PR - Progressive groups: Jail ‘em all!

Joint Press Release 

11 September 2013

Progressive groups: Jail ‘em all!

PROGRESSIVE organizations Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Sanlakas and the Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML) today joined thousands of Filipinos angered by the unfolding 10 billion peso pork barrel scam involving Janet Lim-Napoles and several senators and congressmen.

The progressives demanded to imprison all those implicated in the testimonies of the whistleblowers and the special audit report of the Commission on Audit and those who continue to defend the graft-riddled pork barrel system. 

The BMP believes that the entire current political system is rotten to the very core. Every Senator and Congressman who connived with officials of the Executive branch to siphon peoples’ funds in order to fatten their bank accounts are guilty of systematic plunder and of perpetrating the TRAPO system that engenders patronage politics, political dynasties, and influence peddling in policy and legislation for partisan interests.

“It is TRAPO politics in turn that has allowed the continued and unmitigated plunder of the coffers of the Filipino people while the large majority of the toiling masses have been kept in poverty and misery. Enough with TRAPO politics! We must carry forward the momentum of the people’s protests and actions towards a system overhaul,” said BMP Chairperson Leody de Guzman.

“The implication of certain officials in the Departments of Agriculture, Budget and Management and other implementing agencies such as the National Agribusiness Corporation under the Executive branch shows that this system has bred an organized mafia that conspired to rob hardworking Filipinos of a decent life. They must all languish in prison,” de Guzman added.

Justice delayed is justice denied

“Now, that Janet Lim-Napoles is detained and awaiting trial for her various civil and criminal cases, may the wheels of justice turn swiftly but grind exceedingly fine for every centavo siphoned to her bank accounts,” said Anthony Barnedo, regional Secretary-General of KPML National Capital Region and Rizal chapter. 

Barnedo was also quick to add that, “Though it is also lamentable that exactly two weeks today since her supposed surrender to President Aquino, the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police has not filed a single case out of the more than 10 billion peso pork barrel scam”. 

The progressive organizations vowed to continue to escalate protest actions that will embolden the masses to join together with the emerging mass movement until the entire pork barrel system is abolished and all the plunderers are in prison.###

What we stand for - The SANLAKAS Partylist Legislative Agenda

What we stand for

The SANLAKAS Partylist Legislative Agenda

Aaron Pedrosa

3rd Nominee, SANLAKAS Partylist

When SANLAKAS pursued electoral engagement the first time the partylist system of representation was adopted in Congress in 1998, it carried with it that singular collective vision it shared with the underrepresented basic masses. – that is widening democratic spaces for direct intervention, participation and articulation of the ordinary pedestrian’s sentiments in the established reins of power.

SANLAKAS continues to believe in exhausting all arenas of struggle to organize and represent the sovereign interests of the masses, of the working people and “invisible” sectors of society, across a broad range of issues that to this day have taken backseat to the political platform being advanced by mainstream, traditional political actors – their platform being entrenching and fortifying a system that worries less and less about how government should play a central and proactive role in helping those who have less in life meet the fundamental necessities dictated by everyday life – a platform that demands for less of government at a time when people are waging their battles against poverty, unemployment, deprivation and injustice – the social milieu which defines the prevailing condition of avast majority of our people.

By engaging parliament, so to speak, SANLAKAS hopes to present an antithetical paradigm – an antithesis to a development model that is oblivious to the plight of the people, one that puts people precisely in the heart of the so-called development.

To complement the grassroots organizing, a tradition and continuing narrative that SANLAKAS has built on for two decades now, SANLAKAS once again dares to present its critical analysis of plaguing and burning issues and translate this into concrete, well-meaning measures and tangible actions through legislation – to breathe life into the lofty ideal of a hayahay na bukas, bring it from the discursive realm down to laws of relevant application.

SANLAKAS has drawn up a 14-point program which essentially captures the vision of a hayahay na bukas:

· It is time to make housing cheap and accessible to all, to ensure Filipinos roofs on their head, of decent houses they can rightfully call home.

