Sorry not enough, repeal no vaccination, no ride policy—labor group

 

Photo from the internet

In response to the declaration of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello that the government should apologize for the confusion over the no vaccination, no ride policy, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that the controversial order be withdrawn immediately.

 

“Sorry is not good enough. Apologies will not bring back the lost pay of daily paid workers who have been barred from public transport by enforcers since last week. It is not over eagerness on the part of enforcers but impunity of security forces who have been given a free pass since the onset of the pandemic to implement discriminatory policies and double standards in enforcement. Kapag VIP's malaya, kapag mahirap kawawa ngayong pandemya,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He called on Secretary Bello to immediately convene a meeting with labor groups to hear their concerns about policies such as no vaccination, no ride and no jab, no job. “A planned dialogue between Department of Labor and Employment officials and Nagkaisa labor coalition leaders last week did not push through again. Instead of social dialogue, the government is exercising social distancing with labor groups,” Magtubo asserted.

 

PM also welcomed the statements of Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros against the no vaccination, no ride policy. Magtubo said that “We call on Senators Kiko and Risa to open an investigation on the no vaccination, no ride, no jab, no job and similar discriminatory policies.”

 

“These policies are patent discrimination against workers and poor. In contrast, rich people—vaccinated or not—are free to move around since they have cars to use. These unfair and biased policies disproportionately impact people in the laylayan,” Magtubo insisted.

 

He stated that the Department of Transportations’s discriminatory ban on unvaccinated individuals taking public transport is a repeat of the railroading of the jeepney phaseout amid the pandemic lockdown in 2020. “The impromptu jeepney phaseout eliminated the livelihood of several hundred thousand jeepney drivers and operators at a time they needed it most,” Magtubo explained.

January 19, 2022

Advisory: Human Rights Day rally tom by iDefend coalition

Tomorrow, December 10, 10:00 am, Mendiola
Assembly 8:00 am, UST along Espana

Justice for victims of extra-judicial killings!

Justice for victims of martial law!

Justice for victims of endo!

Rallyists ask DOLE to act on killings of unionists, endo at PAL

In a rally today at the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) asked the government to act with dispatch on the wave of killings and abductions of unionists, and the pending endo dispute at Philippine Airlines.

The rallyists demanded the intervention by the DOLE on the endo dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the enforcement of a settlement agreement that provides for the reinstatement of some 600 PALEA members. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the controversial outsourcing program of PAL that resulted in the mass layoff of more than 2,000 regular employees and their transfer as contractual workers in service providers.

“Similar to the task force on media killings formed by the current administration, such a body should be probe the spate of killings and abductions of labor unionists. It is an urgent concern as in this single bloody month of September, two labor leaders were assassinated, six farmers killed and a union officer abducted,” asserted Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson for PM.

PALEA is calling on the DOLE to administer the implementation by PAL of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 and re-employ some 600 workers terminated in 2011. In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

Fortaleza added that “The DOLE has a responsibility to stop the culture of impunity that has resulted to the killing and abduction of labor unionists. Forming a task force to probe the attacks on workers and farmers is just a first step. As we have feared, the extra-judicial killings in the wake of the war on drugs has now spilled over into the labor movement. Truly human rights and labor rights are indivisible.”

Last week, Edilberto Miralles, former union president, was gunned down in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. On September 17, Orlando Abangan, a PM leader and organizer in Cebu, was ambushed on his way home. Last Sunday Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in Tarlac and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher. Labor groups have called the drug charges as trumped-up.

Besides the latest fatal shooting of a farmer in Palawan, earlier this month, four farmers were shot dead in Nueva Ecija and then a farmer leader killed in Isabela.

