EDITORIAL
It must be recalled that one of the key campaign promises of President Duterte was to improve the labor conditions for Filipino workers including the phasing out of contractualization. After three years in office, contractual labor continues to persist in the country. Once again, we hear Senatorial candidates making promises to push forward pro-worker policies like the banning of contractual employment. Indeed, labor issues have long been used as campaign slogans by candidates, but no action was ever being done to address the issue.
First, a “labor vote” will choose legislators who will understand the issues affecting workers; for instance, lawmakers who will support the passage of House Bill 7787 or the ₱750 National Minimum Wage Bill. According to research group IBON, the cost of living nationwide has soared to ₱1,168/day for a family of six. The highest minimum wage is ₱537 in the NCR and the lowest is ₱265 in ARMM. It is now time that workers be accorded a minimum wage that is commensurate to their labor. Workers need immediate relief in the form of a significant wage increase to cope with the rising prices of basic goods and payments of services.
Second, a “labor vote” will support candidates who will push for regular employment and security of tenure. We need lawmakers who will push for the passage of House Bill 556 or the Regular Employment Bill. Workers all over the country are frustrated with DOLE’s Department Order 174 and President Duterte’s Executive Order 51 because it did not actually abolish all forms of contractualization but only further legitimizes the practice. House Bill 556 on the other hand is seen as a good alternative because it will declare all contractualization schemes illegal. It will likewise criminalize and penalize the practice of all contractual employment schemes.
Lastly, a “labor vote” will endorse senatorial candidates who will push for the passage of House Bill 555 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). This bill seeks to resolve centuries-old agrarian problem in the country by promoting rural development that will greatly benefit peasants and agricultural workers in the countryside.
Pro-people and pro-labor policies that will put an end to contractualization, create safer workplaces and living wages inevitably require legislation. Hence, candidates are urged to include the labor agenda in their platform.
Despite difficulties and challenges, elections provide a glimpse of hope for a new Philippines. Part of our Christian commitment is to support candidates who have the common good in mind. The struggle for dignified labor goes beyond the 2019 mid-year elections. Church-people are called to unite with Filipino workers in asserting their right to work, regular employment and decent wages and choosing lawmakers that will advance the labor agenda. As Bishop Pabillo pointed out: “our participation in the coming elections should not only be non-partisan. Let us get involved and engage in principled partisanship.”
OPINION
“The Blood of My Flock”
This is the clarion call today, Stop the Attacks: Defend Life and Rights! This is very personal on my part, sixty nine (69) persons killed in our beloved Negros island, remember the Sagay massacre last year, and just recently our state forces perpetrated the unjust killing of our farmers, of the so-called “Oplan Sauron” (Synchronized Enhanced Management Police Operation); fourteen (14) people of our island perished in this barbaric operation— they are part of my flock, their deaths pierced my heart with pain, I am mourning with their families and loved ones. More saddening is the grim attitude of our police officers, who until today callously claim of a consistent ‘nanlaban’ version; in repudiation, let me quote the words of Pope Francis: “I cannot fail to recall those who endure a multitude of violations of their fundamental rights in the tragic context of armed conflicts, while unscrupulous dealers of death enrich themselves at the cost of their brothers’ and sisters’ blood…” (Pope Francis, Human Rights in the Contemporary World: Achievements, Omissions, Negations, Rome, 10 December 2018)
The continuing Injustice
With a long history of social struggle, our island possesses greater social awareness among our farmers, much more so greater experience ‘defending our Life and Rights.’ As a young priest, my formation was molded by real-life mentoring of Bishop Antonio Fortich of Bacolod, the ‘rebel priests’ of Negros island—whose lives are dedicated in promoting social justice, and of the deep praxis-spirituality of St. Oscar Romero, Dom Helder Camara, Fr. Rutillo Grande and countless more…
Allow me to bring-back the powerful message of St. John Paul II, when he visited Bacolod in 1981, he said: “Injustice reigns when the laws of economic growth and ever greater profit determine social relations, leaving in poverty and destitution those that have only the work of their hands to offer. Being aware of such situations, the Church will not hesitate to take up the cause of the poor and to become the voice of those who are not listened to when they speak up, not to demand charity, but to ask for justice.” (St. John Paul II, Bacolod, 1981) We have suffered much from the oppressive hands of a dictator, of the police, the military and the para-military groups during Marcos’ Martial Law, here we are again, calling to ‘Stop the Attacks’ so violent, and barbaric from the very hands of our state forces.
