A total of eight Australians attended the Peoples International Observers Mission this year. Most of those people came from Melbourne. But two of us, Prof. Gill Boehringer and myself came from Sydney.

When I applied to participate in the PIOM 2010, the organizers provided a list of areas that they would be sending teams. They asked us to provide our first three preferences. I nominated North Luzon, South Luzon and Mindanao. It was up to the Movement for Change people to decide where each of us would go. I was keen to go to North Luzon or the Cordillera. Not so keen to go to Mindanao, even though it was my third choice.

PIOM 2010, destination……..Abra

I was told soon after registering in Manila that I would be joining the Abra team. I was happy about that. I last visited Abra in 2004. Bangued, the capital, is famous for Gabriela’s stand against the Spanish. The story of Gabriela is one that captures the imagination. There are several monuments in the town to the brave 18^th century heroine who defied the Spanish until she was captured and executed.

The province itself has a fearsome reputation during elections. It is regarded as one of the most violent areas of the Philippines. In the 2007 election, it accounted for 17% of the election related violence in the country.

Much of the violence is related to local political dynasties. Like many other areas of the country, a few local families seem to dominate politics and regard it as a family business. In dynastic politics, only the winners get the spoils. So no one wants to be a loser. It was explained to me that Abra is an economically depressed area – more so than other parts of the Philippines. This makes the fight for electoral victory more serious and probably accounts for the higher rate of electoral violence.

There’s Gold in Them There Hills

The other cause of violence in the province isn’t so obvious. The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) explained that, despite the poverty, Abra, like much of the rest of the Cordillera is rich in gold and copper. The problem for the government is that Abra and the Cordillera have a heavy presence of New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The NPA is seen as being an obstacle to the ability of foreign mining companies to operate in the region. As a result, the government has stationed about 3500 troops in the Abra area alone – some seven battalions. Their purpose is to remove the NPA from the province.

There is no doubt that the issue of mining is a contentious one. Everyone from individuals to large foreign companies are involved in mining and it takes various forms. From the roadside the most obvious is small-scale mining. This is where individuals or small groups of local miners use pick and shovel to cut mines into the hillside. Overburden is simply dumped not far from mine entrance and spills down the hillside wiping out vegetation. Trees are removed to make bracing for the mine. The overall effect is to denude the hillside, leaving it unstable.

One of the members of the CPA told us how one barrio went to some trouble to develop a sustainable mining plan involving small-scale mining. By mining according to this plan, minimum impact on the environment would occur and the mine would continue to provide the community with an income.

This photo shows the destructive impact that small scale mining can have on a hillside. The bags seen in the foreground are ore that is waiting to be taken away for processing.

This plan was destroyed when members of the military (AFP) began courting the local women, married and single. The effect was to destroy the barrio by destroying family relationships and the trust that holds them together. There was a suggestion that this was a deliberate strategy used by the military. If this was done deliberately then it’s hard to imagine a more cynical approach to the local community by the AFP. In any case, regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, the effect was the same. It destroyed the families of a barrio that had an environmentally friendly and sustainable mining plan.

I learnt all this, and saw some of the effects, as half the Abra team made its way to Malibcong on Election Day.

Journey to Malibcong

We left Bangued at 4:30am so we could be there by 9am. The plan was to use a jeepney but a last minute change of plan meant we were forced to use a pickup. It was going to be a crowded journey but no-one backed out. We all wanted to go.

Thirteen of us went to the remote municipality of Malibcong, a five -hour drive from the capital of Abra. Half of the journey is over very rough dirt road. The road is susceptible to the heavy rain that occurs during the wet season. We came to have first-hand experience of how roads can be washed away overnight when we were leaving Malibcong the following day.

After arriving at about 9am we traveled through two barrios on foot – Dudulao and Gacab. In Dudulao, the barrio captain met us. He had spent many years in Mindanao and two years in London as an Anglican minister. Now he was home. As barrio captain he had a different set of responsibilities.

He took time to explain some of the practicalities of life in the barrio and the responsibilities he has as a barrio captain. At that time he was in the middle of arranging to have electricity connected. For most people living in the barrio, it’s a change that can’t come soon enough. He also explained some of the courtesies that should be remembered when passing through other people’s areas and visiting people’s homes. I appreciated what he had to say. It’s easy to be offensive in these situations without intending to be.

He told us that he had already voted and showed us the indelible ink covering part of his right index fingernail. Everyone who votes is marked in this way to ensure that they don’t vote twice.

A New Automated System

As we headed off to visit the two barrios, we had the information given to us in Manila in the back of our minds. This was the first automated election in the history of the Philippines. The National Government and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had contracted a multinational company, Smartmatic, to provide an automated voting system. Smartmatic has supplied automated voting systems in several elections previously, the first being in Venezuela in 2004. The Smartmatic system was widely heralded as the panacea that would cure most of the problems that plagued Philippine elections.

The new system is not completely automatic. People still had to mark the ballot paper in much the same way as they always have. In this case, they have to fill in the circle next to the name of the candidate they wanted. The dual sided paper is then fed into the Smartmatic machine which registers the vote. If the vote registers successfully the display gives the voter a ‘Congratulations’. The paper then passes into a large secure bin below. If the registration is not successful, the ballot is returned with a ‘try again’ or similar type of error message.

The Smartmatic system was enthusiastically anticipated by the Government. But only a few days out from the election a major problem developed that put the system in jeopardy. Luckily, and through a lot of frantic last minute effort, by Election Day this was resolved.

To the relief of many Government and Comelec people, on Election Day the system worked. But it wasn’t without its problems. These problems came in for some heavy criticism by the PIOM later in Manila.

But I am Qualified

I had wondered about my qualifications to participate in the election as an observer. At the press conference in Manila after the event, an American journalist asked the panel, “What qualifications do the participants have?” The question implied that only people with special skills and knowledge should be allowed to act as election observers.

I’m glad the democratic system works well in Australia. I felt it helped give me a sense of when something is not right with the election process. I have been a keen participant in elections in Australia both as a vote count scrutineer and party supporter. I felt I had all the necessary qualifications to be an election observer. After all, democracy is about ordinary people participating and being part of the democratic process. It’s about respecting the right of the other person to exercise their vote. That’s all you need to know really.

It was this Australian experience that I relied on as we passed through the two barrios of Dudulao and Gacab. We had plenty of opportunity to talk to people and watch the vote taking place. A letter had been signed by the two men in charge of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for Abra, instructing their people to cooperate in giving us full access to voters and polling booths. This was endorsed with a signature by the Abra Comelec Commissioner. The only restriction was that we must respect the election process and not interfere it in any way.

It was a beautiful day and we found ourselves in a beautiful rural area. Everyone in Dudulao seemed in good spirits and there was plenty of good humour. I think people welcomed the chance to socialize and just enjoy the good weather while they waited to vote.

