‘Die-in’ protest, barricade stop planned demolition in Cavite

PRESS RELEASE
27 August 2008
Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Maralita ng Cavite
Partido ng Manggagawa-Cavite

‘Die-in’ protest, barricade stop planned demolition in Bacoor and Kawit

What was expected to be a violent confrontation between demolition crews and urban poor dwellers in Bacoor and Kawit in the province of Cavite ended up with a commitment from the local government to negotiate.

As early as seven o’clock in the morning yesterday, soldiers and policemen had already positioned themselves at Barangay Longos in Bacoor to secure the place that is targeted to be cleared of squatters. It was the second day that soldiers were stationed there prompting the residents to assume that demolition would be carried out for the construction of the R-1 or the coastal road extension project. Some 1,000urban poor families from Bacoor and Kawit are bound to lose their homes to the project while fishermen are also set to lose their source of livelihood.

In anticipation, residents took to the streets to block the planned demolition. Some 500 people marched from Kawit to the coastal road in Bacoor to join hundreds of other protesters in Barangay Longos. Together they held a ‘mass die-in’ protest and set up a barricade along the coastal road in Bacoor. The protesters under the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Maralita ng Cavite (Sanagca), Partido ng Manggagawa and the newly formed Balikatan sa Komunidad (BsK) called for a moratorium on demolitions in the province.

Bacoor Mayor Strike Revilla, who rushed to the scene, spoke before the protesters them that he will help them negotiate with the national and provincial governments regarding their concerns. The R-1 project is a joint project of the national and provincial governments.

Cavite Governor Ayong Maliksi who was supposed to oversee the demolition talked with leaders of the groups and assured them also that the provincial government is willing to sit down with them. Governor Maliksi declared that he would try to negotiate with the national government for the people’s demand for source of livelihood.

However residents are still wary given the presence of soldiers and policemen in the area since they fear that anytime of the day surprise demolition can still be carried out by the national and provincial government. ###

WORKERS VOW TO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE FOR SYSTEM CHANGE –
THE “MAGDIWANG” WAY

Workers belonging to PARTIDO NG MANGGAGAWA (PM) together with labor groups from LABOR – Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reforms and the newly formed group KONTRA assembled today in front of the Bonifacio Shrine to pay homage to working class hero, Gat Andres Bonifacio and launched the broadest and biggest coalition against contractualization.

PM Chairperson, Renato “Ka Rene” Magtubo said that, “The workers are one with Senator Trillanes and our brothers and sisters form the military and progressive groups in calling for system change. The workers continue to be the most oppressed sector in society since time immemorial. The revolution that Gat Andres started remains relevant up to these times when the majority of our people – the workers - continue to suffer from oppression and tyranny. While Bonifacio fought against tyranny and oppression from Spanish Rule, today’s generation of workers fight against the culprit of globalization and its willing puppets – the GMA regime and its capitalist bourgeoisie.”

“However, the workers believe that the revolution can only be won if the masses – the workers and the poor – unite in this struggle for change. The workers need not a messiah to win this battle but must rely on their collective strength to overthrow this corrupt regime and fight for concrete reforms that will uplift their conditions. PM calls on the workers and the people to unite for genuine system change.”

Matubo concluded “Bonifacio started the Katipunan to unite the Filipino people to fight against tyranny and oppression and inspired a revolution. While we do not approve of a military junta, the workers warmly applaud and welcome Senator Trillanes call for system change. To win this revolution, the working class will ensure that when the time comes, it is the overwhelming numbers and the powerful force of the masses that will determine the right course of the struggle. This is how genuine democracy works. As we commemorate the day of our working class hero, Gat Andres Bonifacio, our pledge is to continue the struggle of Bonifacio’s unfinished revolution and the call of Senator Trillanes and our brothers in the military for genuine change. The workers accept this challenge and vow not to shirk from it”.

Labor group demand accounting of "war on hunger" funds

In the face of a new SWS survey that revealed a worsening of the hunger problem, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) declared government's "war on hunger" as lost and called for an accounting of the P1 billion alloted for it. The latest survey on hunger showed a "national deterioration" as more Filipinos went without food across the regions.

Judy Ann Miranda, secretary general of PM, asserted that "As critics have alleged, the war on hunger announced by GMA last March is a sham and a scandal. It is another billion of the people's money down the drain with no accomplishment to speak of."

