Tag Archives: PNoy

[Reflection] The right to strike

Posted on by dars0357

The PALEA members conduct a “sit-down protest” affecting almost all of the flights of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and 14,000 passengers. Photo from dzrhnewspublic.blogspot.com

Last Sept. 27, the load controllers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 walked out of their posts and airport personnel at the check-in counters vacated their work stations.

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) in their official statement announced that they were holding a peaceful sit-down protest to decry the PAL management’s plan to outsource and imminently displacement more than 2,500 regular PAL workers.

This compelled the Philippine Airlines (PAL) management to suspend all airport operations and cancel 172 inbound and outbound flights. Report said that at least 14,000 passengers were stranded in the airport while typhoon Pedring hit Manila heavily.

While the PALEA strike has drawn mixed reactions from the public, but what is really worrisome is the reaction of President Benigno Aquino III by calling it an economic sabotage. Although, PNoy seemed to backtrack when the Department of Labor and Employment upheld the action as legal, but his initial reaction has in effect pronounced the government’s anti-labor position.

It conveyed a ricocheting statement that strikes and other concerted labor activities aimed at airing legitimate workers’ demands and grievances are now regarded as economic terrorism and therefore should be met with violent force and repression.

While the PALEA strike might have caused an economic disturbance particularly in the general operation of the air transport industry but it does not reduce the fact that they have legitimate reason to do so.

Although labor outsourcing is nothing new, it is in fact allowed by labor law.  It is usually justified in the face of impending crisis. Most business establishments may find it logical and necessary to adopt this flexibility measure to cope with the fluctuations in the demand for their products and to reduce their production cost by maintaining lean regular work force.

But the question that should therefore be addressed is how to strike a balance between maintaining the companies’ profit and protection of employees. Business survival will be meaningless if the end result will be more unemployment.

This is what Pnoy should first think about before talking.

His responsibility is above all for the interest of the people including the poor workers and not for one company alone much less for the interest of a very rich businessman like Lucio Tan.

With more than10 million Filipino workers unemployed and underemployed and the threat of the continuing displacement and the gradual return of OFWs due to the economic recession in theUnited Statesand other parts of the world and political instability in the Middle East, can this country afford to leave more workers out of jobs?

The right to strike is a basic labor right that should be exercise whenever the security and dignity of workers are threatened.

But most importantly, it is also our right to hold any government responsible not only for allowing such right to be violated but more so for serving the interest of the few. If this is what PNoy meant of “matuwid na daan” then let’s all make this road rough and wry for his administration by not only supporting the PALEA strike but by raising this action to a political cause.

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[Event] 2nd SONA Mobilization

Posted on by dars0357

PNoy's 2nd Sona, so what's new? Photo from bulatlat.com

SONA July 25, 2011
CAMP-FDC-PAHRA Broad Mobilization

THEME: “ Bagong Ekonomiya, Bagong Sistema tungo sa May Dignidad na Buhay “
Major SLOGAN: PDP (Phil. Development Plan) ni PNoy, Saling-Pusa lang ang Pinoy

Pre-SONA Activities:
July 21 : Press Con : State of HR PAHRA & Pol Groups
Launching PP’s Fasting
July 22 : UP march to NHA KAMP
July 23 – Press Con – State of labor sector CONTRA Broad Labor Alliance
July 23 – Green Mob Broad Environment Group
July 24 – Pre SONA activity Akbayan
(to be determined pa)
SONA day:
7 am : KPD in Mendiola
9 am : CONTRA Broad labor group Morayta to Mendiola
AM : Akbayan filing of case against GMA
PM : March from Tandang Sora to HOR (max target) Ever Gotesco (min.)

Assembly place: Under fly over of Tandang Sora [1:30 pm assembly - 2:00 pm march]

Let our voice be heard…. Join the action!

[Reflection] Pnoy’s 2nd SONA, So what’s new?

Posted on by dars0357

PNoy's 2nd SONA, what is there to say? Photo from pinoygigs.com

President Benigno S. Aquino III’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) for many of his critics was nothing but a mouthful of litany without a substance.

Will his second SONA be different?

I bet to the last cents that PNoy’s second SONA will not be any dissimilar from his first.

If I sense it right, it is just about two things: those that he will say with conviction and those that he will not dare to say in order not to bite his own tongue.

There is nothing in his first SONA that showed any forward-looking solutions that his government is proposing to address the country’s endemic problems.