September 28, 2016

PM calls for justice for slain leader, victims of extra-judicial killings on anniversary of martial law:

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) today called for a stop to the killings due to the war on drugs and justice for one of their leaders ambushed last Saturday. PM joined the big mobilization of the coalition iDefend (In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity) this afternoon to commemorate the anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

“On the 44^th anniversary of martial law, the struggle for human rights and democracy for all remains as relevant and critical as ever. With the war on drugs claiming thousands of lives and a state of lawlessness imposed on the whole country, civil liberties and democratic freedoms are under clear and present danger,” stated Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

He added that “The prevailing climate of impunity that has resulted in wanton killings of alleged drug pushers and addicts has also provided fertile ground for politically motivated slayings. The ambush killing of PM-Cebu leader and organizer, Orlando Abangan a few days ago is testament to this. Abangan’s murder came after the killing of Gloria Capitan, an environmental activist in Bataan, last July 1, on the first official day in office of the Duterte administration. The extra-judicial killings done in the name of the war on drugs have now spilled onto slayings of human rights defenders.”

The iDefend members started assembling at 2:00 pm today in Bustillos Church before marching to Plaza Miranda for a mass and program. At 6:00 pm the iDefend marchers lighted candles to commemorate the victims of martial law, the war on drugs and political killings of human rights defenders like Abangan and Capitan.

Also in Cebu today, PM and other militant and human rights groups held a rally to call for justice for Abangan and Capitan. They marched around downtown colon this afternoon to call for a stop to the killings and to never forget the terror of martial law.

“We call on the authorities for a swift but thorough investigation of the killing of Ka Lando Abangan. We know that they are already pursuing leads that point to certain suspects. Still we urge them not to stop at the arresting suspected gunman but to probe who the mastermind is. Ka Lando is not involved in drugs and is respected in his community as an activist, so we believe that his killing is politically motivated and is related to his work as a human rights defender of urban poor and workers,” explained Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

Derige also revealed that five days before Abangan was shot to death, he escaped a first attempt on his life. He recalled that several armed men riding motorcycles came looking for Abangan in a place where he frequently hangs out.

September 21, 2016

PM condemns vigilante style killing of a leader

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the killing of one of its leaders in Talisay, Cebu today. Orlando Abangan, a community leader of PM-Cebu, was shot at close range by a lone gunman around 8:00 am while he was on his way home in Sitio Lawis, Barangay Maghaway in Talisay City.

“We condemn the vigilante-style killing of Ka Lando and call on the authorities for a thorough investigation of his murder. Justice for Ka Lando and other victims of extra-judicial killings,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Abangan, 35 years old, is survived by his wife and two children. He was a full time organizer of PM in the province of Cebu since 2001. During the last election, he built an organization of persons with disabilities in Talisay that campaigned for social protection and social services for their sector. Recently he was engaged as informal sector organizer of the labor center Sentro.

Fortaleza added that “In calling for justice for Ka Lando, we are also assailing the culture of impunity that has resulted to the spate of slayings everywhere. Labor rights and human rights are an indivisible whole. Before he was killed, Ka Lando was vocal in criticizing the extra-judicial killings in our country.”

PM is a member of the coalition In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend) which advocates that human rights and due process cannot be sacrificed in government’s ongoing war against drugs and criminality.

PM is joining iDefend  and other human rights groups in a rally in Manila on Wednesday, September 21, on the anniversary of the declaration of martial law. Justice for Abangan will be one of the demands of the forthcoming protest.

September 17, 2016

DOJ investigation must include all lumad killings in Mindanao and their relations to mining

Photo from Interaksyon.com

NEWS RELEASE

14 September 2015

The inter-agency probe being organized by the justice department must also include cases of lumad killings committed in other parts of Mindanao, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

The group issued the call in reaction to the announcement made by Malacanang yesterday that it is willing to conduct an investigation as demanded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and many other organizations here and abroad. 

“The killings of Lumad leaders by alleged paramilitary forces in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, including recorded cases of lumad killings in other parts of Mindanao, should give the government the idea that these killings were rather systematic than isolated in nature as claimed by the military,” said PM Chairperson Renato Magtubo.

