For a Government of the Masses, Not the Elite!

STATEMENT on the 29th anniversary of EDSA 1986
February 22, 2015
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), Sanlakas

For a Government of the Masses, Not the Elite!

On the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the People Power uprising in 1986, the workers and the people - under the banner of BMP-PLM-Sanlakas express our unity and support to all forces calling for the ouster of Noynoy Aquino.

Noynoy deserves to be ousted - not just because of allegiations about his incapacity to hold the highest office in the land. More so, he symbolizes the interests of landlords and capitalists, whose greed for power and profit cause the misery and poverty of the Filipino majority.

He is the personification of neoliberal policies of liberalization, deregulation, privatization and labor contractualization that continue to wreck havoc on the lives and welfare of the people. More so, Noynoy is the manifestation of the tyranny of political clans, brought by the rotten and backward system of elite democracy.

The tragedy in Mamasapano that cost the lives of forty four (44) SAF troops, eighteen (18) Moro fighters and five (5) civilians, is but the latest evidence arguing for the ouster of Noynoy as president of the Republic of the Philippines and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The said dastardly incident is an addition to the ever-growing list of unpresidential errors by the current Malacanang resident, which started at the Quirino Grandstand Bus Hostage Crisis.

Hence, the BMP-PLM-Sanlakas calls on all forces of the anti-Noynoy movement, the workers and the poor demand not just regime change but for meaningful changes in Philppine society. We have learned the bitter lessons of past EDSA upheavals.

We are, likewise, issuing this clarification to personalities and groups calling for the resignation of Noynoy: the mere expression of disgust over the incompetent president is not enough. "P-Noy resign" simply means the ascension of VP Binay as "constitutional successor", in the same way as GMA was sworn in as president during Edsa Dos to replace the ousted Erap Estrada in 2001.

The path to meaningful reforms lies in the extra-constitutional means of removing a president through the concerted action of the workers and the people. It is a crusade that does not limit itself with the parameters of the 1987 Constitution. Because the people's right to struggle against a tyrant is recognized in a Charter that is borne out of the anti-dictatorship and anti-Marcos struggle.

Millions of workers, including the majority who are unorganized, are ready to support a movement to unseat an elitist president, only if it also fights for meaningful reforms that would address their everyday problems.

To those who are calling for Noynoy's ouster, we are proposing a common agenda for living wage, regular jobs, decent housing, social services such as healthcare and education, freedom from political dynasties, etc. Oust Noynoy but his ouster is not enough! For a government of the masses, not the elite!" #

PR: Aquino betrayed the peace process, killed BBL, militants say

PRESS RELEASE

4 February 2015

Ref. Gie Relova 0915-2862555

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino

Talking Peace but Waging War

Aquino betrayed the peace process, killed BBL, militants say

A MILITANT labor group accused President Noynoy Aquino of abandoning the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The group further claimed that Aquino likewise killed whatever chances the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) had to be enacted.

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) in a statement said that, “Aquino betrayed his own cause for the BBL, because he himself admitted to having full and prior knowledge of the Mamasapano attack in his nationwide address. By giving the green light to proceed with the arrest operation despite being well-informed that the suspects’ location was a base camp of the MILF, this equates to sabotaging all the painstaking peace-building efforts of all stakeholders, including his own Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process”.

“This is a classic case of doublespeak, while proclaiming to pursue peace in Mindanao, Aquino back-stabbed the peace process with an armed, ill-advised, and uncoordinated intrusion on a known MILF territory. Aquino recklessly by-passed all agreed mechanisms for coordination between the GRP and the MILF under the 1997 Ceasefire Agreement, they added.

“Now, that people are agitated with the Mamasapano tragedy, he naively maintains that he seeks the enactment of the BBL despite the overwhelming undercurrent for vengeance. Aquino has only himself to blame if the Mamasapano tragedy spills-over and the BBL junked by attention-seeking legislators who are merely riding on the sentiments of the public” Gie Relova of BMP pointed out.

The group believes that Aquino had all the means and powers within the Office of the President to employ less confrontational methods to avoid bloodshed and spoil the gains the peace process has achieved.

“For all we know, Aquino could have simply dialed the number of MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal for coordination but opted not to do so. The non-usage of less confrontational methods is indeed the five-million-dollar-question that must be unearthed by the Board of Inquiry,” Relova urged.

"The Mamapasano betrayal only proves that the President could not be counted upon to secure peace with justice for both Moros and Filipinos,” the labor leader asserted.

The BMP also distanced itself from right-wing groups who are criticizing the President for not going after the Moros or the MILF. "We criticize the President not because he's not as "tough" on the Moros as he should be, but because he sabotaged the peace process," he declared.

The militants likewise denounced Aquino and his favored generals within the military hierarchy whom they branded as, “cold-blooded mercenaries for doing the dirty chores of their American puppet masters”.

They also added that, “To sacrifice the lives of the forty-four police commandos and twenty-four Moro victims to please the Americans is a new all-time high in terms of their servility”.

Relova dared US Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg to come forward and own up the reports that the US was involved in the Mamasapano tragedy.

“It is a known fact that Marwan has long been in the order of battle of the American intelligence community, a motive to neutralize Marwan and Usman is very well-established. If they truly treat us as allies and are supportive of the peace-building efforts in Mindanao, then Goldberg must disclose all he knows for the sake of a grieving nation and the future of the peace process,” he said.

The militants also said that according to their sources, the spin doctors of the Palace are working double-time to downplay the participation of US armed forces in the botched police operation in Mamasapano.#