Long Waits

In Dudulao there seemed to be a lot of people gathered around the polling booth. We discovered that the new system was creating delays. As it turned out, this was a common experience with the new Smartmatic system around the country. Other PIOM groups reported that some people were forced to wait for so long in the hot sun that they eventually gave up and went home. Despite the wait, as far as I know, all the people of Gacab & Dudulao were able to vote by the end of the day.

The Battle for Privacy

The voting venue in Dudulao. On the left a woman can be seen filling her in ballot paper using the privacy folder to shield her vote. On the right a young man can be seen approaching the Smartmatic machine to register his ballot. He is also using the privacy folder to cover his ballot.

The other thing I noticed, when I stuck my head in the polling booth window at Dudulao, was the difficulty people were having to keep their vote private. Originally, Comelec had decided to provide full blown voting cabinets. In Australia these are called cardboard polling booths. But this plan was spoiled when it was found that a politician had a share in the company that would make the cabinets. So the plan to provide them was abandoned.

Instead, Comelec went for an easier and cheaper option. They provided large Manila folders. This allowed the voter to use the folder as a screen as they filled out their ballot paper. It was also intended to provide the voter some privacy as their ballot paper was fed into the Smartmatic machine. From my observation, voters found this arrangement cumbersome and awkward. It was reported later that BEIs (Board of Election Inspectors) resorted to cutting the folders in half in order to make them easier to use.

The voting venue in Gacab. It wasn’t until later when I was looking at this photo that I realized that we were in a classroom used for small children. That really indicates how focused everyone was on the voting. People made do with these little chairs and benches and no one cared or even seemed to realize because they were all too busy making sure the ballot was filled in correctly. I was very impressed by the determination of people to make sure their vote counted for something.

Classrooms are a natural choice for the polling booths or voting precincts. Just like Australian elections many of the voting venues are classrooms. It looks a bit comical to see people sitting on chairs meant for little children. But nobody seemed to mind. That was one of the things that really impressed me. Despite the inconvenience and limited facilities people were keen to make sure their vote counted. We saw examples of this attitude time and again. It was fantastic to see the sacrifices and inconvenience that people were prepared to go though. The Philippines has a voluntary voting system, the same as the United States and Britain. Yet around the country the voting attendance was more like Australia where voting is compulsory.

Unsung Heros

If the election on 10 May had unsung heroes, they would have to be the Board of Elections Inspectors (BEIs). BEIs facilitate the voting in the precincts and in the barrios. They are responsible for checking the voters identification, providing their ballot sheet and making sure the completed ballot is fed into the Smartmatic machine. For the most part it was teachers that played this role. Teachers are held in high regard in the Philippines. They have a status similar to nurses in Australia. They are regarded as hard working, self sacrificing and honest. On the day it was the BEIs whose ingenuity and hard work helped to save the day for the automated election system in many areas.

Board of Elections Inspectors (BEIs) and a Smartmatic technician on the left. There were so many Smartmatic machines used in the election that Comelec struggled to find enough suitably qualified people to provide support for the new system on the day.

Not all the ballot papers were feeding properly into the Smartmatic machines. So the BEIs did what teachers are often forced to do. They improvised. Using scissors they trimmed the ballot paper so that it fed into the machine. This sort of unanticipated work made a long day for many. There were reports later of BEIs working an 18 hour shift, without break in order to get all the votes through.

Technical Problems

The Smartmatic system had its problems in the remote mountainous area of Malibcong as well. When the polls closed at the end of the day it was time to transmit the results. Smartmatic uses the mobile phone system to connect barrio to municipality, municipality to province and finally province to Manila. In Malibcong, the heavy rain and the mountainous terrain proved too much for the system. By 11pm that night, transmission of results from barrio to municipality was failing for 75% of the barrios.

Another problem we heard later was the way the ballot bins were handled. I call them ballot bins because that is what they were. Imagine a flat computer sitting on top of the sort wheely bin we use in Australia on rubbish night. That is exactly what it looks like. The design makes sense. It’s a good way to store a large number of ballot papers. The problem wasn’t with the bin design. The problem was that in some places the full bins weren’t correctly labeled. This meant that a verification count was impossible. Comelec had intended to use a manual count in random locations to check and verify the automated Smartmatic count after the election. If the bins weren’t correctly labeled then it made a random manual count impossible.

AFP & PNP…….help or hindrance?

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines performing their duty of providing security in the Malibcong barrio of Dudulao for the election. The soldier on the left is armed with an M16. The soldier on the right is armed with a side arm strapped to his thigh. While the locals seemed quite happy and relaxed, the stress of their responsibility can be plainly seen on the faces of the soldiers.

It was a surprise to see the presence of armed police and soldiers near the polling booths. Not because it’s unusual in the Philippines but because we just never see it in Australia. By law the AFP and PNP must stay at least 50 metres away from the polling booths. I didn’t see this restriction being broken. In Malibcong, the soldiers were armed with M-16s and side arms. The police carried fairly old and battered M-16s.

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines performing their duty of providing security in the Malibcong barrio of Dudulao for the election. The soldier on the left is armed with an M16. The soldier on the right is armed with a side arm strapped to his thigh. While the locals seemed quite happy and relaxed, the stress of their responsibility can be plainly seen on the faces of the soldiers.

In Dudulao, the AFP were happy to pose for a few photos. I say happy but none of the AFP really looked very happy to be there. That came across in the photos I took. I found the police easier to talk to. They seemed more relaxed anyway.

Comelec is responsible for determining the level of security to be provided by the AFP and PNP on Election day. Given the current situation between the NPA and AFP it seemed that Comelec thought that the strong military presence was warranted in Malibcong. It made us wonder what sort of effect the AFP presence had on the voters intentions though.

Different PIOM groups returned with this poster from all over the Philippines. It seems that it was printed in the same place and then distributed throughout the Philippines.

We also found evidence of an anonymous slander campaign against the candidates Satur O’Campo and Liza Maza in the form of posted leaflets. The curious thing was that these same posted flyers were found all over the Philippines. It seems that only an organization with equal access to cities and remote areas alike would be able to post these flyers. I couldn’t help being reminded of how this sort of thing would be handled in Australia. In the 2008, the husband of the former Liberal member for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly was found guilty of distributing a bogus pamphlet during the 2007 Federal election campaign. In the pamphlet a non existent Muslim group thanked the Labor Party for supporting the Bali bombers. When Kelly’s husband Gary Clarke was revealed to be the source of the pamphlet, Kelly dismissed it as “just a prank”. The courts didn’t think so. Gary Clarke was fined $1100 by the court (the maximum fine) and was expelled from the Liberal Party. Jackie Kelly lost her marginal seat in that election. The courts in Australia don’t tolerate that sort of slander. In the Philippines, it seems it is a practice that can be undertaken with complete impunity.

The Way to Victory…….a familiar story

People wait patiently to vote under a tree in the barrio square in Gacab. People were good humoured and accepting of us as we passed through and asked questions about their election experience.