According to PM, aside from the horrendous killings and forced evacuations of lumad populations in Lianga, there were similar cases of extra-judicial killings against lumads in other parts of Mindanao, particularly against leaders of the Tedurays in South Central Mindanao.

Some of these cases include the killings in 2014 of Timuay Leoncio Arig and Melencio Ramugon. 

Before their deaths, Arig and Ramugon were involved in campaigns to include IPs interests in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and unite the members of the tribes to protect their territory against intrusion, including mining.

Furthermore, the labor group observes a pattern of reluctance on the part of the police and military to pursue the perpetrators despite available witnesses, indicating a double standard in dealing with heinous crimes and in effecting justice.

“What the killers have done to lumad leaders, including the brutal murder of the director of an IP school in Lianga, were clearly terroristic in nature.  But why can’t the PNP and the AFP organize a special manhunt against perpetrators in the way they did against international terrorist Marwan,” lamented Magtubo.

Partido Manggagawa likewise supports the call for the disbandment of all paramilitary units organized by the military for anti-insurgency campaigns, saying that historically, these groups are mobilized to counter legitimate resistance such as anti-mining protests.

Group asks UN Special Rapporteur to query Negros labor activist killings

Press Release

December 10, 2014

  

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the Partido Manggagawa asked UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Michel Forst to inquire on the killings of labor activists in Negros Occidental. “The culture of impunity and extra-judicial killings of labor activists persists under the administration of Benigno Aquino III. In the last two years, two farm worker leaders have been killed while another survived an assassination attempt, all in Negros where agrarian and labor disputes simmer,” stated Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

Forst is in the Philippines and has expressed interest in requesting the government for an official visit and investigation after meeting with human rights groups over the past several days. Two predecessors of Forst were unable to obtain invitations from the government to inquire into reports of attacks against human rights defenders in the country.

The spate of killings against worker and land rights defenders in Negros happened amidst agrarian and labor disputes between farm workers and sugar planters. Last November 29, Rolando Pango, a PM member, labor leader in Binalbagan town and an organizer in neighboring Isabela town died after being shot in the head by two men. Pango had previously received death threats while he was assisting workers of Hacienda Salud in Isabela town in processing for coverage under land reform and in filing illegal dismissal charges against landlord Manuel “Manolet” Lamata. Lamata heads the powerful Negros sugar planters association.

PM also called on the Department of Labor and Employment, the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council and the Department of Justice to take cognizance of Pango’s case as they have a mandate to act on labor-related extra-judicial killings.

Since 2011, the labor coalition Nagkaisa!, of which PM is an affiliate, has been engaged in dialogue with the Aquino administration on key labor issues, including some 62 unsolved cases of labor-related extra-judicial killings.

Magtubo added that in December 29, 2012, Victoriano Embang, president of the Maria Cecilia Farm Workers Association (MACFAWA) in Moises Padilla town, was killed amidst another agrarian and labor dispute with the influential Montillano clan. His brother, Anterio, also a leader of MACFAWA, later survived an ambush in February 28, 2013.

Still PM insisted that the most widespread infringement of human rights in the labor front is the violation of workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“The onslaught of state-sanctioned contractualization schemes have effectively disarmed workers of their ability to defend themselves, through their unions, against many forms of abuse and exploitation” concluded Magtubo.

Extra-judicial killings, other human rights violations persist under ‘tuwid na daan’ – Nagkaisa!

NEWS RELEASE

NAGKAISA!

09 December 2014

A culture of impunity translated into extra-judicial killings (EJK) and other forms of human rights violations against leaders and labor organizers continue under the ‘tuwid na daan’, a coalition of major trade unions and labor organizations in the country, Nagkaisa!, said in a statement on the eve of the celebration of International Human Rights Day.

Since 2011, Nagkaisa! is engaged in dialogues with the Aquino administration on several labor issues, including some 62 unsolved cases of EJKs involving labor.

