OPPOSE IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION ON VENEZUELA

Partido Manggagawa (PM) strongly condemns Trump’s military strike and kidnapping of President Maduro, First Lady Cilia, and the larger plot of the United States to invade Venezuela to effect regime change, run the country, and retake control of Venezuelan oil.

These acts—whether undertaken directly by the US armed forces, private mercenaries, or proxy actors—represent a grave violation of national sovereignty, international law, and the right of nations and peoples to self-determination.

The use of kidnapping, military invasion, and coercive regime change as political tools exposes the political and economic logic of imperialism: powerful empires believe they can decide the fate of other nations and oppress their people, overthrow governments, and seize natural resources through force.

Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, not to foreign corporations, war profiteers, or imperial powers seeking to reassert control over strategic resources.

PM rejects all forms of imperialist maneuvers including kidnappings, coups, and invasions, which only deepen instability and suffering for working people.

History has shown—again and again—that imperialist led regime-change operations elsewhere do not bring democracy or prosperity. They bring war, displacement, austerity, union repression, and the plunder of public wealth.

As a workers’ party rooted in international solidarity, PM stands with the Venezuelan working class, trade unions, peasants, and communities who bear the brunt of sanctions, militarization, and economic sabotage. We oppose unilateral actions that bypass international law and undermine peaceful, diplomatic solutions.

This issue also carries urgent lessons for the Philippines and the Global South. Imperialist intervention abroad is inseparable from regional tensions now building up in the Indo-Pacific region - with the plans by the US to increase presence by re-deploying most of its foreign forces to Asia, and forming alliances with other imperialist powers to contain the rising economic and political power of rival China.

Conflicts and wars not of our own making only lead to attacks on workers at home—through rising fuel prices, militarization, shrinking social services, and the prioritization of corporate profits over people’s needs. When oil, gas, and strategic resources are treated as prizes of war, workers everywhere pay the price.

Partido Manggagawa calls on:

               ⁃             Unconditional release of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, who is former President of the National Assmbly;

               ⁃             All governments to respect Venezuelan sovereignty and stop all military or covert intervention;

               ⁃             International bodies to uphold international law and reject regime-change operations led by the US;

               ⁃             The American people to defund Trump and the US military industry and rechannel the trillion $ war budget to expand social services;

               ⁃             Workers’ movements worldwide to oppose imperialist wars and resource plunder; and

               ⁃             The Philippine government to pursue an independent foreign policy that rejects alignment with imperial aggression.

No to US-orchestrated regime change elsewhere.

Yes to peace, sovereignty, and workers’ solidarity!

Hands off Venezuela. Oil for the people, not imperialist plunder!

Statement on the War in Ukraine

 

No to Putin’s war in Ukraine!

No to NATO military intervention!

Humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian refugees!

Solidarity with the anti-war protests in Russia!

 

Partido Manggagawa (Workers Party-Philippines) denounces the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military and the Putin regime. There is no valid reason for Russia to invade and annex Ukraine which is a sovereign country. The alibis asserted by Putin are baseless. It thinly masks its expansionist desires and imperialist aims.

 

We support the anti-war protests in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine. It is through the development of a broad anti-war movement inside and outside Russia that peace can be achieved.

 

In this respect, we oppose the call for military intervention by Western countries under NATO against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A military confrontation between NATO and Russia is a recipe for disaster if not another world war. Such a scenario brings the world to the abyss of nuclear war.

 

In fact, NATO’s own expansionist aims to extend its membership eastward to Ukraine and the very borders of Russia gave Putin a convenient pretext for the invasion. Even as we condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, we do not condone NATO’s expansionism. It is entirely hypocritical for Biden to slam Putin when the US has its own bloody history of direct invasion, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Grenada, and proxy wars in Africa, and Central and Latin America.

 

We call for extending humanitarian assistance to civilian refugees from the war in Ukraine. We too support solidarity actions by trade unions and labor movements to end the war in Ukraine. The refusal of airport workers in Pisa, Italy to load arms destined for Ukraine is an exemplary action that continues the tradition of the proletarian solidarity against Israel’s occupation of Palestine and siege of Gaza.

 

In the Philippines, we work for awareness raising among organized and unorganized workers for an anti-war position on the basis of working-class internationalism.