After a walk through the rice fields we arrived in the next barrio, Gacab, around 11:30. A fairly large group of people had settled under the trees and were waiting patiently for their turn to vote. It was a good opportunity for us to talk to people and ask a few questions. I asked if I could take some photos. I could tell people were enjoying the novelty of our visit. They all gave me a happy warm smile and a few embarrassed giggles. I tried to ask a few questions but they had a hard time with my Australian accent. “How long have you been waiting here?” I asked. “Since 7:30am.” came the reply. Four hours! I couldn’t believe it. At that rate I was wondering if everyone would get the chance to vote.

One of the Canadians, Yvon, who had a better report with the people (and a better accent) stepped up to ask a few questions.

“So how have things been? Any problems with the election?”

“No Sir. No problems”

But as we listened to their reply we could tell that we weren’t hearing the full story.

“Ok. How about this? You can come with me over there, under that tree and we can have a chat one at a time. Would anyone like to do that?”

Someone put their hand up.

So Yvon had a chat under the tree and found that everything was far from being alright. The incumbent Mayor had been buying votes. Yvon was told that each supporter was paid between Php 500 – 5000 plus tinned goods and rice.

Another person came over and told the same story. Then another. And another. And another.

By the end of it the incumbent Mayor wasn’t looking so good. He still won the election though.

Philippine friends explained to me when I got back to Australia that accepting these bribes is standard practice. Not because people themselves are corrupt but because there is a fear is that by not accepting the bribe it could lead to retribution later. For the voter it is easier (and safer) to simply accept the bribe.

Human Rights Organizations Beware … We Know Who You Are

I was keen to take as many photos as I could. Photos help tell a story. I admit I was especially keen to take photos of the AFP and PNP with their guns. Taking photos of people happily standing in line waiting to vote or carefully filling in their ballot can be misleading if not far away are standing soldiers with M-16s and sidearms strapped to their thighs. It implies that a threat exists which must be anticipated and dealt with if necessary.

Taking photos of the AFP in Dudulao was no problem. In retrospect, the presence of the barrio captain and a senior PNP officer probably helped relax the soldiers.

When we went to Gacab I decided to ask the small group of AFP if they minded if I took their photo. I don’t have a military background and I realize now that I handled it badly. I didn’t recognize the Officer-in-Charge and instead asked one of the infantrymen if he minded if I took their photo.

“No” he said.

“You mean you don’t want me to take your photo?”

“That’s right.” he said.

“Ok, no problem.” and I turned to walk away. As I did so I faced the person who I realized was the commanding officer for the unit. I thought I could make up for my blunder by explaining who we were and what we were doing there.

I gave him my identification tag and explained that we were foreign observers here for the election. The tag showed a photo of me. Above the photo were “Peoples IOM 2010” and Pagbabago – Peoples Movement for Change.

I pointed to these and said to him, “ You can Google these and they will tell you who we are.”

“We know who you are,” he said, “We were told you were coming.”

He was still looking at my identification tag.

“Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines.” referring to the name of the organization I represented, “What’s that?”

I didn’t know what to say. It’s a small group that I am part of in Sydney. We take an interest in many different current issues in the Philippines including Extra-Judicial Killings, 457 Visa issues, Australian mining company activities and Status of Forces Agreements between the Philippines and Australia. How do you sum it all up simply?

“It’s a human rights organization is it?” he said.

I thought that summed it up well and would save a lot of explanation. “Yes, it’s a human rights organization”

As soon as I said that alarms went off in my head and I realized why he choose that description. Human Rights organizations are seen by the AFP as simply fronts for the National Democratic Front (NDF). In addition, the AFP has a name for tagging foreigners from progressive organizations and following them around to see who they talk to. In this way they get to know who the local activists and progressives are. This can have very bad results, not for the visitors but for the people they leave behind.

As this conversation was going on, one of the other soldiers took a khaki coloured camera out of his pocket and started taking photos of me. He then took a photo of both sides of my identification card when I offered it to him. He carefully pronounced my name out loud. In complete contrast the rest of the people in the barrio, all this was done with no smiles or good humour.

Almost on queue, the Officer in Charge asked me, “Who is in charge of your group?”

“Nobody is in charge. We are a group of independent foreigners here to observe the election.”

“Who is your local contact?”

“No one. We don’t have a local contact.”

I realized later that they already knew the answers to all these questions. They sought out the CPA person who was guiding us through the area and started the same questions with her. She showed them the letter that was signed by the Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of Abra AFP on the previous day.

Their behavior was clearly designed to intimidate us. The whole incident gave me a taste of what it is currently like in the Philippines to be progressive in any way. In the remote areas like Malibcong, as an activist, you would constantly be dealing with intimidation and surveillance by the military. There is no genuine interest in what you are trying to do. Just menace and threat. Sometimes that threat becomes much more serious.

A representative of one of the local organizations said that much of the community work such as rebuilding field walls and building and maintaining community rice fields had stopped. Local people were too scared to have community meetings to organize these things for fear of being labeled subversive by the military and harassed or attacked.

The Drunk Shouted and the Rain came Down

Two members of the PIOM look at the election result as it is displayed in the remote local municipal rooms in Malibcong Poblacon just a few hours after the polls closed. A first in Philippine history. Just outside the room were members of the AFP armed with M16s looking at the same screen through a window. Comelec took their responsibility to provide security at election time very seriously.

Later that night, we settled in a large room of a house that is owned by a woman’s organization in Malibcong Poblacon. At about 11pm three of us spent half an hour watching the election results as they were displayed on a screen at the local municipal room. The new technology allowed Comelec to do this. A friend, originally from Baguio, who grew up on a farm in the Cordillera, said it was amazing to see such technology in the remote communities.

As we looked at the results projected up onto the wall, even at that stage it was clear that Aquino would win. One of the surprises was the Estrada vote. At that stage Estrada was polling 8 million to Aquino’s 12 million. It was amazing to see him get such strong support. After watching the count for a while I decided to go home to bed. It had been a long day.

The next day we all seemed to wake up at the same time. Many didn’t get a very good nights rest. One of the locals had got drunk and had spent some time abusing people from the middle of the barrio during the night. “You’ve all lost your soul” he shouted. It turns out that although this barrio had their own candidate for mayor, he had lost, even in his own barrio. Too many people had voted for the incumbent mayor, the one who had paid huge amounts for peoples vote.

Not only did members of our group have trouble coping with all the noise from this drama but there was the noise as the rain poured down on the tin roof later that night. The rain was so heavy that it washed away sections of the road that we had to use that morning to get out of Malibcong.

We did make it back to Bangued that day. In many ways the trip home summed up the Philippine election for 2010. It was a rough ride. The next few years will tell just how successful it was.

David Crotty

Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines

– Public Meeting 16 July  2010 –

Reports on grass roots activism and the peoples movements in the Philippines.