· It is time to curb unemployment and underemployment and reverse the government’s standing labor export policy by creating jobs at home and ensuring protection to our labor force overseas; to uphold workers’ right to security of tenure.

· It is time to afford justice to the backbreaking labor exerted by our workers by guaranteeing them with a living wage as against the standing cheap labor policy punctuated by unrealistic and uncompetitive wage levels.

· It is time to uphold education and health as primordial human rights starting off with appropriate and responsive financing in accordance not only with international treatises but as mandated by our Constitution.

· It is time to ensure food on the table, thrice a day; for government to feed a large section of its famished, malnourished and undernourished population by investing in our agricultural sector, by empowering our fisherfolks and farmers, by providing ample support to those who tend the fields and brave the seas for our nourishment.

· It is time to bring down the cost of electric power, of dismantling the private oligopoly that bleeds families of potential savings, of tapping into clean, safe and renewable energy sources based on the actual power requirements of the people and sustainable development and not of corporate expansionism.

· It is time to regulate oil prices and insulate consumers from market volatility, of ending a liberalized regime which allows oil companies to whimsically hike pump prices, unchecked and unregulated.

· It is time to empower citizens with information by pushing for greater accountability from public servants through proper disclosure of their assets and liabilities, of their dealings and transactions,of contracts entered into in the name of the people.

· It is time to rationalize our fiscal policies, of addressing the debt problem that would result in our liberation from the debt bondage, of ultimately repudiating illegitimate debts and holding those who wantonly benefitted from this indebtedness to account.

· It is time to strengthen the promotion, respect and defense of human rights by putting teeth on existing human rights mechanisms and removing existing structures and policies which undermine our human rights effort.

· It is time to institutionalize climate justice as a policy framework, a lens from which all foreign relations and trade arrangements should be anchored, to stand up for community resiliency in the face of climate change, of facilitating the transition to a low carbon economy without compromising the integrity of the environment.

· It is time to say no to unfair multilateral and bilateral trade and foreign policy arrangements that relegate our sovereignty into the periphery of negotiations and external linkages, of making our government work for our people and not allow our sovereign will to play second fiddle to impositions from so-called allies and trade partners.

This is our collective vision. This is what we stand for. And if you believe that it is high time to realizethis vision, if you believe in this vision of a hayahay na bukas, then indeed, it is time to get SANLAKAS back toCongress!

Thank you and padayon!

Corona Conviction is not a Deterrent to Corruption

PRESS STATEMENT

May 30, 2012

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)

SANLAKAS

Corona Conviction is not a Deterrent to Corruption

Malacanang and its paid hacks in media are now making a mountain out of a molehill. They say that the conviction of Renato Corona by the impeachment court is a triumph of democracy and a cleansing of the bureaucracy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

The telenovela that was the impeachment of Corona ended with a predictable and lackluster climax, leaving the masses unentertained and not craving for more. The single and simplistic moral lesson of the story: “tell the truth in your SALN”. 

Despite the long proceedings, the Senate could only prove one fact: Corona did not properly disclose his dollar deposits in his SALN. Hence, its verdict rested on the sole issue of “non-disclosure”, covered by Article 2, which it raised to a “culpable violation of the Constitution”.

In so doing, the complaint, reduced to Articles 2, 3 and 7 during the deliberations, was further narrowed down to “non-disclosure” (Article 2, paragraph 2.2). It did not determine if such cash assets were ill-gotten or acquired illegally, leaving unanswered the people’s questions on “ill-gotten wealth”, “court decisions for sale”, “misconduct and corrupt practices”, etc., etc. The result was a “narrowing down” not to focus on more substantial issues; the case was watered down to insignificance. 

The respondent’s admission of non-disclosure was enough for the prosecution and the senator-judges to obtain a guilty verdict. They did not use Corona’s waiver of his dollar deposits to put such bank accounts under scrutiny. Hence, it is clear as daylight that the real intention of the impeachment court was not to expose and punish immoral conduct and corrupt practices in government but to merely remove Corona in the Supreme Court, to replace an Arroyo crony with an Aquino lackey in the judiciary.

