Why the Left's silence on Duterte's politics of persecution?

I always thought that Leftist politics stood for the best behavior one can possibly project on the political arena -- that apart from its sharpest analysis and the correctness of its views, it also represents, by itself, a politics of freedom. Of human perfectibility.

Of Reason.

Whether we like Senator Leila de Lima is beside the point. The most powerful official of the land is resorting to wanton political persecution of its own political enemy. This is not leadership, but  tyranny.

And for what? Because she originally asked a valid enough question: Why are so many deaths happening under the president's favorite advocacy -- an advocacy which incidentally does not strike at the heart of our foremost social problems. Asking this question is wrong?

And yet, the Left is silent. Their reason -- De Lima probably deserves it. For being a stooge of the Liberal Party, which is a party of the ruling class.

As if Duterte is not. As if Duterte's campaign was not funded by the elite.

Congress, and the worst elements residing there, are under a renewed vigor, basking under the glory of Rodrigo Duterte, and the current public euphoria over him. These are the same people who by themselves, at separate periods in history, maimed, killed and looted the nation. People who are unfit even now to kiss Leila De Lima's feet. Their new project: the showing of De Lima's supposed sex video.

The ND Left, supposedly the best of the lot, is of course silent. Never mind that when its ranks were being massively killed under Gloria Arroyo, it was Leila De Lima's Commission on Human Rights that was among a handful of government agencies it could find a sympathetic voice from.

The nation is unravelling, and the Left is unravelling with it.

REPOST: FDC warns against regressive effects of new tax reforms

MANILA, Philippines – While the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) welcomes the Duterte administration’s move to reform the country’s outdated 19-year old tax scheme, it cautions against the regressive effects that the five tax policy packages as they could penalize ordinary wage-earning citizens.

“We urge Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to reveal to the public the details of the tax reform packages he presented to Congress so we would know how these measures will impact the lives of millions of Filipinos to whom every centavo counts in their daily struggle to make ends meet,” FDC Secretary-General Sammy Gamboa said in a news release Sunday.

Gamboa expressed concern that the reforms would be based on trade-offs and compromises with corporate interests rather than principles of equity, fairness and justice. 

“Any increase in workers’ take-home pay due to lower individual income tax would be hardly felt with higher prices of goods and services as a result of increases in excise tax on oil, which would hike fares in public transportation, and reduction of Value-Added Tax exemptions.” Gamboa said.

Earlier pronouncements of the Department of Finance (DOF) showed plans to cut tax rates on individual and corporate income, fiscal incentives to investments, property and capital income alongside increases in excise tax on oil, property valuation, and stocks traded in the stock market. Exemptions from the VAT will be limited to raw food, health, medicines and education. Also identified were additional measures on sugary and fatty foods, mining, alcohol and tobacco, gambling, luxury items and carbon.

With the proposed five tax policy packages, the government stands to lose P198.3 billion but collect P566.4 billion in new taxes resulting in a net gain of P368.1 billion by 2019. These figures, according to Gamboa, are worrisome.

“Net gain from the trade-off between lower personal income tax and higher excise tax on oil, lesser VAT exemptions and new levies on sugary and fatty foods will be P220.7 billion. Meanwhile, there will be a P1-billion net loss from the swap between lower corporate income tax and rationalization of fiscal incentives. This means that Duterte’s new revenue-generating measures will be borne mostly by salaried workers!” Gamboa said.

He added that public transportation subsidies and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program would not be enough to cushion the effects of price hikes. He stressed that livelihood assistance and employment for affected sectors should be assured and could be funded by earmarking proceeds of the increased tax on oil for this purpose.

“We need to know. The public deserves to be consulted. Will the proposed revenue measures facilitate economic gains to ‘seep through’ or will it force hard-earned money to pour out of ordinary people’s pockets?” Gamboa said in allusion to the Duterte administration’s promise of equitable prosperity for all. ###

 

http://www.fdc.ph/press-statements/debt-public-finance/707-fdc-warns-against-regressive-effects-of-new-tax-reforms