Shirley Winton – ISA delegate from CWU (Communication Workers’ Union – Victoria P & T)

In late April to early May we spent three weeks in the Philippines, one week attending the KMUs 26^th International Solidarity Affair (ISA) as part of a delegation of 8 Australian trade unionists.  (The KMU is the biggest federation of unions in the Philippines.) Several from the ISA also participated in the People’s International Observers’ Mission (PIOM) during the Philippines elections. Our PIOM delegation was based in central Manila – as international observers in local communities during the elections. We were mainly based in Tondo, one of the poorest communities in the Philippines.

We also travelled to the Cordillera mountains in northern Philippines for the Cordillera Indigenous People’s annual festival on 26 April.  In the course of our trip we met grass roots activist workers and communities.

My talk is drawn from our impressions of a vibrant, diverse and very active people’s movement for social, economic and political change in the Philippines. It sets the background to the many long, mass based struggles of the Filipino people, and the national elections on 10^th May.  The talk will focus on the struggles of the KMU (the main union in the Philippines) and the Indigenous Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance.

Firstly, to give the talk a deeper understanding and insight, a brief background to the present social, political and economic situation in the Philippines.

Philippines is a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society colonised and ruled by the Spanish empire for 400 years.  The Spanish colonial rule has now been replaced by US imperialism. The local ruling class of a tiny handful of very wealthy and corrupt families and warlords has always been maintained and heavily backed up first by the Spanish colonisers and now US interests. It’s been largely this colonial and imperialist control over the Philippines and the local small but obscenely wealthy ruling class that has kept the country in the state of underdevelopment and the overwhelming majority of 94 million people living in devastating poverty.  It’s these powerful forces that are instigating violent repression of the Filipino people struggling for justice, democratic rights, jobs, decent living and working conditions, striving to lift their country and people out of poverty and backward conditions.

US driven neo-liberal globalisation of past 25 years and the world economic crisis of last few years have left the Philippines economy and industry in even worst conditions.  The economic crisis has intensified the already severe hardship and suffering of the Filipino people.  The Philippines economic and industrial policies are designed to largely benefit in particular the multinational corporations – mainly from US, Japan, South Korea and Canada.  The enormous profits extracted from the Filipino workers’ cheap labour by the multinationals flow out of the country.

The US exerts a great deal of power and influence over the political and economic policies of the Philippines government and the state.  Philippines holds an important economic and militarily strategic position for the US in the Asia Pacific region.  US has troops stationed in the Philippines and includes some Australian military intelligence agencies.  The extent of importance of the Philippines to the US was particularly evident to us a few days before the elections when the newly appointed US ambassador invited Aquino (main candidate for presidential position) to the US embassy, and in front of tv cameras, flashing camera lights and reporters, effectively anointed Aquino as the next US favoured president. No other presidential candidate was invited to meet with the new US ambassador.  It was all done in Hollywood razza ma tazz style and exposed the depth of US involvement in the political life of the Philippines.  Discredited and exposed Arroyo had become a liability to US interests.

Filipino people have a very long history of struggle and resistance to colonialism and more recently US imperialist control of their country.  Struggles for improvements in people’s working and living conditions, in defence of human rights and against the vicious state oppression are deep and persistent.

In the 3 very hectic and busy weeks we spent in the Philippines we were privileged to meet and observe a powerful and an inspirational mass movement and organisations of the Filipino people. Grass roots organisations and mass activism are flourishing right across the Philippines society, across most sectors and sections of society, in urban and rural communities. The key to the success of these vibrant people’s mass organisations is a deep knowledge of the Filipino people’s lives and struggles and a thorough understanding of the economic and political conditions of the country. The work of activists is guided by the principles of listening and learning from the people, educating, organising and mobilising.   These are just a small sample of the hundreds of different mass organisations.

• The KMU works tirelessly at all levels organising urban and rural workers into unions defending workers’ rights and conditions, for jobs, and defending the people against state terrorism.  KMU affiliates include unions representing rural and urban workers, government workers, professional workers, jeep drivers, dock workers, car factory workers, textile and clothing, and many others.
• Twenty-eight different Indigenous groups in the Cordillera mountains have  come together to form a united Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance that promotes and advances the interests of the Indigenous people
• There are many grass roots organisations amongst the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and homeless.
• The Health Alliance for Democracy has many health workers and professionals, doctors, nurses, allied professionals and paramedics working amongst the poor, organising and educating in the devastating conditions of poor communities. Educating many bare foot doctors.  The 43 abducted and imprisoned health workers are amongst these selfless and dedicated grass roots activists.
• Many lawyers have dedicated their work to defend the people against framed up charges and imprisonment.  They vigorously advocate for human and democratic rights. Many civil liberties and human rights organisations work at the grass roots for the people.
• Cultural workers also have an important place in the struggles of the people. A vibrant grass roots people’s culture of struggle has arisen over many years.  Songs, music, films, plays and dance depict the lives and struggles of ordinary people weaving rich and inspirational culture into ordinary people’s lives.  Culture is an important median in the education of the people, building unity, confidence, empowerment and pride in the ordinary people and their struggle.  We saw this during the Cordillera festival and during May Day activities and in communities.
• Academic and student organisations regularly mobilise for their rights and conditions.  They always actively support many struggles of ordinary people for a better life.  Academics and students go out amongst the urban and rural poor to learn from ordinary people’s lives. They conduct a great deal of research and investigation on the economic, political and social conditions of the Philippines and widely and loudly champion the struggles of the people.  Some of the brightest and finest Filipino academics have dedicated themselves to the struggles of the Filipino people and the movement for change.
• Alliance of Concerned teachers, teachers go out amongst the poor families and help to educate the children who can’t afford to send their children to schools or work on the streets to help their families – selling bottled water in the busy traffic of Manila.
• Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace. Many priests, ministers, nuns and others have dedicated their lives to helping the struggles of the people.  They speak out against judicial killings, harassment, persecution, often being the victims of killings and harassment themselves.  They work amongst the poor and in the movement for social and political change.
• As last elections demonstrated, there are many politicians representing marginalised sectors (i.e. the poor and disenfranchised) who are using the parliamentary elections to disseminate ideas for change and the collective strength of ordinary people.  These politicians are from the grass roots organisations and in close connections with the poor.
• Women’s organisations – It was obvious from our travels and discussions with ordinary people that Gabriella, the women’s mass organisation, is very popular and highly respected.  Its members work among different groups of women, in particular the poor, for the improvement of day to day conditions of Filipino women’s lives and society.  Like most other grass roots organisations Gabriella’s work is with the poor, the oppressed and includes education and raising the consciousness of the oppressed women. Gabriella organisation can be found at all levels of the Filipino society – from amongst the poorest of the poor to the well educated professional women.
• Other groups also include local, regional and national environment groups – farmers, fishing communities, indigenous communities and others, in particular fighting the multinational mining and timber corporations. People’s network for the environment.
• Many journalists
• Migrante