If the impeachment court truly wanted to cleanse the bureaucracy, it should have let the sun shine in the dark and shadowy corridors of power. Let the people know how Corona acquired his millions of dollars; how Lucio Tan compelled the Court to flip-flop on the FASAP (Flight Attendants and Stewardesses Association of the Philippines) case; how much perks and privileges are given by PAL to members of the Supreme Court. 

But it did not; the impeachment court stopped in its tracks. It did not go beyond the question of non-disclosure. To the people, especially the workers and the poor, we believe that they did so because further investigation would reveal their modus operandi, the prevalent malpractice of officials in the bureaucracy who use their power and influence for economic and personal gain.

Disclose All or Resign All! Genuine Cleansing of the Bureaucracy not a Telenovela of Elite Infighting

PRESS STATEMENT

Mayo 23, 2012

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)

Sanlakas

Disclose All or Resign All!

Genuine Cleansing of the Bureaucracy not a Telenovela of Elite Infighting 

We have said it before and we will say it again. Give the Filipino people a chance for real reforms and meaningful cleansing of the rotting bureaucracy.

The impeachment of Corona is not enough. The process is a spectator sport for the Filipino masses who are neither senator judges nor members of the prosecution and defense panels. More so, it is atelenovela of elite infighting being used by the Aquino regime to consolidate its control of the state and to advance its economic interests.

In impeachment proceedings, the masses are being induced to take sides between two oppressors. They are made to choose the lesser evil among rival camps of the ruling elite, which is nothing more than a choice between hell and purgatory.  By so doing, it fosters the illusion of democracy, of people’s participation in the affairs of the State.

But while the impeachment process is patently limited in its scope and objective and is being utilized by factions of the elite to pursue their self-serving economic and political agendas, it would inevitably open more meaningful questions. Its narrowness and limitation would provide exact arguments for the necessity of genuine and widespread reforms, and for other means of political activity that ensure public participation in the cleansing of the bureaucracy.

Hence, upon the opening of impeachment proceedings against Corona, we issued the “Disclose All” slogan, the demand for the full disclosure of all financial records and transactions by all government officials.

The beleaguered chief justice – who is more an astute politician than an honorable judge – knows this Achilles heel of the impeachment process. Hence, Corona is now piercing the veil of Noynoy’s anti-corruption pretense in order to save his skin as he challenges Senator Drilon and the 188 signatories of the impeachment case to “disclose all”. Truly, crooks know when to speak the truth to hide a lie.

We are neither “pro-Corona” nor “pro-Noynoy”. Both politicians are personifications of the social evil of a corrupt bureaucracy under an elite democracy. If government officials want to dispel public mistrust, they should let the sun shine into dark places. The broad masses of the people, not just the workers and the poor demand the public scrutiny of their private wealth.

If they could not “disclose all”, then they should all resign. And if the demand for “full disclosure” is continuously not met, the cry for “Resign All” would transform from an appeal for delicadeza into a call of action for their ouster. #

SANLAKAS Militantly Salutes HR Online

SANLAKAS MILITANTLY SALUTES HRONLINE FOR A VIRTUAL YEAR OF PROPAGATING DEMOCRACY WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE AND FOR DEFENDING OUR PEOPLE’S RIGHTS!

30 March 2012

SANLAKAS warmly extends a clench-fisted militant salute to HROnline on the occasion of your 1st Anniversary and for having raised and waved high the banner of progressive unity in the frontlines of mass struggle for one year now! We do so as a show of proud solidarity with HROnline’s dedicated and principled cadre of human rights defenders. We do so with respect just twelve months after HROnline successfully launched a new cyber-battlefront in defense of human rights in the Philippines and across the world. 

We fully recognize that HROnline has clearly proven itself to be an effective social-political platform that courageously propagates the broad progressive struggle for genuine social change. We can surely see this in the way HROnline has been able to act as a virtual campaigns contact-point which allows for a wide range of progressive organizations and individuals to come together in a concerted effort. In a sense, HROnline is also a ‘progressive forces projection-multiplier’ that can link up, magnify and re-echo the progressive mass movement’s agenda via the bourgeois-controlled mass media and to also develop alliances with other interested sectors and entities in the Philippine social-political arena. Thus, in recognition of this very important accomplishment, we in SANLAKAS wish to encourage HROnline to continue to develop this ground-breaking pathway and to even raise higher the potential level of coordination among various progressive forces.