REPOST: NAGKAISA Condemns Killings of Labor and Community Organizers

NAGKAISA (SOLIDARITY), the coalition of 47 labor federations and workers organizations, which is the largest labor formation in the Philippines, strongly condemned the recent spate of murders of labor union and community organizers with seven incidents happening only this month. NAGKAISA expressed grave concern that this may just presage the start of more violence directed towards grassroots labor organizing.
Yesterday, 64-year old Edilberto Miralles, former union president of R&E Taxi transport service, was gunned down by unknown assailants right in front of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in Quezon City. He was scheduled to attend a labor hearing that day.
On September 17, union organizer Orlando Abangan, 35 years old, was shot by unidentified gunmen on the way to his home in Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City, Cebu.
Abangan was a full-time organizer for Partido Manggagawa (PM) in the province since 2001. During the last elections, he built an organization in Talisay that campaigned for social protection and social services for persons with disabilities. He was also engaged by the labor center Sentro as organizer for the informal sector workers.
Earlier this month, four farmers were shot dead by unidentified men in a farm located inside Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija. The armed men involved in the brutal slay were reportedly dropped from a helicopter seen hovering over the military reservation camp. The victims were Emerenciana Mercado-de la Cruz, Violeta Mercado-de Leon, Eligio Barbado and Gaudencio Bagalay.
They were all members of the Alyansa ng mga Mamamayang Nagkakaisa, tilling part of the disputed 3,100 hectares of land inside Fort Magsaysay. Several others were wounded.
On September 7, farmworker leader Ariel Diaz was shot to death by three men in his Villa Pereda farm in Delfin Albano town, Isabela. Diaz is the chairperson of the Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon ti Isabela and was the head of the provincial chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Isabela.
Union and community organizers are the quintessential vital cogs of our still nascent and highly vulnerable grassroots democracy. Their collective struggle is key in helping realize inclusive growth and preventing “the race-to-the-bottom” particularly for the majority poor and their families in a Philippines where the gap between the poor and the rich are growing wider and deeper every day.
The wide ranging implications of their deaths further underscores the need for the government to ensure protection to ordinary citizens let alone labor leaders and community organizers. The killings, again, put into question the bragging rights of employers and government that we have stable industrial peace.
NAGKAISA expressed sympathy with the relatives of those killed, and also demanded swift justice for the victims.
NAGKAISA called upon Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to immediately convene the high-level labor-government-employer Tripartite Industry Peace Council (TIPC) that would not only draw up long-lasting measures to contain and prevent anything of this sort from happening again but place a spotlight into any attempt to short-circuit the Constitutional right of workers to organize, bargain collectively or engage in legitimate concerted action. NAGKAISA also, called on Secretary Emmanuel Sueno of the Department of Interior and Local Government and PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa to reconvene, with labor, business and civic organization membership, the National Peace and Order Council, and its regional, provincial, and municipal chapter counterparts to send a clear signal of the primacy of the law .

Retrieved from the SENTRO website: http://www.sentro.org/?p=925

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Nagkaisa is made up of:

Alliance of Free Workers (AFW) ,
All Filipino Workers Confederation (AFWC),
Automobile Industry Workers Alliance (AIWA),
Alab Katipunan,
Association of Genuine Labor Organizations (AGLO),
Associated Labor Unions (ALU),
Associated Labor Unions- Association of Professional Supervisory Officers Technical Employees Union (ALU-APSOTEU),
ALU-Metal,
Associated Labor Unions-Philippine Seafarers’Union (ALU-PSU),
ALU-Textile,
ALU-Transport, Associated Labor Unions-Visayas Mindanao Confederation of Trade Unions (ALU-VIMCOMTU),
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL),
Association of Trade Unions (ATU),
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP),
Confederation of Independent Unions (CIU),
Confederation of Labor and Allied Social Services (CLASS),
Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS),
Federation of Coca-Cola Unions (FCCU),
Federation of Free Workers (FFW),
Kapisanan ng Maralitang Obrero (KAMAO),
Katipunan,
Pambansang Kilusan sa Paggawa (KILUSAN),
Kapisanan ng mga Kawani sa Koreo sa Pilipinas (KKKP),
Labor education and Research Network (LEARN),
League of Independent Bank Organizations (LIBO),
MARINO,
National Association of Broadcast Unions (NABU),
National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU),
National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NAMAWU),
National Association of Trade Unions (NATU),
National Confederation of Labor (NCL),
National Confederation of Transport Union (NCTU),
National Union of Portworkers in the Philippines (NUPP),
National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries (NUWHRAIN),
Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA),
Pepsi Cola Employees Union of the Philippines (PEUP),
Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA),
Pinag-isang Tinig at Lakas ng Anakpawis (PIGLAS),
Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PILLU),
Philippine Independent Public Sector Employees Association (PIPSEA),
Partido Manggagawa (PM),
Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA),
Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK),
Philippine Transport and General Workers Organization (PTGWO),
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP),
Workers Solidarity Network (WSN).

Three out of every 10 Filipino workers are contractuals (non-regular) -- BusinessWorld

According to a BusinessWorld graphic, 29.9% is the share of "non-regular" employees in the Philippine labor force, across all industries.

At current labor force estimates (39.9 million), that's almost 12 million.