One of the most impressive features of the Philippines people’s movement for justice, national democracy and peace is the unity and alliances of many different grass roots organisations.  These alliances have arisen from specific struggles and issues. For example, Bayan is an umbrella organisation of many different grass roots groups and organisations.  It was formed in 1985 in the midst of wide people’s struggles against the fascist Marcos dictatorship.  It’s a network of more than 1,000 mass organisations with a membership of more than a million people, representing different classes and sectors of society.  There are many more millions of supporters. Its affiliates include unions such as the KMU, small farmers, jeep drivers, parliamentarians, students, etc.  This dynamic and strategic alliance of different sectors and sections was particularly evident in the mass activism before and during the elections. The building of this unity stretches well beyond the “left”, as we know it here.  It is a true unity of the broad sections of the people and a very powerful force for change.  These important alliances of the people did not spring up spontaneously out of nowhere, but took many years of careful preparation, trial and error, and patient and often difficult and complex work.  It is now bringing together Filipino people in the fight against the relentless state terror, countless abuses of human rights against the people, poverty, intense exploitation and oppression.  The grass roots unity and alliances forged in struggles of the people is guided by the principles of mutual respect, equality and the independence of different mass organisations united in the common struggle.

Concentrate on 2 mass organisations:

KMU or May 1^st movement, is a federation of many unions in the Philippines defending workers’ rights and conditions and organising workers into unions.  Delegations from other countries included Japan, China, Indonesia, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand

In the Philippines the GFC and globalisation have created favourable conditions for employers and the government to enable them to crush unions, or make them tame cat, wiping out many collective agreements.  The total labour force in the Philippines is approx. 38 million of whom only 10% is organised in unions and only 4% are covered by a collective agreement.

The military (government and private armies of big employers) constantly harass, threaten and violently attack union activists.  Union members and activists are commonly blacklisted by employers, the government, army and police.  Many human rights violations are committed by the state’s military and private armies and hired goons. In 2009 the Centre of Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) recorded 270 new human rights violations involving 55,178 victims.

Armies in the workplace

Against this background trade unions in the Philippines operate in extremely harsh and repressive conditions.  Successive national governments ensure that they deliver to multinational corporations and local big business favourable conditions for the super exploitation of workers.  Many factories and farms have been militarized, with the army and police stationed permanently in the workplace (or nearby) intimidating and harassing workers to prevent them from joining unions and crush unions that fight to defend the workers.  Union activists trying to organise workers are regularly harassed, threatened, victimised, intimidated and bashed by soldiers (state and private armies) and hired thugs. Workers seeking improvements in pay and conditions are attacked and threatened, bullied, harassed and physically assaulted. We spoke to many local organisers, rank and file workers and KMU organisers who reported continuous threats, intimidation, bashings and murders committed by soldiers, police and goons on trade union activists and members.  Many union activists have been jailed on trumped up charges or have disappeared.

The difficult and harshly repressive anti-worker and anti-union conditions in the Philippines have not intimidated the KMU organisers, union affiliates and supporters. On the contrary, the unjust and oppressive economic, political and social conditions of the Filipino people and the violent suppression of unionists and union members has only strengthened the KMU’s resolve to organise, educate and mobilise urban and rural workers and communities to struggle collectively. National and local union organisers and activists have dedicated their lives to organising workers in all sectors of the economy.  KMU organisers patiently work day and night, tirelessly and creatively organising and educating workers in workplaces and in the communities.  The KMU has a three prong approach in its work – educate, organise and mobilise.  It conducts its own investigations and analyses of the general and specific conditions of workers and the wider society.  Education of workers is central to all of KMU’s union organising work.  Workers are not only educated in the necessity to be organised in unions, the collective strength of workers and their rights, but also on their overall rights to social and economic justice in the society. Problems of workers’ rights and conditions are linked to the overall unjust and oppressive economic and political system in the Philippines.  This has ensured a formidable and expanding base of a strong network of union activists.  The KMU works closely with a wide range of different community organisations, many large marginalised and disenfranchised sectors of the people and professional groups, forming important alliances in struggle.  During typhoon Ondoy KMU organisers helped hundreds of thousands of poor and homeless people savaged by the floods and storm, despite many being typhoon victims themselves.

Despite the government and employers’ desperate efforts to discredit, vilify, demonise, isolate and physically destroy the KMU through jailings and assassinations, its work is deeply supported and respected on the ground by workers and communities in cities, rural areas and amongst other sectors. KMU’s three prong approach of organising, educating and mobilising workers and working closely with communities has seen many positive results.  It has instilled confidence in workers’ own collective strength and union organisation, and a deeper political understanding of their conditions.  Not all of these successes are openly evident as violent repression obviously compels some level of union work to be conducted virtually underground to protect union members, activists and the union organisation. The KMU and its union affiliates’ strength lies in its powerful grass roots base amongst many sections of workers in manufacturing, processing, assemblies, garments industries, port workers, farm workers, teachers, academics, health workers, doctors, lawyers and many others, including continuing its work amongst the unemployed, sacked and retrenched workers.

The meagre subsistence wages of Filipino workers and union members means the KMU and affiliated unions’ organisers at national, regional and local levels, essentially work on very little or no pay at all.  They live “on the smell of an oily rag” and have very few resources to support their work.  Their unfaltering commitment to the interests of the Filipino workers is inspirational and admirable.

The Cordillera People’s Alliance

We visited the Cordillera mountains area, home to the Igorots Indigenous people. The Cordillera People’s Alliance is a federation of 27 Indigenous people’s organisations in the Cordillera mountains in the north Philippines. The Alliance was formed in 1987, uniting different Indigenous organisations and groups to be more effective in advancing the welfare of Indigenous people and in the struggle of defending their ancestral land, culture, traditional production practices and in securing food and livelihood without the denigration of the environment, and the long struggle for self-determination, justice and equality.  The Cordillera Indigenous people have a long and proud tradition of resisting colonialism and imperialism, in particular they are known for their successful fierce resistance to the World Bank’s plans to dam the Chico River.

The Cordillera region is rich in natural resources and minerals. The successive governments opened up the Cordilleras to the multinational corporations to plunder the natural resources.  This has resulted in environmental destruction and oppression of local Indigenous communities.  In spite of the enormous wealth extracted by mining corporations the benefits from these natural resources have not flowed to the local communities. Infrastructure and social services, if present at all, are neglected. The Cordillera people are treated as backward people by government and the state.

The Cordillera region is among the most heavily militarised areas in the Philippines. The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) works with all Indigenous communities, including in the most remote areas of the region.  The CPA undertakes intensive research into the history and conditions of the Indigenous people; educating, organising and training people in their communities; organises grass roots activities and campaigns that unite the people in the struggle for justice and equality.  Campaigning includes lobbying local, regional and national politicians for the recognition of rights of Indigenous peoples and regional autonomy.  A lot of emphasis is put into preserving and promoting cultural and artistic activities and in defence of land, life and resources, against state terrorism and imperialist globalisation.