In fact, HROnline’s just and honorable cause is not only shining a bright light on the many other progressive mass campaigns and struggles of today. It is also helping to serve the progressive mass movement with a critically vital component in relation to educating-organizing-mobilizing both the organized forces and the basic masses. Thus, HROnline helps to enhance and further develop the collective capacity of our general struggle in order to be able to one day overturn and change the ruling system, in unity with the broad working-class masses. Its ultimate outcome must be to favor the 99% social majority. 

Indeed, it can only be a revolutionary mass struggle that must and can win this fight for genuine systemic change. Its principled objective is to inevitably pave the way forward to socialism as an egalitarian social-economic system that does not exploit nor oppress other fellow human beings in society. Yet for now, we must first collectively and concretely advance a universal war to essentially liberate all of humanity from all forms of oppression and exploitation on the basis of general democratic reforms. This means carrying forward a democratic struggle for structural reforms and aimed at eventually destroying and crushing the main pillars of capitalist exploitation and oppression as the root cause of systemic mass poverty in present-day Philippine society. Nevertheless, this struggle must also be pursued on an international scale if it is to be victorious because capitalism is a globalized system and hence, its systemic replacement must also be of a global nature.

And so it is, that our joint forces are now truly engaged in a global war of liberation to uphold, to protect and to defend all human rights for all. Definitely, this necessitates the formation of mass resistance fronts in all countries of the world to combat the worldwide camp of hegemony, especially that one led by US imperialism and its reactionary puppet-states (i.e. the PNoy Regime in the Philippines). 

The economically and socially destructive domination and control of the international system by US imperialism today can be seen and felt in terms of the dangerous and deadly massive human rights violations worldwide. These outcomes are a direct result of the US imperialist-led neoliberal economic imposition and dictations, political maneuverings to ensure pro-US regime changes and ultimately, the subjugation of anti-imperialist states through wars of aggression. All of these are the basic elements of the US foreign policy framework aimed at absolutely securing puppet-agent states, market protection and expansion, sustained oil supplies and other strategic resources, and forward force projection through military bases, visiting forces-type agreements and other related defense arrangements. 

In order to systematically and institutionally attain its imperialist objectives, the US and its international agents will never hesitate to violate any and all the key provisions of the international bill of human rights. Ever since 1948, all Philippine governments have continuously violated and stepped on the principles and provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the many other human rights-based instruments reflective of universal norms and values that uphold and protect the human rights of all the peoples of the world. This is clearly witnessed in the unabated number of HRVs, such as: warrantless arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, state-sponsored assassinations, and also unfair labor practices and non-compliance with accepted economic and social standards. 

So long as this globalized system of human rights violations continue on a massive scale all the genuinely sincere individuals and progressive and revolutionary Left forces shall have to continue on the fight for systemic change. And in this unjust environment, HROnline, SANLAKAS and all other organizations still active within the progressive mass movement will need to carry on our combined struggle until genuine social change is finally achieved for the social benefit and welfare of all.

Lastly, in total recognition of this, SANLAKAS confidently expresses its admiration for HROnline’s very good and highly positive work in strengthening and propagating our shared vision for a truly people-centered society premised on full democratic freedoms with social justice. And as we further encourage you to continue on with this noble fight, we now convey to our HROnline comrades that SANLAKAS shall also continue to firmly stand beside you and to resolutely march with you in our united struggles to build a truly free, democratic and socially just world order in the near future.

Mensahe ng Sanlakas sa Kongreso ng ZOTO

MENSAHE NG PAKIKIISA NG SANLAKAS

PARA SA KONGRESO 2011 NG ZOTO

24 Setyembre 2011

Buong pagpupugay na ipinaaabot ng Sanlakas ang pinakamainit na pagbati ng progresibo demokratikong pagkakaisa sa lahat ng ating mga kasama at kasaping samahan ng Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) sa di-malilimutang okasyon ng inyong Kongreso 2011!