 

Partido Manggagawa

National Executive Committee

Foreign agenda is bad cha-cha – labor group

NEWS RELEASE

10 June 2015

The House of Representatives (HOR) is on the verge of making the biggest historical mistake and disservice to the country today once its members vote for the removal of economic restrictions imposed upon foreign interests by the 1987 Constitution, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. indicated lately that the HOR is going to pass his pet Resolution, the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH1), once absolute majority of the House membership are present in today’s session. 

PM Chair Renato Magtubo stated that, “Although the mode that is being smuggled for approval today is an untested formula for charter change, the push for it appears to be so powerful it is able to marshal the big quorum and solid vote of both the smart and shabby politicians in Congress.”

Magtubo said powerful interest groups were behind the big push for economic cha-cha as disclosed by no less than the Speaker of the House himself.

Belmonte admitted last year that the biggest lobby groups behind the economic cha-cha were the foreign chambers of commerce led by the American Chamber of Commerce, Australian New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, European Chamber of Commerce, Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Korean Chamber of Commerce, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters Inc.

Magtubo said: “The primary mandate of Congress is to uphold the full protection of the country’s sovereignty, patrimony and social justice which exclusively pertain to our natural and human resources. Hence, a cha-cha with foreign agenda is a bad cha-cha.”

Full freedom for foreign capital 

According to PM, Belmonte’s economic cha-cha carries the same old agenda of giving foreign capital full ownership freedom and flexibility in doing business in the country. 

RBH 1 seeks to further ease restrictions on foreign capital by amending specific provisions of the Constitution particularly Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions), by inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”

This phrase, Magtubo said, “is comparable to an aircraft carrier loaded with all sorts of lethal weapons and with our Congress people assigned the new role of launching these warheads to annihilate the constitutional barriers for the complete rule of foreign capital in the country.”

The former partylist representative explained further that while the current provisions restricting foreign ownership of land, corporations and public utilities will remain in the Constitution, Congress, under the RBH1 insertion, can anytime pass a law removing these. 

100% ownership

PM said the country have had enough of free trade and investments with other countries and the global community since the Galleon trade – the free trade agreements with America, the IMF-WB/WTO regimes, and under the latest BOT and PPP programs, yet the country has remained in the state of underdevelopment.

The group believes that foreign capital wanted full control of their businesses in the country, including 100% ownership of land and corporations as they eye the country’s booming real estate business as well as the lucrative industries in power, water, infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, and even in education and healthcare. 

The group said a good exhibit to this foreign drive for cha-cha is the case of PLDT where ownership of a big chunk of its shareholdings were found to be under the control of an entity which is neither a registered corporation nor a citizen of the Philippine Republic, violating in effect the 60-40 rule Constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership.

Reports indicate that these shares are actually owned by the Indonesia-based Salim group whose entry into the country was facilitated by PLDT Chair Manuel Pangilinan known in the industry as MVP.

“Perhaps MVP does not want a ‘foundling’ tag attached to PLDT’s alien shares,” added Magtubo.  And the same is true for other businesses where foreign interests are concealed under the skirt of local dummies.

No guarantee to foreign investment

The claims that economic cha-cha would mean more foreign investments in the country remains highly speculative as there are major factors that hinder their entry into the country, according to PM. 

“During the last decades, China, Vietnam and Thailand received the bigger chunks of FDIs than us despite their more restrictive policies on foreign ownership. Aliens cannot own land in China yet it gets the biggest FDI in Asia.  In other words, there are other bigger factors such as corruption, poor infrastructure and high power rates that discourage the entry of FDIs into the country,” said Magtubo.

He added that in terms of employment, for 40 years jobs, in the most liberalized EPZAs, which now include the BPOs, hardly reach 4% of total employment.  Meanwhile employment benefits in mostly foreign firms can never offset the social costs of destructive mining operations in the country.

“If these were the only gains we got from more than a century of dancing with foreign agenda, then perhaps the country, on the contrary, does not need more of them,” concluded Magtubo.

DFA request for Pemberton custody is pabalat-bunga, lacks weight of a sovereign state

Press Release

December 18, 2014

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) viewed the effort of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to request custody of Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, prime suspect in the killing of transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, as insincere or “pabalat-bunga” since pleading for it through a ceremonial letter lacks the weight of a sovereign state.

