By Fabio Scarpello
Asian Time Online
MANILA - Presidential hopeful Manuel "Manny" Villar's strategic alliance with left-wing parties associated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the political arm of the rebel New People's Army (NPA), has upset the military and sown ideological divisions in the country's Maoist rebel movement.
Villar, currently trailing presidential frontrunner Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino by a narrow margin in opinion polls, has made courting the political left a key strategy in his campaign to build alliances that can deliver votes. National elections are scheduled to take place on May 10.
Villar has built high-profile bridges with well-known leftists, Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, who represent respectively the Bayan Muna party and the Gabriela party, which are both affiliated with the CPP. They are both running as guest senatorial candidates under Villar's Nationalista Party Coalition.
In exchange, they have given Villar the support of the Makabayan organization, an umbrella group of eight left-leaning parties whose various chapters are now actively campaigning for his presidential bid. The CPP and its allied parties have potential sway over three million votes, a significant bloc considering the 2004 presidential polls were decided by just over one million votes.
The political alliance marks the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1986 that the CPP has officially supported presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Some analysts say that the move fits within a long-established CPP expedient tendency to build tactical alliances or short-term coalitions to further its movement.
The CPP has implemented a three-pronged approach to its four-decade long struggle to change the Philippines into a Maoist state. Apart from the NPA's armed uprising, the movement has over the years deployed mass movements and participated in parliamentary elections to further its ideological agenda in the mainstream political arena.
Party insiders believe that many of the CPP-affiliated parties will sever ties with Villar, a billionaire property developer, as soon as the election is finished. They believe that the alliance is a straight exchange: money for votes, including substantial funds to the CPP treasury and contributions to Ocampo's and Maza's election campaigns.
Villar has publicly denied making the contributions, but his claims have failed to convince sections of the politically influential army. The military is believed to be split concerning its preferred candidates, but outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has backed the candidacy of Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro, a former defense secretary in her administration.
A source at the Department of National Defense told Asia Times Online that "senior military officers are furious [about the alleged contributions] and they will not forgive Villar".
The source added that "a coup cannot be ruled out if Villar is elected". Other members of the military and intelligence services said similarly that the Villar-CPP tactical alliance had been coolly received throughout the armed forces. However, they ruled out any military intervention in politics should Villar be elected.
One root of the military's frustration is the possibility that some of the alleged contributions to the CPP may have been channeled to its affiliated NPA and used to buy weapons and ammunition. "How can a potential president arm those that shoot soldiers?" said a source within the military.
Under Arroyo, the army undertook a multi-year offensive against the NPA which it claims to have diminished the NPA's arsenal and numbers. According to the military, the NPA's strength declined from a peak of 25,200 foot soldiers in 1987 to just 4,702 in 2009.
The armed group, situated nationwide with strongholds in Bicol, Luzon and non-Muslim Mindanao, is nonetheless still capable of inflicting damage and stirring instability, say security analysts. Though there are several different Muslim insurgencies in the southern regions, the government still considers the NPA to be the single main threat to national security.
Peace overture
Villar has said that if elected he will bid to restart peace negotiations with the Maoist group that stalled in 2004. He argues that the insurgency is a result of poverty and that as president he would redouble efforts to address this issue.
In an e-mail message to ATol, Villar said that "everybody's help is needed, the House of Representatives, local government and the senate. The last group will include [candidates] Satur and Liza hopefully."
The left's alliance with Villar, however, has sown divisions within the Maoist movement - and not just over the ideological issue of joining hands with a high-rolling capitalist. Villar's coalition currently includes Ariel Querubin, a former marine colonel detained for his alleged involvement in an attempt to overthrow the Arroyo administration in 2006, and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
These competing ties are known to be frowned on by some CPP and NPA members, particularly elder members who were targeted during Marcos' martial law period and remain committed to the ideological fight against Manila.
Many within the movement would have preferred to join electoral forces with Aquino, whose mother, the late former president Corazon Aquino, freed several CPP members, including party founder Jose Maria Sison, in a 1986 amnesty that coincided with the People's Power-driven ouster of Marcos.
"Ocampo and Maza, like the rest of the left-wing pro-CPP, have in the past also attracted the votes of non-communists that supported them because of their people-oriented policies," said a former CPP member who maintains ties to the movement.
"This alliance is likely to discourage these people from voting for them. Villar is not exactly seen as a left-wing candidate and the money transaction that has taken place is off-putting. Aquino would have been better."
There are indications that the CPP had flirted with joining Aquino's Liberal Party-led coalition, but the unresolved dispute between farmers of his partially family-owned Hacienda Luisita plantation estate prevented an accord. Aquino and other Liberal Party leaders also could not guarantee that they would accommodate the left's nominees into the party's senatorial lineup.
The CPP endorsed Villar on December 24, 2009, two days before its 41st founding anniversary - when self-exiled leader Sison said in a statement released from the Netherlands that among the four major presidential candidates in next year's polls, Villar "seems to be the most patriotic and progressive".
The CPP has since praised Villar for advocating the interests of Filipino businessmen, expressing sympathy for workers and peasants and condemning human-rights violations.
Sison reiterated his position recently in an interview with Bulatlat, a Filipino magazine sympathetic to the CPP, in which he said that "Manny Villar offers the relatively better program, which unfortunately has been underplayed during the campaign".
