Personal grudge nor personal ambition can’t justify term extension – labor group

PRESS RELEASE

14 August 2014

Seeking a prohibited term extension out of personal bitterness against the Supreme Court would be erroneous if not a fatal political move for the sitting President, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement. 

President Aquino the other day made it categorical that he is considering a second term via a constitutional amendment, purportedly to check on the powers of the Supreme Court which he claimed exercise restraint “more often” against the co-equal branches of the government.

The group likewise disclosed, based on reliable sources, that a broad movement aligned to the cause of extending the “tuwid na daan” will be launched soon to create an artificial clamor for continuing reforms and at the opportune moment PNoy will make a major announcement that he has listened to his “bosses” to finally seek a term extension.

This is the nth time PNoy vented his outburst against the Supreme Court after the latter declared his Disbursement Accelelartion Program (DAP) unconstitutional. 

But for PM, pushing a personal political agenda out of personal grudge against the justices won’t justify a still non apparent social objective of reforming the entire political system.  

“We, too, do not believe that the ‘Lords of Faura’ holds the paragon of righteousness in this country.  They are dressed in robes, as crook lawmakers are also clad in barongs, to cover their sins and partiality to the ruling class. Yet cleansing the whole system does not necessarily require having a second term. This is more the task of a revolutionary government, a power that his mother failed to exercise correctly in 1986,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

Magtubo said workers have always been victims of delayed justice and unjust court rulings.  And similarly the two other branches of government consciously take the side of the capitalist class. 

“This situation did not change under PNoy’s term.  For the past four years wala pang naitutuwid, wala pang naitatawid,” declared the group.

PM said workers have more bad things to say about the country’s rotten political and economic system.  But they will neither look at the term extension nor the plan to amend the Constitution based on personal desires of few persons and big corporations as a sound option,” said Magtubo.

Workers join multisectoral rally vs. “midnight Chief Justice”

Press Release
March 19, 2010

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) joined the multisectoral outcry against the decision allowing the appointment of a “midnight Chief Justice.” Jane Bernardo, PM-Iligan leader stated that “A midnight Chief Justice beholden to Gloria Arroyo is arguably the worst legacy of the regime.”

In Manila scores of PM members joined the multisectoral march today from the corner of Kalaw and Taft Ave. to Faura and then on to Orosa St., going around the Supreme Court building in the area. They carried placards with the messages “Workers oppose a midnight Chief Justice” and “Resist Gloria Forever scenario.”

The labor party-list believes that the controversial Supreme Court decision on the appointment of a Chief Justice by President Arroyo paves the way for her control of the high court in a period where constitutional and legal disputes will likely arise. “One by one, the institutions of the state are falling like dominoes to Arroyo’s domination. We will wake up one day with Arroyo as Speaker of the House back to power as acting President,” Bernardo warned.

She lauded Justice Carpio-Morales for “having the balls to be the lone dissenter among a pack of conformist men.” Bernardo echoed the appeal of various groups and personalities for the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision, “There is still time and opportunity for the high court to redeem itself and reverse its decision before the country falls into abyss of the perpetuation of Arroyo’s rule.”