Filipino youth in revolt

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32970, 17 July 1972, Page 12

Filipino youth in revolt

President Marcos has reason to be concerned about the increasing student unrest in the Philippines. He still manages to present an appearance of calm in public and before interviewers; but he insists, nevertheless, that “Leftist extremists” will attempt open insurrection when his retirement becomes due late next year. The extremists are, of course, young rebels against the Establishment, a large proportion of them from the universities. There are moderate student groups, perhaps half-a-million strong, who reject violent revolution as the only hope of rebuilding society on a more just basis. The most clamant of the Left-wing organisations is the Kabataang Makabayan, with which the reviving Communist movement, the Hukbalahaps, appears to have allied itself. Twenty years after President Magsaysay claimed to have destroyed the movement, President Marcos admits that the Huks are active and possibly more numerous than ever. Disaffection appears to be spreading throughout the Philippines. The youth organisations say that the country’s politics are corrupt and that only violence promises a remedy. The KMs insist that Filipino society must be completely rebuilt. Yet the Constitutional Convention set up by Congress to provide a new administrative charter —“ to “ restructure society peacefully ” — shows no sign of being able to complete its task. There is. indeed, a widespread expectation that Congress, at President Marcos’s instigation, will disband the convention and take over the task of Constitution-making itself. The President can undertake a third successive term only if the constitutional ban is removed: and many of his critics think that that is what he is planning.

President Marcos professes to reject the idea of a third term —“ without reservation ”. But he has made similar statements before, only to put them aside when it suited him. In an interview he said: “ As I prepare to lay down office, I must ensure a “ position of strength which will enable the next “ Administration to face the (revolutionary) “ challenge ”. Very many Filipinos are not convinced that the President intends to retire. They think that, bv rewriting the Constitution, he intends to remain at the centre of the “ planned nosition of strength ”; and that he will retain office with the support of the Armv and the police. Operations aimed at destroying the New People’s Army — the military arm of the Communist Party — in its headquarters province of Isabela have begun. But if the President hopes to silence by this means the demand for social reforms he is deceiving himself.