The top five industries that depend on non-regular employees -- or on "endo" or end of contract practice -- as a share of their work force are the following:

1. Construction (59.2% share)
2. Agriculture, fishery and forestry (42.3%)
3. Administrative and support service activities (40%)
4. Accommodation and food service activities (34.4%)
5. Mining and quarrying (33.9%)

Wholesale and retail trade is seventh, with one out of every four workers being non-regulars.

All of this is 2014 data, based on the BusinessWorld chart.

But if we apply the percentages to current labor numbers...

Top Industry Groups by Number of Employed (Tot: 39.9 million)

1. agriculture, hunting and forestry; fishing and aquaculture =   9.98 M [farmers and fishers]
2. wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles =  8.2 M [salesladies, etc.]
3. construction =  3.47 million  [construction workers]
4. manufacturing = 3.46 million  [factory workers]
5. transportation =  2.94 million  [drivers, konduktor, etc.]
...then we can get the following:

• some 2.05 million construction workers;
• some 4.19 million workers in agriculture; plus
• some 2 million wholesale and retail trade workers

are all contractors. That's a hefty 8 million people not enjoying benefits such as paid time offs, sick leaves, and yearly salary increases -- and that's only from the three largest industry groups.

While at this, the whining about firms like SM not really being the correct poster boy for contractualization is misplaced, since workers from this industry (8.2 million) more than double those from construction (3.47 million). SM is very much into this game, as is JG Summit (Robinsons malls). These are all official government statistics, so actual figures will likely be higher.

REPOST: On the Extra-Judicial Killings: The Matobato confessions confirm the failure of the entire trapo system

On the Extra-Judicial Killings

Written by Partido Lakas ng Masa

Saturday, 17 September 2016 21:08

The Matobato confessions confirm the failure of the entire trapo system By Sonny Melencio The statements of operative Edgar Matobato during the Senate hearings on extra-judicial killings have confirmed the existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) which we know have existed for a long time now. According to Matobato, the killings have been going on since 1988 starting with the Cory administration through to FVR's, Erap's, GMA's, Noynoy's, up until now. This means that all these administrations must be held accountable. They all have blood on their hands. The statements also expose the connivance of the police and government forces in perpetrating the killings. We also know that this connivance has been established in the operation of the illegal drug trade itself. As to how the killings could remain unabated all through the years has to be explained not only by the Duterte government but also by the previous ones. The previous administrations have known what was happening in Davao all along, but they chose to ignore it. Some administrations even consorted with the drug lords and syndicates, until the drug issue became so significant that it catapulted Rodrigo Duterte to power. The killings have become almost nationwide. Now its becoming clearer that these mass killings are in fact systemic. It's part and parcel of the system of trapo politics and elite rule in the country. Davao is not the only case. There have been similar killings in Negros (Escalante), Isabela, Maguindanao and elsewhere. It might not have the same intensity and publicity as in Davao, but it points to the capacity of the ruling individuals in power to form their own death squads, bodyguards and goons to do their bidding. We have a term to describe this localized phenomenon, that is warlordism, reminiscent of an era when the landowning class in their fiefdom ruled through terror and violence. We have to assess and therefore question the direction of the Senate hearings in this context. The hearings have degenerated into a jockeying of opposing factions within the ruling class in order to score points and advance their own agenda. This makes the Senate hearings an exercise in futility, as they are not meant to resolve the problem of the killings, but to lay the blame solely with the present administration. The motive is therefore suspect. The question is posed: Why didn't the elite factions which were previously in government, not so long ago, use their power to stop the killings? Let's not fool ourselves. There has been an increasing polarization of forces within the ruling class. Even if the Liberal Party is in disarray, with a majority of its members having joined the Duterte faction, they are still powerful enough to destabilize the Duterte regime. Yes, there is a Plan B, as there is a Plan A, or even a Plan C that are a part of this faction's maneouvers to control power. But where are the masses and the poor in all these designs? Our interests are not represented in any of these maneouvers. While they quarrel in the halls of the Congress, we continue to be the casualties of their system -- oppressed, exploited and even killed in the streets. The solution is not to replace Duterte with another trapo via plans engineered by any of the elite factions. We must not be trapped into aligning ourselves with any of the factions. The masses must organize and mobilize for their own agenda and interests. This is the only way that we can protect our communities and win genuine peace and security. The unity of the Left and progressive forces is crucial to achieving this.#

Partido Manggagawa (PM): PM condemns vigilante style killing of a leader

Partido Manggagawa (PM): PM condemns vigilante style killing of a leader: The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the killing of one of its leaders in Talisay, Cebu today. Orlando Abangan, a community le...

BREAKING: Duterte has given the green light for Mary Jane's execution: Jokowi

From the Jakarta Post:

["President Duterte has given the go-ahead to proceed with the execution,” Jokowi was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in Serang, Banten."]

Read the story here (assuming it hasn't yet been deleted).