Nagkaisa! said the most recent in the cases of unsolved EJKs was the  murder of a labor organizer in Negros Occidental.  Rolando Pango, a full time organizer of Partido Manggagawa (PM) was gunned down in Binalbagan town in Negros Occidental on Novermber 29, 2014.

“Prior to his death, Pango was deeply involved in both the agrarian and labor disputes in Hacienda Salud, a 135-hectare sugar plantation in Barangay Rumirang, Isabela leased and managed by Manuel Lamata,”said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

Aside from EJKs, Nagkaisa! is also alarmed at the resurgence of other forms of human rights violations. 

Last October,  Antonio Cuizon, president of the Panaghiusa sa Mamumuo sa Carmen Copper, was arrested on trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.  The union and the management were then in the thick of labor dispute when the case was filed against Quizon.

 Pango was instrumental in organizing the plantation workers in Hacienda Salud who in June applied the land under CARPER coverage.  Salud workers has also filed of a case of illegal dismissal before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) against Lamata for unlawful termination 41 workers.

PM and Nagkaisa is calling on both the national and local governments to render immediate justice to this case. 

Josua Mata, Secretary General of Alliance of Progressive Labor–Sentro, said Nagkaisa will be raising this issue before the Tripartite Industrial Council (TIPC) and the DOJ panel investigating the EJKs.

“Like Ruby, solving cases of EJKs in the country is a slow-grind,” said Mata.

Before Pango, another PM organizer, Victoriano Embang, leader of Maria Cecilia Farm Workers Association (MACFAWA) in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental was also killed on December 29, 2012.  A failed assassination attempt against his brother, Anterio Embang, followed  few months later, February 28, 2013.

A Negrense himself, Magtubo said Negros remains a ‘labor hotspot’ because of strong resistance by landlords to agrarian reform and their outmoded serf-type treatment of their laborers. 

“Perhaps this regional feudal context has escaped the eyes of the labor department and the national government.  Or they simply don’t care” added Magtubo.

But the most widespread of human rights violations, Nagkaisa! said, is the violation of labor’s right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“The onslaught of state-sanctioned contractualization schemes have effectively disarmed workers of their ability to defend themselves, through their unions, against many forms of abuse and exploitation” concluded Magtubo.

Group condemns killing of labor leader in Negros

Press Release

December 3, 2014

A week to go before the observance of international human rights day, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the assassination of a labor leader and organizer in Negros Occidental last November 29.

“The culture of impunity thrives in our country and the extra-judicial killings of labor activists continue unabated. We ask the state—the provincial government of Negros Occidental and the national agencies Department of Justice and the Commission on Human Rights—to act with dispatch on the case and make a thorough investigation,” asserted Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Rolando Pango, a farm worker leader in his hometown of Binalbagan and an organizer in the neighboring town of Isabela, was shot dead in the head by two men late in the evening of November 29. Pango on his way home after meeting farm workers who were to attend the Bonifacio Day rally when the motorcycle he was riding was blocked by a black sedan and another motorcycle in the crossing of Hacienda Garrason in Binalbagan.

“For the commemoration of human rights day, we want action not words, reform not speeches from the Aquino administration. The mastermind and perpetrators of the murder of Pango and other labor activists must be brought to justice,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chair and a Negrense from Bacolod. A 300-strong workers assembly in Bacolod resolved a day after Pango’s death to seek justice and campaign for a resolution to the killing.

PM believes that Pango’s killing arose from a labor and agrarian dispute that he was engaged in. Pango had received a death threat from an ex-NPA rebel with an alias “Mike” who now serves an armed bodyguard of Manuel “Manolet” Lamata, a landlord who had leased and manages Hacienda Salud, a 135-hectare sugar plantation in Barangay Rumirang, Isabela.

Magtubo called on the Department of Labor and Employment and the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council to table the case of Pango.

