Uring Manggagawa, Hukbong Mapagpalaya!

Sosyalismo ang Lunas! Ibagsak ang mapang-api't masibang kapitalistang sistema! Manggagawa sa Lahat ng Bansa, Magkaisa!

Huwebes, Disyembre 13, 2012

Noynoy, Dont be a Grinch! Hands off the Sin Tax Bill!


PRESS RELEASE
13 December 2012

Gie Relova 
BMP-NCRR Secretary-General
0915-2792749


Militants' Christmas message to the President
Noynoy, Dont be a Grinch! Hands off the Sin Tax Bill!

MORE than three thousand protestors belonging to the anti-Sin Tax alliance, the Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation spent the whole day at the Mendiola bridge urging President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino to veto the sin tax bill and prevent the catastrophic economic effects of his signing into law of the sin tax bill.

The militant group also criticized the recently approved provisions by the Bicameral Committee Meeting for its abandonment of the safety nets meant to cushion to the impacts of the sin tax bill which will critically affect the jobs and livelihoods of those relying on the sin products. 

In a statement, PCART insisted that the Aquino government is very much aware that a vicious institutional injustice is about to be committed against millions of Filipino workers, farmers, vendors and sari-sari store owners once the Sin Tax Bill is finally enacted but the President still pushed through with the IMF-dictated tax measure.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region-Rizal chapter, "Aquino did not only intentionally hand out the death warrants of our jobs and livelihoods, but also sent the dreams and ambitions of our children to the gallows. He had every reason to veto the sin tax bill and make Christmas celebration of our children turn from glum to merry but more importantly, he has to veto it before the economy turns from ugly to uglier".

“Totally unacceptable!” this was the reaction of Anthony Barnedo, National Capital Region-Rizal Secretary-General of the urban poor federation Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML-NCRR). 

“If the Sin Tax Bill is Aquino’s idea of a perfect Christmas, then his Daang Matuwid is a complete sham. If a regime that legalizes contractual labor, privatizes public hospitals, abandons the right the right to education, demolishes communities without a habitable relocation sites and now suppresses the way we make a living then logic dictates that the unbearable government such as Aquino’s is just as abusive and exploitative as its laws,” Barnedo added.

The coalition vowed to continue the struggle against an unjust and anti-poor decree such as Aquino’s regressive Sin Tax Law even during the electoral period wherein they are to launch a national negative campaign against those who supported the Malacanang-masterminded massacre of jobs and livelihoods.

Miyerkules, Disyembre 12, 2012

"Beer is Thicker Than Water, While the Masses Suffer"

PRESS STATEMENT
11 December 2012

Gie Relova 
BMP-NCRR Secretary-General
0915-2792749

On the New Sin Tax Bicam Provisions
Militants Blame Aquino for Overkill and Accuse Him of Nepotism

SOME five thousand exasperated members of the anti-sin tax alliance Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation or PCART assembled at Morayta and marched to the historic Mendiola Bridge brundishing a giant tarpaulin streamer bearing a "Beer is Thicker Than Water, While the Masses Suffer" slogan. The message was meant to expose President Benigno Aquino's partiality for his relatives' businesses at the expense of the masses in the sin tax debates. 

The militants took a swipe at the latest provisions agreed upon by the bicameral committee conference yesterday and blamed the maneuvers on Aquino for the latest alterations in the pending tax measure.

The militants howled in disbelief after learning that bicameral committee removed the provisions that were previously earmarked to the amount of one billion pesos as an unemployment insurance and a re-tooling livelihood program for displaced cigarette workers. The bicameral committee also removed the provision for earmarked for the benefit of the tobacco farmers.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region-Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR), "The latest maneuvers by Malacanang is undoubtedly the most voracious and greediest act he has done since he came to power. Because of such manipulations, the workers and farmers have not only lost their jobs but end up empty-handed after Aquino shamelessly took every centavo meant to cushion the impacts of the recalibrated excise tax".

"It seemed unthinkable since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship that a single yet omnipotent government official could blatantly ram through all his avaricious impulses on the masses. With P-Noy at the helm of power and placing his weight on the legislative branch, he has vanquished every hope and sympathy our poor countrymen have for his leadership and his ridiculous Daang matuwid polemic. He has now leveled up to the ranks of Ferdinand Marcos, Norberto Manero, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other vile public figures in the history of our country" Relova added.

PCART also took notice and insisted that the agreed provisions were clearly favorable to the business interests of Danding Cojuangco, Aquino's favorite uncle. The militants classified the latest maneuvers of the Palace to enact a well-crafted Sin Tax Law according to their preferred mould as a scheme to legitimize corruption and nepotism.

The anti-sin tax alliance has consistently denounced the mafia-like operations of the government and the private corporations in the crafting of laws to conspire against the poor to squeeze from them the taxes the government drools for and the profits the corporations are dying to increase. 

"For as long as a regressive taxation is in place and a morally bankrupt and exploitative system is in the place, the workers and its allies shall rise against them" the BMP leader concluded.

Sinisi ng mga Militante si Aquino at Inakusahan ito ng Nepotismo


PRESS STATEMENT
11 Disyembre 2012

Gie Relova 
BMP-NCRR Secretary-General
0915-2792749

Hinggil sa mga Bagong Probisyon sa Sin Tax ng Bicam
Sinisi ng mga Militante si Aquino at Inakusahan ito ng Nepotismo

TINATAYANG nasa limang libong miyembro ng alyansang kontra sin tax na Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) ang nagtipon sa Morayta at nagmartsa sa makasaysayang Mendiola Bridge dala ang higanteng tarpaulin streamer na may nakasulat na "Beer is Thicker Than Water, While the Masses Suffer". Layon ng streamer na isiwalat na maka-isang panig si Pangulong Benigno Aquino III sa mga negosyo ng kanyang mga kamag-anak sa kabila ng dagdag kahirapan na papasanin ng masa dahil sa panukalang sin tax.

Pinuna ng mga militante ang mga probisyong napagkaisahan sa bicameral committee conference kahapon at isinisi ang naganap na maniobrahan sa pinakuhuling mga pagbabago sa panukalang batas kay Aquino.

Hindi makapaniwala ang mga manggagawa nang mabalitaan nilang inalis ng bicameral committee ang mga probisyong dati nang itinakda na nagkakahalaga sa isang bilyong piso bilang unemployment insurance at para sa pangkabuhayang pagsasanay ng mga manggagawang matatanggal sa trabaho. Inalis din ng bicameral committee ang probisyong nakatakda naman para sa benepisyo ng mga magbubukid ng tabako.

Ayon kay Gie Relova, Secretary-General ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region-Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR), "Ang pinakahuling pagmamaniobra ng Malacanang ay hindi maitatangging pinakasamasaklap at pinakasakim na ginawa nito mula nang mapuwesto ito sa kapangyarihan. Dahil sa mga manipulasyon ito, ang mga manggagawa't magsasaka ay hindi lamang nawalan ng trabaho kundi inalisan pa ng suporta matapos kamkamin ang lahat ng pondong itinakda para maibasan ang epekto sa kanila ng karagdagang buwis". 

"Parang ang hirap isipin na matapos bumagsak ng diktaduryang Marcos, may isa nanamang lubos na makapangyarihang opisyal na kapal-mukhang sinagasaan ang interes ng masa para sa kanyang pansariling pakinabang. At dahil sa nasa kapangyarihan si Aquino at nagawa niyang impluwensiyahan ang lehislatura, siya mismo ang bumisto sa kanyang sarili at sa pagka-bangkarote ng kanyang polemikang Daang Matuwid sa masa. Dahil dito, nabibilang na siya sa mga kagaya ni Ferdinand Marcos, Norberto Manero, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at iba pang kahiya-hiyang personahe sa kasaysayan ng bansa," dagdag pa ni Relova.

Iginiit pa ng PCART na ang nasabing probisyon ay malinaw na pumapabor sa interes ng negosyo ni Danding Cojuangco, ang paboritong tiyuhin ng Noynoy. Tinaguring isang iskema ng pagliligalisa ng korapsyon at nepotismo ang mga maniobra ng Palasyo na disenyuhan ang isang batas sa Sin Tax ayon sa kanilang napiling molde. 

Walang tigil na kinundena ng alyansa ang mala-sindikatong gawi ng gubyerno at mga pribadong korporasyon sa paglilikha ng batas para gipitin ang mga mahihirap para sa kanilang interes, buwis sa gubyerno at labis-labis na tubo para sa mga korporasyon.

"Hanggat nanatiling regresibo ang sistema ng pagbubuwis, korap at mapagsamantala ang sistemang pampulitika sa bansa, ang mga manggagawa't kanilang mga alyado ay siguradong magaalsa laban sa kanila" pagtatapos ng lider ng BMP. 