Ang inyong Kongreso ngayon at ang masigla't aktibong partisipasyon ng inyong mga kasapi at lider ay matatag na patunay na ang ZOTO ay nananatiling isa sa mga ilang tumagal na organisasyon sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas. Ang inyong patuloy na kasaysayan ng mga matitinding pakikibakang masa para sa tunay na panlipunang pagpapalaya ng pinagsasamantalahan at inaaping maralita ng lungsod sa higit sa apat na dekada ay malinaw na isang inspirasyon para sa malawak na progresibong kilusan ng masa hanggang ngayon.

Ang inyong mga pakikibakang masa noon pa man sa tabing-dagat ng Tondo para sa katarungang panlipunan, demokrasya at tunay na progreso sa panahon ng Unang Sigwa ay isang matinding tagumpay para sa mga maralita ng lungsod. Nangyari ito noong lumitaw pasista diktadurang Marcos ay nagsisimula nang supilin ang batayang masa. Gayunpaman, ang inyong mga militanteng paglutas upang manalo ay tiyak na mananatiling isang nakakaantig na halimbawa ng kung anong magagawa ng malawak na uring manggagawa at makakamit sa pamamagitan ng nagkakaisang paglaban bilang isang solong kilusan para sa tunay na panlipunang pagbabago.

Sa nakalipas na apatnapung taon, at lalo na sa mga nakaraang dekada ng militanteng mga pakikibaka ng masa laban sa mga reaksyonaryong patakaran ng estado ng rehimeng Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, nanatiling nasa unahan ang ZOTO sa progresibong kilusan ng masa. Sa inyong sektoral at pangkomunidad na pamumuno, muling pinakikita ng ZOTO ang mahigpit nitong tangan sa prinsipyo at kolektibong paglaban upang tutulan at itigil ang anti-mahihirap at anti-demokratikong direksyon ng rehimeng GMA, sa lokal at pambansang arena ng pakikibaka.

At kahit ngayon, na may pro-elite at anti-masang karakter at tendensiya ng kasalukuyang rehimeng PNoy, ang progresibong kilusan ng masa sa Pilipinas ay hindi maaaring pumayag na magsawalang-kibo na lamang, kahit na para sa isang sandali. Sa kasalukuyan at pagbabago-bago ng pambansang kalagayan, at higit pa sa pulitikal na panahong daratal, ang batayang masa, lalo na tayong mga organisadong pwersa ay dapat patuloy na patindihin ang ating kolektibo't demokratikong tungkulin upang bumuo ng mataas na organisado at epektibong malalakas at banat na organisasyong masa. Tiyak na ang may kamalayan at nagkakaisang kilusang masa lamang ang mangunguna para sa isang mahalaga at matagumpay na sistematikong pagbabago ng lipunang Pilipino sahinaharap.

Kung gayon, kami sa SANLAKAS ay patuloy na kikilalanin ang natatanging ambag ng ZOTO sa ating pangkalahatang layunin. Ganap naming minamahalaga ang matiyagaat patuloy nitong pag-oorganisa - ang pagsisikap sa gawaing pagpapalawak at pagkokonsolida - upang mabigyang kapangyarihan ang masang maralita. Ito'y inyong isinasagawa sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng pag-aaral, pag-oorganisa at pagmomobilisa ng mga walang kapangyarihang mayorya ng lipunan. Ito ang mga nagawa ng inyong organisasyon mula pa noong 1970, at itong inyong patuloy na paninindigan ay inaasahan naming inyong ipagpapatuloy hanggang sa ang tunay na panlipunang kalayaan ay makamit ng sambayanan.

IPAGPATULOY ANG PAKIKIBAKA PARA SA TUNAY NA PANLIPUNANG PAGBABAGO!

PATULOY NA ISULONG ANG PAGPAPALAYA NG MGA MARALITA!

