by Renato Magtubo, PM Chairperson
20 August 2008
Amid the bigger problem of hunger and hopelessness swallowing up the country today, a full-blown war against the Bangsamoro rebels is not a desirable path for the government to pursue in building peace in Mindanao.
We in the Partido ng Manggagawa believe that an all-out war is not only a waste of dear lives and scant resources for both Muslims and Christians. It is also a futile government instrument to correct a historical wrong. The labor party is also against the use of armed violence against civilians caught in the war.
For us, continuing peace negotiations based on genuine recognition of the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination remains the better option and which can be made more viable and thoroughgoing if accompanied by a resolute war against poverty and injustice in the region and in the whole country.
We also believe that the Moro’s struggle for self-determination cannot be solved under the framework of the present Philippine Constitution. The Bangsamoro people have been waging this national war since time immemorial and we see no end to their pursuit of that historical claim until finally accorded that rightful recognition by the Philippine State. This is the biggest thing chauvinists opposed to this kind of settlement have to fully understand to avoid treating this conflict a purely religious war.
Accordingly, for final peace to be achieved in Mindanao, there is definitely a need to amend the present Constitution to uphold the spirit of the concluded peace settlement. There is nothing wrong, criminal, outrageous and immoral in pursuing such path. However, a selfless, principled kind of charter change may not be possible under the government of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
It appears that the biggest obstacle that now confronts the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in its pursuit of a peace settlement with the GRP, is dealing with the Arroyo government, which cannot commit peace without playing a sinister plan to smuggle a self-perpetuating agenda for charter change. The announcement by Macalañang that it is ‘all-systems go’ now for cha-cha right after the MOA-AD controversy flared up confirmed the existence of this hideous agenda.
Moreover, the outrage and inflammatory statements issued by no less than the allies of Mrs. Arroyo against the proposed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) revealed the awful fact that Mrs. Arroyo does not represent a solid government consensus on this matter. This government therefore cannot speak and commit peace to MILF. Hence, if Mrs. Arroyo cannot even maintain peace in her own government, how can she promote peace with others? In that sense, she could be the worst promoter of peace.
On the other hand, the overt role played by the United States in brokering this peace process had become even more suspicious and alarming. Everybody knows how the US plays war while talking peace at the same time in pursuit of its own geopolitical interests. They did talk peace while playing the worst kind of interventionist war in Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan, and possibly next, Iran.
It is public knowledge that the US troops had already maintained a permanent presence in Mindanao in the guise of joint military exercises. But everybody knows that their presence there is certainly beyond peace missions. Thus, same with Gloria, the US could neither be a reliable ally for the Bangsamoro people, or a faithful proponent of peace.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Condition and Demands of Filipino Migrant Workers
Migrant workers and their remittances are not just a significant but already a crucial component of the Philippine economy. On the one hand, the export of labor relieves the grave problem of unemployment in the country. On the other hand, the multibillion-dollar worth of remittances keep the economy afloat that would have otherwise sunk.
Labor migration is also a key factor in shaping the present social situation. Not a few have observed that without the safety valve of labor migration, the social volcano in the Philippines would have long erupted. However the fact that millions of Filipinos have left their homeland has led to real social costs, though not easily quantifiable, among them dysfunctional families and brain drain.
To grasp the extent of labor migration and the economic importance of their remittances, let us look at the statistics and data.
A good 10% of Filipinos, almost 9 million out of a population of 80 million, are living or working abroad. Undocumented migrants and immigrants will bloat this figure further. About half are contractual workers, now called overseas Filipino workers (OFW’s), principally found in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. The other half have emigrated mainly to advanced countries like the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and the UK.
Thus practically every other family in the Philippines has an immediate member living or working abroad. In some families, there are already two generations of migrant workers with the next on the path of becoming the new batch of OFW’s.
Yet whether permanent residents in other countries or contractual workers abroad, all these overseas Filipinos send remittances back to their families and relatives in the homeland. More than $14 billion in remittances were sent to the Philippines in 2007 alone or above $1 billion per month. The figure would rise by an estimated 50% if money sent through informal channels were included.
Just the official figure of $14 billion in remittances already constitutes 10% of GNP. That amount exceeds both official development aid and foreign direct investments received by the Philippines. Without the influx of dollar remittances, the country’s current account would be negative.
The growth of remittances has been explosive, commensurate to the number of migrants and immigrants. Back in 1993, about half a million OFW’s were deployed while the remittances were worth just $2.5 billion. Yet even then this was considerable since it already equaled half of the foreign debt service.
The government actively promotes labor migration. In fact, the export of labor is part of the yearly target for employment creation. About a million migrant workers are deployed yearly. Everyday almost 3,000 Filipinos leave to work abroad. In 2007, about a third of them were new hires. The rest were rehires and sea-based workers.
The number of women migrant workers has been increasing and in 2007 they constitute half of new hires. Many are domestic helpers like in Hong Kong, entertainers like in Japan, and nurses like in the US. Thus many have observed the contradictory situation of Filipina mothers taking care of other people’s children while their own grow up without their physical presence. The feminization of labor migration and the lack of protection for migrant workers have led to rising cases of abuse, harassment and rape.
Labor migration has a long history in the Philippines. At the turn of the last century, the first batch of Filipino migrant workers found work in the plantations of Hawaii and California. The modern wave of migration however started in the 1970’s with the promotion of labor export under the Marcos dictatorship. Skilled manual labor was deployed to the Middle East that was in the midst of a construction boom.
