Philippine CP-1930, Conference of Solidarity with Viet Nam (University Hotel, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, June 12, 2005) Speech of ATTY. ANTONIO E. PARIS, National Secretary of the Philippine Peace and Solidarity Council (PPSC), Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnam Friendship Society (PVFS)
Esteemed Dean Vivencio Jose, President of the PVFS,
Dear comrades and friends :
I wish to thank all the 130 participants of this conference, particularly the veterans of the Philippine campaign of solidarity with Viet Nam during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I also wish to especially thank our guests from the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) --- its General Secretary, Mr. Tran Dac Loi ; its expert on Vietnam-Philippine relations, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hong ; and its Director for Asia, Madame Tran Thi Thu Thuy. This conference is even more significant because we are also celebrating this year the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of the Philippines and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
For many Filipinos who were born in the years immediately after the Second World War, our first profound political education was related to the heroic war or resistance of the Vietnamese people against US aggression. That war of resistance was not an abstract icon for the resurgent anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, but was closely connected with our own struggle.
We knew that many of the barbarous and genocidal US attacks against Viet Nam were launched from Philippine soil occupied by the US imperialists --- from the Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga, the Subic Naval Base in Zambales, and the Mactan Air Force Base in Cebu (which were then the biggest US military bases outside US territory), as well as from other smaller US military bases then still squatting in the Philippines.
The criminal barbarity of the US aggression against Viet Nam has its parallel in the history of our own country. The Philippines is known as the 'First Viet Nam' because our country was the first Asian country to suffer the inhumanity of the US invasion which started in 1898. In the 4 years of the Philippine-American war sparked by that US invasion, around 1 million Filipinos, or ten percent of our population then, perished in the battlefields, in torture and killing fields, in scorched-earth zones and in concentration camps. These were the genocidal methods that were to be later replicated by the US invaders through their 'special warfare' and 'strategic hamlets' in Viet Nam.
The Philippine government in the 1960s demonstrated its puppetry to US imperialism, in regard to the US war to divide and subjugate Viet Nam. It was the resurgent progressive movement of the Filipino masses which condemned the US war of aggression, and exerted efforts to expose and oppose the succession of puppet regimes in our country. The reactionary regime of President Diosdado Macapagal (the father of the present de-facto president) helped to propagate the farcical Gulf of Tonkin incident of August 1964 as the supposed justification for US intervention in Viet Nam, and supported the US air attacks against the northern part of Viet Nam. He ran for re-election on a pro-imperialist platform, promising to send Filipino troops to Viet Nam, and was roundly defeated by someone who promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of Viet Nam.
However, after winning the election and replacing Macapagal, Ferdinand Marcos immediately betrayed those who voted for him by organizing and sending a military contingent, the so-called Philippine Civic Action Group (or PHILCAG), to Tay Ninh, symbolically reinforcing the half a million US troopers then already occupying southern Viet Nam. This satellite force --- which was part of the 75,000 non-American interventionist forces in Viet Nam --- was once headed by Marcos' own cousin, General Fidel V. Ramos, who later led a coup against Marcos during the so-called 'people power' revolt of 1986, and went on to become a president of the Philippines.
Demonstrations and other manifestations against the US war of aggression, against US attempts to permanently divide Viet Nam and its people, against the presence of Filipino troops in Viet Nam, and against Marcos' puppetry to US imperialism, became an important part of our anti-imperialist struggle during that period. Despite beatings by police truncheons, water cannons and tear gas, the number of demonstrators grew as reports of US atrocities and use of inhuman weapons in Viet Nam became more frequent. Upon US orders, Marcos hosted in Manila summit meetings of the USA and its partners in crime --- including the then racist regimes in Southern Africa and Australia, the military dictators of SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization) countries, and the puppet regimes in Indochina. These summit meetings of the war hawks saw the largest anti-war demonstrations, as well as the most violent repressions, of that period.
Filipino progressives of that period rejoiced as the Tet offensive forced the Johnson administration to enter the Paris Peace Talks. We were elated as the firm voice of truth and justice, as expressed by Madame Nguyen Thi Binh and other Vietnamese delegates in Paris, smothered the flamboyant double-talk of Henry Kissinger and his entourage. We condemned the US perfidy in promising de-escalation in 1970, while actually extending the war to Laos and Cambodia in a futile effort to seal the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail'. We felt utter disgust as US planes rained Christmas bombs on Ha Noi, and threatened to bomb the northern part of Viet Nam 'back to the stone age'. We shared the grief of those whose families and homes were obliterated by bombs or burned with napalm, of all those who suffered from the USA's use of chemical weapons, environmental modification techniques and other modern armaments which have been banned under humanitarian protocols for being barbaric weapons of mass destruction.
