Leftist militants still paranoid about US imperialism

LEFTIST MILITANT groups—e.g., Bayan, League of Filipino Students, Kilusang ng mga Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Anakbayan, Anakpawis, Kilusang Mayo Uno—protest against the holding of the Balikatan 2016. They demand the withdrawal of all US troops and the junking of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that the Philippine government signed with the US government.

These are the same groups, together with their allied leftist organizations, that initiated and manipulated the recent violent incident in Kidapawan. Until now, they are still paranoid about US imperialism.

If you study Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought, their basic means to achieve political ends are: class struggle, revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat (i.e., a one-party system controlled by the Communist Party, as in China, North Korea and the former Soviet Union), and the regimentation of the mind and conscience.

There are two kinds of such destructive forces in our political system now:

1. The violent underground Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front; and

2. Their legal front in the House of Representatives—the leftist party lists which enjoy their multimillion-peso pork barrels, salaries, perks and junkets in Congress as any other dirty traditional politicians (trapo) do, while secretly sharing portions thereof to their underground counterparts.

As the May 2016 national elections near, their destabilizing and violent mass actions escalate.

Kidapawan is their latest event.

Freedom-loving, law-abiding and right-thinking Filipinos should not allow themselves to be misled by such violent and undemocratic forces and by the presidential and local candidates who support them, openly or silently (e.g., Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City).

If we want our country to continue enjoying progress, let us uphold the democratic and republican tenets and principles enunciated in our Constitution (and reject the Red Book of Mao Zedong, the communist writings of CPP-NPA founder Jose Ma. Sison, and the manipulative press releases of his mercenary spin doctors/propagandists in the media).

—MANUEL J. LASERNA JR., Las Piñas City