The fall of the dictator did not stop labor migration but instead accelerated as the Aquino regime begun the shift to trade liberalization and as the economy remained stagnant. From then on, labor migration became a flood with both unskilled factory workers and professionals like teachers, nurses and doctors joining the trek abroad. Despite the fact that nursing is one of the most popular courses in college, the Philippines today faces a health crisis due to the lack of nurses and doctors as most are moving abroad.
It is not an exaggeration to say that labor migration today is the modern-day form of slavery. Five hundred years ago the age of mercantilism saw the heyday in the trade of human slaves. In the era of globalization, millions of workers cross borders in search of greener pastures or simply to survive in the face of joblessness and destitution in their home countries.
The pull of a substantial wage differential between the sending and receiving country is enough incentive for massive labor migration. That has of course resulted in significant transfers of wealth and token alleviation of poverty in the home countries. Yet the fact that millions of migrants are involved and the reality of lack of protection for basic worker rights and respect for labor standards results in so many victims of abuse.
In the Philippines, no reliable data exists but it is common knowledge that migrant workers fall prey to excessive fees from labor contractors and employment agencies. Once abroad, many are underpaid or not paid their salaries at all. Some are forced to work 50 to 80 hour workweeks and usually without overtime pay. There are many abusive employers and some labor under unsafe conditions. Contracts are breached and migrant workers are without recourse for redress. In the worst cases, the workers end up as bonded labor or sex slaves, if not incarcerated despite being innocent or dying in unsolved murders.
In many receiving countries, basic labor rights and standards are not respected and implemented. Even in advanced countries where there are formal guarantees of workers rights, baiting of immigrants and restrictive immigration policies lead to the proliferation of so-called illegals. As illegal immigrants, they are without the protection of the law and thus easily victimized. Moreover they are hunted by the governments of host countries and if caught deported back home with their dreams broken.
It is a glaring contradiction that in the era of globalization, goods, capital and information flow freely across the world and yet the free movement of labor is restricted. Trade in goods and capital flows are fully liberalized through multilateral agreements but labor migration is highly regulated through unilateral actions. This is one fundamental aspect of the grave inequalities and double standards under globalization.
Fact is globalization is the key link in the flood of labor migration in recent times. There are estimated 150 million migrants and immigrants around the world. Meaning 2.5% of the global population had to cross borders and oceans just to find their daily bread. In 2005, their combined remittances amount to $167 billion and could reach up to a quarter billion if those sent through informal means are counted.
While the pull factor in labor migration is mainly the wage differential—a fact that exists even before globalization—the push factor is principally the deepening poverty and worsening unemployment brought about by near universal enforcement of neoliberal policies worldwide. The policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization have led to the collapse of local industry and agriculture. Together with policies of cheap labor, labor flexibility and others associated with globalization, workers are encouraged if not forced to look for work abroad despite all the dangers, hardships and costs.
Still labor migration is a right that workers must enjoy in a globalized world. Even more than goods and capital, labor must be able to move freely across the world. The Partido ng Manggagawa as the political party of the working class in the Philippines defends and advances this as a right for all workers. Labor must be mobile in order to seek better wages and working conditions.
Thus we aim to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers in their host countries. The international guaranteed labor rights as enshrined in the ILO conventions including the right to organize, bargain and strike, must be extended to all migrant workers.
To this end, the Philippine government must forge bilateral agreements with host countries of OFW’s to guarantee their basic labor rights and ensure implementation of labor standards. It must also take the lead in pushing for enforceable multilateral treaties defending and advancing migrant rights. A government that actively promotes labor migration as a policy can do no else.
To protect OFW’s and curtail abuses, deregulation of the labor export industry must be stopped and government must strictly regulate the deployment of workers abroad. This will greatly reduce fraud, deception and abuse by private employment agencies and contractors at the homefront. Heavier penalties and fines must be levied against illegal recruiters.
The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act or RA 8042 must be amended in this regard. RA 8042 must further be amended to incorporate important protective provisions specifically for seafarers and women migrant workers.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) must be reorganized and its program reoriented to ensure that the funds collected from OFW’s are used to serve migrants and their families. Scrap the OWWA Omnibus Policies. Audit and transparency mechanisms must be installed to protect the OWWA Fund. OFW’s and their families must be represented in the OWWA Board.
The embassies and consulates of the Philippines in OFW host countries must serve the concerns of migrant workers above all. The promotion of OFW rights and welfare rather than the promotion of tourism or investments must be their primary mission. To that end, the embassies must be reorganized with programs to assist migrants who are victims of abuse and to facilitate redress of their grievances.
Above and beyond programs and projects that currently exist, there must be provision for reintegration and retraining of OFW’s, care for women survivors of violence abroad, support for families of migrant workers including women abandoned by their spouses working abroad, and coverage for OFW’s social security, health insurance and housing.
The Overseas Absentee Voting Law must be amended so that it more effectively assures the right to vote of Filipinos abroad and ensures the sanctity of their ballot. Among these are a choice for either postal or personal registration and voting, continuing registration of overseas Filipinos, and an appropriate mechanism for seafarers to register and vote.
Yet almost four decades of labor export has not led to social progress in the Philippines. In fact from a long-term perspective, the social costs and the brain drain may offset whatever economic benefits accrue from labor migration.
Thus the policy of labor export promotion must be reversed and instead the government must enforce the Constitutional mandate for full employment in the country.
