talking
publicly, but it is clear as sunlight that they are behind Poe. He
did not name them, however.
He said that although the NPA thinks Poe may
have his own convictions, it would be interesting to see if he can
face up to the dictates of his patrons, whether he can impose his
own views on them and if Guingona’s advice would be heeded as
well. (One of the campaign issues against Poe was that he is
surrounded and controlled by a horde of advisers who once belonged
mostly to the discredited Kilusan ng Bagong Lipunan, or KBL, of the
martial-law years.)
Ka Roger accused the President of not following
her conscience when making decisions for the country. He said she
has failed to deliver on her promises to the people who brought her
to power like the farmers, students, the professionals and various
organizations. He was probably alluding to the promise of EDSA 2
when President Estrada was forced to abdicate.
Committed to globalization
What Mrs. Arroyo did, according to him, was to
vigorously flesh out her commitment to the provisions of
globalization. She pursued the policy on liberalization,
privatization and deregulation, which started during Corazon
Aquino’s presidency.
He accused the President of making the
Philippines’ commitment to globalization even more severe instead
of making the country dependent on itself. That is why the NPA no
longer hopes that the countryside can still be industrialized. What
is happening, he said, is a clear case of de-industrialization,
which forces the remaining businesses and industries, small and
medium, to close down owing to the influx of foreign products and
multinational companies.
Businessmen who enter into partnerships with
foreign businesses for survival will soon be gobbled up, Ka Roger
predicted. The resultant benefits the consumers get from foreign
competition like low prices and quality products are nothing
compared with the loss of jobs. He blames government neglect and
apathy for the failure of Filipino companies to bloom and stand up
to foreign competition, which eventually led to their closures.
More than imposing tariff, Ka Roger said, the
government should develop and strengthen our local market instead.
The Philippines may be considered a big country based on its
population. “We are now more than 80 million, that is why the
imperialist capitalists are fighting over us,” he said.
Ka Roger said the local industries would have
become more globally competitive and the worker’s purchasing power
would have been higher had the government suspended importing
foreign goods at critical periods.
Self-sufficient livelihood
Nations fight for foreign markets for their own
products. Japan, the European Union and the United States fight for
market control, which he believes is the root of global conflicts.
That is why we should develop our own market based on a
self-sufficient livelihood policy.
Only then, he said, can we develop our native
products like coconut and sugar, but not before. The country abounds
in natural resources, yet only the foreigners are benefiting from
them and, after mining us dry, leave us behind. “Parang babaeng
ginahasa, nang magahasa at makuluntoy na, ay iiwan na lang [Like a
woman who has been raped and after weakening has been abandoned],”
Ka Roger wryly noted.
The NPA is against privatization. It believes
strategic industries, like power, water and mining, should remain
under government control. Despite government inefficiency and
corruption, the NPA would rather have the State run those industries
than private businessmen.
The reason for that, Ka Roger said, is that
businessmen operate for profit and not for public service. He
admitted, however, that private businesses are more efficient but
that only a handful benefit from company profits; certainly not the
people. He believes that the only way to prevent government
officials from milking government-owned or controlled corporations
dry is to change the system of government from democratic to
socialist.
Under this plan, all strategic industries will
be placed under government control. The socialists would put our
fate in the hands of the Filipinos and resist the dictates of the
foreign powers. Yet he said we can’t afford to sever our relations
with other countries but that relations must be based on mutual
respect and mutual benefit.
To Ka Roger, the culprit is the system, not the
people. People merely do things based on the system. Politics and
culture are imbedded in the system, he said.
The fact alone that Mrs. Arroyo, when she was
still senator, had to insert a safety-net provision in the GATT bill
meant something was inherently wrong, according to Ka Roger.
Globalization is not just the influx of foreign goods or foreign
investments. Although he agrees that we need foreign capital, he
said it must not be the kind that causes our businesses to fold up.
Globalization, or the free flow of products in a
so-called free market, is not really as free as the advocates make
it appear, he said. Small countries are forced by powerful nations
to tear down tariffs and open local markets for their products.
‘Cockroach competition’
Ka Roger recalled how former President Fidel
Ramos tried to speed up our country’s compliance with the WTO even
before the 2010 deadline, making the presence of foreign products
even more pervasive. The situation brought the country deeper in the
economic mire, he said. Ramos wanted to carry out “zero tariff”
years ahead of the deadline just to impress members of the WTO,
particularly the United States, observers said.
The impact of the WTO treaty on the Philippine
economy can be assessed as being positive because it will continue
on the momentum to foster a more open, predictable and competitive
environment. This has been the official policy of the government as
contained in a paper presented by the Bureau of International Trade
Relations of the Department of Trade and Industry in August 2001.