In fact, PNOy has become strangely passive in office for his first year, acting as if his only task is to discredit the Arroyos and to let the government do its work in a business as usual manner.

But he can’t keep dodging the bullet when there are many critical issues that posed great challenges to his administration.

On corruption

PNOY will surely throw out the baby with the bath water. To show that he is keen in moving his campaign slogan, “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”, he will not miss this chance to expose new anomalies and irregularities of the previous administration that his government has unearthed. He will brandish that his war on corruption is gaining ground.

It is no longer new and surprising to know the extent and magnitude of PGMA’s misdeeds but what is good in barking without biting. It will best serve the interest of the public if this will lead to prosecution and punishment of Arroyo and cohorts and not just mere public exposition.

On economy

Pnoy will certainly blow his own horn by announcing that his economic blueprint, known as “Social Contract with the Filipino people” is on the right track as the economy is fast growing. The Philippine Development Plan or the six-year economic blueprint sums up the administration’s economic direction with its defined strategies and goals for the next six years.

The economists believed that PDP is straightforward. It means – keeping the economy afloat in the globalized free trade while intensifying privatization through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and implementing social support programs like conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and fuel subsidies.

If economy is indeed improving, do we feel better off? Pnoy’s second SONA may play with figures. But translating it to poverty alleviation will be the biggest question that Pnoy needs to answer.

On peace and security

Pnoy will definitely claim that his peace efforts are now in place in the resumption of the peace talks with Muslim and communist rebels.

But human rights groups have repeatedly recommended to the Philippine government to fully observe its legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. The continuing attack against the perceived legal fronts of the communist rebels through harassment, intimidation and criminalization of political offense will only squander the opportunity to address the root causes of insurgency.

On human rights

PNoy’s first SONA never said anything about human rights and his government’s commitment for its promotion and better protection except perhaps a passing mention of his administration’s effort to solve the six extrajudicial killings that happened during the first few months after assuming office.

The lack of a clear human rights agenda is believed to be the reason why human rights violations continue unabated.

On land reform

Despite having been the centerpiece program of her mother, the late President Corazon Aquino the agrarian reform program was completely left out from his first SONA. Although, Pnoy mentioned his plan to build grains terminals, refrigeration facilities, road networks and post-harvest facilities for agriculture. But the highly controversial Hacienda Luisita is one issue that he will not dare dip his finger in.

The uneven ownership of land continues to magnifies the uneven social gaps in the society. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programs despite claims of its success has not able significantly to redistribute wealth and liberate the vast majority of agricultural lands under the principle of “land to the tillers”.

On OFW, labor and employment

Despite assurance that wage hike is imminent, PNoy will not go far in his second SONA to commit his government in complying with its constitutional mandate to provide workers a family living wage.

The labor sector has been assailing ever since the big mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income as the wage system is based more on the ‘capacity to pay’ of an employer rather than the ‘capacity to buy’ of a worker.

While a small wage increase will only benefit a reducing number of regular workers due to outsourcing, retrenchment and contractualization, at least three million Filipinos are expected to be completely out of work due to the exodus of returning OFWs. PNoy has no other way but focus on local job generation rather than extending the “labor export policy.”

So what’s new?

Whatever are the hypes and promises that Pnoy will say in his second SONA, what we are expecting more to hear is for PNoy to declare that his government will work not only to improve governance but also to make the economy a foundation for humane and decent living with a guarantee of respect and protection of our fundamental human rights.

That will be music to our ears.

[Reflection] The Blind Side

Posted on by dars0357

Mariano Umbrero, a political prisoner suffering from lung cancer, passed away on July 15, 2011. Photo from hronlineph.wordpress.com

The news that Mariano Umbrero, a political prisoner who was suffering from stage four – lung cancer died at the National Bilibid Prison Hospital on July 15, 2011, was not only saddening but also disturbing.

It was lamentable that despite incessant appeals of the families, friends and human right advocates both here and abroad to the Pnoy administration for his immediate and unconditional release on humanitarian ground since he was diagnosed with a respiratory disease in February of this year, it was uncaringly ignored by the government as he was left to perish in jail without receiving freedom and compassion.

Umbrero was just one of more than 300 political prisoners in country. He was a suspected member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) when he was arrested and detained. He was charged and convicted for a common crime of murder and kidnapping with serious illegal detention.

Political prisoner is defined under Philippine law as person who has been arrested or detained by reason of the commission of an act penalized by existing law as political crime, or by reason of any other act which is complexes with, or connected to such crime, or impelled by a political reason or motive. Or simply, a prisoner who is held for political reason.