Pango was assisting farm workers in seeking coverage of Hacienda Salud under land reform and also in illegal dismissal cases against Lamata. Since last year, the farm workers had endured successive violent harassment and bribery attempts at the hands of Lamata, who heads the powerful Negros sugar planters group, as the agrarian and labor disputes festered.

Pango’s murder follows the assassination of another farm worker leader in Isabela in December 2012. Victoriano Embang, head of the sugar workers association of Hacienda Maria Cecilia, was ambushed by two men riding in tandem in a motorcycle. Embang’s workers association was also embroiled in agrarian and labor disputes with their capitalist landlord, the Montillanos.

Labor group supports call for protection and just compensation for media workers

PRESS RELEASE
03 May 2011

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) added its voice to the growing clamor for ensuring the safety of journalists amid the continuing assault against them even under the Aquino administration and for their just compensation in the face of the rising cost of living.

“While journalists are trained to be placed where the line of fire is, putting their lives in constant threat of violence however makes them suffer the unnecessary consequence of inexcusable state neglect.  On the other hand the nature of their job requires strong job security and just compensation as they perform both mental and manual labor,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo in a statement sent to media.

A representative from the labor party attended the press freedom, democracy and empowerment forum held in Quezon City this morning sponsored by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

Partido ng Manggagawa believes that media organizations in the country can afford to give their workers just compensation while the State can institute more stringent measures in neutralizing threats to media persons.

“It is public knowledge that commercial media in the Philippines is a profitable business.  As an organization, each of them maintains core values on service, truth, freedom.  Yet majority of their workforce work as less paid contractuals, have no job security, have no unions and CBA’s and therefore not empowered compared to their counterparts abroad,” added Magtubo.

Meanwhile PM attributes the unabated media killings in the country to the culture of impunity developed under repressive regimes.  “In the case of P-Noy, however, the problem might be on the perceived weaknesses of his regime,” said Magtubo.

Magtubo pointed out that when dark forces see no strong signal of P-Noy leading this country to a new direction, then everything is business as usual, including the culture of violence and the policy of cheap labor.

“To end violence, P-Noy should decisively do away with horse-trading and political alliances which hinder the campaign against warlordism and organized crimes.  And to promote the well-being of journalists and the workers in general, he should change course by renouncing the policy of contractualization and cheap labor,” concluded Magtubo.

Solidarity Message to the NUJP Congress

The Partido ng Manggagawa salutes the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in its two-day Congress. The NUJP is more than capable of meeting the tasks it set itself of promoting press freedom and protecting the rights and welfare of journalists in the Philippines.
In the last year, the NUJP has proven itself in its leadership in the campaign to seek justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, many of whom were media workers. Also, the NUJP has put itself on the line of fire by supporting the fight of the ABS-CBN IJM workers against illegal dismissals and for the right to form a union.

No doubt the plight of journalists in the country is dire and dismal. The Philippines ranks high in terms of the number of media workers killed. Working conditions of journalists are worsening with the mass media corporations resorting to various contractualization schemes.

The culture of impunity and the model of globalization are twin dragons that NUJP must slay if it is to defend and advance the rights and welfare of media workers. In this endeavor, the NUJP need not stand alone. It must seek alliances with its brothers and sisters in the labor movement and civil society with similar perspectives and platforms.

The Partido ng Manggagawa supports the NUJP in its aim of protecting and promoting the working conditions of journalists. Truly there can be no press freedom where media workers exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear.

The struggle of the workers against oppression and exploitation would be much harder without a free press. Thus there is an objective basis for collaboration. As we support NUJP in its goals, we challenge it to broaden its reach and link up arms with the labor movement.

Today the fight of the Philippine Airlines employees is a trailblazer struggle for the revival of the workers movement that is inspiring an unprecedented unity of labor. Without as much media attention but with the same determination, workers of Fortune Tobacco and export zone workers are fighting also for job security and union rights.