Let me ask this again, What’s happening? Are we still observing law and order? Our state forces must not justify their acts with calculated justification of utter injustice – they should not play the deaths of farmers, whom they accused of terrorists – making themselves the real terrorists of our state. The madness of the ‘drug-war’ has rippled into our farming communities, inflicting more harm to the growing poverty of our poor communities. The longing of our people in the island is to achieve justice, from the many forms of continuing injustice. Massacres are increasing, killings are unstoppable, fears enveloping our streets and barrios, and what more? Our island again, is in red color, of dead bodies – of injustice.
The continuing injustice must stop. I am begging our state forces—the police and military personnel. These killings must end.
Our continuing struggle
Why attack ordinary civilians? Why attack the farmers—the poor farmers? We are seeking peace. We are seeking solutions. Killings is outside the box of justice, ultimately counters our longing for peace. As the families shed tears of anger and clamor for justice, my heart too bleeds in pain of injustice and I share the collective suffering of the many families left by the barbaric arrogance of our state forces. I mentioned my disgust of the violence in my earlier message, “please make sure you are NOT adding MORE REASONS for our people to get disillusioned with our government and peacekeepers! That will make you best recruiters for the underground movement…” It is the duty of our government to promote peace, and never ever to foment civil war among us Filipinos. We all desire to live in peace, our poor people, our farmers, our soldiers, our police officers—all of us. Why continue this madness? Why execute people by mere suspicion? Why shed blood, just because of the ‘command’ from the ‘mighty’? Why? We demand answers!
We will continue to pursue peace, thru the means of seeking justice for our brothers and sisters who perished from the barrel of arrogance of our state forces. I speak as a pastor, i am speaking from the smell of blood of my flock: STOP the ATTACKS! STOP the KILLINGS! “…the Church desires to bring the message of salvation, which Christ has entrusted to her, to every human being, to every culture and social environment, to the whole of mankind, but in the first place to those who are most in need. Without abandoning her specific task of evangelization, she will also strive to ensure that all aspects of the life of man and of the society of which he is part should be imbued with respect for human dignity and therefore with justice….” (St. John Paul II, Bacolod, 1981)
We call on our government today, our President, our military and police personnel, our elected leaders: STOP the ATTACKS! Begin to grow the seeds of peace that we planted. The roads to peace cannot be achieved in pseudo-commitments to ‘peace and order’ tainted by an all-out-war approach, history has proven the falsity of such a kind. Now, we are demanding peace based on justice. ###
FEATURE ARTICLE
The Filipino unionists’ struggle against martial law and fascist US-Duterte regime
The red-tagging and illegal arrests of three unionists on February 27 is the latest addition to the long list of intensified attacks against the working class. Union President Esperedion Cabaltera and Vice President Richard Genabe were found under custody of 10th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Municipality of Mawab, Compostela Valley in Davao Region, Mindanao. The union’s Secretary General, Ronaldo Rosales was held against his will by 71st IB in Pantukan. The three are officers of Musahamat Farm Workers Union-Kilusang Mayo Uno, an affiliate of International Trade Union Conferedation (ITUC).
Documentation from fact-finding missions of independent human and trade union rights organizations reveal that AFP members were also responsible for the torture and bloody attempt to burn two small-scale miners in 2017. The young workers namely Janry Mensis, then 22, and then 16- year old “Jerry” are members of Kahugpungan sa mga Mag-uuma sa Maco and were wrongfully accused of being members of the New People’s Army (NPA). They were taken to the camp of 71st IB where for several days endured torture and eventually escaped being burned alive.
According to Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), union president Cabaltera and vice president Genabe went to the police station on February 26 before they were illegally arrested on the 27th, to clear their names from a “military list” and filed for a complaint against unidentified armed men allegedly from the military who stormed their houses. Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region reports that the union leaders were released the on February 28 after enduring series of interrogation and torture. The military threatened to kill them if they continue their union activities. They were also forced to sign a paper claiming that they are surrenderees of the NPA, the armed wing of the CPP. On March 6, CTUHR released an alert via Workers Rights Watch that elements of the AFP 71st IB coerced 153 workers of Musahamat to resign from their union including leaders Cabaltera and Genabe.
Musahamat Farms II Inc. is a subsidiary of Kuwait- owned Sabel International Group W.LL that started operating in Davao region in 2008. It is only one of the many multinational companies in southern Philippines that produces and exports bananas and other fruits in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The industry’s banana export surged to USD 1.128 billion in 2017 with Davao region’s output of at least 900 thousand metric tons.
