GMA Asked to Resign, Apply as Bush’s Spokesperson 
Armed Left to launch ‘sympathy attacks’ if U.S. strikes Iraq

As militant organizations in the Philippines gear for a day-long and nationwide indignation rally on Feb. 14 against the U.S. war on Iraq, anti-war activist leaders have asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down and serve instead as U.S. President George W. Bush’s spokesperson.

By Gerry Albert Corpuz 
Bulatlat.com

Anti-U.S. war activists last week asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down from office and apply as spokesperson of U.S. President George W. Bush or British Prime Minister Tony Blair following the president's endorsement of the U.S. war against Iraq.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-New Patriotic Alliance) over the weekend said the President is hopelessly devoted to the hawks in the Bush government. Macapagal-Arroyo is the only world leader who took Colin Powell's testimony to the UN Security Council hook, line and sinker, the group said.

Bayan secretary general Teddy Casiño said "Most likely, (Macapagal-Arroyo) also thinks like her idol Bush that 'the game is over and war should begin." The President event went so far as to tour the Middle East parroting the very same wild ideas from Bush and Blair, he said.

Casiño said the so-called war coalition against Iraq is only composed of Bush, Blair and Macapagal-Arroyo. "For the record, it is only Bush, Blair and Macapagal-Arroyo who are trying to convince the whole world that war should be unleashed against Iraq. Not even Iraq's neighbors have spoken ill of that country," he said.

The young Bayan leader said that while majority of the Security Council and most world leaders were unimpressed by Powell's disclosures, the Philippine president had distinguished herself for her hysterical puppetry to the Bush government.

Sympathy attacks

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) through its armed component New People's Army (NPA) in a statement drawn from the CPP website said it would launch tactical offensives against legitimate targets if Macapagal-Arroyo supports the U.S. war against Iraq.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio ' Ka Roger" Rosal said the people’s army is ready to launch sympathy strikes through tactical offensives against government armed forces and police.

Rosal assailed what he called Macapagal-Arroyo's “brazen puppetry to the U.S.” He said the chief executive of the “puppet government” has unabashedly supported U.S. President George w. Bush' jingoism on Iraq.

He also denounced government's offer to the U.S. for its use of the country's airspace, airports and seaports for military operations against Iraq. The CPP spokesperson said this would drag the Philippines into the unjust war against the Iraqi people.

Rosal said President Arroyo will go down in history as one of the most sycophantic presidents the Philippines has ever had.
 
Feb. 14 protest

Organizers of the “Jan. 31 Stand for Peace: National Day of Prayer Against the U.S. War on Iraq” led by Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. and anti-U.S. war groups led by Bayan, party list Bayan Muna (People First), national alliance of grassroots organizations' Anakpawis, International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) and Justice Not War Coalition will lead another nationwide big protest action on Feb. 14 against U.S. war on Iraq.
 
The protest action on Valentines Day is the Philippine's counterpart to the global action against US war on Iraq on Feb. 15, organizers said.

Rita Baua, ILPS-Philippines secretary general, said the demonstration in Manila on Feb. 14 will showcase the Filipino people's strong resistance against the U.S. war on Iraq and their collective sentiment for a just and lasting peace.

"This is to show that Mrs. Arroyo and her bunch of militarist officials are the only people in this country who speak in favor of the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq. The great majority definitely are against the U.S. war project in Iraq and in the Middle East," Baua said. 

Baua said ILPS chapters in Europe, U.S. and Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia will also join the global action in the war of resistance against U.S. aggression on Iraq on Feb. 15. "Bush, Blair and Mrs. Arroyo's days are numbered. This war on Iraq will end their respective political careers," she said.

Www.peace

Meanwhile, women church leaders, legislators, artists, mothers, youth and students and community leaders launched www.peace coalition against U.S. war on Iraq. In a unity statement, the coalition expressed concern over the fate of 1.4 million Filipinos in the Middle East expected to be displaced in the event of war.

"We cannot help but agonize over what lies ahead of our sisters and their children directly bear the brunt of the U.S.-led war," the statement read. The group said "war multiplies the vulnerability of women and children to rape and sexual abuse."

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Liza Maza said the war that looms imperils innumerable lives. "Its far-reaching impact will be felt not just in the Middle East but even in our own country. Women are compelled to take a stand," she said.

Multi-awarded actress Gina Alajar, stage veteran Monique Wilson, scriptwriter Bibeth Orteza, comedy actress Malou de Guzman and singer Leah Navarro were named as convenors of the anti-U.S. war coalition.

Ms. Maza said six women members of the House - Reps. Cynthia Villar (Las Piñas), Josefina Joson (Nueva Ecija), Faysah Dumarpa (Lanao del Sur), Glenda Ecleo (Surigao del Norte), Cora Malanyaon (Davao
Oriental) and Lorna Silverio (Bulacan) have signed the manifesto against the U.S. war on Iraq.

RP as frontline state

Meanwhile, Anakpawis, a militant alliance of workers, farmers, fisherfolk, youth and student groups in the country denounced the U.S. latest categorization of the Philippines as a frontline state.

In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Anakpawis chairperson and peasant leader Rafael Mariano said the country's new billing, as frontline state will automatically turn the Philippines into the U.S. new launching pad in its war against Iraq and probably North Korea this year.

"The logical turn of events is pointing to that direction," Mariano said. He pointed out that the Philippines is one of the 25 countries named by the U.S. military as active supporter of Bush’s “borderless war” against terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

He said Washington will avail of access rights and will tap the Philippines for transit point and post-U.S. war operations in Iraq.

"Washington is fixing the country's role in U.S. current and future wars of aggression. It is dangling again the $100 million in military aid promised by U.S. State Department to Mrs. Arroyo during her visit to Washington in 2001 to acquire access to Philippine ports and airspace for its military campaign in 2003," Mariano said.

The U.S. state department said it will restore the $100 million military assistance to the Philippines in the form of military training and surplus defense articles like C-130s, Hueys, patrol boats and protective vests.

Last week, US Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinkesi and President Arroyo met in Malacañang but Palace and military officials were quick to deny speculations that the two discussed the country's role in U.S.-Iraq conflict. Bulatlat.com

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