Martes, Disyembre 11, 2012

Miltants Slam the Bicam


PRESS STATEMENT
December 10, 2012

Gie Relova 
BMP-NCRR Secretary-General
0915-2792749

For Agreeing to a P35 Billion Revenue Target for 2013:
MILITANTS SLAM THE BICAM!


Five thousand workers, vendors, and informal settlers assembled at the grounds of Hotel Sofitel Grand at the CCP Complex carrying placards painted with "Tama na, Sobra na! Sistema ng Pagbubuwis, Palitan na!", P-Noy at Sin Tax, Pahirap sa Masa" and "Tax Revolt, Sagot sa Regressive Taxation!" slogans. The militants condemned the sin tax bicameral conference that agreed on the P35 billion target tax revenue of government for the year 2013 last Friday.

Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino - National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR), says "We condemn the bicameral conference committee to the highest degree. Passing the sin tax bill has been the solons’ most appalling act of disservice and treachery to the Filipino people. The 1987 Constitution specifically instructs the legislators to develop a progressive system of taxation; instead, these lawmakers prefer to exacerbate the already miserable lives of our countrymen with regressive taxes".

In spite of the militants disgust for the bicameral committee Relova was quick to add that, "the millions of workers and farmers nationwide reserve the strongest denunciation for President Noynoy Aquino for his puppetry to the prodding of international financing institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and a transnational corporation. The imperialist forces shall profit in trillions of pesos at the expense of our local industry without generating any employment”. 

The corporation the labor leader was referring to is the London-based multinational company British-American Tobacco (BAT) which re-entered the Philippine market after pulling out in 2009. The return of the BAT which produces the Lucky Strike brand will only dump surplus tobacco leaves in the country and will clearly benefit from a sin tax law designed to break the stranglehold on the market of a local company thereby increasing BAT's market share in the Philippines .

For Anthony Barnedo, Secretary-General of Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lungsod - National Capital Region-Rizal (KPML-NCRR), a co-convener of the alliance Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART), "the government claims to raise revenue from excise taxes but surely, they shall never be able to obtain their targets because of the high prices, no one will be able to afford sin products anymore, the industry is bound for doom". 

"Nor do we expect an enhanced public health program from the government even if they achieve their revenue targets. The Universal Healthcare Program of the regime shall remain a dream, ending in a nightmare once they commence privatizing the twenty-six public hospitals" the urban poor leader added.

"As we commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), our "honorable" senators and congressmen chose to observe this day with intentional and brutal violations to our right to work and protection against unemployment. With the imminent massacre of jobs and livelihoods, the system of taxation being laid down by the Aquino regime is clearly courting a social revolution they shall soon regret.” the BMP leader concluded.

Bicam, Kinundena ng mga Militante


PRESS STATEMENT
Disyembre 10, 2012

Gie Relova 
BMP-NCRR Secretary-General
0915-2792749

Sa Pagsang-Ayon sa P35 Bilyong Target na Sin Tax sa Taong 2013
BICAM KINUNDENA NG MGA MILITANTE!


LIMANG libong manggagawa, manininda at maralitang taga-lungsod ang nagtipon sa labas ng Hotel Sofitel Grand sa CCP Complex dala ang mga placards na may nakapintang, "Tama na, Sobra na! Sistema ng Pagbubuwis, Palitan na!", "P-Noy at Sin Tax, Pahirap sa Masa" at "Tax Revolt, Sagot sa Regressive Taxation!" Bilang pagkondena sa naganap na sin tax bicameral conference na sumang-ayon sa P35 bilyong target na kita sa sin tax ng gobyerno para sa taong 2013. 

Ayon kay Gie Relova, Secretary-General ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino - National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR), "Abot-langit naming kinukondena ang naging pasya ng bicameral conference committee. Sobrang nasusuklam ang mamamayang Pilipino sa katrayduran ng pagkakapasa ng sin tax bill. Taliwas ito sa 1987 Constitution na kung saan sinasaad nito na dapat ay paunlarin ang sistema sa pagbubuwis sa isang progresibong pamamaraan ngunit mas pinaboran ng mga mambabatas ang regresibong sistema na lalong magpapahirap sa mga miserable na ngang buhay ng taumbayan."

Bagamat matindi ang disgusto ng mga miltante sa Bicam, mabilis na dinagdag ni Relova na, "milyong manggagawa at magsasaka sa buong bansa ang kumukondena kay Pangulong Benigno Aquino III dahil sa pagpayag nitong maging sunud-sunuran sa mga utos ng mga pandaigdigang institusyong pampinansiya gaya ng International Monetary Fund at isang dambuhalang dayuhang korporasyon. Tutubo ng trilyong piso ang mga dayuhan nang walang lilikhaing hanap-buhay habang iniaalay sa altar ang ating lokal na industriya". 

Ang tinutukoy ni Relova ay dambuhalang kumpanyang naka-base sa London na British-American Tobacco (BAT) na muling pumasok sa Pilipinas makaraang umalis noong 2009. Ang pagbabalik ng BAT na gumagawa ng sigarilyong Lucky Strike ay magtatambak lamang ng sobra-sobrang tabako nito sa bansa. Ang kumpanyang BAT ang malinaw na makikinabang sa isang batas sa sin tax na siyang paraan naman nito para basagin ang monopolyo sa mekado ng isang lokal na kumpanya na mangangahulugan naman ng paglaki ng market share nito. 

Samantala, ayon naman kay Anthony Barnedo, Secretary-General ng Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lungsod - National Capital Region-Rizal (KPML-NCRR), isa sa nagtatag ng Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART), "umaasa ang gobyerno na kikita sila sa pamamagitan ng sin tax pero sigurado, hinding-hindi hindi ito magaganap dahil sa taas ng presyo ng mga produktong tabako't alkohol, wala nang makakabili nito, tiyak na malulusaw ang industriya". 

"Hindi na rin natin dapat asahan na mapapaunlad nga ng gobyerno ang mga programang pangkalusugan sa bansa kahit pa sabihin nating maabot nito ang target na kita mula sa sin tax. Ang pinangangalandakan nilang Universal Healthcare Program ay mananatili na lang panaginip na mauuwi sa bangungot kapag sinimulan na nila ang pagsasapribado sa dalawampu't anim na pampublikong ospital," dagdag pa nito.

"Habang ipinagbubunyi natin ang ika-64 anibersaryo ng Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), mas pinili ng ating mga "kagalang-galang" na senador at kongresista ang labagin ang ating mga karapatan sa paggawa at proteksyon sa kawalan ng hanap-buhay. At dahil sa nakaambang masaker sa mga trabaho't kabuhayan at sa sistema ng pagbubuwis na inilalatag sa rehimeng Aquino, liniligawan nito ang isang panlipunang rebolusyon na tiyak nilang pagsisisihan," dagdag pa ng BMP lider.

Miyerkules, Disyembre 5, 2012

BMP-NCRR rally at Shangri-La Hotel, re: anti-Sin Tax


BUKLURAN NG MANGGAGAWANG PILIPINO
National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR)

PRESS RELEASE
5 December 2012

Militants Warns the Public of the Imminent Horse-Trading 
by Lawmakers in the Bicam Conference

Militant labor group expressed its grave distrust at the bicameral conference committee because of the composition of the delegates from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The group denounce the whole process and claimes that the bicameral conference shall only serve as a abysmal stamp pad of the Malacanang masterminded, Department of Finance designed tax measure.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region and Rizal Chapter, "The lawmakers sent by their respective chambers are not looking to fulfill their mandates to the Filipino nation but only seek opportunities to fatten their bank accounts from the lobby groups of tobacco and alcohol corporations".

"Everyone knows that the major contention in the bicameral conference is the percentage of how much of the tax revenues shall be sourced from, either the tobacco or alcohol industries. Surely, the lawmakers expect that lobby money from major industry players shall flow from all directions and fraudulent tactics shall be employed" Relova said. 

Relova was also quick to add that "this monumental battle royal between corporate heavyweights such as Lucio Tan, Danding Cojuangco and new player, the British American Tobacco will be an exercise to secure their trillions of pesos in profits after the government has already secured its own interests at the expense of the country's marginalized sectors" 

The BMP believes that bicameral committee conference is just a lame ceremony to fulfill the legal requirements and the sin tax measure is already done deal, as far as the government is concerned. The militant labor group also denounced the politicians for their misplaced loyalty to the resident of Malacanang Palace in order to gain favors in the coming 2013 National Elections.

"The workers and our marginalized countrymen have everything to worry about. The credibility and track record of these lawmakers has been punctuated with their support for many anti-poor legislative measures. Just recently, their votes on the sin tax bill in their respective chambers is evident enough to earn our distrust in them and the whole process" the BMP leader concluded.

The militants vowed to make the lawmakers pay heavily in the coming elections by waging a nationwide negative campaign against those who supported the sin tax bill. 