Such a policy shift can only be realized as part of a paradigm shift away from globalization. Without falling into the trap of autarky, the local economy must be strengthened so that domestic industry and agriculture can generate sufficient decent jobs for all Filipinos.
Labor migration is also a key factor in shaping the present social situation. Not a few have observed that without the safety valve of labor migration, the social volcano in the Philippines would have long erupted. However the fact that millions of Filipinos have left their homeland has led to real social costs, though not easily quantifiable, among them dysfunctional families and brain drain.
To grasp the extent of labor migration and the economic importance of their remittances, let us look at the statistics and data.
A good 10% of Filipinos, almost 9 million out of a population of 80 million, are living or working abroad. Undocumented migrants and immigrants will bloat this figure further. About half are contractual workers, now called overseas Filipino workers (OFW’s), principally found in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. The other half have emigrated mainly to advanced countries like the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and the UK.
Thus practically every other family in the Philippines has an immediate member living or working abroad. In some families, there are already two generations of migrant workers with the next on the path of becoming the new batch of OFW’s.
Yet whether permanent residents in other countries or contractual workers abroad, all these overseas Filipinos send remittances back to their families and relatives in the homeland. More than $14 billion in remittances were sent to the Philippines in 2007 alone or above $1 billion per month. The figure would rise by an estimated 50% if money sent through informal channels were included.
Just the official figure of $14 billion in remittances already constitutes 10% of GNP. That amount exceeds both official development aid and foreign direct investments received by the Philippines. Without the influx of dollar remittances, the country’s current account would be negative.
The growth of remittances has been explosive, commensurate to the number of migrants and immigrants. Back in 1993, about half a million OFW’s were deployed while the remittances were worth just $2.5 billion. Yet even then this was considerable since it already equaled half of the foreign debt service.
The government actively promotes labor migration. In fact, the export of labor is part of the yearly target for employment creation. About a million migrant workers are deployed yearly. Everyday almost 3,000 Filipinos leave to work abroad. In 2007, about a third of them were new hires. The rest were rehires and sea-based workers.
The number of women migrant workers has been increasing and in 2007 they constitute half of new hires. Many are domestic helpers like in Hong Kong, entertainers like in Japan, and nurses like in the US. Thus many have observed the contradictory situation of Filipina mothers taking care of other people’s children while their own grow up without their physical presence. The feminization of labor migration and the lack of protection for migrant workers have led to rising cases of abuse, harassment and rape.
Labor migration has a long history in the Philippines. At the turn of the last century, the first batch of Filipino migrant workers found work in the plantations of Hawaii and California. The modern wave of migration however started in the 1970’s with the promotion of labor export under the Marcos dictatorship. Skilled manual labor was deployed to the Middle East that was in the midst of a construction boom.
The fall of the dictator did not stop labor migration but instead accelerated as the Aquino regime begun the shift to trade liberalization and as the economy remained stagnant. From then on, labor migration became a flood with both unskilled factory workers and professionals like teachers, nurses and doctors joining the trek abroad. Despite the fact that nursing is one of the most popular courses in college, the Philippines today faces a health crisis due to the lack of nurses and doctors as most are moving abroad.
It is not an exaggeration to say that labor migration today is the modern-day form of slavery. Five hundred years ago the age of mercantilism saw the heyday in the trade of human slaves. In the era of globalization, millions of workers cross borders in search of greener pastures or simply to survive in the face of joblessness and destitution in their home countries.
The pull of a substantial wage differential between the sending and receiving country is enough incentive for massive labor migration. That has of course resulted in significant transfers of wealth and token alleviation of poverty in the home countries. Yet the fact that millions of migrants are involved and the reality of lack of protection for basic worker rights and respect for labor standards results in so many victims of abuse.
In the Philippines, no reliable data exists but it is common knowledge that migrant workers fall prey to excessive fees from labor contractors and employment agencies. Once abroad, many are underpaid or not paid their salaries at all. Some are forced to work 50 to 80 hour workweeks and usually without overtime pay. There are many abusive employers and some labor under unsafe conditions. Contracts are breached and migrant workers are without recourse for redress. In the worst cases, the workers end up as bonded labor or sex slaves, if not incarcerated despite being innocent or dying in unsolved murders.
In many receiving countries, basic labor rights and standards are not respected and implemented. Even in advanced countries where there are formal guarantees of workers rights, baiting of immigrants and restrictive immigration policies lead to the proliferation of so-called illegals. As illegal immigrants, they are without the protection of the law and thus easily victimized. Moreover they are hunted by the governments of host countries and if caught deported back home with their dreams broken.
It is a glaring contradiction that in the era of globalization, goods, capital and information flow freely across the world and yet the free movement of labor is restricted. Trade in goods and capital flows are fully liberalized through multilateral agreements but labor migration is highly regulated through unilateral actions. This is one fundamental aspect of the grave inequalities and double standards under globalization.
Fact is globalization is the key link in the flood of labor migration in recent times. There are estimated 150 million migrants and immigrants around the world. Meaning 2.5% of the global population had to cross borders and oceans just to find their daily bread. In 2005, their combined remittances amount to $167 billion and could reach up to a quarter billion if those sent through informal means are counted.
While the pull factor in labor migration is mainly the wage differential—a fact that exists even before globalization—the push factor is principally the deepening poverty and worsening unemployment brought about by near universal enforcement of neoliberal policies worldwide. The policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization have led to the collapse of local industry and agriculture. Together with policies of cheap labor, labor flexibility and others associated with globalization, workers are encouraged if not forced to look for work abroad despite all the dangers, hardships and costs.