The struggle of the workers in general and journalists in particular would be much stronger if solidarity is forged in the fight for press freedom, labor rights and social change.

Government's weak adherence to human rights reinforces warlords' culture of impunity - labor group

PRESS RELEASE
23 November 2010

Justice won't come easy for the victims of Maguindanao massacre as long as warlordism and violations of human rights remain rampant in this country, according to labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM). The group joined the November 23 Movement in today’s commemoration of the Maguindanao massacre held in Mendiola.

PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda said the culture of impunity attached to warlordism is reinforced further by the government's weak adherence to human rights, or worse by its complicity to the crime as shown in the Maguindanao case.

"The long and protracted prosecution of the main suspects in the massacre is no doubt painful for the victims with the expected delay in the rendering of justice. But the most agonizing part of it as far as the whole nation is concerned is when we see the apparent failure of the government to curb the warlordism common in many places, notwithstanding the fact that human rights are continuously being violated in our country," said Miranda.

The labor group pointed out that as long as private armed groups identified with known warlords and politicians all over the country are not neutralized then the sacrifice of the lives of 58 victims, many of them journalists, was for nothing.

"The best that the Aquino government can do on this case is to ensure the victims that justice would come soon and the country feel the guarantee that human rights are well protected under this administration," added Miranda.

State sanctioned labor rights violation, the group said, is a vivid example of how culture of impunity is reinforced.

"A backhoe was used to bury the victims of the Maguindanao massacre while a Baldozer was utilized in the massacre of regular jobs at PAL. If the government tolerates contractualization as a valid management prerogative, then employers are further emboldened to use the scheme to exploit workers as shown in the case of PAL and many other companies," concluded Miranda.

Pahayag ng Pakikiisa ng Partido ng Manggagawa sa ika-25 Anibersaryo ng FIND

Walang duda na Lubhang napakailap ng hustisya sa mga desaparacidos ng ating bansa. Ang 25 na taong pagdiriwang natin ng anibersyaro ng FIND ang mismong nagpapatunay na sa halip na lumapit ay higit pang nalalayo ang hustisyang noon pa natin hinahanap.
Bukod dito, sa halip na mapawi, ang paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa ating bansa ay nagpapatuloy kundi man higit na lumalala sa ibat-ibang anyo ng paglabag. Hindi ba’t ngayon ding araw na ito ang unang taong anibersaryo ng Maguindanao Massacre, ang maituturing na pinakamalagim na kaso ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa ilalim ng nakaraang rehimen?

Kung hindi lang maagap na natuklasan ang malagim na krimen, ang 58 na biktima ng masaker na ito ay malamang nadagdag lang sa bilang ng ating mga desaparacidos sapagkat tinangka itong itago sa pamamagitan ng maramihang pagbaon sa lupa gamit ang backhoe. Ang imahe ng ganitong pangyayari ay malamang nagpaala sa inyo ng masamang panaginip sa parehong sinapit ng ating mga mahal sa buhay mula sa kamay ng lupit na namamayani sa bansa mula pa noon hanggang sa ngayon.

At bakit ito nagpapatuloy sa kabila ng katotohanang ilang palit nang hinalinhan si Marcos ng mga pinunong nagdeklarang sila’y tagapagtanggol ng karapatang pantao? Bakit nagpapatuloy ang pwersahang pagkawala, extrajudicial killings, masaker at ibat-ibang anyo ng krimen? Bakit nagpapatuloy ang paglabag sa karapatang pantao?

Isa lang ang nakikita naming paliwanag. Ito ang mahinang pagtangan ng estado sa karapatang pantao. O baka nga mas malala pa dahil sa maraming kaso, ang estado mismo ang sangkot sa mga paglabag gaya nang nangyari sa Maguindanao kung saan ang warlordismo ng mga Ampatuan ay may basbas at suportado mismo ng pamahalaan sa anyo ng pulitikal na alyansa at suplay ng mga armas.

