Every underground organization had to accept a united front led by the CPP. There was no alternative. At the time, at the beginning of martial law, there was no other revolutionary Marxist party. So, the NDF was a movement led by the CPP in which elements that did not belong to the party participated.
The CNL, a special component of the NDF, had, from this standpoint,
People's Party JOSE MARIA "Joma" Sison is one of the key personalities of the Philippine revolutionary left. Expelled from the PKP (the pro-Moscow Philippine Communist Party) in 1967 for his criticisms of the leadership of the party, he created the "new" Philippine Communist Party (CPP) in December 1968, of which he was chair until his arrest in November 1977.
One of the last prisoners to be liberated after the victory of Corazon Aquino, Joma has played a very specific role since then. With intense activity - writing in the press, appearing on television, giving conferences and interviews - he has expressed himself widely on the present and the future of the revolution in the Philippines.
But Joma has not taken up the job of chair of the CPP again and, what is more, no longer has a leadership role within the party. It was at his initiative that the Partido ng Bayan (People's Party, PnB) was launched, as the political expression of the national democratic current. In the interview below, he explains the nature of the PnB and
I repeat, a distinct history. They had an independent origin, and a lot of their members were "unassimilable" in the party. While members of the NDF, they were not sympathizers of the party in the process of being absorbed into it.
In this respect, therefore, the NDF is a front that forms a framework for collaboration among elements that can properly be called "National Democrats" (that is, who are engaged in a long-term struggle for national democratic objectives), but will never join the CPP. Such individuals have become more numerous in the NDF as it has grown.
Toward 1982, there was an attempt to bring other forces not of the role that this party can play in
Question: The Partido ng Bayan will soon be established. What will be its role?
Answer: This type of party form of organization is being used for the first time by the national democratic movement. Several other forms of organizations have been already utilized up to now. But the need to form such a party, now called the Partido ng Bayan, has been felt because the national democratic mass organizations have been too limited in the political field. They often had no other choice but to support politicians who belong to the upper classes, but who are exceptional elements the months to come. in that they pursue national democratic lines.
In this situation, there has been a tendency to follow traditional parties. For example, in Mindanao, there has been a close association between Bayan and the PDP-Laban. Because of this, Bayan has become a recruiting ground for the PDP-Laban. And we know very well that the PDP-Laban is controlled by people like Peping Cojuangco and other members of the upper classes. So, there is a vacuum that is being filled by the launching of a properly national democratic party.
The PnB has a national democratic program quite similar to the ones of
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986
so many national democratic organizations and alliances. And 1 point out one provision in its constitution: not less than 60 per cent but not more than 70 per cent of all leading organs from the municipal level upwards must come from the labor and peasant movement, from the toiling masses. This is to guarantee the propeople character of the party and the development of leaders from the toiling masses.
Also, in the Partido ng Bayan, you get political education, you get organized and mobilized on issues that affect you. This PnB will not wake up only during the electoral campaign. Traditional parties usually do so, and then they make promises. The PnB is a party that will be in constant struggle against those who oppress and exploit the people.
Q. Which questions will the PnB mobilize around in the coming period?
A. It could be slogans against joblessness, poverty, and landlessness. So, jobs and land reform. These are calls which would immediately easily unite the mass movement all over the country.
Of course, while calling for positive things like jobs and land reform, there must be an accompanying criticism of the inimical forces that have caused this state of joblessness, poverty and landlessness of all the real producers of society, mainly the workers and peasants.
Q. The PnB will be a legal party. What is its role in relation to the Communist Party of the Philippines and to the New People's Army?
A. I cannot speak for the CPP, but I can relate the PnB to the CPP in intellectual terms. Well, the PnB is neither a rival or competitor, nor an extension or a replacement for the CPP.
I think the CPP will remain the Marxist-Leninist vanguard party of the proletariat. It remains the proletarian party leading the Philippine revolution and the broad masses of the people. I think that the revolutionaries will continue to make the assumption and that even the officers and members of the PnB would find no reason to complain against that formulation.
The PnB makes no claim to be the Marxist-Leninist vanguard communist party of the proletariat. It does not even claim simply to be the proletarian party.
Let me put the PnB in context. Let's say that you take a revolutionary viewpoint. How would you then compare the legal form of strug gle with the armed form? You would of course put the armed struggle in the first place. It is principal to the legal struggle isn't it? 8
Q. The setting up of the PnB, then, doesn't signify that the CPP has abandoned its line on armed struggle?
A. If I answered your question, it would mean that I accept that there is some relationship between the PnB and the Communist Party. Let's put it this way: personally, I would think that PnB plays a role that is secondary to the revolutionary organizations which could be more effective in the effort to radically transform Filipino society.
But the PnB will have its own organizational and political integrity. It might have similar stands on a number of issues as other organizations, like the CPP. It is not surprising that two different entities have similar views on certain issues. The PnB will always avoid any organizational links which would put it in a position to be submitted to legal punitive measures.
Q. Then the formation of the PnB is not a way of legalizing the CPP?
A. No, the Communist Party, on its own, can very well legitimize itself. And I think the best way for the Communist Party to legalize itself would be to win power or to gain the position of being part of a new coalition government in which the CP would continue to adhere to its revolutionary course.
Q. As a legal party, will the PnB get involved in the electoral arena?
A. Yes. Let me explain why it is now possible to do so. Today, there is a full array of legal organizations and legal struggles. But electoral struggles did not come first. It was necessary to build a broad mass support for the PnB, to be able to face the power of money, which is behind the traditional parties. In a substantial number of areas where the mass movement is already so strong, the money of the exploiting classes won't count so much any more.