Still labor migration is a right that workers must enjoy in a globalized world. Even more than goods and capital, labor must be able to move freely across the world. The Partido ng Manggagawa as the political party of the working class in the Philippines defends and advances this as a right for all workers. Labor must be mobile in order to seek better wages and working conditions.
Thus we aim to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers in their host countries. The international guaranteed labor rights as enshrined in the ILO conventions including the right to organize, bargain and strike, must be extended to all migrant workers.
To this end, the Philippine government must forge bilateral agreements with host countries of OFW’s to guarantee their basic labor rights and ensure implementation of labor standards. It must also take the lead in pushing for enforceable multilateral treaties defending and advancing migrant rights. A government that actively promotes labor migration as a policy can do no else.
To protect OFW’s and curtail abuses, deregulation of the labor export industry must be stopped and government must strictly regulate the deployment of workers abroad. This will greatly reduce fraud, deception and abuse by private employment agencies and contractors at the homefront. Heavier penalties and fines must be levied against illegal recruiters.
The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act or RA 8042 must be amended in this regard. RA 8042 must further be amended to incorporate important protective provisions specifically for seafarers and women migrant workers.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) must be reorganized and its program reoriented to ensure that the funds collected from OFW’s are used to serve migrants and their families. Scrap the OWWA Omnibus Policies. Audit and transparency mechanisms must be installed to protect the OWWA Fund. OFW’s and their families must be represented in the OWWA Board.
The embassies and consulates of the Philippines in OFW host countries must serve the concerns of migrant workers above all. The promotion of OFW rights and welfare rather than the promotion of tourism or investments must be their primary mission. To that end, the embassies must be reorganized with programs to assist migrants who are victims of abuse and to facilitate redress of their grievances.
Above and beyond programs and projects that currently exist, there must be provision for reintegration and retraining of OFW’s, care for women survivors of violence abroad, support for families of migrant workers including women abandoned by their spouses working abroad, and coverage for OFW’s social security, health insurance and housing.
The Overseas Absentee Voting Law must be amended so that it more effectively assures the right to vote of Filipinos abroad and ensures the sanctity of their ballot. Among these are a choice for either postal or personal registration and voting, continuing registration of overseas Filipinos, and an appropriate mechanism for seafarers to register and vote.
Yet almost four decades of labor export has not led to social progress in the Philippines. In fact from a long-term perspective, the social costs and the brain drain may offset whatever economic benefits accrue from labor migration.
Thus the policy of labor export promotion must be reversed and instead the government must enforce the Constitutional mandate for full employment in the country.
Such a policy shift can only be realized as part of a paradigm shift away from globalization. Without falling into the trap of autarky, the local economy must be strengthened so that domestic industry and agriculture can generate sufficient decent jobs for all Filipinos.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Filipino workers call for a stop to trade union repression in South Korea
August 11, 2008
His Excellency Lee Myung-bak
President, Republic of Korea
Blue House
Seoul , South Korea
Filipino workers support the call to stop trade union repression in South Korea
The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) expresses its solidarity with the South Korean workers who are now the subject of relentless attack from the Lee Myung-bak government.
In particular, we are deeply concerned about the conditions of the top leadership of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and its affiliates who were illegally arrested and for those who are still subject of police manhunt. We firmly believe that the Lee Myung-bak government had grossly violated their basic human and trade union rights.
We likewise believe that the South Korean government cannot simply resort to such brutal actions against the KCTU without circumventing its own laws and disregarding international covenants on labor rights and standards. And that was done by declaring KCTU’s legitimate strike against the April 18 Protocol on US beef importation and other trade union issues ‘illegal’, thus giving the government the legal cover to launch a crackdown on trade unions opposed to that policy.
Fighting against what workers believed are policies inimical to its socio-economic and occupational interests – as in this case the issues of food safety and health hazards and trade union rights – can always be valid unless otherwise declared by the government as nonsensical demands. In fact, it was with great pride that Korean workers stood up against the proposed US-Korea FTA and other policies which they believe endanger their rights, safety, well-being, and their future.
On this ground, we would like to convey this message to the Korean government: that the international labor movement would always support and likewise assert the validity and legitimacy of that kind of action by our fellow workers in Korea. May we humbly remind the government that the right to strike and dissent is a universal human right.
Accordingly, we appeal on the Lee Myung-bak government to stop the repression against the KCTU and its affiliates’ leadership by unconditionally releasing those who were already arrested and detained, and recalling all arrest warrants issued against trade union leaders.
We also call on the South Korean government to respect fundamental trade union rights, including the right to strike on political matters involving national policies that may affect the socio-economic well-being of Korean workers and that it fully guarantees freedom of assembly and people's right to dissent.
The existence of a vibrant trade union movement in South Korea is a towering symbol and a reminder that indeed, formal democracy exist in the country. Without it, or placing it under severe state repression, would bring South Korea’s image back to its dark past when it was still under the state of iron rule.
We will closely monitor the government actions in South Korea while assuring fellow workers there that Filipino workers are solidly behind their cause.
Sincerely,
Renato B. Magtubo
Chairperson, Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)
Former Party-List Representative, Philippine Congress
rbmagtubo@yahoo.com
PARTIDO NG MANGGAGAWA
114 Road 20, Project 8 Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax: +632-4410947
Email: partido_ng_manggagawa@yahoo.com
His Excellency Lee Myung-bak
President, Republic of Korea
Blue House
Seoul , South Korea
Filipino workers support the call to stop trade union repression in South Korea
The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) expresses its solidarity with the South Korean workers who are now the subject of relentless attack from the Lee Myung-bak government.