“The DFA was basically pleading to get back the sovereignty we lost under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). And the most stupid thing is to do it now is through a formal request,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

In the first place, Fortaleza argued, the DFA was not expecting US approval of its request because prior to commission of any crime by American soldiers, the government has already agreed to the provision that gave US the right to retain custody of its personnel involved in crimes in Philippine soil. 

According to PM, the request was rather intended to pacify growing criticisms over a kind of foreign policy blunder that borders on outright surrender if not patent subservience to a colonial master. 

Until said provision is deleted from the VFA, including other devious provisions in favor of US interest, Filipinos cannot expect justice for the likes of Jennifer, and would-be victims of American soldiers in Philippine soil. 

PM added that the Philippines can effectively get hold of Pemberton only if it acts like a free nation and its foreign policy presided not by a certified Amboy. PM, together with other militant groups, is calling for the scrapping of the VFA and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.

Belmonte cha-cha, killing and jailing of unionists mark Bonifacio Day demands

Press Release

November 30, 2014

As thousands of workers commemorate the 151^st birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) highlighted labor’s demand for a rejection of the charter change initiative of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and the continuing repression of unions by capitalists and the government.

“On the very eve of Bonifacio Day, Rolando Pango, a labor organizer in Negros Occidental was abducted and then assassinated as he was on the way to meet sugar workers who will join today’s mass actions. Meanwhile in Toledo City in Cebu province, mine union president Tony Cuizon is in jail on trumped up charges. The arrest of Cuizon and murder of Pango are symptomatic of the repression suffered by workers fighting for their rights.” stated Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Marches are also being held today in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod and Davao in coordination with the main demonstration in Manila. In Manila, PM members are joining workers from other the labor groups comprising the labor coalition Nagkaisa in marching this morning from Welcome Rotunda to Mendiola for a program until noon.

“Workers oppose Belmonte’s economic cha-cha as it carries the same old agenda of giving foreign capital more flexibility and freedom in doing business in the country. While Congress makes an x’mas rush to vote on the cha-cha as demanded by imperialist Santas, it turns a deaf ear to workers demands for enabling laws to the living wage, security of tenure and full employment provisions of the Constitution,” stated Fortaleza.

Nagkaisa is also criticizing the anti-labor policies pursued or tolerated by the Aquino administration such as contractualization, cheap labor, high cost of power, and the deepening inequality created under the general condition of jobless growth.

Pango’s assassination happened after he assisted some 40 workers of Hacienda Salud in the town of Isabela in filing illegal dismissal and labor standards violations against landlord Manolette Lamatan, who heads the Negros planters association. Cuizon has been incarcerated for more than a month now after he was arrested because a warrant for illegal possession of firearms and explosives which his union claims was planted.

PM vowed to mobilize workers in a campaign to fight the economic cha-cha. “The Bonifacio Day rally is the opening fire of the campaign to oppose Belmonte’s cha-cha and the Christmas holidays will not dampen workers resolve to resist this new attempt to tear up the token nationalist provisions of the Constitution,” Fortaleza insisted.

He added that “Belmonte and company is concocting an untested formula in constitutional amendments thru a joint resolution loaded with the sinister insertion ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ which can be utilized anytime the need for actual amendment arises. Belmonte’s cha-cha is surely waiting for an intense legal and extra-legal battle.”

PM calls for scrapping of VFA in rally vs. US warship visit

Press Release

May 17, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa called for the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement in a rally at the US Embassy this morning against the visit of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. “The USS Carl Vinson is an instrument of American imperialist aggression and its visit makes the PNoy government an accomplice in US military adventures. Its docking in the waters just off the Mall of Asia recalls the Mock Battle of Manila Bay that signaled US colonization of the Philippines,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

PM joined the Scrap VFA movement in the rally and the groups appealed to the Senate to repudiate the controversial military access agreement with the US.

“Among other reasons, the VFA flaunts the Philippine Constitution which bans nuclear weapons in our country and mandates an independent foreign policy. The visit of the nuclear capable USS Carl Vinson which just came from the latest US military adventure in Pakistan with a unilateral raid against Osama bin Laden contradicts all these provisions of the Constitution,” Magtubo asserted.

He added “Imagine an agreement such as the VFA breaking the supreme law of the land and yet PNoy leads in defending the visit as allowed under the access agreement.”

PM had earlier voice suspicion at the hush-hush tour of the aircraft carrier by President Benigno Aquino III and his top officials last Saturday. The group believes that a top secret agenda was discussed and speculated that it may be about more concessions about American access to Philippines as per the VFA and increased US intervention in the war against Muslim insurgents as a follow through to bin Laden’s assassination.