Rali ng BMP-NCRR sa Shangri-La Hotel, re: anti-Sin Tax


BUKLURAN NG MANGGAGAWANG PILIPINO
National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR)

PRESS RELEASE
5 Disyembre 2012

Binalaan ng mga Militante ang Publiko Hinggil sa Nakaambang Horse-Trading ng mga Mambabatas sa Bicam

Ipinahayag ng isang militanteng grupo ng manggagawa ang kanilang matinding pagkadismaya sa bicameral committee conference dahil ang komposisyon ng mga delegado ay nanggagaling sa Senado at Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso. Kinondena ng grupo ang buong proseso at sinabing ang bicameral conference ay magsisilbing stamp pad lamang ng Malacanang at dinisenyo ng Departamento ng Pinansya.

Ayon kay Gie Relova, pangkalahatang kalihim ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino – National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR) chapter, “Ang mga mambabatas na itinalaga ng kani-kanilang kapulungan ay hindi nagtatangkang tuparin ang kanilang mandato sa mamamayan ng Pilipinas kundi naghahanap lamang ng oportunidad na patabain ang kanilang mga bulsa mula sa mga kampanyador ng mga korporasyon ng tabako at alak.”

“Alam ng lahat na ang mayor na kontensyon sa bicameral conference ay ang porsyento kung gaano kalaki ang kita sa buwis na manggagaling sa industriya ng tabako o alak. Tiyak, inaasahan ng mga mambabatas na babaha ng pera sa lahat ng direksyon mula sa mga mayor na mga manlalaro sa industriya” dagdag pa ni Relova.

Agad ding idinagdag ni Relova na ”ang matinding labanang ito sa pagitan ng mga bigatin sa korporasyon na tulad ni Lucio Tan, Danding Cojuangco at ang bagong manlalaro, ang British American Tobacco, ay isang gawaing magtitiyak ng trilyun-trilyong pisong tubo matapos tiyakin ng gobyerno ang sarili nitong interes na lalong kumawawa sa mga lugmok na sa hirap na mamamayan.”

Naniniwala ang BMP-NCRR na isang pilantod na seremonya lamang ang bicameral committee conference upang tuparin ang mga legal na rekisitos at ang patakarang sin tax ay kasunduang gawa na. Kinondena rin ng militanteng grupo ng manggagawa ang mga pulitiko dahil sa kanilang katapatan sa resident eng Malacanang upang magkaroon ng pabor sa parating na Pambansang Halalan ng 2013.

“Ang mga manggagawa at ang ating mga naghihirap na kababayan ay talagang nag-aalala. Ang kredibilidad at track record ng mga mambabatas na ito ang nagtuldok sa kanilang suporta sa anti-maralitang panukalang batas na ito. Ang kanilang boto sa panukalang sin tax sa kani-kanilang kapulungan ay sapat na patunay na di na sila dapat pagkatiwalaan at ang buong proseso” pagtatapos ng lider ng BMP-NCRR.

Nangako ang mga militante na magbabayad ng mabigat ang mga mambabatas na ito sa darating na halalan sa pamamagitan ng pambansang negatibong kampanya laban sa mga sumuporta sa panukalang sin tax.

Huwebes, Nobyembre 22, 2012

pr - Indignant Workers Condemn New Regressive Sin Tax Law


PRESS RELEASE
21 November 2012

Indignant Workers Condemn the New Regressive Sin Tax Law, 
Vowed to Continue the Struggle 

WITHSTANDING the lopsided 15-2 vote of the Senators in the passage of the Sin Tax Reform Law, indignant workers trooped to the Senate to condemn the passage of a law that they claim to be blatantly anti-poor, regressive and unconstitutional.

The Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) reiterated that the country's poor composed of the millions of Filipino workers, farmers, the urban and rural poor shall be the sole bearers of the negative impacts of a pass-on tax while the politicians gain billions in tax revenues and the tobacco and alcohol capitalists continue to reap trillions in profit. The coalition claimed that the sin tax issue was one of the grandest schemes of collusion and compromise among the country's elite since Aquino came into power.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the National Capital Region and Rizal chapter of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP-NCRR),"The Senate has time and again shed its true colors, it has proven that the Senate as an institution will remain to be blind, deaf and mute to the interests of the toiling masses and at the same time it devotedly kisses the feet of the local elite and the multinational investors".

"With the passage of the sin tax law, the Senate played its role in the massacre of jobs and livelihoods of millions of workers and farmers by acting as the gravediggers that placed the final nail in the coffin as the Department of Finance acted as the butcher and Senator Franklin as their designated hitman and the President Aquino as the mastermind" the BMP leader alleged. 

For Rodel Atienza, Union President of the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation, "As the senators wine and dine and congratulate each other, we pledge that the workers, the vendors, the farmers shall have the last laugh on the matter. We shall mobilize our numbers and networks to launch a massive negative campaign and make them pay heavily in the coming elections".

The BMP and its allied organizations vowed to continue the struggle to fight for a progressive system of taxation in the country.

pr - Pag-aprubado sa Sin Tax Law, Kinondena


PRESS RELEASE
21 November 2012

Tuloy ang laban! -- PCART
PAG-AAPRUBA NG SIN TAX LAW SA SENADO KINONDENA

KAMING mga mahihirap na manggagawa't magsasaka ang nagtanim, mga pulitiko at kapitalista ang aani! Ito ang pagkondena ng grupong Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation o PCART sa naging resulta ng botohan sa Senado hinggil sa isinulong na Sin Tax Reform Law kung saan 15 senador ang pumabor habang dalawa ang tumutol.

Giit ng PCART, milyong manggagawang Pilipino, magsasaka at maralitang taga-lungsod ang tanging papasan sa hirap na idudulot ng dagdag-buwis sa alak at sigarilyo habang ang mga pulitiko ang makikinabang sa bilyong makokolektang buwis at ang mga kapitalista naman ang magpapakasasa sa trilyong halaga ng tutubuin sa mga nasabing produkto.

Anila,  malinaw na may sabwatang naganap sa pagitan ng mga pulitiko at mayayamang negosyante kung saan ang pag-apruba sa Sin Tax Reform Law ang pinakamatindi kuntsabahan mula nang maupo sa puwesto si Pangulong Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Ayon kay Gie Relova, Secretary-General ng National Capital Region at Rizal chapter ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP-NCRR), "Lumabas uli ang tunay na kulay ng Senado at pinatunayan lamang nila na bulag, pipi at bingi sila sa tunay na kalagayan at kapakanan ng taumbayan. Habang hinahalikan naman nila sa paa ng mga elitista at dayuhang kapitalista."

"Kasabay ng pag-apruba sa nasabing panukala, maraming trabaho at kabuhayan ang naging biktima ng masaker kung saan ang Senado ang nagsilbing sepulturero, ang Department of Finance ang berdugo habang nagsilbing hitman si Senator Franklin Drilon at ang mastermind walang iba kundi si Pagulong Aquino," dagdag pa ni Relova.

Ayon naman kay Rodel Atienza, pangulo ng unyon ng Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation, "Habang nagdiriwang at nagbabatian sa isa't isa ang mga senador, isinusumpa naming mga manggagawa, magsasaka at maralitang tagalungsod na sa amin pa rin ang huling halakhak."

"Tuloy ang laban, mas malaking puwersa ang nakahanda at sisiguraduhin  namin ang kampanya laban sa mga nagsabwatang pulitiko at kapitalista sa Sin Tax Reform Bill at pagbabayaran nila ito sa darating na eleksyon." ani Atienza.

Kaugnay nito, nangangako ang BMP at mga kaalyadong organisasyon nito na ipagpapatuloy nila ang laban tungo sa isang ganap na progresibong sistema ng pagbubuwis. 

Miyerkules, Nobyembre 21, 2012

pr - Militants Urge Senators to Quit Using the Peoples' Health to Justify a Sin Tax Law


PRESS RELEASE
20 November 2012

Militants Urge Senators to Quit Using the 
Peoples' Health to Justify a Sin Tax Law 

Five thousand workers and urban poor assaulted the Senate gates once again to reiterate their demand for the Senators to scrap the sin tax bill version of Senator Franklin Drilon because of the profound consequences on the lives and livelihoods of more than three million tobacco workers, planters and their families.

The contingent of workers and urban poor were affiliates of the anti-sin alliance, Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation or PCART. The coalition has consistently insisted that the Aquino regime is laying down a regressive system of taxation hiding behind its Universal Healthcare Program. PCART does not have any qualms with the government's universal healthcare program as long it will truly serve the poor majority of our countrymen. The sin tax bill is the opposite of such an objective.

The militant workers called out to the Senators but most specially to Senator Drilon to shed their questionable pro-health posturing and once and for all admit that it is the projected tax revenues from tobacco and alcohol products are what they are really salivating about.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the National Capital Region and Rizal chapter of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP-NCRR), "How did Drilon manage to become the number one health advocate in the Senate when he is a rabid promoter of shifting our public health services towards a profit orientation?".