Considered as “prisoners of conscience” under international humanitarian law, they are locked up for speaking out against their government, for exercising their rights, practicing their religion, culture, race or gender.

What is disturbing is that keeping political prisoners behind bars through criminalization of political offense as a form of repression continue to happen up to this day. What makes it more inhuman is to allow them to suffer and die in prison without giving them due recognition.

President Aquino as a son of political prisoner during Martial law should know better the plight of political prisoners and why they should be set free and as the President, he now holds the sole authority to correct the miscarriage of justice against them by granting them with an executive clemency.

If Pnoy saw the merit and substance of granting of amnesty to 300 rebel soldiers, who were involved and charged for the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny; the February 2006 Marines standoff; and the November 2007 Manila Peninsula takeover for the purpose of political reconciliation and unity, why could he not give the same consideration and equal treatment to all political prisoners in the country? If he could order to drop charges against the so-called “Morong 43“, as a confidence building measure for the resumption of the peace talks with communist rebels, why could he not demonstrate the same goodwill and compassion to free all political prisoners to show its complete sincerity to achieve long and lasting peace in this country?

By not acting decisively and urgently on the appeal for Umbrero’s immediate release before he died last Friday, Pnoy did not only miss the opportune moment to show his government’s compassion for those who have fallen victims to injustice but he also failed to prove that he would be an exact opposite of his predecessor not perhaps for intently committing gross human rights violations but rather for not doing enough to improve the human rights situation.

Ensuring respect for human dignity, ending impunity, and freeing those are imprisoned for political reason are the concerete steps that the Pnoy government needs to undertake to reassure the Filipino people that real change is coming after decades of authoritarian rule. Failing to do so only means that human rights remain at the blind side of the government’s priorities.

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[Reflection] Pnoy’s first year not a straight path for people’s rights and welfare

Posted on by dars0357

Pnoy delivers speech during his first year celebration at Ultra. Photo from talakayanatkalusugan.com

The first year of President Aquino in office for many is quite a disappointment as it falls short of the expectation to improve people’s welfare and the human rights situation in the country. The people’s welfare and human rights are obviously not part of the new government’s top priorities in the past 12 months.

How P Noy fared during his first year mirrors that of the real state of the nation. While I recognize that the new administration has just inherited from its predecessor the heavy burden of a huge budget deficit, but after a year in office, change appears far from reality.

As the economy is slowly declining, joblessness remains high, and poverty continues to deepen, President Aquino seems to avoid facing the critical issue of land reform and agricultural modernization. These are fundamental reforms which the basic sector, the small farmers in particular, have been demanding from every sitting president. Instead, he is prioritizing mining — just like his predecessor did – which is not only said to be destructive to the environment but also infringes the basic human rights of the indigenous communities inhabiting the areas near the mining sites.

While the Filipino people’s living condition did not only change, those who are asserting their rights are also continuously being violated. Anti- mining groups claimed that anyone who opposes mining companies is quite likely to end up missing or dead. It is seen as a pattern that whenever there is mining operation, there would be extensive military deployment and escalation of human rights violations in the mining affected areas. It is like silencing a dog by poking it with sharp end of the stick.

Human rights violations continue to happen with impunity under the Pnoy administration. While efforts to improve and professionalize the investigation and prosecutorial system are said to be underway, police investigations remain fraught with delays and impediments. Until now, no single perpetrator is yet to be held accountable for human rights violations, and the government has done little to discipline the erring members of its security forces.

The Oplan Bayanihan which adopted a paradigm shift by the military from the combat-focused approach it used in the past to a human security or “people-centered” approach aims at least in paper to give greater attention to the needs of the citizens and the effects of military operations in the communities instead of pursuing armed rebels. But the continuing military presence and abuses on the ground in many provinces make it quite difficult to ascertain when Oplan Bantay Laya ends and Oplan Bayanihan begins. One can only think that this new security plan is no different from the other, except perhaps for a different name.

I believe that the promised change of daang matuwid (straight path) of the Aquino administration can’t be achieved without the guarantee of respect to human rights and dignity and ending impunity.

It is about time for President Aquino to walk the talk.

The straight path where he envisions of leading the nation should be a road that guarantees human rights for all.

But if it is a path where there are people who are only extra-legally killed or forcibly disappeared, subjugated by repressive laws, mired by poverty and ignorance, it will surely lead the nation to nowhere but doom.

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