PM also warned at a repeat of the Subic rape case with thousands of US servicemen having rest and recreation in the country until tomorrow.

“Malacanang had made much of the fact that many Filipino-Americans are serving as crew of the USS Carl Vinson. But if Carl Vinson, a segregationist and militarist who had served for 50 years as congressman from the southern state of Georgia, were still alive he would have raised a howl at African-Americans and Asian-Americans holding positions in the aircraft carrier,” Magtubo explained. He revealed that Vinson was a staunch defender of segregation in the Southern US even as the civil rights movement for blacks gained ground in the 1950’s.

PM raises suspicions on PNoy visit to US warship

Press Release

May 15, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed suspicion at the scrapping of Manny Pacquiao’s courtesy call at Malacanang for a hush-hush visit of President Benigno Aquino III and his top officials to a US aircraft carrier. “It appears that PNoy prefers playing little brown brother instead of honoring a Filipino boxing hero. Given the circumstances, his visit to the USS Carl Vinson cannot be an innocent tour. The Americans talked to PNoy about something they wanted to remain secret, out of earshot of the Filipino people and out of the prying cameras of the media” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

The group reiterated its opposition to the VFA and support for its scrapping. Moreover it called for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in order to promote transparency in government and access to information by the people. PM is calling on the Senate to repudiate the VFA and on Congress to pass the FOI bill.

“Such a top secret agenda in the middle of the high seas could be anything from more concessions about American access to Philippines as per the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to increased US intervention in the war against Muslim insurgents as a follow through to Osama Bin Laden’s assassination,” Miranda speculated.

She added that “It could have been understandable that since PNoy likes fast cars, he would also be obsessed with big ships. But the visit came at the invitation of the Americans not at PNoy’s insistence.”

“We cannot be faulted from assuming the worse due to the suspicious circumstances. This is a big issue despite Malacanang’s attempt to downplay the event as a tour and douse the fire of speculation about the incident,” Miranda furthered.

PM is preparing for protest actions against the four-day visit of the USS Carl Vinson. It also warned at a repeat of the Subic rape case with thousands of US servicemen due to have rest and recreation in the country.

Solidarity with Pakistani Workers

We congratulate the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) for the successful convening of its National Congress. The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) wishes you all the success and strength in carrying out your struggle for peace, democracy and social justice.

The global capitalist crisis, exacerbated by the global financial crisis that exploded in 2008, has brought enormous burden to the world's working people. While it is true that the deepening capitalist crisis brings with it the prospect of its imminent collapse and therefore the possibility of a system change, the process of building a strong working class movement may require new tactics and perhaps new organizational forms and struggles.This is because the capitalist crisis has also gave rise to de-industrialization which created sections of the working class outside of the formal economy.

In the Philippines, for instance, 70% of our labor force live on precarious conditions and remain unprotected as they are not employed in the formal economy. As in your case, child labor, contractual work arrangements, and worst, the existence of unpaid labor are prevalent in the Philippines.

On the other hand, the global crisis is also taking its heavy toll on workers in industries as corporations resort to downsizing, outsourcing and many forms of contractualization. In fact, we are now in the middle of an intense struggle against the policy of mass layoff and contractualization in the Philippine Airlines as well as in other big companies in the Philippines.

The capitalist crisis, no doubt, has denied the present and the next generation of workers opportunities to have decent jobs and better living conditions. We also live in a hostile environment where senseless wars and violence occur in many parts of the world. Pakistan, we are aware, has become an unwilling victim of America's "war on terror" brought into the "second front." These wars has even become more arbitrary and unilateral as superpowers move without the sanctions of international bodies.

What we have now, inded, is a period of acute capitalist crisis with wars and heigthening exploitation showing their ugly heads. The world's working class is thus faced with the challenge of building a force capable of reversing this historical course. This is the task only the working class can do.

Brothers and sisters, let us not allow this crisis lead the world toward barbarism. The Filipino working class will always be one with you and the world's working people in the struggle for peace, democracy and social justice.

Mabuhay! Long live!