Q. How strong is the Partido ng Bayan?
A: Actual members are now running into the thousands. You see, there are two million members of Bayan's component organizations. It's the base for PnB chapters' recruitment. You can say it's our potential. But the present target for the recruitment of chapter members is a minimum of ten thousand.
I think the PnB will be widespread, from North to South. Manila will be one of the strongest places. Where Bayan is strong, the PnB will be strong, that is guaranteed. Where the people have already become militant along the national democratic line, the PnB will also be strong.
Q: Does this mean that the PnB's mass support can reach ten million?
A: Six to ten million, you could say that this is the potential. But the PnB has to do its own work. This should not depend on the work done by other organizations. As a matter of fact, it admits members on an individual basis. You see, PnB starts with cadre members drawn from national democratic mass organizations and alliances. The seedlings of Bayan would arise in that manner. So they are ready-made national democratic elements. Then the PnB will develop its own momentum in accordance with its own political and organizational integrity. It does not mean to become dependent on Bayan or other...
Joining the PnB is a matter of individual choice. Some Bayan figures who have become Officers in Charge (OICs) have also accepted membership in PDP-Laban ...
Q: What will be your function in the PnB, once it is formally established?
A: I will not run for office in the Partido ng Bayan. As a matter of fact, August 30 and 31, when the PnB will be founded, I shall decline any nomination. I am happy to be the chair of the preparatory commission....
Q. What do you think will be the electoral strength of the PnB?
A. The PnB can be sure of being the number one party in 15 to 20 per cent of the country. And in some more areas, the PnB can have its candidates elected through alliances with other parties.
Q. The CPP has made a selfcritical balance sheet of its boycott campaign in the presidential elections last February. What's your opinion on this?
A. The boycott policy has been considered as a major tactical error by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
But it strietly means that the revolutionary left did not get as much gains as it could have. It did not mean that the CP lost part of what they already had. You see the point? It is not a case of the CPP before the boycott having 100 points, and then because of boycott the points became 80. No, it is a case of the national democratic movement getting only 120 points instead of 150 points.
Really, the boycott policy has not been considered a major strategic error. There has been no error like considering that the armed struggle
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986
Defence Minister Enrile (left) and Chief of General Staff Fidel Ramos (DR)
is already useless, that it becomes secondary to other forms of struggle. There is no leadership yet making that mistake. Q. To what extent did the boycott policy advocated by the CPP affect the results of the February struggles? Did it weaken the position of national democratic organizations like Bayan? A. There could have been more progressives in the cabinet. But, you see, there are already liberal democrats there. And in many areas, for lack of people, Bayan members have been recruited in so many governmental offices by the various parties supporting the Aquino government, especially when individual merits are weighed. In places where Bayan and PDPLaban work together, there have been exchange of concessions between the two. And after the election, after the February events, quite a number of Bayan elements became governors, Local mayors, and so on. Let's take Mindanao, they got more than two hundred local officials.
It is in Manila that Bayan is supposed to have taken the most rigid position on the boycott, and it is there at a certain point that Bayan appeared as being divorced from the masses. That was a loss. But, you see, the basic problems still persist in the country: US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. So, I believe that Bayan continues to have the initiative of developing the mass movement in the national capital region and elsewhere. Q. During the conference, you said that at some point the PnB will have to set up its own mass organizations. What did you mean? Quite a few mass organizations exist already...
A. Eventually the PnB might organize its own mass organizations, but these mass organizations will have cooperative relations with the other national democratic mass organizations. There will be no problem: we have 54 million people ahead of us. Bayan, the biggest national democratic organization has been able to organize only two million. More efforts and more democratic initiative will not do harm to the revolutionary movement!
From a very revolutionary point of view, one can say that so long as there is one proletarian revolutionary party and one people's army, then the democratic proliferation of mass organizations is something very fine.
Q. On the assessment of the boycott you explained that nothing has been lost.
A. Nothing has been lost from the original power and strength.
Q. But you get the impression that the Philippine left is going through a process of profound reevaluation which isn't limited to the tactical sphere. There is a debate which goes beyond the question of the boycott itself. And the foundation of Bisig also illustrates the developments underway in another section of the Philippine left.
In your opinion, what are the main features of the evolution of the revolutionary forces and of the Philippine left today after the experience of the recent events?
A. I spoke of the non-solution of the basic problems of the Philippines, such as US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism. After the euphoria over the February events, it is now starkly clear that polarization in Philippine politics
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986 continues unabated. There is now a more complex situation for the ruling system and the incumbent government. Even within the in cumbent government, there are now three fractions manoeuvering and counter-manoeuvering within the civil bureaucracy and the armed forces of the Philippines. I think that the ruling system is the one that is deteriorating and the solid revolutionary forces are building up their strength.
Q. What do you think of the question of the united front? Is there a difference between before and after February concerning the very conception of the united front or its practice, concerning its extent or the manner of building it?
A. I think the united front as a class line remains constant and the manner of structuring the united front remains constant.
First of all the basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry, the toiling masses, must be assured because it is the stable foundation of any revolutionary united front. Then you come to the next level of expanding the united front: toiling masses plus urban petty-bourgeoisie would be what you call the basic revolutionary forces, the forces that must have a united front. Then, if you add to the basic forces of the revolution the middle bourgeoisie, you have a broad national united front.
Then after that you come to yet another level: taking advantage of the splits and conflicts within the exploiting classes.
What is the objective of all these levels of united front policy? It is to isolate and destroy the worst of the reactionaries and liberate the country from foreign and feudal domination. D
PHILIPPINES
Bisig: an openly socialist force IN THE RANGE of the Philippine revolutionary left, the movement Bisig occupies a distinct place. It is neither a party nor a coalition. It regroups militants coming from different politico-cultural traditions who openly identify with socialism.