Bagong Pilipinas Kick-off Rally 'Politically Linked' with PI – Partido Manggagawa

 

While there exists no legal prohibition against a sitting President organizing his political base, the kick-off rally for the Luneta Park launching of Bagong Pilipinas on Sunday, January 28, is deemed ‘politically linked’ with the House-led people's initiative (PI) to revise the 1987 Constitution, stated the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) on Friday.

 

PM Chair Renato Magtubo drew a political connection between the two campaigns, citing reports of barangay officials in Manila and other areas who remain engaged in the PI signature campaign and have received invitations from City officials and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to join the Luneta Rally on Sunday.

 

"Based on our local monitoring, the PI campaign in barangays continues unabated, despite the Senate's initiative to entertain charter change (chacha) via ConAss. The invitation, with its directive tone to barangay officials to attend the Bagong Pilipinas rally at Luneta on Sunday, to be attended by the President himself, cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence," said Magtubo.

 

PM obtained a screenshot copy from a reliable source of a memorandum dated January 21, 2024, issued by DILG-Manila, inviting "All Punong Barangays, Sangguniang Barangay Members, Sangguniang Kabataan Chairpersons, SK Members, Barangay Secretaries and Treasurers, Barangay Tanods, and other Barangay Employees in the City of Manila" to attend the "Grand Launching of the Bagong Pilipinas Campaign".

 

The invitation is for them to attend "this historic gathering" graced by His Excellency President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., who will "illuminate the President's vision for societal and governmental transformation, paving the way for inclusive and sustainable development."

 

The DILG memo, properly endorsed by city officials, directed barangay officials to register for the Bagong Pilipinas campaign link and advised them to wear barangay uniforms or white-polo shirts and be at the venue before the scheduled lockdown by 3:00 PM.

 

PM observes that although the "Bagong Pilipinas" (BP) tagline has been promoted even before the President's Second State of the Nation Address in July last year, its elevation into a "Campaign" for this Sunday rally, as indicated in the DILG memo, "can only be politically linked with the most active, well-organized, administration-led PI campaign for chacha," emphasized Magtubo.

 

Magtubo cautioned that the intertwined PI and BP campaigns would be distractive, divisive, and deceitful.

 

"Until prices of goods and services are made affordable, lost wages are recovered, and full employment with living wages and full protection of labor as mandated by the 1987 Constitution is implemented and realized, rebranding the old ‘Bagong Lipunan’ with Marcos Jr.’s 'Bagong Pilipinas' is dynastic entertainment at the very least. But when aligned with the PI campaign, centralizing and perpetuating power to the incumbents could be its most dangerous political outcome," explained Magtubo.

 

Labor groups consistently oppose the numerous attempts to revise the 1987 Constitution, stating that all these maneuvers lack sincerity in advancing authentic social change.

 

"Those in power continue to blame the Constitution for the country's chronic poverty when they themselves, along with capitalistic and dynastic political systems they maintain, enable them to live in luxury and political security while keeping the people poor. Sadly, since 1987, nobody sees a push for chacha to be prompted by mea culpa from among the trapos," concluded Magtubo. 

 

Partido Manggagawa

26 January 2024

There is a Marcosian solution to a parochial problem – PM

 

It is the Marcos family and not the whole nation that needs to move on by giving their dead a final resting place in Ilocos. 

 

This was according to Partido Manggagawa (PM), one of the many groups that assembled today in Luneta to express opposition to the Palace-backed burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). 

 

“Hindi sa hindi bayani” is the group’s stand against the plan of giving Marcos a hero’s burial at Libingan.

 

“The former dictator ruthlessly ruled and divided this nation for over two decades, thus, his burial at Libingan can never be considered a unifying action.  It is the Marcos family that needs to move on in this issue by doing a simple and final act of laying their dead in Ilocos,” said the group in a statement sent to media.

 

This Marcosian solution, the group believes, is the proper way of disposing a parochial problem common to powerful oligarchs that rule this nation.  “Consume your troubles as yours alone as the Filipino people have deeper problems to confront, many of which were in fact of your creation,” said PM.

 

The group likewise believed the presidential endorsement made by President Duterte cannot bring this issue to a final closure, saying his personal commitment to the Marcos family does not necessarily represent the unified sentiment of the Filipino people.

August 14, 2016