The CPA organises the people in campaigns for improvements in people’s immediate conditions.  Local grass roots brigades look after the daily needs of the people, for example the Serve the People Brigade – Cordillera Disaster Response Network, organised and mobilised communities during the October 2009 typhoon to provide material relief of goods, food, first aid and medical care and clearing of roads, rebuilding people’s homes and schools in typhoon devastated communities.

The CPA initiated mobile community health clinics that regularly visit rural and remote areas of the Cordillera mountains, doing medical check ups, follow ups, and a wide range of health services to communities.  Local people are trained in basic first aid and act as bare foot doctors.

The CPA has many grass roots organisations assisting the people in their day to day conditions of life, and that includes an understanding of the root causes of many social and environmental problems.  There are the grass roots Cordillera organisations of young people, the elderly, environmental, human rights, democratic rights, health, women, farmers and many more.

One of the leaders of the Cordillera People’s Alliance is a 77 year old Mother Petra Tannaw who won the 2009 International Award of the Women’s World Summit Foundation’s Laureate Prize for Rural Women, for her work in preserving the Indigenous land and culture.

Like all of the grass roots people’s movement in the Philippines, the 25 years of defending and promoting the Indigenous people’s rights has not been easy for the Cordilleras. The work of building unity and alliances, educating, mobilising and empowering the people is guided by the selfless dedication to advancing the interests of the people and learning from the people.  The spirit of serving the people invoked by the Philippines activists was a truly humbling experience for us.

They deserve wide support and solidarity.

– Public Meeting 16 July  2010 -

 Reports on grass roots activism and the peoples movements in the Philippines.

Shirley Winton – ISA delegate from CWU (Communication Workers’ Union – Victoria P & T)

In late April to early May we spent three weeks in the Philippines, one week attending the KMUs 26^th International Solidarity Affair (ISA) as part of a delegation of 8 Australian trade unionists.  (The KMU is the biggest federation of unions in the Philippines.) Several from the ISA also participated in the People’s International Observers’ Mission (PIOM) during the Philippines elections. Our PIOM delegation was based in central Manila – as international observers in local communities during the elections. We were mainly based in Tondo, one of the poorest communities in the Philippines. 

We also travelled to the Cordillera mountains in northern Philippines for the Cordillera Indigenous People’s annual festival on 26 April.  In the course of our trip we met grass roots activist workers and communities. 

My talk is drawn from our impressions of a vibrant, diverse and very active people’s movement for social, economic and political change in the Philippines. It sets the background to the many long, mass based struggles of the Filipino people, and the national elections on 10^th May.  The talk will focus on the struggles of the KMU (the main union in the Philippines) and the Indigenous Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance.

Firstly, to give the talk a deeper understanding and insight, a brief background to the present social, political and economic situation in the Philippines. 

Philippines is a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society colonised and ruled by the Spanish empire for 400 years.  The Spanish colonial rule has now been replaced by US imperialism. The local ruling class of a tiny handful of very wealthy and corrupt families and warlords has always been maintained and heavily backed up first by the Spanish colonisers and now US interests. It’s been largely this colonial and imperialist control over the Philippines and the local small but obscenely wealthy ruling class that has kept the country in the state of underdevelopment and the overwhelming majority of 94 million people living in devastating poverty.  It’s these powerful forces that are instigating violent repression of the Filipino people struggling for justice, democratic rights, jobs, decent living and working conditions, striving to lift their country and people out of poverty and backward conditions.

US driven neo-liberal globalisation of past 25 years and the world economic crisis of last few years have left the Philippines economy and industry in even worst conditions.  The economic crisis has intensified the already severe hardship and suffering of the Filipino people.  The Philippines economic and industrial policies are designed to largely benefit in particular the multinational corporations – mainly from US, Japan, South Korea and Canada.  The enormous profits extracted from the Filipino workers’ cheap labour by the multinationals flow out of the country.

The US exerts a great deal of power and influence over the political and economic policies of the Philippines government and the state.  Philippines holds an important economic and militarily strategic position for the US in the Asia Pacific region.  US has troops stationed in the Philippines and includes some Australian military intelligence agencies.  The extent of importance of the Philippines to the US was particularly evident to us a few days before the elections when the newly appointed US ambassador invited Aquino (main candidate for presidential position) to the US embassy, and in front of tv cameras, flashing camera lights and reporters, effectively anointed Aquino as the next US favoured president. No other presidential candidate was invited to meet with the new US ambassador.  It was all done in Hollywood razza ma tazz style and exposed the depth of US involvement in the political life of the Philippines.  Discredited and exposed Arroyo had become a liability to US interests.

Filipino people have a very long history of struggle and resistance to colonialism and more recently US imperialist control of their country.  Struggles for improvements in people’s working and living conditions, in defence of human rights and against the vicious state oppression are deep and persistent.

In the 3 very hectic and busy weeks we spent in the Philippines we were privileged to meet and observe a powerful and an inspirational mass movement and organisations of the Filipino people. Grass roots organisations and mass activism are flourishing right across the Philippines society, across most sectors and sections of society, in urban and rural communities. The key to the success of these vibrant people’s mass organisations is a deep knowledge of the Filipino people’s lives and struggles and a thorough understanding of the economic and political conditions of the country. The work of activists is guided by the principles of listening and learning from the people, educating, organising and mobilising.   These are just a small sample of the hundreds of different mass organisations.

-          The KMU works tirelessly at all levels organising urban and rural workers into unions defending workers’ rights and conditions, for jobs, and defending the people against state terrorism.  KMU affiliates include unions representing rural and urban workers, government workers, professional workers, jeep drivers, dock workers, car factory workers, textile and clothing, and many others.

-          Twenty-eight different Indigenous groups in the Cordillera mountains have  come together to form a united Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance that promotes and advances the interests of the Indigenous people

-          There are many grass roots organisations amongst the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and homeless.

-          The Health Alliance for Democracy has many health workers and professionals, doctors, nurses, allied professionals and paramedics working amongst the poor, organising and educating in the devastating conditions of poor communities. Educating many bare foot doctors.  The 43 abducted and imprisoned health workers are amongst these selfless and dedicated grass roots activists.

-          Many lawyers have dedicated their work to defend the people against framed up charges and imprisonment.  They vigorously advocate for human and democratic rights. Many civil liberties and human rights organisations work at the grass roots for the people.

-          Cultural workers also have an important place in the struggles of the people. A vibrant grass roots people’s culture of struggle has arisen over many years.  Songs, music, films, plays and dance depict the lives and struggles of ordinary people weaving rich and inspirational culture into ordinary people’s lives.  Culture is an important median in the education of the people, building unity, confidence, empowerment and pride in the ordinary people and their struggle.  We saw this during the Cordillera festival and during May Day activities and in communities.