At the same time, he labelled Aquino and his running mate, Mar Roxas, as "rabid exponents of the US-dictated policy of neo-liberal globalization". Whether such ideological claims will be enough to win votes and put Villar ahead of Aquino at the upcoming polls is yet to be seen.
Villar, currently trailing presidential frontrunner Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino by a narrow margin in opinion polls, has made courting the political left a key strategy in his campaign to build alliances that can deliver votes. National elections are scheduled to take place on May 10.
Villar has built high-profile bridges with well-known leftists, Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, who represent respectively the Bayan Muna party and the Gabriela party, which are both affiliated with the CPP. They are both running as guest senatorial candidates under Villar's Nationalista Party Coalition.
In exchange, they have given Villar the support of the Makabayan organization, an umbrella group of eight left-leaning parties whose various chapters are now actively campaigning for his presidential bid. The CPP and its allied parties have potential sway over three million votes, a significant bloc considering the 2004 presidential polls were decided by just over one million votes.
The political alliance marks the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1986 that the CPP has officially supported presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Some analysts say that the move fits within a long-established CPP expedient tendency to build tactical alliances or short-term coalitions to further its movement.
The CPP has implemented a three-pronged approach to its four-decade long struggle to change the Philippines into a Maoist state. Apart from the NPA's armed uprising, the movement has over the years deployed mass movements and participated in parliamentary elections to further its ideological agenda in the mainstream political arena.
Party insiders believe that many of the CPP-affiliated parties will sever ties with Villar, a billionaire property developer, as soon as the election is finished. They believe that the alliance is a straight exchange: money for votes, including substantial funds to the CPP treasury and contributions to Ocampo's and Maza's election campaigns.
Villar has publicly denied making the contributions, but his claims have failed to convince sections of the politically influential army. The military is believed to be split concerning its preferred candidates, but outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has backed the candidacy of Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro, a former defense secretary in her administration.
A source at the Department of National Defense told Asia Times Online that "senior military officers are furious [about the alleged contributions] and they will not forgive Villar".
The source added that "a coup cannot be ruled out if Villar is elected". Other members of the military and intelligence services said similarly that the Villar-CPP tactical alliance had been coolly received throughout the armed forces. However, they ruled out any military intervention in politics should Villar be elected.
One root of the military's frustration is the possibility that some of the alleged contributions to the CPP may have been channeled to its affiliated NPA and used to buy weapons and ammunition. "How can a potential president arm those that shoot soldiers?" said a source within the military.
Under Arroyo, the army undertook a multi-year offensive against the NPA which it claims to have diminished the NPA's arsenal and numbers. According to the military, the NPA's strength declined from a peak of 25,200 foot soldiers in 1987 to just 4,702 in 2009.
The armed group, situated nationwide with strongholds in Bicol, Luzon and non-Muslim Mindanao, is nonetheless still capable of inflicting damage and stirring instability, say security analysts. Though there are several different Muslim insurgencies in the southern regions, the government still considers the NPA to be the single main threat to national security.
Peace overture
Villar has said that if elected he will bid to restart peace negotiations with the Maoist group that stalled in 2004. He argues that the insurgency is a result of poverty and that as president he would redouble efforts to address this issue.
In an e-mail message to ATol, Villar said that "everybody's help is needed, the House of Representatives, local government and the senate. The last group will include [candidates] Satur and Liza hopefully."
The left's alliance with Villar, however, has sown divisions within the Maoist movement - and not just over the ideological issue of joining hands with a high-rolling capitalist. Villar's coalition currently includes Ariel Querubin, a former marine colonel detained for his alleged involvement in an attempt to overthrow the Arroyo administration in 2006, and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
These competing ties are known to be frowned on by some CPP and NPA members, particularly elder members who were targeted during Marcos' martial law period and remain committed to the ideological fight against Manila.
Many within the movement would have preferred to join electoral forces with Aquino, whose mother, the late former president Corazon Aquino, freed several CPP members, including party founder Jose Maria Sison, in a 1986 amnesty that coincided with the People's Power-driven ouster of Marcos.
"Ocampo and Maza, like the rest of the left-wing pro-CPP, have in the past also attracted the votes of non-communists that supported them because of their people-oriented policies," said a former CPP member who maintains ties to the movement.
"This alliance is likely to discourage these people from voting for them. Villar is not exactly seen as a left-wing candidate and the money transaction that has taken place is off-putting. Aquino would have been better."
There are indications that the CPP had flirted with joining Aquino's Liberal Party-led coalition, but the unresolved dispute between farmers of his partially family-owned Hacienda Luisita plantation estate prevented an accord. Aquino and other Liberal Party leaders also could not guarantee that they would accommodate the left's nominees into the party's senatorial lineup.
The CPP endorsed Villar on December 24, 2009, two days before its 41st founding anniversary - when self-exiled leader Sison said in a statement released from the Netherlands that among the four major presidential candidates in next year's polls, Villar "seems to be the most patriotic and progressive".
The CPP has since praised Villar for advocating the interests of Filipino businessmen, expressing sympathy for workers and peasants and condemning human-rights violations.
Sison reiterated his position recently in an interview with Bulatlat, a Filipino magazine sympathetic to the CPP, in which he said that "Manny Villar offers the relatively better program, which unfortunately has been underplayed during the campaign".
At the same time, he labelled Aquino and his running mate, Mar Roxas, as "rabid exponents of the US-dictated policy of neo-liberal globalization". Whether such ideological claims will be enough to win votes and put Villar ahead of Aquino at the upcoming polls is yet to be seen.
Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved
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