Who are the Volunteers
PHILIPPINES crats to work together. Lakas, moreover, like us, is developing the theme of "popular power."
It should also be noted that the social democrats of Bandila are playing a much more limited role in Lakas than was the case before. On the one hand, they have very likely gotten too for Popular Democracy?
caught up in governmental and administrative activity. On the other, they are too busy relaunching their own political party to play their role giving impetus to Lakas. They lack cadres. Lakas must be helped to put
EDICIO "Ed" de la Torre, priest of the Divine Word Society, is today on leave from the order. Starting out as a chaplain in the Federation of Free Peasants (FFF) and an activist in the Christian social.
democratic group Xi Rho, he radicalized and in 1972 became chair of
Christians for National Liberation (CNL).
A leader of the National Democratic Front (NDF) from its estab lishment in 1973, he was arrested and spent over five years in prison.
He was conditionally freed in April 1980 and sent to Rome and
Louvain for "study".
Arrested again on his return to the Philippines in April 1982, Ed de la Torre regained his liberty after Corazon Aquino's victory.
Today, he leads the Volunteers for Popular Democracy (VPD), along with Horacio "Boy" Morales, ex-chair of the NDF.
ex-prisoner, the Volunteers for Popular Democracy. What is the place of this new organization in the Filipino left?
Too many people have tended to overestimate our project.
What we are trying to do with the
VPD is simple. It was in the detention camp, a few days before being released, that we started to discuss it. After Cory's victory, it seemed likely that we would soon be released.
The problem was what to do then.
We tried to analyze the political situation and certain tasks that we saw as necessary. The dictatorship had not been completely dismantled.
In this area, the struggle was to con-
In opposition to those forces that democracy," it fight for the rise of a popular democracy. Don't think that this is a conception. It is only a descriptive term, including in particular the idea of a the traditional parties, as well as the idea of political pluralism and a multi-
There was a clear need to fight for the application of a policy in accordance with the needs of the people and of regrouping the left forces, as well as centrist currents. Hence the necessity for a political coalition.
Moreover, after our release, something happened that we had not anis, ministers and
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986 freshly appointed progressive officials asked us to help them come up with guidelines for their work. For this purpose, we set up a working group.
On the one hand, the VPD have thus set up a working group helping the government's liberal and progreswing; and on the other they in the mass movement, outside of the government, to assist in the formation of a political coali-
Q. In this perspective, what position do you of activists, such as Bayan and Lakas, and toward the political movements?
We could have become members of Lakas ng Sambayanan. But a section of the "yellows" [yellow is the color of the Aquino forces], as well as sections of the National Democrats showed a certain lack of enthusiasm for this prospect. On the other hand, we did not want to go into Bayan. So, we decided to do something else. But it was not to form a third alliance between Lakas and Bayan. We want rather to help to build bridges between these groupings, to be a link. We do not want either to be a new party or to be identified with an existing party.
In view of our political history and choices, we naturally have been with the national democratic movement. We are not trying from this identity! But we are making a conscious effort to get liberal democrats, social democrats and national demointo practice its conceptions of popular power.
You explained that one of the VPD's tasks was to support the progressive wing of the government by offering concrete proposals. doing that, don't you risk being associated with a bourgeois government and compromised?
A. I don't think that is the danger. We have no illusions about what this government can offer. It is a coalition of forces. You could even say that Cory herself is a coalition! It can be thought that progressive elements are in a minority in this government. And it is not enough to keep an eye on Enrile, the minister for defence. General Ramos, the chief of the general staff, has the reputation of being a "professional" officer. But he could step into politics, like the Thai generals. He has a good image and important connections in the United States. He comes from a family that is very much involved in the political game. And Ramos controls the police, which is a particularly repressive body.
There is no question of having any illusions. And it is true that there have not beeen any key social or economic transformations. The strategic facts of the situation have not changed qualitatively. This is often invoked by the left that tends too often to minimize the importance of what happened in February. Nonetheless, something definitely changed, something important. And today we have to take the maximum advantage of the possibilities in the situation. We have to make the maximum possible gains. That is what we are concerned about now.
You are familiar with the pamphlet that serves as our point of reference. (1) It is not a rounded program, good for all times! To take the maximum advantage of the present situation, to exploit all the potential, we have to operate on two levels. On the one hand, we have to make a common front with all democratic elements against the neofascists. On the other hand, we have to bolster popular
Popular democracy: realising a possible dream, ' VPD, 1986.
5
democracy against the supporters of elitist democracy.
This problem is not a new one. It dates back to 1983, after the murder of Ninoy Aquino and the entry into struggle of new opposition sectors. In prison, we analyzed that there were two legal opposition currents - an elitist traditional current and a distinctly popular the situation the overthrow Marcos, the strong pressure brought to bear by neofascist forces makes it necessary to maintain a broad demofront. We cannot remain indifferent to the conflicts in the government administration.
We are ready to support the liberal wing so that it will be stronger. But the liberals must also understand that without the left or in opposition left they will be impotent. Against the danger of a return to elitist democracy, we are fighting for popular democracy.
Q. Can you specify more what you mean by popular democracy?
A. Up till now we have only begun to take up this question. We do not yet have enough theoretical studies on this at our disposal. Moreover, we have to study the various concrete experiments that have been made in this realm. We have not yet tried out real forms of popular democ-
It was in a speech by Cory that I first saw the expression "popular democracy"! I looked for the source of the formula. I found out that it was a social democrat who had given Cory the idea. He himself had picked it up from elements of the independent Marxist left in the Philippines. So, I am not the only one to use the expression!