Senator Drilon is the author of Senate Bill 3130 or the National Government Hospital Corporate Restructuring that gives fiscal autonomy to hospitals to raise income for its operations and in doing so, it cuts off its dependence on government subsidy. The bill intends to corporatize twenty-six public hospitals including the San Lazaro Hospital and the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, both in Manila.

"It has been reported already in the press that the tax collection from the sin products has already been included in the 2013 budget, 2013 being an election year. The budget of the government needs to be ballooned to accommodate financial requisites of the electoral campaign of its candidates. Its just a matter of connecting the dots," Relova explained.

"The soon to be victims of the sin tax bill are aware that no amount of propaganda spinning and cosmetic publicity shall ever be enough to cover-up the massacre of jobs and livelihoods by the fervent campaigners of the sin tax bill" Relova concluded.

The BMP urges that the Senate must focus its attention on issues that have definite and direct improvements in the lives of the Filipino workers. The Senate must tackle issues such as the plague of contractualization of labor, the housing crisis, the rising gap between the workers' wages and the prices of basic commodities and rising costs of utilities.

pr - Itigil ang Paggamit sa Isyu ng Kalusugan Upang Ipuslit ang SIn Tax Bill


PRESS RELEASE
20 November 2012

Itigil ang Paggamit sa Isyu ng Kalusugan ng Taumbayan upang Ipuslit ang Batas sa Sin Tax, Giit ng mga Militante 

HINDI usaping pangkalusugan kundi karagdagang kita mula sa buwis na maaaring gamitin sa darating na eleksiyon ang nasa likod ng isinusulong na bersiyon ng ipinapanukalang Sin Tax ni Senador Franklin Drilon.

Limang libong manggagawa at maralitang taga-lungsod ang muling sumugod sa Senado upang igiit ang pagbasura sa nasabing panukala na naglalagay sa alanganin sa kabuhayan ng mahigit sa tatlong milyong manggagawa at magsasaka ng tabako at kanilang mga pamilya.

Taliwas sa ipinamumukhang Universal Healthcare Program na paglalaanan umano ng makokolektang karagdagang buwis sa alak at sigarilyo, ibinulgar ng Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) na panibago na naman itong dagdag pa sa pasanin ng mahihirap.

Kaya patuloy ang kanilang panawagan sa mga senador lalo na kay Sen. Drilon na ilantad na sa taumbayan ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit sila gigil na gigil sa buwis na makukuha sa alak at sigarilyo.

Ayon kay Gie Relova, secretary-general ng National Capital Region at Rizal chapter ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP-NCRR), "Paanong magiging numero unong tagasuporta ng programa sa kalusugan si Drilon gayu'ng siya pa ang gumigiit sa pagsasapribado ng mga pampublikong ospital?"

Matatandaang si Sen. Drilon ang awtor ng Senate Bill 3130 o National Government Hospital Corporate Restructuring na nagbibigay kalayaan sa mga ospital na magtaas ng singil sa kanilang serbisyo.

Kaugnay nito, dalawampu't anim na pampublikong ospital kabilang ang San Lazaro Hospital at Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, kapwa sa Maynila ang may ganito nang sistema.

Dagdag pa ni Relova, "Nailabas na sa media na naisama na ang nilulutong kuleksyon ng buwis mula sigarilyo't alak sa 2013 badyet na hindi na nagkataon nga lang ba election year."

"Kunsabagay, kailangan ng malaking pondo ang gobyerno para suportahan ang mga kandidato ng administrasyon. Madali naman pagdugtong-dugtongin ang mga kwento", ayon pa kay Relova.

Gayunman, sa mga mabibiktima ng Sin Tax, mulat na umano ang mga ito na walang anumang propaganda ang makapagtatago sa nakaambang masaker sa kabuhayan ng mga manggagawa't maralita. 

Iginiit ng BMP na kailangan tutukan na lamang ng Senado ang mga isyu na may depinidong at direktang mag-a-angat sa buhay at kabuhayan ng mga manggagawang Pilipino. Kailangan pagkunutan nang noo na lang mga Senador ang salot ng kontraktwalisasyon, krisis ng pabahay, ang lumalalang pagitan ng sahod ng manggagawa at ng presyo ng mga batayang pangangailangan at tumataas na presyo ng kuryente't tubig. 

Martes, Nobyembre 20, 2012

ps - No Railroading of New Taxes!


PRESS STATEMENT
November 19, 2012
Leody de Guzman
National President
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

No Railroading of New Taxes!
Review the Present Anti-Poor Tax System!
Reform towards a Progressive System of Taxation!

In the light of recent controversies involving taxes on gold and "sin" products, workers are calling on Congress and the Senate not to railroad the passage of new taxes.

Both Houses should prove institutional independence not only from Malacanang but also from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) especially with Christine Lagarde issuing a statement supporting new taxes including a levy on cellphone text messages.

Instead, we demand a status quo on taxes pending the review for an omnibus amendment of the entire taxation system. The current system relies more on sales taxes borne by consumers (through the EVAT) and on compulsory deduction of withholding taxes to wage-earners. It is not just anti-poor and regressive but also unconstitutional.

Article 6 Section 28 of the 1987 Constitution is clear: "The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. The Congress shall evolve a progressive system of taxation".

But tax reform is not just a legal question but a matter of life and death for Filipino workers and their families.

Workers' take home pay is a mere pittance. Not only because wages are below the necessary costs for a decent life. Worse, it is further reduced by withholding taxes and contributions to social welfare. Not only are starvation wages subject to withholding taxes. More so, it is subject to the EVAT when we purchase our families' needs.

Those who have less in life bear more of the tax burden. Unlike the privileged elite who have their lawyers and accountants to disguise their crimes of tax evasion into innocent (and legal!) acts of "tax avoidance".

Hence, an overhaul of the current system towards progressive taxation, based on income and property, is a legal, moral, democratic and nationalist imperative. Tax the rich, not the poor! Resist the impositions of IMF and other foreign finance institutions!

Biyernes, Nobyembre 9, 2012

ps - Junk Sin Tax Bill - rally at DoF


PRESS STATEMENT
09 November 2012


Militant Labor Hold Rally at the Department of Finance to Demand the Junking of the Sin Tax and Raise Corporate Tax Instead 

Irate workers and ambulant vendors belonging to Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) trooped to the Department of Finance (DOF) today to condemn the department for prodding the Senate Ways and Means Committee chairman Senator Franklin Drilon to execute the government's plan to raise forty to forty-five billion pesos by legislating a new sin tax law.

The militant workers labeled the DOF as a butcher of their jobs and livelihoods. They likewise  urged the department to tax the rich and not the poor, a central principle in taxation. The DOF is the government's primary agency that designed and convinced legislators to enact a new sin tax law to fulfill the government's fiscal requirements.

According to Gie Relova, Secretary-General of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region and Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR),  "Secretary Cesar Purisima has only displayed its insensitivity to the Filipino workers and farmers by pushing for a regressive tax measure that will displace more than three million already productive Filipinos while the tycoons continue reap billions of pesos in profit". 

"The tycoons and traders should be the only targets of the government's taxation schemes and not the general public because logic dictates that they are the ones with the capacity to pay unlike the workers and farmers or the end-consumers. The government must instead pursue raising corporate taxes", the labor leader added. 

While JC Gatungay, Chairperson of Samahan ng mga Manininda sa Komunidad, an organization of sari-sari store owners claim that they are unconvinced with the pending sin tax bill because of the government's schizophrenic programs. On one hand, it spends billions of pesos in promoting micro, small and medium enterprises at the same time pursuing an unjust sin tax measures that will inevitably destroy already established livelihoods and local industries.

The coalition reiterated its call to totally scrap the sin tax bills because of its regressive nature and will be a financial burden shouldered by end-consumers and not by the tobacco and alcohol tycoons.  

ps - anti-Sin Tax Bill - tagalog statement


PRESS STATEMENT
09 November 2012

Militanteng Manggagawa Rinalihan ang Department of Finance 
para Ipanawagan ang Pagbabasura sa  Sin Tax at  
Pagtataas na Lamang ng Corporate Tax

Kinalampag ng mga galit na mga manggagawa kasama ang mga takatak vendor at mga may-ari ng sari-sari store sa ilalim ng Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) ang Department of Finance (DoF).  Kinundena nila ang DoF dahil sa kanyang patuloy na pag-e-engganyo sa Chairman ng Senate Ways and Means Committee na si Senador Franklin Drilon na ipatupad ang plano ng gobyerno na magpasulpot ng apatnapu hanggang apatnapu't-limang bilyong piso kada taon sa pamamagitan ng pagsasabatas ng panukalang Sin Tax sa mga produktong tabako at alkohol.