In particular, we are deeply concerned about the conditions of the top leadership of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and its affiliates who were illegally arrested and for those who are still subject of police manhunt. We firmly believe that the Lee Myung-bak government had grossly violated their basic human and trade union rights.
We likewise believe that the South Korean government cannot simply resort to such brutal actions against the KCTU without circumventing its own laws and disregarding international covenants on labor rights and standards. And that was done by declaring KCTU’s legitimate strike against the April 18 Protocol on US beef importation and other trade union issues ‘illegal’, thus giving the government the legal cover to launch a crackdown on trade unions opposed to that policy.
Fighting against what workers believed are policies inimical to its socio-economic and occupational interests – as in this case the issues of food safety and health hazards and trade union rights – can always be valid unless otherwise declared by the government as nonsensical demands. In fact, it was with great pride that Korean workers stood up against the proposed US-Korea FTA and other policies which they believe endanger their rights, safety, well-being, and their future.
On this ground, we would like to convey this message to the Korean government: that the international labor movement would always support and likewise assert the validity and legitimacy of that kind of action by our fellow workers in Korea. May we humbly remind the government that the right to strike and dissent is a universal human right.
Accordingly, we appeal on the Lee Myung-bak government to stop the repression against the KCTU and its affiliates’ leadership by unconditionally releasing those who were already arrested and detained, and recalling all arrest warrants issued against trade union leaders.
We also call on the South Korean government to respect fundamental trade union rights, including the right to strike on political matters involving national policies that may affect the socio-economic well-being of Korean workers and that it fully guarantees freedom of assembly and people's right to dissent.
The existence of a vibrant trade union movement in South Korea is a towering symbol and a reminder that indeed, formal democracy exist in the country. Without it, or placing it under severe state repression, would bring South Korea’s image back to its dark past when it was still under the state of iron rule.
We will closely monitor the government actions in South Korea while assuring fellow workers there that Filipino workers are solidly behind their cause.
Sincerely,
Renato B. Magtubo
Chairperson, Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)
Former Party-List Representative, Philippine Congress
rbmagtubo@yahoo.com
PARTIDO NG MANGGAGAWA
114 Road 20, Project 8 Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax: +632-4410947
Email: partido_ng_manggagawa@yahoo.com
Monday, July 28, 2008
Workers demand for SONA: Abolish VAT on oil and power; fund social welfare from debt payments
Press Release
July 28, 2008
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) led workers and poor in protest actions for today’s SONA in rejecting the “social welfare program” that will be funded through VAT collections, and calling for a policy shift embodied in a “social reform agenda” to fix the economic crisis.
“The social welfare program is not a safety net for the poor but a lifeline for an illegitimate regime. The people may be poor but they are smart enough to see through GMA’s lies and schemes. Despite billions in dole-outs to some of the most destitute, a plurality of the people does not trust GMA and disapprove of her performance as revealed in the latest Pulse Asia survey,” stated Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.
As a first salvo in today’s SONA protests, members of PM and the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) trooped to the NFA warehouse along Visayas Ave. around 7:00 a.m. to highlight its call for “cheap rice for all” and its theme of a “Sonang walang bigas.”
According to Jess Panis, spokesperson of AMP, “The so-called gains from VAT are a deadly poison. VAT collections from oil, not yet including power, will reach more than P18 billion this year yet the dole-outs will not amount to half of it. Most of the worker and poor will not benefit from the misnamed gains of VAT though it was sourced from the blood and sweat of the people since it is a regressive consumption tax.”
Around noon, the PM and AMP mobilization joined the program of the Mamamayan Laban sa Pagtaas ng Presyo ng Langis at Pagkain at Toyota Commonwealth. Then by 3:00 p.m. bishops graced the Mamamayan Laban sa Pagtaas ng Presyo ng Langis at Pagkain activity to launch the 3:00 o’clock protest habit at St. Peter’s Church.
Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of PM, meanwhile averred that “The crisis brought about by high prices of food, oil and electricity is a national calamity. While economic relief is necessary for any national calamity, it has to be accompanied by a lasting solution to the economic crisis and is has to be funded by a reallocation of the national budget. A long-term solution must involve a reversal of the present policies as part of a thoroughgoing social reform agenda.”
PM is pushing for the abolition, not just suspension, of the VAT on oil and power, and for the budget for cheap rice, socialized housing, subsidy on basic goods, agrarian reform and other social services to be allocated from the presidential social fund, mandatory savings and debt servicing payments that are worth hundred of billions.
The group believes that liberalization, deregulation and privatization are the root of the inflation in prices. Therefore fixing the economic crisis will start with a reversal of liberalization, deregulation, privatization, cheap labor, labor contractualization and other pro-globalization policies. “This policy shift can only be implemented a new government with the iron will for reform and the firm support of the people,” stressed Magtubo. ###
July 28, 2008
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) led workers and poor in protest actions for today’s SONA in rejecting the “social welfare program” that will be funded through VAT collections, and calling for a policy shift embodied in a “social reform agenda” to fix the economic crisis.
“The social welfare program is not a safety net for the poor but a lifeline for an illegitimate regime. The people may be poor but they are smart enough to see through GMA’s lies and schemes. Despite billions in dole-outs to some of the most destitute, a plurality of the people does not trust GMA and disapprove of her performance as revealed in the latest Pulse Asia survey,” stated Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.