-          Academic and student organisations regularly mobilise for their rights and conditions.  They always actively support many struggles of ordinary people for a better life.  Academics and students go out amongst the urban and rural poor to learn from ordinary people’s lives. They conduct a great deal of research and investigation on the economic, political and social conditions of the Philippines and widely and loudly champion the struggles of the people.  Some of the brightest and finest Filipino academics have dedicated themselves to the struggles of the Filipino people and the movement for change.

-           Alliance of Concerned teachers, teachers go out amongst the poor families and help to educate the children who can’t afford to send their children to schools or work on the streets to help their families – selling bottled water in the busy traffic of Manila.

-          Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace. Many priests, ministers, nuns and others have dedicated their lives to helping the struggles of the people.  They speak out against judicial killings, harassment, persecution, often being the victims of killings and harassment themselves.  They work amongst the poor and in the movement for social and political change.

-          As last elections demonstrated, there are many politicians representing marginalised sectors (i.e. the poor and disenfranchised) who are using the parliamentary elections to disseminate ideas for change and the collective strength of ordinary people.  These politicians are from the grass roots organisations and in close connections with the poor.

-          Women’s organisations – It was obvious from our travels and discussions with ordinary people that Gabriella, the women’s mass organisation, is very popular and highly respected.  Its members work among different groups of women, in particular the poor, for the improvement of day to day conditions of Filipino women’s lives and society.  Like most other grass roots organisations Gabriella’s work is with the poor, the oppressed and includes education and raising the consciousness of the oppressed women. Gabriella organisation can be found at all levels of the Filipino society – from amongst the poorest of the poor to the well educated professional women.

-          Other groups also include local, regional and national environment groups – farmers, fishing communities, indigenous communities and others, in particular fighting the multinational mining and timber corporations. People’s network for the environment.

-          Many journalists

-          Migrante

One of the most impressive features of the Philippines people’s movement for justice, national democracy and peace is the unity and alliances of many different grass roots organisations.  These alliances have arisen from specific struggles and issues. For example, Bayan is an umbrella organisation of many different grass roots groups and organisations.  It was formed in 1985 in the midst of wide people’s struggles against the fascist Marcos dictatorship.  It’s a network of more than 1,000 mass organisations with a membership of more than a million people, representing different classes and sectors of society.  There are many more millions of supporters. Its affiliates include unions such as the KMU, small farmers, jeep drivers, parliamentarians, students, etc.  This dynamic and strategic alliance of different sectors and sections was particularly evident in the mass activism before and during the elections. The building of this unity stretches well beyond the “left”, as we know it here.  It is a true unity of the broad sections of the people and a very powerful force for change.  These important alliances of the people did not spring up spontaneously out of nowhere, but took many years of careful preparation, trial and error, and patient and often difficult and complex work.  It is now bringing together Filipino people in the fight against the relentless state terror, countless abuses of human rights against the people, poverty, intense exploitation and oppression.  The grass roots unity and alliances forged in struggles of the people is guided by the principles of mutual respect, equality and the independence of different mass organisations united in the common struggle.

Concentrate on 2 mass organisations:

KMU or May 1^st movement, is a federation of many unions in the Philippines defending workers’ rights and conditions and organising workers into unions.  Delegations from other countries included Japan, China, Indonesia, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand

In the Philippines the GFC and globalisation have created favourable conditions for employers and the government to enable them to crush unions, or make them tame cat, wiping out many collective agreements.  The total labour force in the Philippines is approx. 38 million of whom only 10% is organised in unions and only 4% are covered by a collective agreement.

The military (government and private armies of big employers) constantly harass, threaten and violently attack union activists.  Union members and activists are commonly blacklisted by employers, the government, army and police.  Many human rights violations are committed by the state’s military and private armies and hired goons. In 2009 the Centre of Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) recorded 270 new human rights violations involving 55,178 victims.

Armies in the workplace

Against this background trade unions in the Philippines operate in extremely harsh and repressive conditions.  Successive national governments ensure that they deliver to multinational corporations and local big business favourable conditions for the super exploitation of workers.  Many factories and farms have been militarized, with the army and police stationed permanently in the workplace (or nearby) intimidating and harassing workers to prevent them from joining unions and crush unions that fight to defend the workers.  Union activists trying to organise workers are regularly harassed, threatened, victimised, intimidated and bashed by soldiers (state and private armies) and hired thugs. Workers seeking improvements in pay and conditions are attacked and threatened, bullied, harassed and physically assaulted. We spoke to many local organisers, rank and file workers and KMU organisers who reported continuous threats, intimidation, bashings and murders committed by soldiers, police and goons on trade union activists and members.  Many union activists have been jailed on trumped up charges or have disappeared.

The difficult and harshly repressive anti-worker and anti-union conditions in the Philippines have not intimidated the KMU organisers, union affiliates and supporters. On the contrary, the unjust and oppressive economic, political and social conditions of the Filipino people and the violent suppression of unionists and union members has only strengthened the KMU’s resolve to organise, educate and mobilise urban and rural workers and communities to struggle collectively. National and local union organisers and activists have dedicated their lives to organising workers in all sectors of the economy.  KMU organisers patiently work day and night, tirelessly and creatively organising and educating workers in workplaces and in the communities.  The KMU has a three prong approach in its work – educate, organise and mobilise.  It conducts its own investigations and analyses of the general and specific conditions of workers and the wider society.  Education of workers is central to all of KMU’s union organising work.  Workers are not only educated in the necessity to be organised in unions, the collective strength of workers and their rights, but also on their overall rights to social and economic justice in the society. Problems of workers’ rights and conditions are linked to the overall unjust and oppressive economic and political system in the Philippines.  This has ensured a formidable and expanding base of a strong network of union activists.  The KMU works closely with a wide range of different community organisations, many large marginalised and disenfranchised sectors of the people and professional groups, forming important alliances in struggle.  During typhoon Ondoy KMU organisers helped hundreds of thousands of poor and homeless people savaged by the floods and storm, despite many being typhoon victims themselves.

Despite the government and employers’ desperate efforts to discredit, vilify, demonise, isolate and physically destroy the KMU through jailings and assassinations, its work is deeply supported and respected on the ground by workers and communities in cities, rural areas and amongst other sectors. KMU’s three prong approach of organising, educating and mobilising workers and working closely with communities has seen many positive results.  It has instilled confidence in workers’ own collective strength and union organisation, and a deeper political understanding of their conditions.  Not all of these successes are openly evident as violent repression obviously compels some level of union work to be conducted virtually underground to protect union members, activists and the union organisation. The KMU and its union affiliates’ strength lies in its powerful grass roots base amongst many sections of workers in manufacturing, processing, assemblies, garments industries, port workers, farm workers, teachers, academics, health workers, doctors, lawyers and many others, including continuing its work amongst the unemployed, sacked and retrenched workers.

