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

PAL union, labor party press for inclusion of Baldoz in plunder case

PRESS RELEASE

29 April 2011

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) find it utterly necessary to include Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and other officials in the plunder case filed by former Solicitor General Frank Chavez against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The use of OWWA money to buy votes in 2004 had long been discussed in many fora.  Now is the time to make the guilty parties accountable for squandering millions of OFW funds,” said PM chair Renato Magtubo.

Meanwhile, PALEA President Gerry Rivera called anew on Secretary Baldoz to resign from her post immediately amid the raging controversy.

According to Magtubo, Baldoz together with other members of the OWWA Board cannot dissociate themselves from this crime of Gloria since they facilitated the conversion of OFW funds into election dole outs in 2004. 

“In fact workers here and abroad have very strong doubt that Malacanang and labor and officials are only interested in the funds rather than in protecting the welfare of OFWs,” added Magtubo.

Some P530 million of OWWA funds were transferred to Philhealth in 2003.  These were allegedly used to finance the distribution of Philhealth cards during the 2004 election campaigns. Chavez said the fund transfer is illegal.

“During her time, all that’s coming out of the labor department are bad news,” said Rivera, stating as an example the ruling she made on the PAL-PALEA case where she abused her discretion in allowing Lucio Tan to layoff and contract out 2,600 regular jobs in violation of the existing collective bargaining agreement, the Constitution, the Labor Code and International Labor Organization’s conventions.

“And now that she is being associated to Gloria’s misuse of OWWA funds, all the more we suspect that her recent decisions on labor cases do not come from a clean hand,” concluded Rivera.