As a first salvo in today’s SONA protests, members of PM and the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) trooped to the NFA warehouse along Visayas Ave. around 7:00 a.m. to highlight its call for “cheap rice for all” and its theme of a “Sonang walang bigas.”
According to Jess Panis, spokesperson of AMP, “The so-called gains from VAT are a deadly poison. VAT collections from oil, not yet including power, will reach more than P18 billion this year yet the dole-outs will not amount to half of it. Most of the worker and poor will not benefit from the misnamed gains of VAT though it was sourced from the blood and sweat of the people since it is a regressive consumption tax.”
Around noon, the PM and AMP mobilization joined the program of the Mamamayan Laban sa Pagtaas ng Presyo ng Langis at Pagkain at Toyota Commonwealth. Then by 3:00 p.m. bishops graced the Mamamayan Laban sa Pagtaas ng Presyo ng Langis at Pagkain activity to launch the 3:00 o’clock protest habit at St. Peter’s Church.
Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of PM, meanwhile averred that “The crisis brought about by high prices of food, oil and electricity is a national calamity. While economic relief is necessary for any national calamity, it has to be accompanied by a lasting solution to the economic crisis and is has to be funded by a reallocation of the national budget. A long-term solution must involve a reversal of the present policies as part of a thoroughgoing social reform agenda.”
PM is pushing for the abolition, not just suspension, of the VAT on oil and power, and for the budget for cheap rice, socialized housing, subsidy on basic goods, agrarian reform and other social services to be allocated from the presidential social fund, mandatory savings and debt servicing payments that are worth hundred of billions.
The group believes that liberalization, deregulation and privatization are the root of the inflation in prices. Therefore fixing the economic crisis will start with a reversal of liberalization, deregulation, privatization, cheap labor, labor contractualization and other pro-globalization policies. “This policy shift can only be implemented a new government with the iron will for reform and the firm support of the people,” stressed Magtubo. ###
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Lack of confidence not lack of food
By the Partido ng Manggagawa
July 18, 2008
In an Inquirer news story last July 12 entitled "Where have all the protesters gone?," Carol Araullo of Bayan proffered the amusing explanation that hunger is keeping rallyists away and that fare to protest sites are too expensive. That is an utterly ahistorical assessment of the situation and a patently incorrect judgment of the state of consciousness of the Filipinos. It even contradicts their idol Joma Sison’s belief that poverty and hunger provide the fertile ground for revolution. However, Joma’s theory of permanent crisis is a similarly unscientific analysis of Philippine society.
That Filipinos are not participating in their tens or hundreds of thousands in protests despite runaway inflation and unemployment can only be explained by how their recent political experience have shaped their present social consciousness. Two people power uprisings have not brought positive change in our society in spite of high expectations. And since the eruption of anti-Erap protests, the nation has seen a decade of non-stop rallies that have also not resulted in benefits to the lives of Filipinos. Thus political experience has taught the people that neither uprisings nor rallies will deliver material gains. Filipinos, even the workers and the poor, have lost confidence in the effectiveness of collective action to achieve their demands. It is lack of confidence in protest not lack of food and fare that explains the seeming apathy.
The grinding poverty of the people and the deepening crisis of the system are ironically pulling Filipinos into passivity instead of pushing them to activism, as common sense dictates. Instead of collective struggle, individual effort is the option. Workers do not earn enough but instead of waging strikes, they work overtime. People cannot find work but instead of joining protests, they seek jobs abroad. Corruption empties the nation’s coffers but falls short of sparking outrage. The embers of discontent smolder but fails to erupt into flames of protests because it is dampened by a disbelief in the power of collective struggle.
Militants are partly to blame for this contradictory development in the consciousness of the people. For too long already activists have launched protests just for propaganda and worse, for mere projection. We have become experts in making media gimmicks out of the heroic acts of a few rallyists. But in that effort, we have alienated the very people that are our constituency for we have made protests ends in themselves and not a means to an end.
Protests have ceased to be vehicles to attain the demands of the masses. We have initiated rally after rally on the burning issues of the people but we hardly achieved anything that will alleviate their destitution. Activists have shouted themselves hoarse bewailing low wages, high prices, electricity costs, oil prices, corruption in government and hundreds of other issues but we have not achieved anything substantial about these demands. Even worse, after years of struggle, all we have to amassed are defeat upon defeat, and failure after failure.
But in the very problem lies the solution. In order to bring back the people’s confidence in the potency of collective struggle, militants must show that mass action delivers the goods. Yet activists cannot do that by simply preaching to the people about collective action. Instead we must teach the masses through real-life examples of victorious struggles.
Militants must reorient their practice and concentrate on advancing struggles with the principal aim of winning the urgent demands of the people. We must do our homework seriously in order to accumulate victories in our campaigns and in the process rebuild the constituency of the mass movement. In that way we can cut through the Gordian knot of the people’s apathy and let free again the spontaneous militancy that Filipinos have once upon a time revealed after the terror of martial law was broken.
Of course, militants must continue the strategic advocacy for social change but such will only become a material force when it is embraced by the masses in their millions. And activists can do it—as long as we shift to new tactics appropriate to the current conjuncture. Sometimes the shortest path to the objective is not a straight line but a zigzag route. ###
----------------------------
Where have all the protesters gone?
