THE camp of the president-in-waiting Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte slammed leftist groups Sunday for criticizing his eight-point economic program as “a continuation of the neo-liberal poison imposed on the people by the Aquino regime” and accused them of being “roadblocks to genuine change.”
“Leftist groups have rejected the hands of friendship and cooperation by the incoming Duterte administration by mouthing their usual criticism of others but not undertaking their own criticism, self-criticism,” said Peter Laviña, Duterte’s spokesman, marking a break from the conciliatory tone the mayor has taken toward the communists.
“I am truly sorry for these leftist groups which will be left out in the march of history with their dogma and belligerent styles and methods of work. They need to right their wrongs and stop becoming roadblocks to genuine change,” Laviña said in his Facebook page.
The broad economic priorities under a Duterte presidency that former Agriculture secretary Carlos Dominguez laid out Thursday would be wide-ranging, and include tax reforms, the acceleration of infrastructure building, support services for farmers and a reduction in crime to attract foreign investments.
In a statement in the earlier part of the campaign, the Communist Party of the Philippines also twitted the Davao mayor.
“In the hope of boosting his chances of gaining popular support, he issues radical sound bytes about destroying the government and setting up a new one,” the party said.
“Talk is cheap, however, especially during the electoral campaign. If he ever wins, he will still have to prove himself in practice: Will he be like Venezuela’s [Hugo] Chavez who stood up to the bullying of the US government and promoted nationalization, a social welfare state and the arming of the people in Venezuela? Or will he be like Greece’s [Alexis] Tsipras who defended the welfare state in political debate but who later acceded to IMF and EU austerity policy impositions?”
The CPP added that Duterte has not exposed “any fundamental shift from the general run of neo-liberal economic policy of the past 30 or so years.”
“On the contrary, he has promised to expand privatization and deregulation and declared plans to provide state funds to Lucio Tan and his ilk of big bourgeois compradors; and liberalization of trade by allowing the dumping of surplus steel from China,” the rebel group said.
Militant groups maintained that Duterte’s economic agenda only entails “business as usual” politics, contrary to Duterte’s promise of pro-people economic development.
“We realize though that these issues and demands will not be resolved simply by submitting proposals to the powers-that-be. Their achievement relies on actual struggle by the people themselves, especially since the ruling elite stand opposed to these pro-people reforms. In the end, it will be the people, not the politicians, who will be decisive in achieving real change,” Renato Reyes, secretary-general for militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said in a statement.
Sonny Africa, executive director for economic think tank Ibon Foundation, said that Duterte’s policies don’t really differ from those of the other candidates.
“Despite his singular personality it turns out that his plans for the economy are strikingly interchangeable with the other losing candidates and even with the outgoing Aquino administration,” Africa said.
“His transition team hurriedly presented an eight-point economic agenda to assuage elite panic. Belying Duterte’s powerful campaign theme of change, it embraces and upholds neo-liberal economic policies that enrich a few but keep the national economy backward and tens of millions of Filipinos in poverty,” he added.
Laviña, however, said that efforts to sustain “gains even little by little here and there to advance the cause of the masses are better than none at all.”
“They should bring down their utopian dreams closer to reality… To perpetuate the sufferings of the masses is treasonous,” Duterte’s spokesperson said.
“Here is an unsolicited advice to them—dialogue with the incoming government instead of mounting black propaganda to be heard,” he added.
He also slammed leftist groups for vilifying the mayor and supporting the candidacy of Senator Grace Poe.
“For groups that claim that they are patriotic, nationalist and anti-imperialist, many were aghast in their decision to go with someone who abandoned our country and once pledged allegiance to the US,” he said.
“In their desire to push one of their national officials to be senator, they rush to a hasty decision, rejecting calls to wait for the maturing of the political situation before deciding,” he added.
“Having done these mistakes, they want to continue with their old ways of critiquing, critiquing, critiquing,” he added.
Throughout the campaign, Duterte maintained his “leftist” sentiments and voiced his dissatisfaction with the ruling elite that he claimed were taking out opportunities from the countryside.
Duterte’s mentor, the exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, also expressed his openness to a ceasefire between the left and the government, and expressed his intention to return to the country under a Duterte presidency.
He also added that he wanted to meet his student in Europe before he assumes the presidency.
But the CPP isn’t keen on recognizing a Duterte presidency, as they “didn’t recognize the elections.”
Detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Benito Tiamzon added that a “ceasefire should not be a precondition to the peace talks.”
But Laviña said the approach of the communist rebels was outdated.
“Their ways of pressuring others with the barrel of the gun and noise by the minority are now passé … And listen to your units in Mindanao. Otherwise, you will be proving to be yet another bunch of trapos,” he added.
A left-leaning farmers group, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, welcomed Duterte’s initiative for peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Antonio Flores, KMP secretary-general, also expressed “high hopes that the peace negotiations would forge a deal on genuine land reform.”
“We are keeping our fingers crossed that peace negotiations between the NDFP and the incoming Duterte regime would lead to the forging of an agreement on social and economic reforms that include genuine land reform,” the group said.
The camp of Duterte said the incoming president would consider allowing Sison and the other exiled communist leaders to return for peace talks, and review the status of political prisoners.