At kung nakikita ng iba pang mga warlord sa maraming panig ng bansa na ang karapatang pantao ay balewala sa pamahalaan, hindi nakapagtataka na sila’y maghari sa pamamagitan ng dahas laluna’t sila rin ang may kontrol sa kapangyarihang pulitikal sa maraming lugar. Mas lalo na kung nakikita nila na ang gubyerno ay violator din ng human rights.

Ang violation sa labor rights ay isang malinaw na halimbawa kung paanong ang culture of impunity sa bansa ay sinusuhayan ng opisyal na sanksyon ng pamahalaan. Ang kontraktwalisasyon ay labag sa batas. Pero parang batas trapiko lang ito kung labagin ng mga kapitalista. Lagpas pa dito, ang estado mismo ang nagbibigay laya sa mga kapitalista na ito ay labagin gaya ng nangyayari sa PAL at sa marami pang kompanya.

Kung sa Maguindanao ang ginamit ay backhoe, sa mga manggagawa sa PAL ang ginamit ay Baldozer para imasaker ang di bababa sa 2,600 regular na empleyado. Kung makalusot ang plano ng PAL na sinang-ayunan ni Baldoz -- na gawing kontraktwal ang mga regular na empleyado, sinong kapitalista ang di gagawa nito para tumiba ng tubo mula sa sakripisyo ng mga manggagawa? Wala pa nga ang order ni Baldoz ay laganap na ang paglabag sa labor rights.

Ito ay halimbawa lamang kung paanong ang ang kawalan o kahinaan ng estado sa pangangalaga ng karapatang pantao, sa kabuuang aspeto nito, ang nagiging dahilan kung bakit lubhang napakailap ng hustisya sa ating bansa.

Kaya naman napakahalagang elemento ng ating nagpapatuloy na pakikibaka ang pagkamit ng tunay na kalayaan hindi lamang mula sa kamay ng mga dayuhan kundi’y maging sa poder ng mapang-aliping kapangyarihan sa ating bansa. Naririyan pa rin ang warlordismo, landlordismo, at pang-aabuso ng kapital sa hanay ng manggagawa at mamamayan. Kaya walang hustisya dahil sila ang pamahalaan.

Ganunpaman, naniniwala pa rin kami na bukas, ang hustisya ay tuluyan nating makakamtan hindi sa muling paglitaw ng ating mga desaparacidos kundi’y sa pagsilang ng isang malayang lipunan na dapat nating pagtulungang ipundar. Mabuhay ang FIND!

Statement on Anniversary of Maguindanao Massacre

22 November 2010

Government's weak adherence to human rights reinforces warlords' culture of impunity

Justice won't come easy for the victims of Maguindanao massacre as long as warlordism and violations of human rights remain rampant in this country. The culture of impunity attached to warlordism is reinforced further by the government's weak adherence to human rights, or worse by its complicity to the crime as shown in the Maguindanao case.

The protracted prosecution of the main suspects in the massacre is no doubt painful for the victims with the expected delay in the rendering of justice. But the most agonizing part of it as far as the whole nation is concerned is when we see the apparent failure of the government to curb the warlordism common in many places, notwithstanding the fact that human rights are continuously being violated in our country.

As long as private armed groups identified with known warlords and politicians all over the country are not neutralized then the sacrifice of the lives of 58 victims, many of them journalists, was for nothing.

The best that the Aquino government can do on this case is to ensure the victims that justice would come soon and the country feels the guarantee that human rights are well protected under this administration.

State sanctioned labor rights violation is a vivid example of how culture of impunity is reinforced. A backhoe was used to bury the victims of the Maguindanao massacre while a Baldozer was utilized in the massacre of regular jobs at PAL.

If the government tolerates contractualization as a valid management prerogative then employers are further emboldened to use the scheme to exploit workers as in the case of PAL and many other companies.