The group is challenging Congress to make an investigation into the mechanics and expenditures of the program because of its "patent failure." Miranda added that "The NBN scandal is worth P15 billion and merited primetime attention from the Senate and the media. The anti-hunger budget of P1 billion is much less in comparison but it is no less important since it directly affects the poor."

The labor group asserts that the program was bound to fail since it "a band-aid solution to a crisis that needs major surgery." Miranda argues that "The free meals and cheap medicine that the government supposedly funded hardly scratch the surface of the hunger problem. It goes much deeper for hunger is rooted in a flawed policy on wages, jobs and debt. The cheap labor policy, jobs losses due to factory closures and automatic debt appropriation all combine to deny the people their daily bread." She cited the fact that the present minimum wage in the NCR of P362 is not even half of the P786 cost of living in the metropolis.

The Partido ng Manggagawa renewed its call for an economic relief package that involves a legislated wage hike, tax exemption for workers earning below the cost of living, subsidies for basic goods and services, amendments to the labor code to protect jobs, repeal of the law on automatic debt payments and the realignment of the savings to fund social programs. ###

Filipino workers support the Burmese people

Statement by the Partido ng Manggagawa

Filipino workers support the Burmese people

The Filipino working class joins the peoples around the world in condemning the brutal suppression by the military junta of the protest movement in Burma. We add the voice of the workers in the call for democratization in Burma, freedom for political prisoners and an end to the military rule.

We express our solidarity for the people of Burma especially our Burmese brother and sister workers. The working class of Burma suffer as much or even more as other sectors and classes of Burmese society under the heel of the military junta.

The Burmese military dictatorship may be a throwback to the Dark Ages of old but under its iron fisted rule the new paradigm of globalization is being forced down the throats of Burmese workers. Multinational corporations are extracting super profits from the blood and sweat of Burmese workers who are denied the most elementary labor rights by the brutal dictatorship.

The Filipino workers sympathize with the situation of their Burmese brothers and sisters for we suffered the very same exploitation and very same abuse under the Marcos dictatorship. In fact the burgeoning protest movement in Burma against price increases recall to mind the welgang bayans of the '80's and '90's against economic hardship during and after the Marcos dictatoship.

The Burmese military dictatorship hope to nip in the bud the protest movement against the economic crisis and scuttle its maturity into a political movement for democracy in their country. But the tables may yet be turned and instead the bloody repression may still incite the beginnings of a new uprising against military rule.

Despite the forced isolation of Burma under the dictatorship, international solidarity has a significant role to play in sustaining and strengthening the protest movement in Burma against economic hardship and for political freedom. Thus the Partido ng Manggagawa will educate and mobilize the Filipino workers as vanguard fighters for democracy to stand as one body and speak with one voice in support of the Burmese people and workers in their struggle for political freedom and social emancipation. ###

Ghost of Martial Law continues to haunt the nation

On the 35th anniversary of the declaration of martial law, the ghost of authoritarianism has not been exorcised and continues to haunt the country. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Then Ferdinand Marcos had his PD 1081 and the ASSO (Arrest Search and Seizure Order). Now Gloria Arroyo has her E0 464 and the HSA (Human Security Act). All serve to restrict the civil liberties and trample upon the democratic rights of the people.

Even the cast of principal characters looks like a rerun of the old. Then the was Ferdinand Marcos and the First Lady Imelda forming the conjugal dictatorship. Now there is Gloria Arroyo and the First Gentleman Mike plundering the nation's coffers. With Mike Arroyo exposed as the mystery man, the lady in Malacanang cannot be too far behind. In fact, Gloria Arroyo graced the signing of the ZTE deal in China herself which makes her the godmother of the anomalous contract.

Gloria and Mike's partnership in plundering the people's money forms a consistent thread in past six years. The overpriced ZTE broadband deal worth P15 billion is just the latest in a series of anomalies. In the heady first days after Edsa Dos, Nani Perez served as the new president's bagman for the bribe money from IMPSA. After which came the scandal of the Diosdado Macapagal highway and the fertilizer scam in 2004.

The theft of the nation's coffers go hand in hand with the theft of the people's liberties. Civil liberties must be restricted in order to hide the plunder perpetrated by the couple in Malacanang.

Gloria Arroyo is already the longest serving president or resident of Malacanang since Ferdinand Marcos. And if charter change is succesfully pulled off sometime in the next three years, she may even get to go beyond her constitutional term limit in 2010. In 1972, Ferdinand Marcos built the dictatorship upon the illusion of constitutional authoritarianism. In 2010, Gloria Arroyo may consolidate her dictatorship upon the gimmick of charter change. ###