MABUHAY ANG ZONE-ONE TONDO ORGANIZATION!

SANLAKAS SOLIDARITY MESSAGE

FOR THE 2011 ZOTO CONGRESS

24 September 2011

SANLAKAS proudly extends its warmest greetings of progressive democratic solidarity to all our kasamas and member-organizations of the Zone-One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) on this memorable occasion of your 2011 Congress!

Your Congress today and the vibrantly active participation of your members and leaders is solid proof that ZOTO remains one of the very few surviving and historic people’s organizations in the Philippines. Your continuing story of hard-fought mass struggles for the genuine social liberation of the exploited and oppressed urban poor after more than four decades is clearly an inspiring story for the broad progressive mass movement until now.

Your earliest mass struggles in the Tondo Foreshore area for social justice, democracy and true progress during the First Quarter Storm period was a smashing success for the urban poor. This happened at a time when the still-emergent fascist Marcos Dictatorship was just beginning to repress the basic masses. However, your militant resolve to win certainly remains a rousing example of what the broad working-class masses can and, still achieve through united fight-backs as one single movement for real social change.

Over the past forty-years, and especially in the past decade of militant mass battles against the reactionary state policies of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Regime, ZOTO remained in the frontline of the progressive mass movement. With your sectoral and community-oriented leadership, ZOTO once again showed its firmest and principled courage in our collective resistance to oppose and stop the GMA Regime’s anti-poor and anti-democratic direction, both in the local and national arenas of struggle.

And even now, with the current PNoy Regime’s pro-elite and anti-masses character and tendency, the Philippine progressive mass movement cannot allow its guard down at all, even for a single moment. In the presently (and still) shifting national situation, and more so in the political period ahead, the basic masses, and especially all of us in the organized forces must continue to intensify our collective democratic duty to build highly organized and effectively strong and resilient mass organizations. Definitely and for sure, only a conscious and unified mass movement can become the spearhead for an urgent and triumphant systemic change in Philippine society in the future.

It is in this regard, therefore, that we in SANLAKAS continue to recognize ZOTO’s unique and unqualified contributions to our common general cause. We fully value ZOTO’s persistent and consistent organizing—through both your expansion and consolidation work efforts—to help empower the poor masses. This you do primarily through educating, organizing and mobilizing the disempowered social majority. This is what you have organizationally accomplished since 1970, and it is this resolute commitment of yours which we wish you will continue to carry out until real social liberation is achieved for our people.

CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE FOR GENUINE SOCIAL CHANGE!

ALWAYS ADVANCE THE LIBERATION OF THE POOR!

MABUHAY ANG ZONE-ONE TONDO ORGANIZATION!

Mag-People Power Laban sa Bulok na Sistema

MAG-PEOPLE POWER LABAN SA BULOK NA SISTEMA!

Lumaganap na ang people power sa iba't ibang bansa. Nakilala na ng masa na kung magsasama-sama lamang silang kikilos ay kaya nilang magpabagsak ng isang pangulo nang mapayapa. Naging halimbawa sa mamamayan ng daigdig ang Edsa 1 Revolution sa Pilipinas (1986) na nagpatalsik kay Marcos. Nasundan ito ng Singing Revolution sa Estonia, Latvia at Lithuania (1988), Velvet Revolution sa Czechoslovakia (1989), Bulldozer Revolution sa Yugoslavia (2000), Edsa 2 Revolution sa Pilipinas (2001), Rose Revolution sa Georgia (2003), Orange Revolution sa Ukraine (2004), Cedar Revolution sa Lebanon (2005), Tulip Revolution sa Kyrgystan (2005), Jasmine Revolution sa Tunisia (2011), at Day of Anger Revolution sa Egypt (2011).

Ngunit may mga pagkatalo rin, tulad ng 8888 Uprising sa Burma (1988), Tiananmen Students Protest sa Tsina (1989), Edsa 3 Urban Poor Revolution sa Pilipinas (2001), at Saffron Revolution sa Burma (2007).