But why attack the leadership of Musahamat Farm Workers Union who are advancing legitimate labor demands of banana plantation workers in a southern province savagely exploited by big capitalists? According to Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (national organization of agricultural workers in the Philippines), state-sponsored harassment and vilification of the unionists and workers in Musahamat started on August 22, 2014 during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III. This led to the February 2015 complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO) against military officials who forced union officers to present themselves as NPA surrenderees.
In March 2016, the union then representing more than 320 banana plantation workers, lodged a complaint to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) against unfair labor practices including union busting, withholding of union dues, illegal suspension, and termination of union officers and members by management of Musahamat. The unions also voted in favor of a strike after many failed negotiations with Musahamat management but continuous threats and intimidation from the management and red tagging of the military have prevented the unionists to exercise their rights enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution and recognized under fundamental ILO Conventions ratified by the Philippines. The workers steadfastly built their protest camp but was peppered with bullets from two unidentified gunmen on midnight of April 2, nearly killing three unionists.
The union won the case in 2017 after they successfully went on strike to protest the dismissal of another two union leaders. Duterte has since been then elected but the conditions of banana plantation workers remain dire. It was also within that year that a number of banana plantation unions in Compostela Valley Province held series of strike against several companies to demand decent work, just wages and to oppose union busting and militarization. With Musahamat Farm Workers Union, Shin Sun Workers Union, Fresh Max Workers Union and Maparat Montevista Workers Union involved more than 600 striking workers. Eight more unions comprising of more than 700 workers conducted sympathy strikes in their respective workplaces to amplify the unions’ struggles.
Most of all, they stood firm and resolute against Duterte’s Martial Law in Mindanao as well as its extention until the end of 2019.
Cabaltera, Genabe and Rosales were illegally arrested based on perverse allegations that they are communist leaders when in fact, they are duly elected officers of their union, the sole and exclusive bargaining agent in Musahamat Farms II. President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement in 2017 maliciously tagged Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and member trade unions as legal front of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and subsequently declared the latter as terrorist organization under Proclamation 374, prescriptive of the Human Security Act of 2007 (RA 9373) and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (RA 10168), and AFP’s whole-of- nation approach, on top of intensified surveillance and profiling by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica). The action is a clear attempt to criminalize the legitimate work of unionists in advancing their socio-economic interests.
The national trade union center to which Musahamat Farm Workers Union belongs, KMU, has strongly condemned the tyranny and repression since its founding on May 1, 1980, during the US-backed regime of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. At present, tyranny had a facelift under Oplan Peace and Operation Pacific Eagle Philippines perpetrated by the US-Duterte, part of the US War on Terror around the world. The US used the five-month Marawi City war in Mindanao to include the country in its operations in Iraq and Syria, employing the “coalition operations” tactic (including many other governments) in Iraq and Syria, and bilateral operation (US government and the Duterte government) in the Philippines.
Duterte’s tyrannical rule has completely exposed his subservience to US and global capitalist system, with the rise of China and weakening of US hegemony. To consolidate US socio-political and neoliberal control over its neo-colony, the supermajority in the House of Representatives approved the extention of martial law in Mindanao. The looming militarization all over the country were followed by the ouster of Supreme Court chief justice, termination of the peace talks between Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in conjunction with the abolition of socio-economic reforms, displacement of thousands of indigenous peoples, red-tagging of progressive forces, and rising number of political killings resulting to gross trade union and human rights violations.
The US-Duterte regime’s war against the working class is further unveiled in easing of investment restrictions and continuing implementation of Duterte’s so-called 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, Philippine Development Plan 2017—2022, and AmBisyon Natin 2040 that remain favorable only to big comprador-landlords and foreign investors that continue to exploit the cheap labor in the country at the expense of workers’ wages, job security, and trade union rights. Take the case of Musahamat workers who are extremely overworked, as they have to perform five operations in a 3-hectare farm earning only an average of PHP 365 (USD 6.9) for at least a 12-hour back breaking work day.
On March 13, the Armed Forces of the Philippines had a press briefing Duterte is geared to dismantle the democracy long fought for and defended by the Filipino working class. The right to freedom of association and to peaceably assemble is clearly under intensified attack. Citing data from Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, US-Duterte regime’s orchestrated attack shows an increased number in cases of threats, harassment and intimidations towards workers and the urban poor: from 88 in former President Noynoy Aquino’s six- year term to 500 in the first year of Duterte alone. These rights are recognized under fundamental ILO Conventions ratified by the Philippines, which the military and police should respect at all times.