Binansagan ng mga militante ang DOF na bedugong ahensya na papatay sa kanilang mga hanapbuhay at kabuhayan. Iginiit din nila sa departamento na patawan na lamang ng buwis ang mga mayayaman at hindi ang maralita, isang sentral na prinsipyo sa pagbubuwis. Ang DOF ay ang pangunahing ahensya ng gobyerno na nagdisenyo at nangumbinsi sa mga mambabatas na isabatas ang isang bagong buwis sa para punuan ang kakulangan sa badyet ng gobyerno. 

Ayon kay Gie Relova, Secretary-General ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-National Capital Region and Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR),  "Ipinamamalas lamang ni Secretary Cesar Purisima ang kanyang kawalan ng puso sa mga manggagawa at magsasakang Pilipino dahil patuloy nitong itinutulak ang atrasado sistema ng pagbubuwis na dudurog sa hanapbuhay at kabuhayan ng mahigit tatlong milyong produktibong Pilipino habang patuloy na tumatabo ng bilyon-bilyong pisong tubo ang mga kapitalista". 

"Mga kapitalista't mangangalakal lamang ang dapat patawan ng buwis ng gobyerno at hindi ang buong publiko dahil lohikal lamang na sila ang may kapasidad na magbayad ng buwis hindi tulad ng mga manggagawa't magsasaka o mga ordinaryong mamimili. Ang kailangang gawin ng gobyerno ay magtaas na lamang ng corporate tax", dagdag ng lider-manggagawa. 


Habang para kay JC Gatungay, Chairperson ng Samahan ng mga Manininda sa Komunidad, isang organisasyon ng mga may-ari ng sari-sari store hindi sila kumbinsido sa panukalang Sin Tax dahil sa magka-kontrang programa ng gobyerno. Sa isang banda, gumagastos ng bilyong-bilyon piso ang gobyerno para isulong ang micro, small at medium enterprises o mga maliliit na negosyo habang kasabay ding isinusulong ang hindi makatarungang Sin Tax na siyang papatay sa mga estabilisado nang mga kabuhayan at lokal na industriya. 

Patuloy na giniit ng koalisyon ang kanilang panawagan na kailangan nang ibasura ang mga panukalang Sin Tax dahil sa atrasadong kalikasan nito at magiging pabigat lamang sa mga ordinaryong mamimili at hindi sa mga kapitalista ng tabako at alkohol.  

Sabado, Oktubre 6, 2012

WORKERS’ APPEAL to Netizens (and to Anonymous Philippines)

WORKERS’ APPEAL to Netizens (and to Anonymous Philippines)

We join you in your continued vigilance for our civil and political rights and in your struggle against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Impressed are we by your youthful vigor, boldness and creativity, that we seek your help in increasing online awareness on the following problems that beset the workers and the poor: (a) low wages, (b) contractualization, (c) high power rates and, (d) spiraling fuel prices.

These problems are caused by policies promoted by the very same lawmakers and public officials who are now assaulting the people’s right to free expression in the Internet. They are (a) the tacit cheap labor policy, (b) Court decisions which allow outsourcing and subcontracting and the loopholes in the Labor Code that promote contractual over regular employment, (c) the privatization of the power industry due to the EPIRA law, and (d) the deregulation of the oil industry.

To the Anonymous Philippines, inasmuch as we are impressed by your brazen display of technical skill and devotion to the cause, insomuch do we implore on you to seek legitimate avenues of dissent by using the Constitutional right to free expression to highlight “gut issues”, which affect the majority of the Filipino people. Real change will come by infusing the dynamism of cyber-protests to the practical movement of the working masses. Unite against a common enemy. Together, we will win! #

Huwebes, Oktubre 4, 2012

Philec workers staged their strike


Press Release
October 4, 2012

PHILEC WORKERS STAGED THEIR STRIKE THIS MORNING


Workers from Philippine Electric Company (Philec) staged their strike this morning after negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement has been deadlocked. The striking workers belong to Philec Employees and Workers Association (PEWA), and a member of the working class organization Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino - National Capital Region-Rizal (BMP-NCRR).

Philec has its address at Kaytikling Rd., Bo. Dolores, Taytay, Rizal. It is a subsidiary of First Philippine Electric Corp., a member of the Lopez Group, and is engaged in the manufacture of distribution transformers.

According to Rogelio Mira, PEWA 2nd Vice President, "We launched our strike after a deadlock in our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to express our unity and to defend our right as workers. We are disgusted by the management’s strategy of closure after the failure in our CBA negotiations. Our proposal for a new CBA was countered by closure.”

Meanwhile, Gie Relova, secretary general of the BMP-NCRR, calls for workers from different workers organizations to support the said strike. “The workers union at Philec is already one of the few labor unions left in our country. The capitalist class continues to destroy these unions as their solution to the crisis of capital. This should not be. The workers should unite against these schemes of capital against the working class.”

For more information, pls contact Rogelio Mira at 0908-8967737, and Gie Relova, BMP-NCRR secretary general, at 0915-2792749



Huwebes, Setyembre 6, 2012

Ang ating paninindigan laban sa patakaran ni Pnoy sa mga maralitang lungsod



Ang ating paninindigan laban sa patakaran ni Pnoy sa mga maralitang lungsod 

Pambungad: Nilalayon ng papel na makabuo ng posisyon laban sa pahayag ng gobyerno kaugnay ng deklarasyon nito na pag-demolis sa lahat ng mga kabahayan na nakatirik sa mga danger zones makaraan ang pananalasa ng bagyo at habagat. Nais ring buksan ng dokumento ang diskusyon sa anti-kapitalistang linya at pagsusuri sa puno’t dulo ng usapin ng maralitang lungsod. Ang isyu ng demolisyon, mapaminsalang kalamidad natural man o gawa ng tao, hanapbuhay, serbisyong panglipunan at ang mga polisiya ng gobyerno ay dapat makita sa balangkas ng mapagsamantalang kapitalistang sistema na kinakatawan ni Noynoy Aquino bilang Chairman of the Board at ng uring manggagawa na bumubuo sa hanay ng maralitang mamamayan. 

Sa proseso ng mga diskusyon ay inaasahang mapagyayaman pa ang nilalaman ng papel at makabuo ng higit pang talas sa pagdadala natin sa isyu ng maralita hindi bilang sektor kungdi bilang namumuong pwersa ng kilusang manggagawa sa yugto ng pagsusulong ng demokratikong pakikibakang hahawan sa landas patungong sosyalismo. 

Sa pananalasa ng mga kalamidad gaya ng mga nagdaan at paparating pang mga bagyo nakatagpo ang gobyerno ng kumbenyenteng palusot upang walisin lahat ang mga itinuturong dahilan ng pagbabara ng mga lagusan ng tubig na nagdulot ng mga matitinding pagbaha. At dahil dito, buong-yabang na idineklara ni Pnoy ang pwersahang pag-demolis sa mahigit sa 195,000 informal settlers o mga iskwater sa Metro Manila na tatangging aalis sa mga danger zone gaya ng tulay, estero, tabing-ilog at tabing-dagat na daluyan ng tubig. Ipapatupad din ang three (3) meter easement sa mga tabing ilog at creek na madadag-dag pa sa bilang ng mga mawawalan ng tirahan. 

Ang problema sa patuloy na pananalasa ng baha ay simplistikong tinitingnan ng gobyerno na dulot ng mga pasaway na mga maralitang naglulungga sa mga daluyan ng tubig. Tayo ang nakababara kaya dapat na tayo ang tanggalin. Ang nakikita ng gobyerno ay mga madudungis at mga baboy na mga iskwater na kung saan-saan nagtatapon ng kanilang mga basura habang pikit-mata ito sa mga naglalakihang gusaling nakahambalang mismo sa mga daanan ng tubig. Mga salaulang pabrika na nagtatapon ng mga mapaminsalang basura, walang-habas na pagmimina, pagka-kalbo ng kagubatan at iba pang mga kababuyan ng mga kapitalista sa paghahangad ng malaking tubo na lalo pang nagpapabilis sa pag-init ng daigdig o global warming. 

 Ang problema sa gobyerno, tayo lang ang kayang-kayang pagbuntunan ng lahat ng sisi sa mga pagbaha at hindi makita ang mga baradong programang pang-ekonomiya na hindi lumulutas sa patuloy na paglobo ng mga mahihirap na mamamayan na napipilitang manirahan sa kahit sa pinaka-mapanganib na lugar. Kung susuriin marami sa mga naninirahan sa mga danger zones ay mga maralitang galing na sa kung saan-saang relocation sites sa bansa. Marami ang nagsibalikang relocatees dahil sa kawalan ng hanap buhay sa mga pinagdalhan sa kanilang relocation areas. May mga napaalis din bunga ng bantang demolisyon at cancellation of rights dahil sa kawalan ng pera para sa mga bayarin sa mga relocation areas. 