Ka Roger noted that industrialized countries
have reached a high level of sophistication, but what they practice
is no longer free trade but a kind of monopoly. He calls it
“cockroach competition” or “dog eat dog,” where no real
competition exists and where the strong rule the weak.
It was very much unlike in the 19th century, he
said, when capitalism was in its nascent stage and competition was
meaningful. He rues the absence of an honest-to-goodness free market
in our country, wondering how sari-sari stores could compete with
big department stores. Soon, he said, even the malls will have to
close with the entry of bigger malls owned by foreigners. What will
happen, he said, is that Filipino mall owners will go into
partnerships or joint ventures with their foreign counterparts, but
they, too, will be gobbled up.
Far-fetched independence
Even if President Arroyo is elected, Ka Roger
said he is not optimistic she can exert political will and be more
independent in making decisions. He does not share the optimistic
view of others.
The President’s becoming more independent is
far-fetched, he said, because the presidency is but one part of the
government. There is Congress with two houses: the House and the
Senate. Besides, he said, there is the United States, which will
make sure that only pro-American leaders are voted into office.
Then there is the military, the most important
component of government. The United States will see to it that it
controls the Philippine military so that “failing in election and
if anything untoward happens, it can immediately move to change the
leaders by force.”
Ka Roger was alluding to the EDSA phenomena when
two sitting presidents—the first in 1986 and the second in
2001—were forced to step down. In 1986 the former AFP vice chief
of staff, Gen. Fidel Ramos, and the former secretary of national
defense, Juan Ponce Enrile, supported by the Revolutionary Armed
Movement, broke away from President Marcos to launch the first EDSA
revolution.
There was a parallel to the second EDSA uprising
in 2001. President Estrada stepped down when the military, led by
the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Angelo Reyes, and Secretary of
National Defense Orlando Mercado dumped him and joined the
demonstrators at EDSA.
But to say that the two upheavals were
US-inspired and militarily led would be to rewrite history. In both
instances, it was the people who led the military and not the other
way around. It was the people who actually protected the military
from harm and getting massacred by the forces of Marcos during the
first People Power Revolution.
In the second revolution, the people effectively
neutralized the military from intervening in the uprising. Except
for Reyes and some generals—mostly retired—the army stayed
largely on the sidelines. They allowed the events to unfold right
before their bewildered eyes before deciding on what to do next.
Reyes and his military commanders took sides only when it became
clear which way the wind would blow. The United States? Well, it
came in to support the EDSA revolutions after it became apparent
that it was all over but the celebration.
Ka Roger supports house arrest for Estrada. He
agrees with President Arroyo that Estrada should be given more
humane treatment, but he believes that others similarly charged
should also be given the same treatment.
The government, however, must apply the law on
Estrada. If found guilty as charged, he should be punished and put
behind bars for the rest of his life.
Poe claims he is a good businessman. He said he
was able to keep his movie production afloat but “we have to hear
him talk about his platform of government,” Ka Roger said. More to
the point, he does not find Poe’s programs significantly different
from those of the other candidates.
He supports Poe’s plan to restructure our
external debts. But he is against a unilateral decision. Ka Roger
believes that any debt restructuring should be subject to mutual
agreement with the lender countries. (Now I understand why Poe, in
one of his meetings with some business leaders early in the
campaign, announced that he was in favor of renegotiating the
country’s external debts. He was courting the votes of the Left.
Central Bank Governor Rafael Buenaven-tura had to issue a rejoinder
to allay the jitters in the business community.)
Abrogating the country’s debt unilaterally is
not possible. We still have to worry about our relations with other
countries—whether friendly or hostile.
Jose Maria Sison, according to Ka Roger,
considers the presidential aspirant Raul Roco the lesser evil.
Regrettably, the communists can’t vote and even if they can, Sison
doesn’t believe Roco would win. Roco doesn’t have the machinery
to put up a good fight against President Arroyo and Poe Jr.
Lacson is dreadful. He has a reputation for
killing people. Like many political analysts, Ka Roger thinks that
Lacson was the weaker candidate than Poe but that the opposition had
better chances of winning the presidency in May if Lacson and Poe
had united.
Not necessarily godless
Ka Roger doubted the winnability of Brother
Eddie Villanueva. Although Villanueva may have good intentions, Ka
Roger does not believe Villanue-va’s “army” was sufficient to
make him win the presidency.
Communists don’t believe in God. Yet the CPP,
according to Ka Roger, has its own beliefs in religion or Divinity
and is not necessarily godless. This is because the CPP does not
impose its will on its members.
NPA members are free to practice their religious
beliefs. This attitudinal change must have been shaped largely by
the priests and nuns whose membership in the organization helped
bring about guarded religious tolerance. Ka Roger, however,
emphasized that party members should serve the country first and
that any other interests (religious beliefs) come second.
(Continued tomorrow)
Part 1 |Part
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