Lawmakers, student groups, and advocacy groups are urging the public to help stop a hero's burial for former president Ferdinand Marcos.
Various groups have formed 'Coalition Against the Marcos Burial in Libingan Ng Mga Bayan,' which aims to prevent Marcos's interment at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).
They are inviting the public to wear white and join a non-partisan citizens' assembly at the Lapu-Lapu Area, in Rizal Park, Manila on Sunday, August 14.
"Every day that passes, Marcos' burial at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani becomes more and more inevitable," wrote the organizers on their Facebook page.
In a memorandum dated August 7, the Department of National Defense instructed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to plan and prepare Marcos's interment at the heroes' cemetery.
The burial has been projected to be held on September 18, after a nod from President Rodrigo Duterte.
The coalition cited Duterte's willingness to bury the late dictator in the site is "because he doesn't see widespread opposition to it." With the assembly, they aim "to prove him wrong."
"Before the president makes an official announcement and goes past the point of no return, we Filipinos need to make our strong opposition loud and clear," they wrote.
They said that because they recognize that the ultimate decision remains with Duterte, they call for the assembly to be able to offer a solution to the chief executive.
"We believe that the LNMB issue is too critical to how we define ourselves as a nation and to how our future as a nation will be shaped - we cannot lose focus," they added.
Susan Quimpo, one of the organizers of the assembly, told ABS-CBN News Sunday's program will focus solely on the "issue of Marcos burial and [their] opposition to it, and [their] request to President Duterte to change his mind about it."
"We have a petition to President Duterte outlining our reasons for requesting the burial not be held in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Mayroon po tayong petition signing na mangyayari on Sunday," she said.
She revealed, there will also be simultaneous rallies planned in Cebu, Bacolod, and Davao.
"Sa ngayon, sabi ni President Duterte, mag-rally daw. E di, magra-rally tayo. For now, that is the expression that we see of this request to President Duterte," she said.
She also urged citizens to course their opposition through their congressional district representatives.
Quimpo was also among the conveners of the Bawat Bato initiative which laid rocks and stones bearing the names of Martial Law victims on Marcos's burial site.
She emphasized that Marcos has no room in the heroes' cemetery in Taguig.
Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act signed in 2013, she cited, "provides reparation for the human rights victims of the Marcos regime."
"Kung nagbibigay ng reparations yung batas, ibig sabihin, talagang may human rights violations, 'di ba po? When you say human rights violations, automatic po, the state is responsible for it," she said.
"Ang dami pong claimants--umabot po ng 75,730 claimants. Ito po ang clear cut na batas na po ito, saying that he is guilty of human rights violation," she said.
Five of Quimpo's siblings were among those who were victims of human rights violations.
"Sa tingin ko, hindi naman karapat-dapat that he is given a hero's burial, when [there are] tens of thousands of people who were the real heroes fighting for freedom and justice and democracy," she said.
Apart from the human rights violations, Quimpo also underscored that there is proof Marcos laundered the people's money.
"In fact, even the Swiss courts have basically said na yung kaniyang deposits na umaabot sa approximately $10-billion ay ill-gotten wealth," she said.
She also noted, Marcos "was deposed by popular uprising," and as a soldier was "given dishonorable dismissal by the people that he was supposed to serve."
"Because he is a plunderer, because he is a violator of human rights, and fake naman yung kaniyang war medals and war records, patong-patong na po ito. It is overwhelming proof that he is not a hero," she said.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/08/10/16/strong-dissent-luneta-rally-set-vs-heros-burial-for-marcos
Friday, August 12, 2016
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Sunday, August 7, 2016
The Socialist Vision of BISIG -- written in 1987
A few years prior to the 1992 split within the Communist Party, the organization BISIG -- Bukluran sa Ikauunlad ng Sosyalistang Isip at Gawa (roughly "Union for Socialist Thought and Action") -- came up with its main document, The Socialist Vision.
The year was 1987. Cory Aquino had just been installed in power. This was a time when the Left struggled with the question of whether to support the new "liberal" regime and meanwhile bring the Leftist cause to the political mainstream -- or to stick to the old framework of the Communist Party of "encircling the cities from the countryside" with the aim of a state overthrow by force.