Ang dapat makita at dapat aminin ng gobyerno ay ang palpak na ipinatutupad na polisiyang pang-ekonomiyang neo-liberal na patuloy na nakaasa sa dayuhang pamumuhunan habang binabale-wala ang kapakanan ng kanyang mamamayan. Ang dapat makita ng gobyerno ay ang nakatakdang paglobo pa ng bilang ng mga maralitang lungsod na titira sa kahit sa pinakamapanganib na lugar dahil sa kakulangan at kawalan ng hanapbuhay dahil ang programang pang-ekonomiya ay inilaan hindi sa mahihirap na mamamayan kungdi sa mga dayuhan at bilyonaryong iilan. 

Negosyo hindi serbisyo

Ang programang pabahay ay para pagkakitaan ng mayayaman hindi para sa serbisyong panglipunan. Walang libreng pabahay, walang libreng relokasyon. At dahil negosyo ang trato ang sinumang negosyante ay hindi aaktong pilantropo na ilalaan ang kanyang kapital sa negosyong walang hahamiging limpak-limpak na tubo. Ang dahilan kung ganun ng mga kabiguan ng programang pabahay ng kasalukuyan at ng mga nagdaang administrasyon ay ang patuloy na paghahangad ng mabilis na ganansyang iluluwal (tubo) buhat sa programa. Ang mga lupain na marapat na maging ligtas na lugar para sa tirahan ng mamamayan ay nakalaan lamang sa mga panginoong may kapital, ang tunay na Boss ni Aquino. 

Ilan sa mga halimbawa ng pagkasugapa ng gobyerno (ng kapitalista) sa tubo ay ang proyektong Quezon City Business District na sumasakop sa Old Capitol Site, Philcoa, Vasra (SRA), North Triangle, Veterans, NIA, Botanical, Forestry at kung saan-saang bahagi ng Lungsod na naging tahanan at matagal na pinagyaman ng mga mamamayan sa mahabang panahon. Itataboy ang mga residente kapalit ng pagtatayo ng mga shopping malls, matatayog na condominum, activity centers at iba pang mga gusaling magsisilbing show case ng isang ”maunlad na bansa” upang umakit pa ng mga dayuhang mamumuhunan. 

Itataboy tayo ng gobyerno dahil sa tingin nitong higit na ganansya sa negosyo ngunit sa mga pagtatapunang relokasyon ay hindi tayo ligtas sa matataas na bayaring obligado nating bayaran dahil pa rin sa cost recovery, cross subsidy at scalating scheme ng amortization ng negosyo pa rin na proyektong pabahay ng rehimeng Aquino. 

Ang karanasan sa Isla Puting Bato at Navotas

Hindi natin mababago sa kasalukuyan ang ngit-ngit ng kalikasan ganundin ang mga sakunang dulot ng mga aksidente at asahan pang maraming buhay pa ang kikitlin sa mga araw pang darating na pipinsala sa pinaka-bulnerableng seksyon ng lipunan. Ang masaklap, tayo na ang nasalanta tayo pa ang patuloy na pini-peste ng kawalang-puso ng gobyerno. Hindi kalabisang sabihing ipinagbubunyi pa yata ng gobyerno ang kapighatian ng maralitang nabiktima ng samut-saring kalamidad at sunog dahil nalibre ito sa pag-demolis sa mga tirahan.

Patunay dito ang karanasan ng mga maralita sa Isla Puting Bato sa Tundo na hindi na nakabalik sa lugar na kinatirikan dati ng kanilang kabahayan dahil itinaboy na sila ng PPA dahil sa modernisasyon at pagsasa-pribado sa nabanggit na lugar sa North Harbor. Ganito din ang istorya ng mga kasama natin sa mga nasalantang mga kapatid natin sa Navotas na matapos masunugan at bayuhin ng samut-saring bagyo at hanging habagat ay nananahan na lamang ngayon sa mga evacuation centers sa iba’t-ibang Barangay covered courts sa Lungsod at hindi na makabalik sa dati nilang tirahan. 

Ang mga karanasang nabanggit sa Navotas at Maynila ay ilan lang sa patunay na sa ”kamalasang” sinasapit ng mga residente ay klarong ”biyaya” sa mga kapitalistang titiba ng limpak-limpak na tubo sa mga binuksang oportunidad sa negosyo ng samut-saring mga kalamidad, gawa man ito ng tao o gawa ng kalikasan. Ang pagpapa-una sa interes ng negosyo bago ang serbisyo’t kalinga sa nagdarahop na mamamayan ay tatak ng isang gobyernong elitistang ang tingin sa mga maralita ay mga basurang dapat walisin. Anuman ang sapiting kalamidad, parang buwitreng nagmamatyag ang mga kapitalistang anumang oras na makakita ng oportunidad ay sasalakay at lalapa sa mga nakahandusay na biktima. Para sa gobyerno at kapitalista, anumang panahon lahat ay pagkakataon upang tumiba ng tubo. Business as usual. 

Hindi tayo magtataka kung may nananalangin na sana’y bumagyo pa nang sa ganun ay ma-itaboy ang mga nakahambalang at istorbo sa negosyong mga iskwater sa kahabaan ng R-10 sa Maynila hanggang sa mga kalsada at baybayin ng Navotas. 

Ang ating hamon sa gobyernong Aquino

May pondo daw na sampung bilyon ang administrasyon para sa relokasyon ng 195,000 na maralita na nasa danger zones. Pondo ito para sa relokasyon o yung proseso ng pagdi-demolis at paghakot mula sa mga demolition areas papuntang relocation sites. Ito ang ipinagyayabang ni Pnoy na solusyon sa problema ng mga maralita sa danger zones na syempre pa’y malabo pa sa tubig-baha na lulutas sa problemang binabanggit.

Subukan nilang gibain ang tirahan ng libo-libong maralitang lungsod na ayon sa gobyerno ay sanhi ng pagbaha at paglubog partikular sa Kalakhang Maynila. Saan tayo dadalhin ng hambog na administrasyong ito? Sa Kasiglahan Village na kumitil ng buhay ng mga residenteng inilipat duon ng pamahalaan makaraang sunugin at gibain ang kanilang kabahayan sa Lungsod ng Quezon? Ganito ba ang pinagmamalaki ng gobyernong relokasyon na nakatuntong pala sa mismong lagusan ng tubig ng San Mateo at ang mga ginawang pabahay ay yari sa mga mababang uri na materyales? Ang lakas ng loob ng gobyernong paratangan tayong mga matitigas ang ulong ayaw magsilikas o magsilayas sa ating mga barung-barong sa mga tinatawag nilang danger zones yun pala’y para lamang isadlak sa mga death zones. 

Nasa gobyerno ang lahat ng puwersa upang mapalayas tayo sa ating mga lungga. Ngunit wala ito sa katinuan na makita ang paulit-ulit nating sinasabi na kailanman ay hindi malulutas ang problema ng paninirahan ng mamamayan kung hindi nito matutugunan ang problema sa ating kabuhayan. Maari nilang dahasin ang mga maralita at sapilitang hakutin sa mga relocation sites ngunit hindi nila mapipigilan ang muling pagbalik ng mga tao dahil nga sa kawalan ng ikabubuhay at miserableng kalagayan sa mga nabanggit na lugar ng relokasyon. 

Ang problema sa gobyerno ay ang tingin nitong tayo ay mga basurang mga walang silbi. Ang hindi nito makita ay ang kolektibo at produktibong lakas ng mga mamamayang binubuo ng mga manggagawa bilang pangunahing puwersa para sa tunay na kaunlaran. Ang patakarang pribatisasyon, deregulasyon at iba pang mga patakaran sa ilalim ng neo liberal na polisiya ng pamahalaan ang salot na magluluwal pa ng henerasyon ng mga mamamayang mananahan kahit sa kasingit-singitan o pinakamapanganib na mga lugar sa lungsod.

Gayung ipinagyayabang nito ang diumano’y ranggo ng Pilipinas bilang pangalawa sa may pinakamataas na economic growth sa rehiyon ano’t hindi makita ng mga matatalinong taga-plano ng administrasyong Aquino na ang problema sa paninirahan ay problema sa kabuhayan. Walang titira sa lungga ng daga kung sasapat ang kanyang kinikita para bigyan ng matinong masisilungan ang kanyang pamilya. 

Ang mga kahilingang ating ipinaglalaban 

1. Paglalaan ng pondo para sa pagtatayo ng mga proyektong pabahay na may sapat na proteksyon at tibay laban sa kung anumang mga kalamidad.

2. Mga proyektong pabahay na hindi dapat malayo sa lugar ng hanapbuhay ng mga manggagawa, may sapat na pasilidad para sa mga kagyat na pangangailangan at iba pang serbisyong panglipunan.