Nagtagumpay ang mga mamamayan na mapatalsik ang kani-kanilang pangulo, ngunit karamihan sa kanila, inagaw pa rin ng naghaharing uri ang pamumuno. Dahil lahat ng ito’y pag-aalsa ng mamamayan, hindi pag-aalsa ng isang uri laban sa katunggaliang uri, hindi pag-aalsa ng uring manggagawa laban sa burgesya. Walang kapangyarihan ang masa. Wala ang uring manggagawang namumuno para sa pagbabago ng sistema. Dahil hindi lang relyebo ng pangulo ang kasagutan.

Sa ngayon, matapos mapatalsik ng mamamayan ng Egypt ang kanilang pangulo, pumutok na rin ang pag-aalsa ng mga mamamayan sa mga bansang Bahrain, Yemen at Libya. Nanalo nga ang mamamayan ng Egypt na mapatalsik ang pangulo nilang si Mubarak, ngunit dahil walang namumunong grupo o partido na gumagabay sa pag-aalsa, napunta sa kamay ng militar ang kapangyarihan, imbes na sa kamay ng mamamayang nagsakripisyo para mabago ang pamahalaan.

Ano ang kulang? Bakit sa Pilipinas na tatlong beses nang nag-Edsa, wala pa ring naramdamang pagbabago, kaya nanlalamig na ang karamihan sa people power? Naganap ang Edsa 1 at 2, napatalsik ang pangulo ngunit napalitan lang ng kauri nilang elitista. Si Marcos ay napalitan ni Cory. Si Erap ay napalitan ni Gloria. Walang lider-manggagawa, walang lider-maralita, walang lider-kababaihan, walang lider-magsasakang napunta sa poder. Wala ang isyu ng masa, wala ang isyu ng kahirapan, wala ang isyu ng trabaho, wala ang isyu ng pabahay, wala ang isyu ng salot na kontraktwalisasyon. Hindi umangat ang pakikibaka ng sambayanan sa tunggalian ng uri sa lipunan.

Dahil hindi sapat na ang layunin lang ng people power ay ang pagpapalit ng pangulo. Dapat itong itaas sa pagbabago ng sistema. Hindi sapat na demokrasya lang ang kasagutan. Dapat ipakita na may tunggalian ng uri sa lipunan, at ang pagpawi sa mga uri ang siyang kasagutan. Dapat ipakitang ang mga manggagawa’y hindi lang tahimik na masang nagtatrabaho, kundi isang malakas at pangunahing pwersa sa pagbabago.

Ano ang dapat gawin? Dalhin natin sa masa ang isyu ng kahirapan bilang pangunahing panawagan sa people power. Ipakita natin sa masa ang tunggalian ng uri. Ikampanya natin sa lahat ng pabrika’t komunidad, sa lahat ng lungsod at kanayunan, sa mga pahayagan, radio at telebisyon, sa internet, ang pagkasalot ng kapitalismo sa buhay ng mamamayan. Pag-aralan natin ang lipunan at iangat ang kamalayan ng masa tungo sa pagwawakas sa kapitalistang sistemang dahilan ng kanilang pagdurusa’t kahirapan.

Paputukin natin ang isyu ng pabahay, tulad ng ginawang pagkubkob ng mga maralitang lungsod sa Libya sa mga pabahay ng kanilang gobyerno nitong Enero 2011. Paputukin natin ang isyu ng kontraktwalisasyon bilang panawagan sa people power na pangungunahan ng uring manggagawa. Paputukin natin ang iba pang makauring isyu na maaaring magpabagsak sa mga elitista sa lipunan.

Panahon na para manawagan ng people power laban sa bulok na sistema, laban sa kapitalismo. Dapat mag-people power ang uring api laban sa uring mapagsamantala’t naghahari-harian sa lipunan!

Uring manggagawa, magkaisa! Ipakita ang inyong mapagpalayang papel para sa pagbabago ng lipunan! Mag-people power laban sa bulok na sistema!

BMP-SANLAKAS-PLM-PMT-KPML-ZOTO-PK-KALAYAAN-KPP-MMVA-AMA-MakabayanPilipinas

Pebrero 24, 2011