Everyone has to give their own definition of popular democracy. The important thing, it seems to me, is the theme of councils, of popular councils. That is new. We should help to promote the emergence of such
This is a timely question. It is even a subject of the constitutional discussions promoted by Law Center at the University of the
I am thinking in particular of mechanisms as the right to elected representatives at any moment, the right of direct initiative regarding elections and adopting laws and the possibility of recourse referendums. These are some of the elements of a popular democracy.
There still are few Filipino writings on this subject. I am working on this now. I might also cite the work of Alex Magno, Ed Garcia and Conrado Guerrero. (2) What we want to do is to help in carrying out a concrete test of popular councils, example on a municipality where the mayor is a progressive.
Q. Since the February Revolution, a series of discussions have been including in the CPP. Is this a demonstration of richness or of weakness?
For the Philippine left, including the CPP, in the present context, I don't think that these debates are a negative factor. On the contrary, I that they are a positive factor for all of the left. Left activists were seen as politically too passive in this area. To the extent that I can judge the reactions of the progressive milieu, I have the impression, for example, that the reaction to the announcement and of the existence of an internal debate has been favorable. having an internal debate after all.
don't think that debate debate's sake is always a good thing. I don't think that the mere existence of such a debate is in itself the test of democracy. I think that a democratic spirit has to be further developed in the left. But it is important to note that the debate that is needed now could get underway and that differences can be
In an interview that you gave in 1980, you stressed the influence of the education passed on by the family, Church and the schools, has not prepared Filipinos for exercizing their democratic rights (3) Even in the national democratic movement, you noted then, cize of democracy remains weak." Are you still concerned about that?
Yes, of course. But we encounter a lot of problems in this area. For example, in the Filipino left there is an "oral culture" as regards discussion. Today, after the experience of the boycott of the last presidential elections, a lot of people are expres sing their opinions. But the discussion within the left remains poorly structured. To get to the bottom of things, to be able to pursue debate, including at a theoretical level, in writing. not be taken up in the movement as a whole, on a national scale. And you have to be able to recognize that there are a lot of unresolved questions. We don't have all the far from it. Unfortunately, few writings are appearing, and they do not do justice to the oral debate. A new tradition of debate has to be incorporated.
Q. What is the history of Christians for National Liberation (CNL)?
What role has this component of the NDF played and what role play? Is it to be the CPP's "religious fraction," or a distinct political cur-
The CNL has hever been the "religious question has never been posed in such terms - but rather the religious section of the NDF. Let us look back briefly over the history of the
At its origin, the CNL appeared as an independent formation. not the result of a project worked out by the national democratic circles at the time (the NDF did not yet exist). It was not the result of a decision by the CPP. It was a spontaneous development.
But when martial law was imposed on the country in 1972, the CPP was the only organization that proable to protect from repression. The CNL therefore benefited from the capacity apparatus led by the CPP. As for the CPP, thanks to this association, it was able to gain new cadres. Congress of the CNL, that this current defined a real project of its own, the Church. This was not part of the traditional concerns of the Marxist circles of the CPP.
the latter faced an insoluble dilemma with regard to the Church.
It was difficult to get along with the Church as it was, but it was just as impossible to destroy it. For some the project by the CNL was "rightist," for others dilemma they were in, they did not oppose this attempt to transform
The CNL had thus sort of "looped the loop." They redeveloped an autonomous and distinct character within the framework of a common struggle. That was demonstrated on the organiand ideologicalmuch concern themselves with theolowith politics. But theology always kept coming back to the surface! It could not be ignored, and necessary to directly. We Alex Magno and Ed Garcia teach at the University of the Philippines. Bd Garcia is a former Jesuit priest who began his political career in 1970 in founding Lakasdiwa (Spiritual Force). He radicalized and subsequently spent seven years in Latin America. He returned to the Philippines in 1981 and became generat secretary of Lakas.
3. "We must transform structures," interview given to "Breakthrough' (revised version, 1980), republished in Edicio de
Torre, "Touching ground, taking root,
186, Social-Pastoral Institute, Philippines, 1986. International Viewpoint 8 December 1986
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986 could not get rid of theology and its vocabulary. We had to fight on every ground, including that one.
of evolution that I am describing is not yet completed. Our theological tradition is much weaker than in Latin America. And on the side of Filipino Marxism, there is also a theoretical void on the question of the Church.
"old party" [the PKP, the pro-Moscow party from which present CP emerged in 1969] has question. We are still back with Marx, Engels and Lenin. In this respect also, Latin America is more advanced, as shown by the book Fidel and a Maoist origin into the NDF - the independent Marxists and social democrats. At that time, a new program of the NDF was prepared. This fusion did not come off.
Nonetheless, the attempt reciprocal opening made at the time
It helped to former hostile relations establish informal relations of practical
In the future, it is possible that the NDF, which is itself a united front, will become a component of a broader united front with other cluding in an underground revolutionary struggle and not only in the framework of legal or semi-legal
PHILIPPINES mass activity. Other military forces are appearing such as the CPLA
We will see what the situation looks like when there is a new repressive turn.
I would say that for the progressive movement in the Philippines, problem is how to build a real coaliwithout losing sight of the And how, in this perspective, to incorporate better than in the past international factors, such as the role of the Soviet bloc; and national ones, such as the role of the social democrats. There is still a lot that must be