3. Gawing abot-kaya ang halaga ng mga proyektong pabahay at itigil ang kanselasyon ng mga rights sa mga pook relokasyon na hindi nakakatugon sa mga bayaring ipinapataw. 

4. Ipagbawal ang pagsasa-pribado ng mga lupaing tinukoy bilang o kasalukuyan nang mga residential areas. 

5. Tiyakin ang malaking partisipasyon ng mamamayan sa pagpa-plano ng mga itatayong mga pabahay o anumang ipatutupad na programang pabahay. 

6. Ideklara ang limang (5) taong moratorium sa demolisyon kasabay ng puspusang pagpo-proseso ng komprehensibong programa sa pabahay sa bansa. 

7. Regular na trabaho para sa maralita’t manggagawa

8. Itigil ang kontraktuwalisasyon ng trabaho ng mga manggagawa. 

9. Ipatupad ang living wage. 

10. No to oil price hike! Ibasura ang Oil Deregulation Law 

11. Itigil ang neo liberal economic policy ng gobyernong Aquino.

BUKLURAN NG MANGGAGAWANG PILIPINO
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION (BMP-NCRR)

KONGRESO NG PAGKAKAISA NG MARALITANG LUNGSOD 
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION – RIZAL (KPML-NCRR) 

September 2, 2012

Linggo, Hunyo 10, 2012

BMP's Solidarity Message to JRU's 28th Annual Congress


Solidarity Message
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino – BMP (Solidarity of Filipino Workers)
for the 28th Annual Congress
of the Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Union (JRU)
June 2, 2012

Comrades and friends,

On behalf of the workers of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) – a militant labor group from the Philippines, we extend our warmest solidarity greetings to the members and leadership of the Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Union (JRU) on the occasion of your 28th Annual Congress.

We thank you for inviting us to this meaningful event, as we are likewise grateful to JRU for its assistance in the formation of Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (Unity of Transport Workers), which is now an affiliate of the BMP.

Meanwhile, the BMP also expresses our deepest sympathies to the Japanese people who are still recovering from the Great Eastern Japan earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants last March 2011.

We believe that the Japanese people – especially the working class – would rise from this great tragedy.

Humanity has long faced natural calamities such as earthquakes and floods. But through labor – through human collective and creative action using our tools and intellect – we not only survived but also became the dominant species of the planet.

While humans have no other choice but to adapt to forces of nature, the case is different with regards to “man-made disasters” such as poverty and oppression, the exploitation of the working majority by the elite oligarchs, the slavery of labor by capital. We have a choice and – as workers – we must choose to fight for change.

Too Much Poverty amidst Too Much Progress

The world today faces a great contradiction. There is too much poverty and misery. Yet there is also too much progress!

In the past 60 years, there have been great leaps in the spheres of food production and preservation. We harvest millions of tons of different food types. Yet billions are undernourished.

We have achieved advancement in construction and engineering, making habitable even the harshest environments such as deserts and the Arctic tundra. Yet millions are homeless.

The capitalist advertisers have artificially created different demand for various human wants. Yet millions are deprived the bare necessities in order to live.

On a global scale, the gap between the rich and the poor is ever so widening. The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and the owners of global monopoly corporations earn more than a hundred times more than their rank and file workers.

While the few global billionaires worry about their profit margins, billions of working people are living in abject poverty, suffering from low wages, temporary and unsecure employment.

And yet, what is being preached by our governments and their economists? Their slogan is no other than “Free trade”. Rather than liberate the working class, they want liberalized commerce. They want no interference and regulation from the State!

In the nineties, they promised a greater cooperation among nations in a liberalized global economy. But the policies of liberalization, deregulation, privatization and flexibilization of labor did not lead to cooperation but to intensified competition, which only worsened the conditions of the working peoples of the world.

Effects of Privatization in the Philippines

Comrades, it would probably take too much of our time if we discuss each policy of globalization – and its effect on workers.  Of course, with the JRU campaign against the privatization of the Japanese railway system, you know all too well its effect on workers’ job security.

So let me just share with you – the most glaring effect of privatization in the Philippines.

Since 2001, a law was passed for the privatization of the entire power industry in my country. The power plants and transmission lines, previously owned by the government through the National Power Corporation (NPC), were sold to capitalists in the private sector.

The government then promised that the cost of electricity would go down. What happened was the complete opposite.

In a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on the “cost of doing business” in 31 countries in the Asia-Oceanic region, it was revealed that the highest residential electricity rate is in Metro Manila, in the amount of $0.23/kwh. This is significantly higher than the rates in Tokyo and Singapore ($0.20/kwh), which ranked second place in the survey.

There are no compelling and rightful reasons for electricity costs in the country to be the highest in Asia. The Philippines is a Third World country, where every single centavo increase in power rates would reduce the “food on the table” for working families because even the highest minimum wage (in Manila) is but half of the cost of living – the necessary cost for a working class family to live decently.

The country’s extremely high power rates are also irrational in a country which has just begun the massive extraction of natural gas – a fuel to run power plants, thereby, alleviating the country’s dependence on imported crude oil.

Sadly, capital could only understand one thing: its logic of profit, profit and profit. It is not in the business to give service to the people. Its motive is to accumulate even at the expense of an entire population of a poor Third World country.

Flexibilization of Labor: the Cornerstone of Globalization

However, for the working class, globalization is more than “higher prices” due to privatization and deregulation. Its cornerstone is “flexibilization of labor” – the removal of all labor rights and standards, which has established the price and the conditions of labor-power through centuries of hard-fought working class struggles.

Free trade means free competition. Capitalists fight for their dominance in the market through their “price war”. Previously, governments intervened in capitalist competition by placing tariffs and imposing regulations to prices.

Now, with globalization, corporations have no other recourse but their production expenses. And as trade unionists, we all know that when our bosses speaks of “cost cutting”, they really mean the cutting down of wages and benefits, not on other “costs of production” such as materials, equipment, and machinery.

For the employers, workers could be blackmailed by the threat of hunger and unemployment to force them to accept lower wages. They want to have flexible arrangements to setting wages and working conditions.

In order to survive the stiff competition in the global market, employers invented new schemes to render useless the various labor standards won by the international labor movement. These labor standards include the minimum wage, the 8-hour working day, job security and other benefits. Their new work arrangements are called in different names in various countries: outsourcing, contractualization, subcontracting, temporary employment, flexible work agreements, individual bargaining, casualization, etc., etc.

The objective of “flexibilization of labor” is to create a cheap and submissive workforce, who earn wages that are lower than the existing minimum wages and who are constantly afraid of being terminated due to their unsecure and temporary employment.

The effect of which is to weaken the base of regular workers who enjoy the protection of their union. Hence, our founder – Comrade Popoy Lagman – once described globalization as a “holocaust of unionism” and the “global union busting”.

The twin scourges of “flexibilization of labor” and “privatization” are most felt by public sector employees. Government corporations are being sold to monopoly capitalists, who are intent on smashing the previous regular workforce.

Unfortunately for the displaced state workers, if they are able to find another job, they would be victims of “labor flexibility”, facing lower wages and irregular employment.

The Challenge for the Labor Movement

Comrades, we are in the middle of a capitalist offensive against trade unionism, workers’ rights and labor standards. As always, the key to our victory lies in the unity and struggle of the labor movement. The imperative is for labor to unite, not just in words but in deeds.

But in order for workers to truly unite, the BMP believes that we must transcend the limitations of trade unionism. In order to merge into a single fighting army, labor must start to think “as a class” – not just “as employees” in local or industry unions, not just “as a sector” in a branch of the economy such as the transport sector and not “as a nation” based on the color of our skin or our culture.

Because we are all brothers and sisters in class, because we are all workers, and because we are wage slaves, we must unite and fight for the emancipation of labor from the bondage of capital. We have a world to win. Workers of the world unite! Gambaro! Gambaro! Gambaro!  #

Huwebes, Mayo 31, 2012

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. 

Hence, the conviction of Corona would not be a deterrent to corruption since no “crime” other than “non-disclosure” was established. While government officials should properly disclose their properties in the SALNs, a statement of how much one owns is not enough. Public accountability requires public scrutiny on how such wealth was acquired. Therefore, we reiterate our demand for DISCLOSE ALL, for the full disclosure of all bank records and financial transactions by all government officials – a political reform that would test the Constitutional provision on “sovereignty”, if all power and authority truly resides in and emanates from the people. #

Miyerkules, Mayo 23, 2012

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. #

Lunes, Mayo 21, 2012

Metro Workers picket the NCR Wage Board

PRESS RELEASE
May 21, 2012 

Metro Workers picket the NCR Wage Board:
Workers’ Cost of Living not Employers’ Capacity to Pay! – BMP NCRR

In reaction to the latest order by the NCR wage board, the militant socialist center Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) National Capital Region Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR) picketed the offices of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in in Malate, Manila today.  

