PLM Ka Sonny Melencio reacts on AKBAYAN's statement re Ronald Llamas appointment as Political Adviser of Noynoy Aquino

I am publishing here a response from Ka Sonny Melencio of the Partido Lakas ng Masa. Melencio reacts on the press statement given by the Akbayan on the recent appointment of Ronald Llamas as Noynoy Aquino's Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs. I will be publishing the AKBAYAN Statement in full and Melencio's response to this.

From: Emmanuel Hizon <sashaninel@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 3:23 PM
Subject: [FOA Forum] On President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan Leader Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser
To: akbayanforum@googlegroups.com, friends_of_akbayan_forum@googlegroups.com

January 20, 2011

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact Person:

Percival Cendana, Akbayan Chairperson @ 0917 828 1030

On President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan Leader Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser

We, from Akbayan welcome the announcement of President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III concerning the naming of our very own, Akbayan President Ronald Llamas as one of his Presidential Advisers. We are honored by this pronouncement as it proves once more the sincerity, intensity and expertise of our leaders and of our political party in working towards the fulfillment of our people’s aspiration of a democratic and people-oriented government committed to reforms.

But beyond this, we warmly receive the announcement, as it is politically extraordinary if not refreshing in many ways.

First, Presidential advisers are usually party mates of the incumbent President to guarantee that political policies are aligned with his/her principles and vision. The decision of President Aquino to name a presidential adviser from its coalition partner attests to the government’s pluralist and democratic character of governing. It demonstrates the Aquino government’s willingness to democratize and empower the field of governance unlike the previous administration, which greedily consolidated power among themselves, greatly putting the people in the fringes of state governance.

Second, the choice of a reputed progressive leader hailing from the democratic left shows that President Aquino can actually go beyond partisan ideological politics and extend its hand of solidarity to forces of change willing and fully committed in meaningfully contributing in the deepening of democracy, the eradication of corruption and the fulfillment of indispensable reforms.

More so, it also displays that the democratic left is a serious and relevant political actor capable of making its mark on the political process and in becoming a significant force of change, contributing towards and firmly establishing the hegemony of the people’s interest through participatory democracy and governance.  

As such, we fully support President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan President Ronald Llamas as one of his presidential advisers. We vouch for the integrity, leadership and competence of this person, who for the last thirteen years has been one of the major pillars of our party and an acknowledged leader of the broad democratic left.

Definitely, with his eventual appointment to government, our party will suffer the absence of a seasonedpolitical leader. Yet, the struggle for reforms is more important and bigger than all of us.

Thus, in this just struggle, we offer one of our “best and brightest.” We look forward that with Ronald llamas’ absence from our party and his entry to government, it will greatly strengthen the resolve of the new dispensation to fulfill its promise of change to the Filipino People. ### 

HERE IS KA SONNY'S REACTION

Dear Patricio,

When we read the press statement issued by Akbayan on the appointment of Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser (see below),  I raised the following comments.  I think the PLM statement can be based on these comments which we already circulated at the PLM and the Laban ng Masa e-groups:

n      Akbayan seems to have found its final resting place. Welcome to the new social democrats. Its fortunes are now completely tied to the rise and fall of President Noynoy.

n      Instead of the fawning and servile tone of the press statement (purportedly written by Akbayan’s Communications Head Emmanuel Hizon), a major concern that should be raised is the problem of cooptation.  The left should have learnt its lesson. Wasn’t it not too long ago when too many left leaders had joined the Cory government and got coopted (if not later booted out from their posts) in the process?

n      The entry of Akbayan leaders Joel Rocamora (secretary of NAPC) and Ronald Llamas into the P-Noy cabinet raises the following underlying and related questions: (i) How should the left view the Aquino government (is it still correct to use the framework of a “lesser evil” (i.e., still comparing it with the GMA regime) when it is now the chief administrator of an unabashedly pro-capitalist neoliberal program? (ii) Should the left entertain the possibility of changing the system from within the capitalist government (of Noynoy) or from without?

n      Akbayan and the many groups that had coalesced under the former Laban ng Masa constituted the left spectrum during the campaign to oust the GMA regime and replace it with a TRG (transitional revolutionary government).  But given that the political crisis of the elite during that time was already resolved not through the TRG but through the election of the Aquino presidency, a regime that is nonetheless an elite-dominated pro-capitalist regime, the left spectrum that is Laban ng Masa has now practically collapsed. Akbayan and some other groups in the Noynoy electoral coalition are expected to move towards the right of the political spectrum as they continue to prop up P-Noy and its pro-capitalist, anti-masa policy regimes.

n      The left should understand that, irrespective of the personal character of Noynoy himself (a “Mr. Clean”) and his commitment against corruption in government, his government is still anelite-dominated pro-capitalist government. The left should not participate in this government, especially at the executive level, as it means bearing the responsibility for implementing a pro-capitalist program. 

n       Having said this, the true dilemma is that we have to go beyond being mere oppositionists, or only good on the issues. We must have the perspective of presenting a genuine alternative -- not only political -- but also social, cultural and economic, to the system, especially when it faces such a deep and irreconcilable crisis.  This is the challenge that we face to be relevant today. Such an alternative -- a truly social, socialist alternative -- can best (and only)  be developed today from without the system, including the “Aquino system,” rather than from within.  (underscore mine--Pat)

Sonny