“KMU denounces this relentless vilification campaign by the AFP and intelligence agencies to tag KMU and our member unions as terrorist organizations. Our member unions are legitimate organizations of workers who are advancing legitimate struggles and grievances. Unionism is not terrorism,” KMU chairperson Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog said.
The Filipino workers and unionists, together with the broad people’s movement will not bow down to those who undermine workers’ struggles. The resistance against neoliberal attacks and state fascism strengthens as the crisis of the ruling system continues to worsen. The fight for what is socially just continues.
STATEMENT
Church-People Workers Solidarity (CWS) strongly condemns the
“massacre” of 14 people in Negros
We, the Church-People Workers Solidarity (CWS) strongly condemns the “massacre” of 14 people, mostly farmers in an alleged anti-criminality campaign in Negros Oriental led by Oplan Sauron. This highly coordinated military and
police operation targeted unarmed civilians belonging to legitimate peasant groups and farmers associations whom the military deviously tagged as armed rebels, members or sympathizers of the NPA. We hold the Duterte administration and
authorities accountable for this offensive attack against our farmers, and for all the victims of state-perpetrated violence.
Farm workers who comprise about a fifth of our population remain mired in poverty, some are evendying of starvation. It is an appalling and forlorn truth that those who work hard with their sweat and blood to produce food for the nation have nothing to provide for themselves and their families. They are forced by deprivation to eat the crumbs that fall from the tables of the landlords and the oligarchs for subsistence. Even more ineffable reality is that instead of mercy and compassion, they received bullets from authorities who are expected to protect them. With so much arrogance, greed and indifference, unjust social structures and atrocities will continue to prevail in our society.
We extend our sympathy and prayers for the bereaved families of the victims. With them, we cry out and demand for justice for the victims of the killings perpetrated by the police and military in Negros. Let us unite and amplify our call for Truth, Justice and Peace. Let us not allow the authorities to trample on their rights with impunity. Stop de facto martial rule in Negros Island! ###
“STOP THE KILLINGS! DEFEND LIFE AND RIGHTS!”
On the Violent Death of Hon. Bernardino ‘Toto’ Patigas, Sr.
In the name of the Church community of the Diocese of San Carlos, allow me to offer our sincerest condolences to the family of Bernardino ‘Toto’ Patigas, Sr., a martyr of the sugarworkers’ struggles in the island of Negros. He died violently from the assassin’s bullets last Easter Monday, April 22, 2019 in Escalante City, Negros Occidental, just a few weeks since the killing of Negros 14.
In sadness, we all are crying out: End the Killings! These barbaric and calculated assassinations must end! We should not tolerate this kind of crime.
Tay Toto was a dedicated human rights worker who himself became a victim by these uncontrolled killings of Filipinos.
He was a devoted church worker. He was a mission partner of the Carmelites in Escalante City and a Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) President of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Old Escalante. He tirelessly worked for the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) program of the parish.
His faith moved him to serve his poor brothers and sisters and was admired by the locals because of his humility and simplicity. He was a veteran grassroots activist, an active campaigner against coal in Northern Negros, and it was ironical that he was mercilessly killed on Earth Day!
He was a survivor of the 1985 Escalante Massacre perpetrated by the Marcos regime. His harrowing experience of the massacre emboldened him to work more for the cause of the workers.
His dedication to social justice is highly commendable, as he selflessly gave his life serving the oppressed and exploited sugarcane workers of the Negros island. With his untiring commitment to the cause of the poor, he received numerous death threats and harassment.
Recognizing his wholehearted service to the masses, the locals elected him as city councilor of Escalante. As city councilor, he amplified the voices of the toiling sugarcane workers, fisherfolks and urban poor; and organized mass actions, such as the annual commemoration of the Escalante Massacre.
Tay Toto helped form the dedication of our present grassroots leaders and activists. He showed us the way to care for the oppressed. The life of Tay Toto is telling us not to forget our sugarcane workers but to continue working with them.
Tay Toto has joined the death list of the lurking evil in our midst, though often admired among our fellow Filipinos.
May the growing death list disturb the consciences of the murderers. It is my ardent prayer that instead of perpetrating violence, they may open their eyes to the reality of truth – that life is precious, that it is a sin to kill.
Our Catholic community calls for justice for the death of Bernardino ‘Toto’ Patigas, Sr. We all pray for the soul of Tay Toto and for the end of killings.
+ MOST REV. GERARDO A. ALMINAZA, DD
Bishop of San Carlos
April 25, 2019
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