The other day, during an interview, Duterte confirmed that he would visit his former professor Jose Ma. Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), National People’s Army (NPA), and National Democratic Front (NDF) in Netherlands.
Duterte declared that he would stick to his campaign promise to establish a political coalition with the Communists and to share political and other powers with them. I surmise such power sharing with the Communists would include appointments to Cabinet positions and other bureaucratic slots, access to public funds and taxes, free publicity as public officials, accumulation of political influence as Cabinet secretaries and government officers, enjoyment of huge salaries, perks, fringe benefits, and foreign junkets and tours, and many others.
Cabinet Spots Targeted.
The Communists reportedly are targeting the elite positions of Secretaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and other significant administrative agencies, all of which have direct political exposure to labor, peasantry, and fisherfolk and direct access to billions of public funds and taxes.
Goal of CPP-NPA-NDF
The intention of the Communists is clear: To expand nationwide the political and propaganda mass base of the CPP-NPA-NDF and their Fronts in Civil Society in order to adopt in the Philippines the outdated socio-political and economic theories of Karl Marx, as violently imposed by Lenin of Russia, Mao Tse Tung of Red China, Pol Pot of Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Fidel Castro of Cuba, and other notorious pro-Soviet Russia and pro-Red China communist leaders on their regimented and indoctrinated peoples during the Cold War from the 1950s up to the 1980s.
Peace
Duterte claims that his goals are national unity and peace.
It is fair to give Duterte a chance to prove his good faith at least during the traditional first one hundred (100) days of his presidency or the so-called “honeymoon period with the Press”.
Peace Agreement
The only way by which Duterte may achieve his proposed peace plans without the violation opposition of the Filipino people would be to negotiate with the Communists a constitutional, fair, just, comprehensive and pro-Democracy and pro-Republic peace agreement -- an agreement that shall not lead to the de facto death of our Democracy and our Republic and that shall not lead to the ultimate demise of our Constitution, the soul of our democratic society.
The Communists Must Abandon
Their Violent Means To Achieve Reforms.
The peace agreement must stipulate the duty of the Communists to lay down and surrender their arms; to abandon “armed class struggle”, “violent revolution”, “dictatorship of the proletariat”, and the practice of regimentation and indoctrination of the mind and conscience to achieve social reforms; to stop the collection of revolutionary taxes, permit to campaign fees, and other illegal taxes and assessments; to cease from its tactical partnerships with rebel Muslims, terrorist Muslim groups and organized criminal syndicates to generate revenues from illegal and criminal means, such as drugs, kidnappings, extortions, coercions, robberies, prostitutions, and other felonies; and the like.
Support of the Legislative
The peace agreement would need direct Legislative intervention, support, funding and affirmation, by way of specific laws, if the implementation of the provisions of the agreement would require (a) appropriations of public funds for the programs stipulated in the agreement, (b) creation of and funding for new public administrative bodies and government-owned and controlled corporations, and (c) adoption and implementation of new state policies, all of which should not be contradictory to the 1987 Constitution.
Democratic Consultations
The peace agreement must be based on democratic consultations with all major sectors of our republic. The voice of the people is the voice of God. It is not enough that the discussion be limited within the pro-Left internal core group of Duterte, who himself had proudly announced that he would be the “first socialist president of the Philippines”, clearly a biased pro-Left self-designation on the part of Duterte.
Bloodbath
A failure on the part of Duterte to insure comprehensive and democratic consultations among all sectors of our society would put at risk the political acceptability and constitutional validity of the peace agreement and, worse, would create the possibility of a coup d’état, civil war, and/or assassination of Duterte and the ranking members of his Leftist Core Group and the leaders of the CPP-NPA-NDF and their Fronts in the Civil Society. Bloodbath is a great possibility if Duterte miscalculates.
Extreme Right
Extremely conservative elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), the constitutional “protectors of the people”, are expected to oppose, by violent means, the possibility of the “Marxist communization” of the Philippines. These military officers and personnel, who have taken an oath to defend the Constitution and to serve the Flag, will be provided with tacit financial and political support by the ultra-conservative members of Capitalist Business and the traditional sectors of our society. They will oppose a Duterte-led imposition of Communism on the Filipino people. They will fight for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Free Capitalist Market Economy, the Freedom of Thought and Conscience, and other cherished democratic state policies and principles that we have been enjoying as a people since the 1896 Revolution.
Commission on Appointments
Duterte knows that all Cabinet appointments are subject to the strict scrutiny and confirmation of the Legislative’s Commission on Appointments, pursuant to the Constitution. Duterte will need the full support of the Legislative, a co-equal branch of Government, if he wants to spare his Communist appointments to his Cabinet from dilatory, strict, tedious and painful examination and rejection by the Commission on Appointments.
Duterte Must Apologize To Congress
Duterte must apologize to Congress for his irresponsible and bombastic campaign statements threatening to abolish Congress and to declare martial law or impose a revolutionary government if he is impeached by Congress and if he is given a hard time by Congress in the performance of his duties as President, i.e., derogatory anti-Duterte legislative investigations, intentional inaction on Duterte’s proposed bills which Congress sees as unacceptable and/or unconstitutional, strict practice by Congress of its power of oversight on the execution of laws by the Executive, dilatory hearings on Duterte’s proposed annual budgets, antagonistic anti-Duterte privilege speeches and resolutions, and the like.
Duterte Must Reform His Behavior,
Mind and Spirit
As mayor for more than 2o years and as head of a political dynasty in semi-rural Davao City, Duterte has been used to thinking, behaving and deciding like a dictatorial feudal warlord, whose word is the law of his local turf. If he does not reform his approaches and behavior as a leader, his presidency will fail within three (3) years.
Managing a local city is much different from administering a nation.
Duterte needs to be a democratic team leader, not a self-proclaimed, noisy, talkative, empty and inconsistent Dictator, if he wants his term of office to be a success.
A team leader inspires and mobilizes his flock without using fear, punishment, violence, bribery, or lies.
Duterte must pacify his agitated and angry mind, discipline his hate-filled tongue, and control the potential corruptions of his political dynasty, his secret network of oligarchic financiers who funded his expensive campaign, and his personal clique of friends who serve as his inner circle of advisers, many of whom are unknown to the people.
Duterte’s Unexplained Wealth
He must fully explain to the Filipino people his huge unexplained wealth in the banks as recently exposed by Sen. Trillanes and which is now the subject of a formal Trillanes complaint for violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act, the code of ethical standards for public officers and employees, the anti-plunder law, and the anti-money laundering law pending with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Father of the Nation
Most of all, Duterte must show to the whole country that he can be a good role model for the innocent young children, the idealistic youth, and the independent-minded millennials. He must prove that he can evolve into an exemplary and trustworthy “Father of the Nation”.
Only then can his presidency have a good chance of surviving.
Survival in Malacanang
Remember that Duterte is not a “majority president”. He garnered a little more than 33% of the total votes. He is a “minority president”. His leadership is really not that very stable. He needs to be very careful, mature, responsible, sincere, consistent, and intelligent in his decisions, statements, and actions as president if he wants to survive, both politically and physically, in Malacanang for the next six (6) years.