In Solidarity,

Renato Magtubo
Chairperson
Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)

Workers call on Sen. Santiago to abrogate VFA

Press Release
September 2, 2009

The labor party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on Sen. Miriam Santiago to push for the abrogation of the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM, stated that, “The American troops in the country have overstayed their welcome, they are now bwisitors. The soonest the GI Joes are out of the Philippines, the better. With several allegations of sexual harassment on the American troops, they are fast becoming known as a band of rapists.”

The group said that the workers welcome any move that will question the VFA. “It is a step in the right direction if Sen. Santiago moves for renegotiation of the VFA. But it is even better if she recommends the termination of the notorious VFA,” insisted Magtubo.

PM is questioning the fact that the VFA has allowed the permanent basing of the US troops in the country thus negating the gains of the removal of the former American bases in the early 1990’s. “Year in and year out, American troops are in several critical areas in Mindanao, essentially establishing permanent bases and facilities under the cover of the provisions of the VFA despite the prohibition in the Constitution,” argued Magtubo.

He added that “Like the former bases in Clark and Subic, the continued presence of US troops have spawned social problems as shown by the cases of Nicole and Vanessa. It has even worsened the scourge of corruption with anomalies in the Balikatan funds as exposed by Ltsg. Nancy Gadian.” PM was actively involved in the campaign to seek justice for Nicole.

“The war against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah cannot be used as an alibi for basing US troops in Mindanao for they are not supposed to be involved in combat or even advisory roles in a purely internal matter. In fact, the presence of US troops are inflaming Islamic insurgency since it serves as agitation for propaganda. It has to be remembered that Al Queda started and grew as a reaction to the basing of foreign, principally American, military forces in the Muslim holy lands of Saudi Arabia,” Magtubo elaborated.

Little brown brother and sister

Press Statement
March 15, 2009
Judy Ann Miranda
Secretary-General
Partido ng Manggagawa

Like a true little brown brother, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde was giddy with joy at the fact that US President Barack Obama called up Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since Remonde is simply her alter ego, we can surmise that GMA is no less thrilled and no less a little brown sister.

That US President Obama will on his own initiative call up GMA to push for the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement is no surprise. The VFA is utterly in the imperial interest of America and it is to be expected that Obama will ensure its continuation. Showing their slavish mentality, Malacanang officials are happy that their master called up to make certain its imperial bidding is done.

The VFA must be abrogated at the soonest possible time. It is not just a violation of the constitution but an affront to our sovereignty. It serves the American imperial agenda but infringes on Philippine national interests. The VFA is to blame for the fact that convicted rapist Daniel Smith remains a fugitive from Philippine justice.

End US and Israel’s war of aggression against oppressed nations

Statement on Israel’s Occupation of Palestine
6 January 2009

The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) joins the global call and campaign in stopping and opposing Israel’s brutal war of aggression against the Palestinian people.

The party is equally indignant over the indisposed stance of powerful nations, particularly the US, which eventually led to the shameful failure of the UN system to stop or prevent Israel’s bloody occupation of the Gaza Strip. The US government in particular should also be held responsible for its unconditional support for the aggressor party by providing Israel not only with modern weapons but also with the sanction to go for unilateral action, like what it did in Iraq.

During this time of severe global economic crisis, wars mainly serve the expansionist agenda of imperialist nations not the economic need of the oppressed, jobless and hungry people. The Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, the Africans, Asians, Europeans -- or the world’s peoples had had enough of wars. Amid the crisis, workers and poor people need no tanks and missiles but land and factories to work, not bullets but food, not destructive arms but public goods.

The mounting body count and pictures of destructions show the horrendous nature of this war. The Palestinian people are clearly suffering not from the wrath of a resentful and jealous god but from the evil deed of its neighbor which want another piece of land to grab. Thus, resisting and opposing past and present Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is a legitimate struggle workers around the world must recognize and support.

The aggression must be stopped and freedom be restored for Palestinian people. End the mass murder! Stop aerial and ground assaults against the Hamas and the civilian population. Israeli blockades must also be lifted to facilitate entry of medical and food supplies for the victims of war.

To end the escalation of war, further loss of lives and destruction, we demand the pullout of Israeli troops from the Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories and that Israel submit to international call for an immediate ceasefire.

Moreover, we also demand to the Philippine government to issue an official position opposing the war. While the interest of Filipinos in Palestine is a paramount concern, and for that matter the government must act with dispatch, expressing official government position or wisdom against the war, either in a bilateral or multilateral way or thru the UN system, would serve the best interest of our OFWs in particular, and the world peace in general.