By Desiree Caluza, Nikko Dizon, Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:38:00 07/12/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Hunger is keeping protesters away from the streets, a leader of the militant group Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or New Nationalist Alliance) said.
As angry as they are with the government and want to express this through rallies and demonstrations, activists have to earn a living, Bayan chair Carol Araullo said.
"They will not go to the rallies, because the fare is expensive," Araullo said. "If they will not work, they will not earn. Even if they are suffering, they manage to stay calm."
She said ousting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo might not happen "although the people are mad."
On Friday, dozens of protesters scuffled with guards at the headquarters of Petron Corp., the country's biggest oil company.
But the head of military intelligence on Friday ruled out the possibility of riots breaking out because of the rising prices of food and fuel.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, chief of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), said authorities were prepared for street protests over inflation, but added he did not expect violence and rioting as had happened in some parts of the world.
Prestoza said leftwing groups were using the high prices of food and fuel as a propaganda tool against the government, and allayed fears of a breakdown in law and order.
"Based on our culture, it's unlikely," he said of violence over high prices. "Filipinos are a mature people. The situation would already be extreme if looting and riots break out because of lack of food."
The ISAFP, in a directive issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in early June and released only this week, has been ordered to "provide timely intelligence assessment of political and security developments related to the oil price issue."
Prestoza said that so far no antigovernment groups or personalities had tried to exploit public outrage over inflation, except for what he called "noisy" militant groups.
The militants are the only ones openly protesting but they "only talk and talk without offering any solutions" to the problem, Prestoza said in a phone interview.
Prestoza said ISAFP teams tasked to carry out Arroyo's order had been attending seminars with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy to understand the finer details of the food and energy crisis.
Watching TV or praying
Araullo, who was interviewed in Baguio City on the sidelines of a forum on the economic crisis, organized by the Interfaith Gathering for Truth and Accountability and Tongtongan Ti Umili on Wednesday, said the poor who were suffering from the unabated increases in fuel, oil and food prices preferred to just endure the hardship.
"We have a saying that we have to curl up to fit the short blanket. But until when?" she said.
Filipinos try to escape the unpleasant conditions brought on by the economic crisis either by watching entertainment shows on television or just praying, Araullo said.
Gasoline prices have risen by about one-third since the start of the year and consumers have been demanding abolition of the value-added tax (VAT) on oil, which adds 12 percent to the effective price of petroleum products.
On Friday, dozens of members of the League of Filipino Students pelted the Petron headquarters in the Makati business district with used oil wrapped in small plastic bags during a protest, triggering a scuffle with private security guards.
A team of antiriot police stepped in to separate the two groups. There were no arrests and no injuries reported.
"In the coming weeks, there will be civil unrest," Andrew Zarate, a spokesperson for the Anakbayan party-list group, told reporters.
"The crisis will push people to come out, protest, make noise and express their anger against the government," he said.
Black Friday
Despite the announcement of a P1.00 per liter rollback in fuel prices, Bayan went ahead with its Black Friday protest action and noise barrage.
"The rollback is definitely not enough, not when oil companies are even threatening to increase prices by one lump sum of P7 per liter. The rollback is a calibrated move to lull the public into complacency before the big P7 per liter whammy," said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes Jr.
"Our call is still for the removal of the value-added tax on oil and power and the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law. Piecemeal rollbacks may provide relief today but with VAT and the deregulation law still in place, oil prices are sure to get higher in a matter of time," he said.
On Thursday, about 1,000 students from the University of the Philippines, Baguio, walked out of their classes to protest the increases in tuition and prices of oil and rice. They also called for the ouster of President Arroyo.
Araullo urged people to join protest rallies, because they have "nothing to lose."
"With the extreme crisis that we are experiencing now, the poor should protest," she said.
Reyes told reporters, "We have to continue with the protests. It is the only way to fight back against abusive pricing and oppressive taxation." ###
July 18, 2008
In an Inquirer news story last July 12 entitled "Where have all the protesters gone?," Carol Araullo of Bayan proffered the amusing explanation that hunger is keeping rallyists away and that fare to protest sites are too expensive. That is an utterly ahistorical assessment of the situation and a patently incorrect judgment of the state of consciousness of the Filipinos. It even contradicts their idol Joma Sison’s belief that poverty and hunger provide the fertile ground for revolution. However, Joma’s theory of permanent crisis is a similarly unscientific analysis of Philippine society.
That Filipinos are not participating in their tens or hundreds of thousands in protests despite runaway inflation and unemployment can only be explained by how their recent political experience have shaped their present social consciousness. Two people power uprisings have not brought positive change in our society in spite of high expectations. And since the eruption of anti-Erap protests, the nation has seen a decade of non-stop rallies that have also not resulted in benefits to the lives of Filipinos. Thus political experience has taught the people that neither uprisings nor rallies will deliver material gains. Filipinos, even the workers and the poor, have lost confidence in the effectiveness of collective action to achieve their demands. It is lack of confidence in protest not lack of food and fare that explains the seeming apathy.
The grinding poverty of the people and the deepening crisis of the system are ironically pulling Filipinos into passivity instead of pushing them to activism, as common sense dictates. Instead of collective struggle, individual effort is the option. Workers do not earn enough but instead of waging strikes, they work overtime. People cannot find work but instead of joining protests, they seek jobs abroad. Corruption empties the nation’s coffers but falls short of sparking outrage. The embers of discontent smolder but fails to erupt into flames of protests because it is dampened by a disbelief in the power of collective struggle.
