Labor group slams Drew Olivar of “Pepedederalismo” for cyber libel

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today slammed for cyber libel the blogger Drew Olivar who recently hit the news for the controversial “Pepedederalismo” video together with PCOO Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson.

Olivar, in a Facebook post last September 30, 2017 on his “Drew Olivar Blog” accused Ver Estorosas, a PM leader, of absconding after allegedly receiving P8 million to mobilize people for a September 21, 2017 in Luneta. A picture of Estorosas in a rally was maliciously entitled “WANTED” in bold letters in Olivar’s blog post.

“Blabber blogger Drew Olivar is not just an indecent promoter of Pepedederalismo in cahoots with Mocha Uson but is also a thief of images for the profitable production and distribution of fake news. Ver Estorosas, as chairman of the PM Bulacan chapter, is not a fugitive but on the contrary active in leading actions of urban poor for their housing demands and NutriAsia workers for their job security,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that the group is consulting with lawyers for the appropriate course of action to defend the rights of Estorosas and stop Olivar from peddling libelous posts.

Magtubo insisted that “Olivar’s accusation is an outright lie and a figment of his imagination. He stole the photo from a rally of housing applicants in NHA Bulacan led by PM that was covered by mainstream media such as CNN Philippines and Rappler. PM was not even a participant to the September 21, 2017 rally in Luneta that was called by the Movement Against Tyranny.”

Olivar’s libelous post was brought to the attention of PM by members of the workers association BPO Shield (formerly Inter-Call Center Association of Workers) who dug into Olivar’s account after the “Pepedederalismo” video went viral.

“The Pepedederalismo video is a waste of taxpayers’ money that was squeezed from the people through TRAIN. We vow to mobilize workers and the poor against the charter change campaign of the Duterte administration. The shift to federalism is a scheme to perpetuate Duterte and trapos like Gloria Arroyo in power. The answer to mass poverty and social inequality is system change not charter change. Chicha hindi chacha!,” argued Magtubo.

“We warn Olivar against stealing more photos of rallies for his business of peddling fake news,” Magtubo cautioned as PM today held a mobilization of workers at the Senate in time for the sponsorship speech by Sen. Joel Villanueva of the security of tenure bill.

August 7, 2018

There is ‘tamang daan’ to solving climate crisis – Partido Manggagawa

Workers believe that living on low-carbon diet is the only chance for Mother Earth to survive the climate crisis.  And the only way to achieve lower carbon economy is by significant cutback in industrial activities that emit megatons of greenhouse gas (GHG) into the atmosphere.

 

The partylist Partido Manggagawa (PM) expressed this view as it joined the multisectoral March for Climate Justice this morning at the Quezon Memorial Circle, together with labor coalition Nagkaisa.

 

Among the workers’ demands were climate jobs and climate resilient communities as well as decent work as they believe that people with regular employment and social insurance are better prepared to face recurring disasters.

 

Partido Manggagawa, however, believes that resilience is mere adaptation to lessen the impact of calamities and therefore cannot be considered as the ultimate solution to climate crisis.

 

“Capitalist industries created this crisis.  The solution therefore lies on whether this world will continue living under capitalism or it maps the right path to solving this crisis,” said PM in a statement.

 

The group said a handful of industrial powers which contribute more than two-thirds of global GHG emissions will never give up their global trade position in oil and energy production, mining, car manufacture as well as their control of other hard industries that largely pollute the environment. 

 

“They will just invest on ‘clean technology’, trade their carbon footprints, monetize nature by seizing control of the renewable energy market and then negotiate for business-as-usual bottom lines.  Thus, the Paris negotiation may produce concrete national commitments this time but never will rich capitalist countries seek an end to climate crisis,” the group said. 

 

According to PM, plotting a way towards the tamang daan (right path) in addressing the climate crisis requires a change to both the economic and political system. 

 

“The crisis is really a question of power – of who decides what is good for whom? The capitalist ideology of free market, which in business translates to freedom of owners of capital to exploit labor and nature to gain profit to the max is a development hoax. It allows unlimited growth to corporations at the expense of people and nature.”

 

PM said under the tamang daan, people will be at the center of all development endeavours while nature will be consigned by the majority to common use for the common good of humanity.

 

“Workers do have a name for this tamang daan. Socialist parties in Latin America and Europe call it the 21^st century socialism,” concluded PM.

28 November 2015

The Napolist, club of multi-millionaires in gov’t signs of systemic disorder – PM

PRESS RELEASE

29 May 2014

The list of government officials implicated in the Napolist and a club of multi-millionaires occupying the highest positions of power in government are signs of a serious systemic disorder afflicting Philippine society, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

“Kleptocracy and the rule of the elite minority in a democracy are systemic wrongs. This form of rule will never bring this country to prosperity and inclusiveness,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

The group was referring to the list of 120 legislators and several cabinet officials implicated by Janet Lim Napoles in her expanded affidavit and the published list of multi-millionaires both in the legislative and executive branches of government based on the 2013 submission of their Statement of Assets Liabilities and Networth (SALN). 

The 2013 SALN again showed that the entire government is absolutely under the exclusive rule of multi-millionaires who represent a tiny minority in the country.

Magtubo, a former partylist representative, explained that this systemic disorder implies not a vague but a definite form of rule that marginalizes the majority of people, “since policy making cannot be separated from the class position of those who make the rules.”

This, he said, is the reason why strategic measures to curb the plague of contractualization and implementing the constitutional provision on living wage were never made an agenda of the past and present Congresses, while laws giving incentives to private corporations and foreign capital pass like bullet trains.

“PNoy can always mouth his vision of inclusive growth in every occasion until the end of his term in June 30, 2016.  But under this kind of rule, the road leading to that remain impassable,” said Magtubo.

PM said further that this problem is made worse by the reigning culture of kleptocracy when those in power exploit the national resources for their narrow interests.

The labor party stressed that the country needs radical political and economic reforms to save itself from total failure.