At the same time, we rejoiced at reports of downed and humbled US pilots being herded by armed women peasants, of continued general assaults and uprisings by the liberation army and the people of southern Viet Nam, of their combined regular army building and guerrilla actions, and of their military campaigns being matched with political efforts such as demonstrations by monks and students, and even of organized protests by peasant women to stop armored vehicles from trampling their paddy fields. Every victorious advance of the liberation forces of Viet Nam was considered as an advance for our own anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines. The very signing of the Paris Agreement in 1971 was considered a victory not only for Viet Nam, but also for the Philippines and all other neo-colonial countries which were then demanding that imperialist powers --- no matter how economically and militarily advanced --- should finally respect their national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Admittedly, we could have done more, were it not for the divisive influence of the ideological conflict spawned by the rise of international maoism during the so-called 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' in China. We were perplexed to hear reports that the hongweibings or 'Red Guards' were sabotaging the delivery by Soviet trains through China of the wherewithal that were vitally needed by Viet Nam, forcing the Soviet Union to take the more hazardous and tortuous sea route from Vladivostok to deliver assistance to the port of Hai Phong. Local maoists also split the anti-imperialist movement in our country, weakening solidarity activities while propagating adventurist actions which were seized upon by the Marcos regime as a convenient justification for its declaration of martial law in September 1972.
Despite the mainly underground conditions under which the Filipino progressive movement had to operate in the early martial law period, we continued to support, and be inspired by, the liberation struggle of Viet Nam which culminated in the liberation of Sai Gon on April 30, 1975. Vietnam's victory is a typical victory of progress over reaction, of justice over injustice, a victory for peace, national independence, democracy and socio-economic progress. The defeat of US military interventionism in Viet Nam is one of the most brilliant exploits of mankind, an eternal symbol of the triumph of revolutionary heroism.
In analyzing the triumph of Viet Nam's struggle for national liberation, we have to note that this was made possible primarily due to the courage, self-sacrifice and audacity of the Vietnamese revolutionary forces. But aside from this, also an important factor was international solidarity, primarily the all-round assistance from fraternal socialist countries. Viet Nam's two (2) revolutionary strategies --- the building of socialism in the north, in order to secure more strength to liberate the south --- was made possible by the wherewithal provided by the socialist community, primarily by the Soviet Union. As we pay tribute to the heroic struggle of Viet Nam, we also pay due homage to the heroic sacrifices of the Soviet Union and the other fraternal socialist countries which selflessly rendered invaluable military and other assistance that made possible Viet Nam's victory over the US force of arms.
The liberation of the southern part of Viet Nam brought about a new situation which called for the re-evaluation of relations in South East Asia. The dictator Marcos, even while maintaining a pro-US martial law regime, pragmatically normalized relations with reunified Viet Nam in 1976, and turned-over the embassy in Manila of the former South Vietnamese puppet regime to the rightful government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. For our part, we immediately worked for the formation of a friendship society with Viet Nam in order to forge close relations with the new Vietnamese diplomatic representation in Manila.
At that time, many South East Asian governments were still wary of Viet Nam, particularly those which formerly collaborated with the US aggression against Viet Nam. They were afraid that Viet Nam may 'export' revolution in this region, after they themselves (the reactionary South East Asian governments) collaborated with the protracted US export of counter-revolution to Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia. It took a long period before the fear of Viet Nam subsided, and Viet Nam was finally accepted as a member of the ASEAN.
Official economic ties between our two countries were strengthened with the exportation of Philippine rice to Viet Nam up to the early 1980s, during the period when Viet Nam's agriculture was still devastated. As it turned out, Viet Nam's planned economy and system of support for its farmers have more successful effect, compared with our country's capitalist economy, so much so that Viet Nam is now the main source of rice imports for our country.
Fighting US aggression and liberating its whole territory was not the only marvelous feat of the Vietnamese people. Healing the wounds of war was another gargantuan task that the Vietnamese people accomplished marvelously --- primarily the re-education of the remnants of the former puppet military and civilian machinery, and the livelihood training for the victims of the social ills which proliferated around the former US military bases in the southern part of Viet Nam. We understand the great sacrifices and resources that these tasks entailed, for in our country too, the presence of US bases and forces bred and institutionalized the same social ills of prostitution, drug addiction, blackmarketing, hooliganism, organized crime and violence.
A particularly grave and long-term burden upon Viet Nam is the legacy of 'Agent Orange' and other defoliants sprayed by US forces over ten percent (10%) of Viet Nam's entire territory. Some of these defoliants were initially tested on a limited scale by US agricultural and military scientists in the Philippines under the name of 'Tordon' herbicide. Even long after the spraying of these defoliants, their component dioxins continue to accumulate in the body, causing cancers and other debilitating diseases, inducing mental and physical disabilities, and leading to genetic mutations or defects. Chemical companies which produced these environmental poisons paid millions of dollars into a fund for affected US veterans, but never admitted any wrongdoing to the Vietnamese people. The issue of compensation remains on the agenda, and we support Viet Nam's right to demand compensation for the USA's mass poisoning of the Vietnamese people and their environment.
