[asia-apec 1238] Unmask and resist Estrada’s fascist agenda behind Cha-Cha moves!

[KARAPATAN]

PRESS STATEMENT
06 August 1999 

Unmask and resist Estrada$B(Bs fascist agenda behind Cha-Cha moves!

The imminent threat of Charter change being shoved into our throats by the
Estrada administration poses a great danger on the people$B(Bs political
rights and civil liberties.  As callous as his former mentor and late
dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the cunning and shameless moves of President
Estrada to convene a Constituent Assembly reveal that his fascist agenda,
sandwiched into proposed amendments in the constitution, will demolish what
is left of the people$B(Bs fundamental rights and civil liberties. 

In subservience to the dictates of its foreign masters to smash out any
barrier to their economic and political plunder of our country, the Estrada
administration is compelled to push for Charter amendments amidst the
uproar of protests posed by the Filipino people. Cha-cha, Concord, Discord
or whatever be its name, charter change will virtually give license to
President Estrada to further expose the country$B(Bs sovereignty and patrimony
to foreign rape and roberry, leaving the Filipino people in dire misery and
poverty.

But completing the sell-out of the country's patrimony necessitates the use
of reactionary violence to supress any form of resistance from the ranks of
the struggling and organized Filipino masses.  Through charter amendments,
the Estrada administration can institutionalize fascist laws for the de
facto imposition of martial law even without its formal declaration.  It
can do so by sneaking in revisions in the Bill of Rights, reinstating more
repressive labor laws and policies, and modifying the law governing the
declaration of martial law for its self-serving interests.  It can also
utilize proposals for the institutionalisation of the national ID system,
wire tapping, Anti-Terrorism Act, and amendments to the Bank Secrecy Law. 

Through charter change, not only will the Estrada admnistration vend
ownership of the country's vast resources, it will also bargain ownership
of media outfit to foreign investors, essentially unleashing the most
brutal attack of supression of the freedom of the press. 

The signs of the times are therefore clear.  Curtailment of civil liberties
and political rights through warrantless arrests and illegal detention of
progressive individuals and legal personalities, intensified repression of
legal and progressive people's organizations, continued militarization in
the countryside, and brutal attacks on press freedom are evidently
remniscent of Marcos' fascist martial law which are now becoming almost a
part of daily living of the Filipino masses.  

And so are the objective conditions to resist tyranny and charter change.
But the Filipino people cannot allow the Estrada admnistration to
perpetrate itself in power and attack the people's rights and livelihood.
The past have taught us the most valuable lesson that a strong public
outcry can pose the most potent stumbling block against the rise of a
tyrannical rule.  The people are more than willing and ready to march once
again into the streets to resist the Estrada government's rising tyranny
and charter change. 

Unmask the Estrada regime's fascist agenda in Charter change!
Resist the rising tyranny of the US-Estrada regime! Oppose Charter change!
NO to the sell-out of the country's patrimony to imperialist powers!
Struggle for nationalism and democracy!

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KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)		
23-D Mabuhay St., Central District, Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Nos. (+632) 434-1865 / 435-7828
E-mail krptn at bigfoot.com

Visit our website at : 
http://www.bigfoot.com/~karapatan
		or
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/9204
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