Hatte Adorno recht?

… heute mal keine Abstimmung, aber vielleicht entwickelt sich ja nach eingehender Prüfung der Argumente eine Diskussion …

Wahlpolitischer Opportunismus der CPP

Quelle: ESSF … Schwesterpartei der Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP, nicht mit der ehemals pro-Moskau orientierten PKP-1930 zu verwechseln) in der BRD ist übrigens die MLPD:

Worse than a crime – The electoral politics of the NDF and the CPP in the Philippines

Alex de Jong, 20 January 2010

The year 2010 has only just begun but we might already know what’s going to be the most unlikely election coalition of the year. The legal National-Democratic (ND) movement of the Philippines, politically aligned with the underground Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, has made an alliance with multimillionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Bamba Villar Jr. and indirectly with Marcos’ admiring son, Ferdinand ’Bongbong’ Marcos jr.

When Manny Villar announced he would be running for president of the republic of the Philippines he immediately looked like a strong contender. After all, he is one of the richest men in the country – worth about 830 million dollar. His financial capital can buy a lot of political capital in a game still characterized by ’goons, guns and gold’. Alas, the first of Augustus 2009 Cory Aquino, still popular and fondly remembered as a symbol of democracy, died. From out of political obscurity her son, Benigno ’Noynoy’ Aquino III, became a contender for the top position of the republic, officially announcing his candidacy on September 9. In the months after this announcement Aquino was leading in the polls.

Same old, same old

Satur Ocampo of the party-list Bayan Muna and Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party, both part of the National-Democratic coalition Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance, had already been negotiating with Manny Villar for two spots for senatorial seats under his campaign banner. The rationale behind this alliance? The NDs say it’s because of Villar’s ’pro-poor’ stance and program. As if there has ever been a presidential candidate that did not promise to fight poverty. But Villar, the NDs maintain, is different. The difference is not in Villar’s political career and there’s in fact very little reason to take Villar’s commitment seriously. Like other politicians from the ruling elite, Villar has jumped from one party to the other during his career. In the nineties a member of Lakas – party of current president Gloriao Macapagal Arroyo – he later was a member of Estrada’s coalition Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino.

Estrada of course, was a wealthy man who styled himself as an outsider to the corrupt political circles of the Philippines. Just like Villar. And Estrada styled himself as a champion of the poor. Just like Villar. Their similarities and earlier alliance notwithstanding, as Speaker of the House of Representatives Villar presided over the impeachment of then-president Joseph Estrada just before ‘Erap’ was ousted by the People Power II uprising. A good politician knows when to leave a sinking ship…

After 2000 Villar was twice elected to the senate. In 2003 he left his days as an independent behind him and joined the Nacionalista Party (NP). The NP is the oldest party of the Philippines, originally founded as a vehicle for the illustrado elite collaborating with the ’benevolent assimilation’ of the American colonial regime. In 2004 Villar became president of this party that is still supporting, despite her damaged credibility, the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. His record during the years? In 1992 Villar was the House representative in the government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. This was during the presidency of Fidel Ramos – the period that neoliberalism was anchored as the economic orthodoxy of the country. After the rocky years of Aquino’s presidency, Ramos aimed to make the Philippines an attractive site for foreign capital. In the words of COURAGE (Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees) trade-union it was during Ramos presidency that ’the country was opened to a complete control by foreign monopoly capital.’ Under the banner ’Philippines 2000’ Ramos propagated a neoliberal policy that he said would bring the country the status of Newly Industrialized Country by 2000. If anything, the country became a newly-deindustrialized country when a significant part of its production base killed was killed by international competition in the ’open’ market propagated by the IMF. Villar was not just one of the many politicians that marched the Philippines economy into a hole. Villar was, according to his website, a ’key member’ of the House’s economic team, playing a crucial role in the liberalization of the banking system under president Ramos. With the help of both houses of the Philippine Congress, the Ramos government passed laws to implement liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. Villar supported Ramos’ policies that included for example laws that permitted foreign investors a 100 procent ownership of local businesses and granted foreign off-shore banks access.

Is Villar’s record only that of an champion of economic liberalism? Well, he also persuaded subdivision homeowners to open up their roads to the general public to ease traffic jams in Manila, designated Certain Areas in Las Piñas as Tourist Spots, led a dedicated tree-planting drive and organized the ‘Manpower on Wheels’ Program, a livelihood training school housed in a van that makes the rounds in poor areas. In over 15 year, about 5000 students graduated from this program. Token reforms are sometimes described as drops in the ocean. Considering the massive poverty in the Philippines, these three examples, listed as successes on Villar’s website, are small drops indeed.

Whichever way the wind blows

Since the days of the Ramos presidency, Villar has changed tack somewhat. In a speech for University of the Philippines College of Business Administration Alumni in 2004 Villar stressed a ’nationalist perspective’ against globalization’s dismantling of trade barriers. But, this ’does not suggest at all that we must be overprotective of our own industries to the exclusion of foreign investors.’ The next year, Villar would, together with Satur Ocampo and others, criticize IMF policy – while keeping mum about his own part in shackling the Philippine economy to the IMF. Nowadays, he supports bills providing micro-credit to struggling farmers and makes ads supporting free college education. These ads are part of media campaign that, according to conservative estimates, has cost 2 billion pesos since the third quarter of 2009.

The platform that Villar’s now running on and that has enamored the NDs for their multimillionaire ’class enemy’ is full of promises. Just like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was full of pro-poor promises in the 2004 elections. In the nineties, Villar embraced neoliberalism, a policy that he started to criticize after it lost its legitimacy. Until a while ago, he supported ‘GMA’ – a president he started to criticize after she lost legitimacy. A good politician knows when to leave sinking ships…