Attempts were made for some time to sabotage or undermine Viet Nam's reconstruction efforts by harping on the issue of the so-called 'boat people' --- some of whom have come and stayed in our country --- but Viet Nam retained its firm political stability. And even while busy with its reconstruction efforts, Viet Nam fulfilled an important internationalist duty by helping to liberate the Cambodian people from the genocidal maoist regime led by Pol Pot and leng Sary. For rendering this internationalist assistance to Cambodia, Viet Nam was attacked from the north by a military force which sought to 'teach' Viet Nam a 'lesson'. In that situation, we again raised our voice in solidarity with Viet Nam, even while the local maoists in the Philippines sided with China and with the remnants of the deposed Pol Pot regime. We helped to translate into the Pilipino language the position papers of Viet Nam, for circulation to the press and among the leaders of mass organizations. And we continue to hold dear the great sacrifices of Viet Nam in assisting the liberation of Cambodia.
With the disintegration of the USSR and the socialist community in Eastern Europe (which was due primarily to the sabotage done by the special agents of imperialism who wormed their way into the top echelons of leadership), we understood Viet Nam's need to embark upon a program of economic restructuring, and even to prepare non-strategic areas for foreign capitalist investments. Even now, we understand that Viet Nam's economic reconstruction --- the development of productive forces in the industrial and agricultural sectors, and the improvement of the material and cultural life of its people, all under the policy of national renewal or 'Doi Moi' --- calls for continued engagement with the centers of world capitalism and for the maintenance of a multi-sectoral economy with certain market (capitalist) mechanisms allowed under state regulation.
We are confident that Viet Nam will avoid the pitfalls of the social ills, immorality and corruption spawned by the introduction of capitalist mechanisms, in the same way that Viet Nam is avoiding the ethnic and religious conflicts which are being fanned in all countries where imperialism still seeks to subvert the socialist system. We are confident that Viet Nam, with its over 1,000 years of history as a nation, will continue to retain its uniting cultural factor which allowed this country to win the revolutionary war against US aggression and occupation.
The recent holding of the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (April 18-25, 2006) reconfirmed Vietnam's staying on track along the socialist road, despite the absence of anti-imperialist rhetoric which has raised concerns among some progressive forces. The policy of 'Doi Moi' is to be continued, with the aim of building a strong country with a rich people and a modern law-governed state. However, the threats to Viet Nam's stability and development continue to lurk. For one, there are the harsh imperialist preconditions upon Viet Nam's membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO) --- the policy impositions which aim to negate Viet Nam's gains in the fields of social amelioration and poverty alleviation. There also remain constant disseminations of disinformation through Vietnamese-language radio transmissions beamed from or through the Philippines and other ASEAN countries hosting 'Voice of America' and other similar facilities.
And then there is the growing number of forums of so-called civil societies or people's organizations with anti-communist orientations, funded by 'philanthropic' foundations, rightist organizations or western social-democratic parties with the same anti-communist biases. Many of these forums serve as propaganda platforms for anti-socialist groups of Vietnamese living outside Viet Nam, and usually feature the participation of maoist and trotskyite groups to offer an alternative 'menu' of ultra-left positions. Through all of these overt and covert schemes, imperialism wants Viet Nam to renounce socialism and to embrace neo-liberalism. The imperialists want Viet Nam to join the group of balkanized ex-socialist states run by rightist and even revanchist interests --- the formerly strong and integrated states which have now been dumped to mendicant 'third-world' status and constantly flattered with the shameless monicker of 'newly restored democracies'.
But would the Vietnamese people, who have fought so well and sacrificed so much for humanity, prefer the restoration of a neocolonial order ? Such is precluded by the continued guiding role in that country of the Communist Party of Viet Nam --- a party creatively applying Marxism-Leninism and the teachings of Ho Chi Minh on patriotism and internationalism. Viet Nam gave the examples of Dien Bien Phu and the victory over US aggression, which feats continue to inspire progressive peoples throughout the world. These are stirring examples that with courage, audacity and determination, a small country can defeat the aggression of a military hegemon. And the present economic growth rate of Viet Nam --- the highest in Southeast Asia --- shows that the Vietnamese people, which fought so well, can also build so well, on an independent path to socialism.
It is this fidelity to the cause of socialism which instills in us continued admiration for the Vietnamese people, which motivates us to continue expressing solidarity with Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and which inspires us to exert every effort for the continued activity of the Philippine-Vietnam Friendship Society (PVFS).
Thank you for your kind attention.