Militants are partly to blame for this contradictory development in the consciousness of the people. For too long already activists have launched protests just for propaganda and worse, for mere projection. We have become experts in making media gimmicks out of the heroic acts of a few rallyists. But in that effort, we have alienated the very people that are our constituency for we have made protests ends in themselves and not a means to an end.
Protests have ceased to be vehicles to attain the demands of the masses. We have initiated rally after rally on the burning issues of the people but we hardly achieved anything that will alleviate their destitution. Activists have shouted themselves hoarse bewailing low wages, high prices, electricity costs, oil prices, corruption in government and hundreds of other issues but we have not achieved anything substantial about these demands. Even worse, after years of struggle, all we have to amassed are defeat upon defeat, and failure after failure.
But in the very problem lies the solution. In order to bring back the people’s confidence in the potency of collective struggle, militants must show that mass action delivers the goods. Yet activists cannot do that by simply preaching to the people about collective action. Instead we must teach the masses through real-life examples of victorious struggles.
Militants must reorient their practice and concentrate on advancing struggles with the principal aim of winning the urgent demands of the people. We must do our homework seriously in order to accumulate victories in our campaigns and in the process rebuild the constituency of the mass movement. In that way we can cut through the Gordian knot of the people’s apathy and let free again the spontaneous militancy that Filipinos have once upon a time revealed after the terror of martial law was broken.
Of course, militants must continue the strategic advocacy for social change but such will only become a material force when it is embraced by the masses in their millions. And activists can do it—as long as we shift to new tactics appropriate to the current conjuncture. Sometimes the shortest path to the objective is not a straight line but a zigzag route. ###
----------------------------
Where have all the protesters gone?
By Desiree Caluza, Nikko Dizon, Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:38:00 07/12/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Hunger is keeping protesters away from the streets, a leader of the militant group Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or New Nationalist Alliance) said.
As angry as they are with the government and want to express this through rallies and demonstrations, activists have to earn a living, Bayan chair Carol Araullo said.
"They will not go to the rallies, because the fare is expensive," Araullo said. "If they will not work, they will not earn. Even if they are suffering, they manage to stay calm."
She said ousting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo might not happen "although the people are mad."
On Friday, dozens of protesters scuffled with guards at the headquarters of Petron Corp., the country's biggest oil company.
But the head of military intelligence on Friday ruled out the possibility of riots breaking out because of the rising prices of food and fuel.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, chief of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), said authorities were prepared for street protests over inflation, but added he did not expect violence and rioting as had happened in some parts of the world.
Prestoza said leftwing groups were using the high prices of food and fuel as a propaganda tool against the government, and allayed fears of a breakdown in law and order.
"Based on our culture, it's unlikely," he said of violence over high prices. "Filipinos are a mature people. The situation would already be extreme if looting and riots break out because of lack of food."
The ISAFP, in a directive issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in early June and released only this week, has been ordered to "provide timely intelligence assessment of political and security developments related to the oil price issue."
Prestoza said that so far no antigovernment groups or personalities had tried to exploit public outrage over inflation, except for what he called "noisy" militant groups.
The militants are the only ones openly protesting but they "only talk and talk without offering any solutions" to the problem, Prestoza said in a phone interview.
Prestoza said ISAFP teams tasked to carry out Arroyo's order had been attending seminars with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy to understand the finer details of the food and energy crisis.
Watching TV or praying
Araullo, who was interviewed in Baguio City on the sidelines of a forum on the economic crisis, organized by the Interfaith Gathering for Truth and Accountability and Tongtongan Ti Umili on Wednesday, said the poor who were suffering from the unabated increases in fuel, oil and food prices preferred to just endure the hardship.
"We have a saying that we have to curl up to fit the short blanket. But until when?" she said.
Filipinos try to escape the unpleasant conditions brought on by the economic crisis either by watching entertainment shows on television or just praying, Araullo said.
Gasoline prices have risen by about one-third since the start of the year and consumers have been demanding abolition of the value-added tax (VAT) on oil, which adds 12 percent to the effective price of petroleum products.
On Friday, dozens of members of the League of Filipino Students pelted the Petron headquarters in the Makati business district with used oil wrapped in small plastic bags during a protest, triggering a scuffle with private security guards.
A team of antiriot police stepped in to separate the two groups. There were no arrests and no injuries reported.
"In the coming weeks, there will be civil unrest," Andrew Zarate, a spokesperson for the Anakbayan party-list group, told reporters.
"The crisis will push people to come out, protest, make noise and express their anger against the government," he said.
Black Friday
Despite the announcement of a P1.00 per liter rollback in fuel prices, Bayan went ahead with its Black Friday protest action and noise barrage.
"The rollback is definitely not enough, not when oil companies are even threatening to increase prices by one lump sum of P7 per liter. The rollback is a calibrated move to lull the public into complacency before the big P7 per liter whammy," said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes Jr.
"Our call is still for the removal of the value-added tax on oil and power and the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law. Piecemeal rollbacks may provide relief today but with VAT and the deregulation law still in place, oil prices are sure to get higher in a matter of time," he said.
On Thursday, about 1,000 students from the University of the Philippines, Baguio, walked out of their classes to protest the increases in tuition and prices of oil and rice. They also called for the ouster of President Arroyo.
Araullo urged people to join protest rallies, because they have "nothing to lose."
"With the extreme crisis that we are experiencing now, the poor should protest," she said.
Reyes told reporters, "We have to continue with the protests. It is the only way to fight back against abusive pricing and oppressive taxation." ###
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