Last Friday, the NCR wage board ordered a two-tier P30 cost of living allowance (COLA) and the integration of P22 previous COLA into the basic pay. Romy Castillo, BMP spokesperson said, “The order is an insult. The P30 COLA is not even enough to buy a kilo of rice.  More so, it also falls short of the P90 to P125 across-the-board wage relief demand by organized labor.”

Castillo added, “Workers, however, have little to expect from the regional wage boards. Its checkered track record shows that it is patently not a mechanism for economic relief.  Their wage increase orders are a pittance. The exemptions they give to employers make their directives a paltry. Barya na nga! Ipinagkait pa ng mga eksempsyon! Two-gives pa!”

BMP-NCRR Secretary General, Gie Relova explained, “The NCR wage board fulfilled its mandate in accordance to Republic Act 6727, or the 1989 Wage Rationalization Act: to peg wages to the level of starvation pay”.

The BMP is demanding the reform of the country's wage fixing mechanisms and the abolition of the wage boards. The labor group is calling for the scrapping of RA 6727 since “it gives more weight and consideration to “employers’ capacity to pay” rather than the “cost of living” for the workers and their families.

“Workers are not asked for their "capacity to buy" when we buy our families' needs. Why then, in fixing wages, must the government ask the employers in the tripartite wage boards if they have the "capacity to pay" the living wage?”, Relova asked. The BMP estimates the daily cost of living for a family of six to be at P990.

Relova elucidated, “Are workers asking too much if they want to be paid at cost? Prices of commodities are generally the sum of "cost of production" and profit. For the price of labor power (wages), workers want to be paid according to the necessary costs for workers and their families to survive decently.” 

At the protest, the workers brought “thirty (30) rotten eggs” to highlight their disgust to the latest wage order of P30 COLA for Metro Manila worker.“Tatlumpong bugok na itlog para sa bugok sa wage board”, Relova concluded. #

Miyerkules, Abril 18, 2012

Ang mga Manggagawa ng Gelmart - ni Tina Foronda

Ang mga Manggagawa ng Gelmart
ni Tina Foronda

Manggagawa sa ilalim ng pakikibaka!
Gumagawa para kumita!
Gumagawa para may makain!
Gumagawa para sa Pamilya!

Taong 1986, ang Pagawaan ng Gelmart Industries Philippines ay may humigit kumulang pa sa Sampung Libong Manggagawa na ang 90% ay kababaihan at 10% lamang ang kalalakihan. Ang pagawaang ito’y matatagpuan sa South Service Road, Parañaque City. Isang pagawaan ng mga panloob na kasuotan.

Ang mga kagamitan nito ay nagmumula pa sa ibang bansa at ang nabuong produkto nito ay pang-export din, sa iba’t ibang bansa pa ito dinadala. 

Maraming manggagawa ang ibinuhos na ang buong buhay, panahon at lakas ng kanyang paggawa sa loob ng pabrika.

Naging mistulang alipin ng buong sistema ng kapitalista, dahil sa kakarampot na sweldo, na hindi makasapat na ipangbuhay sa pamilya at lalong hindi makatugon sa pang-araw-araw na pangunahing pangangailangan.

Ang mga manggagawa ng Gelmart ay may isang samahan o UNYON, ang LAKAS MANGGAGAWA sa GELMART (LMG). Noong 1994 ay si Victor Briz ang nahalal na Pangulo ng nasabing Unyon, at masasabing isang solidong samahan kahit may mga ilan lang na kumakalaban minsan. 

Ang Unyon ng Gelmart ay aktibo sa mga pagkilos mula sa Lokal at Sentrong Pampulitika ng Manggagawa, ang Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). Maipagmamalaki din na isa sila sa pinakaaktibo sa pagkilos lalo na sa mga rally. May mga pagkakataon na rin na naglunsad ng pagkilos ang mga manggagawa sa loob at labas ng pagawaan at ilang beses na ring humantong sa mataas na antas ng pakikipaglaban, (ang mag-strike). 

Unti-unti ng tinatamaan ng matinding krisis ang kompanya dulot na rin ng Globalisasyon at nahirapang makipag-kompetisyon, dahil sa pang-export ang mga produkto nito, at dahil sa Dolyar ang pinanggagalingan ng gastusin nito ay lumala pa dahil sa pagbagsak ng halaga ng dolyar sa piso.

Dahil sa pagbabawas ng mga orders ng mga costumer nila sa ibang bansa, unti-unti na ring isinasara ang ibang Departamento sa loob ng pagawaan. Dinadala nila ang ibang manggagawa sa lugar na kung saan merong gagawin.

Inilipat na sa ibang gawain at departamento ang ilan, kung saan kailangan pa, at ang iba naman ay napilitan nang mag-resign dahil sa hindi makayanang magpalipat-lipat ng trabaho. Hanggang sa umabot na lang ng humigit kumulang sa dalawang libo ang natirang manggagawa noong taong 2005. Tumindi ang hagupit ng delubyo sa pagtuntong ng taong 2006 sa halos dalawang libo pang manggagawa.

Pansamantalang pinwersa na pinagbabakasyon ang karamihan at halos isang porsyento alng ang naiwan sa loob ng planta para magpatuloy sa mga natitira pang hindi natapos na produkto.

Umabot ng anim na buwan ang pansamantalang pagbabakasyon na hanggang sa tuluyan nang nagdeklara ang management na magsasara na ito dahil hindi na raw makayanan na maisalba pa ang kumpanya sa pagkalugi at di na kayang makipag-kompitensya sa ibang malalaking kompanya. 

Nawalan na ng munting kabuhayan at pinagkakakitaan ang mga manggagawa sa Gelmart. Ang iba ay nawalan na ng pag-asa, ngunit ang iba naman ay may mga lakas pa ng loob na makipagsapalaran sa ibang mga pagawaan. Wala mang kasiguraduhan na mapermanente ulit sa trabaho dahil sa hindi na pagreregular ang mga kompanya sa mga manggagawa. Ang dahilan ay bahala na, ang mahalaga ay may pansamantalang pagkukuhanan ng pamatid gutom man lang.

Nahaharap pa rin sa pakikipaglaban ang mga manggagawa dahil sa biglaang pagsasara ng pabrika na hanggang sa ngayon ay hindi pa nababayaran ang mga manggagawa sa matagal na pagseserbisyo at benepisyo ng bawat isa.

Nagkaisa ang mga manggagawa sa pangunguna ng pangulo ng Unyon at ng mga opisyales na magpiket sa labas ng pagawaan upang matiyak na hindi mailabas ang mga kagamitan. 

Bawat gate ay tinayuan ng mga kubol at binabantayan ng dalawampu’t apat na oras kada araw ang mga gate. Nagpapalitan ang mga manggagawa sa pagbabantay. 

Nasa kaso na ang mga usapin. 

Sa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Parañaque kasaluku-yang nililitis ang kaso. Humaharap ang mga abogado ng Gelmart Management at opisyales ng Unyon, kasama ang ibang miyembro at kaharap din ang abogado ng manggagawa mula sa Sanidad Law Office.

Base sa mga paglilitis, sa mapagbebentahan ng mga ari-arian ng kompanya magmumula ang kabayaran ng mga manggagawa.

Mahigit anim na taon na ang itinatagal ng kaso. Hindi maayos ang isinagawang pag-imbentaryo ng mga makina o kagamitan sa loob ng planta. Sobrang napakababa ng halaga nito at kinailangang ipaulit pa, kung kaya’t napapatagal ang pagbibenta ng lahat ng mga ari-arian.

Sa kasalukuyan ay patuloy parin namang nakikipag-usap ang bahagi ng Gelmart Management, kahit sa labas ng paglilitis at nakikipagtulungan din naman na matapos na ang kaso at makapagbayaran na.

Ang hinihiling lang naman ng manggagawa ay ang sapat na kabayaran.

Ang pamunuan ng unyon ay hindi sumusuko sa pakikipaglaban dahil na rin sa suportang ibinibigay ng kanyang mga miyembro. Lalo’t higit sa Pangulo ng Unyon na si Victor Briz ay matatag at hindi nagpapabaya sa kalagayan. 

Tunay na ang manggagawa ang yaman ng bansa. 

Ipamulat natin sa uring manggagawa na habang ang kapitalista ang naghaharing uri, mananatiling alipin ang manggagawa…. 

May 1, 2013 rali

Das Kapital published on 14 Sept 1867

Das Kapital published on 14 Sept 1867

Itigil ang Tanggalan!

Itigil ang Tanggalan!
Disenteng Trabaho para sa Lahat!

kagutuman sa kabila ng kahirapan

kagutuman sa kabila ng kahirapan

Mga tagasunod

Slam Evil, Slam Apec

Slam Evil, Slam Apec
November 1996