BISIG appears to have chosen the former path. Did they succeed? That is a question for another time. But what's significant here is that they were among the very first organizations to clearly talk about Socialism, and laid out a strategy founded on democratic principles. Because today, as Jacobin Magazine wrote, the Philippines is in the "paradoxical situation" for being "a country with a mass movement led by a Communist party where few people discuss socialism or Marxism." And today, that same party has allied with a self-proclaimed human rights violator in its quest for power (although this might change very soon).
The Socialist Vision, like Partido Lakas ng Masa's socialism primer, is an accessible, sound and enlightening read for people interested in socialist politics.
The full text is here.
The year was 1987. Cory Aquino had just been installed in power. This was a time when the Left struggled with the question of whether to support the new "liberal" regime and meanwhile bring the Leftist cause to the political mainstream -- or to stick to the old framework of the Communist Party of "encircling the cities from the countryside" with the aim of a state overthrow by force.
BISIG appears to have chosen the former path. Did they succeed? That is a question for another time. But what's significant here is that they were among the very first organizations to clearly talk about Socialism, and laid out a strategy founded on democratic principles. Because today, as Jacobin Magazine wrote, the Philippines is in the "paradoxical situation" for being "a country with a mass movement led by a Communist party where few people discuss socialism or Marxism." And today, that same party has allied with a self-proclaimed human rights violator in its quest for power (although this might change very soon).
The Socialist Vision, like Partido Lakas ng Masa's socialism primer, is an accessible, sound and enlightening read for people interested in socialist politics.
The full text is here.
The point is that half of the population is still poor
The headline of the national daily BusinessWorld could have been music to the ears of its target reader class: "Self-rated poverty nears record low." The latest SWS survey, to which the business paper has priority access, reported that 45% of families surveyed in the second quarter considered themselves poor. The last time this supposedly happened was in December 2011.
The number actually represents 10.5 million families according to the SWS. Multiplied by five, the results would suggest over 50 million Filipinos living in poverty. That doesn't sound much like good news, having a country half of whose population is considering itself poor. Which is saying a lot since according to BusinessWorld's own report, the poor tend to look at their situation optimistically by saying they're just "getting by" despite real conditions indicating otherwise.
Respondents in Metro Manila report the poverty threshold at P20,000 for each family. Assuming a family of five, that threshold is nowhere near a luxurious lifestyle.
So the real story is that half of the population is still poor, and above the official estimate of 26%. Self-rated poverty has been hovering at the 50% level during the Arroyo and Aquino administrations. A dip in the figure is meaningless in the face of the fact that the poor have been in poverty for decades.
The number actually represents 10.5 million families according to the SWS. Multiplied by five, the results would suggest over 50 million Filipinos living in poverty. That doesn't sound much like good news, having a country half of whose population is considering itself poor. Which is saying a lot since according to BusinessWorld's own report, the poor tend to look at their situation optimistically by saying they're just "getting by" despite real conditions indicating otherwise.
Respondents in Metro Manila report the poverty threshold at P20,000 for each family. Assuming a family of five, that threshold is nowhere near a luxurious lifestyle.
So the real story is that half of the population is still poor, and above the official estimate of 26%. Self-rated poverty has been hovering at the 50% level during the Arroyo and Aquino administrations. A dip in the figure is meaningless in the face of the fact that the poor have been in poverty for decades.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Partido Manggagawa (PM): PM wants union officers deputized as labor inspect...
Partido Manggagawa (PM): PM wants union officers deputized as labor inspect...: The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to deputize union officers as labor i...
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
REPOST: Meralco meter readers to hold protest as notice of strike matures
WHAT: Protest by a hundred Meralco meter readers to coincide with mediation meeting called by DOLE
WHEN: Tomorrow, August 2, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: NCMB Imus @ MYP GBY Building, Bayan Luma 7, Aguinaldo Highway
DETAILS: Meralco meter readers employed by its subcontractor Calapar Services Inc. are gearing up for a strike by holding a protest action tomorrow. The rally coincides with a mediation meeting called by the DOLE between the management and union. Some one hundred Calapar employees and their supporters are expected to participate in the protest.
The collective bargaining negotiations at Calapar is presently deadlocked over the issue of wage increases and the notice of strike filed by the union expired yesterday. The last remaining requirement for the holding of a work stoppage is a strike vote by union members.
Calapar services Meralco customers in the whole province of Cavite and the cities of Las Pinas and Paranaque. Meter reading was formerly done by Meralco employees but were outsourced to contractors like Calapar in the mid-1990's.
Monday, August 1, 2016
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