The meagre subsistence wages of Filipino workers and union members means the KMU and affiliated unions’ organisers at national, regional and local levels, essentially work on very little or no pay at all.  They live “on the smell of an oily rag” and have very few resources to support their work.  Their unfaltering commitment to the interests of the Filipino workers is inspirational and admirable.

The Cordillera People’s Alliance

We visited the Cordillera mountains area, home to the Igorots Indigenous people. The Cordillera People’s Alliance is a federation of 27 Indigenous people’s organisations in the Cordillera mountains in the north Philippines. The Alliance was formed in 1987, uniting different Indigenous organisations and groups to be more effective in advancing the welfare of Indigenous people and in the struggle of defending their ancestral land, culture, traditional production practices and in securing food and livelihood without the denigration of the environment, and the long struggle for self-determination, justice and equality.  The Cordillera Indigenous people have a long and proud tradition of resisting colonialism and imperialism, in particular they are known for their successful fierce resistance to the World Bank’s plans to dam the Chico River.   

The Cordillera region is rich in natural resources and minerals. The successive governments opened up the Cordilleras to the multinational corporations to plunder the natural resources.  This has resulted in environmental destruction and oppression of local Indigenous communities.  In spite of the enormous wealth extracted by mining corporations the benefits from these natural resources have not flowed to the local communities. Infrastructure and social services, if present at all, are neglected. The Cordillera people are treated as backward people by government and the state.

The Cordillera region is among the most heavily militarised areas in the Philippines. The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) works with all Indigenous communities, including in the most remote areas of the region.  The CPA undertakes intensive research into the history and conditions of the Indigenous people; educating, organising and training people in their communities; organises grass roots activities and campaigns that unite the people in the struggle for justice and equality.  Campaigning includes lobbying local, regional and national politicians for the recognition of rights of Indigenous peoples and regional autonomy.  A lot of emphasis is put into preserving and promoting cultural and artistic activities and in defence of land, life and resources, against state terrorism and imperialist globalisation.

The CPA organises the people in campaigns for improvements in people’s immediate conditions.  Local grass roots brigades look after the daily needs of the people, for example the Serve the People Brigade – Cordillera Disaster Response Network, organised and mobilised communities during the October 2009 typhoon to provide material relief of goods, food, first aid and medical care and clearing of roads, rebuilding people’s homes and schools in typhoon devastated communities.

The CPA initiated mobile community health clinics that regularly visit rural and remote areas of the Cordillera mountains, doing medical check ups, follow ups, and a wide range of health services to communities.  Local people are trained in basic first aid and act as bare foot doctors.

The CPA has many grass roots organisations assisting the people in their day to day conditions of life, and that includes an understanding of the root causes of many social and environmental problems.  There are the grass roots Cordillera organisations of young people, the elderly, environmental, human rights, democratic rights, health, women, farmers and many more.

One of the leaders of the Cordillera People’s Alliance is a 77 year old Mother Petra Tannaw who won the 2009 International Award of the Women’s World Summit Foundation’s Laureate Prize for Rural Women, for her work in preserving the Indigenous land and culture. 

Like all of the grass roots people’s movement in the Philippines, the 25 years of defending and promoting the Indigenous people’s rights has not been easy for the Cordilleras. The work of building unity and alliances, educating, mobilising and empowering the people is guided by the selfless dedication to advancing the interests of the people and learning from the people.  The spirit of serving the people invoked by the Philippines activists was a truly humbling experience for us.

They deserve wide support and solidarity.

With around 60 delegates from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and guests from Migrante International in the Philippines, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants in Hong Kong and Migrante in New Zealand, Migrante-Australia launched its first national assembly on 12 June 2010 at Chapel by the Sea, Bondi, New South Wales.

Councillor Dominique Wy Kanak, an Aboriginal Elder and a Councillor for Waverly Council, welcomed the delegates and acknowledged the indigenous owners of the land. He cried: “Land Rights Now!” symbolising the aboriginal struggle on their land. He also gave a short talk on the history of indigenous struggle in Australia and indigenous history locally.

Reverend Pastor John Queripel of Chapel by the Sea also welcomed all the delegates and bid the assembly success.

Afterwards, Mr Gary Martinez, the Chairperson of Migrante International, delivered the keynote address. He discussed the worsening conditions of Filipino migrants, the impact of the global financial crisis on Filipinos abroad, and the role of migrant Filipinos in Australia. But he also mentioned about the growing movement of Filipino migrant workers in major destination countries and the establishment of the International Migrants Alliance.

He then posed a question to the audience regarding the newly elected president Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III: Will there be substantial changes under the new government of Noynoy Aquino?

“It is quite clear that the Aquino regime will not bring about real change in our country by instituting genuine agrarian reform and national industrialisation which can generate real employment. It will not qualitatively change the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions of the Philippines,” he said.

He finally urged the delegates to let the Filipino community feel Migrante-Australia’s presence and “to be creative in bringing them into the fold of the progressive movement of overseas Filipinos under the flag of Migrante-Australia.”

The keynote address was followed by workshops commenting on the draft General Program of Action (GPOA). The participants suggested concrete demands and resolutions as well as future campaigns of the alliance.

One pressing issue was the situation of Filipino migrants and temporary workers in Australia and the erosion of their rights amidst anti-migrant policies of both the Australian and Philippine governments.

Another important issue raised was the continuing human rights situation in the Philippines, and related issues including Australian military aid to the Philippines and the possible prosecution of the then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her crimes committed against the Filipino people.

Mr Jun Tellez, member of the Global Council of Migrante International, gave a short talk on the importance of leadership principles and practices.

In the afternoon, other workshops were held finalising the alliance’s constitution, followed by a solidarity cultural presentation in the evening. As different organisations preformed, it heightened the atmosphere of solidarity and camaraderie of the delegates.

On the second day, the delegates ratified the alliance’s constitution and also finalised the alliance’s GPOA to provide a roadmap of what the alliance wish to achieve in the next three years.

Several resolutions were passed and different committees were formed including research/education, campaign, solidarity and finance. These committees will focus on different areas of the alliance’s work as agreed in the GPOA.

To lead the alliance, members of the Executive Committee were elected at large by the voting delegates.

Elected members of the Executive Committee were: George Kotsakis of Migrante Melbourne as Chairperson; Mario Royeca of Lingap Migrante as Deputy Chairperson; Onofre ‘Bong’ Andres of Lingap Migrante as Secretary General; Reyvi Mariñas of Migrante Melbourne as Deputy Secretary General; and Stephanie Rabusa of Migrante Melbourne as Treasurer.

The formation of Migrante-Australia marked a remarkable episode in the movement of progressive Filipino migrants and workers in Australia.

It was a timely effort to forge a stronger and higher unity in the midst of imperialist globalisation which aggravates the abuse and exploitation of Filipino migrants in Australia.

Indeed, Migrante-Australia will have ‘one voice’ to “unite and advance the rights of migrants in Australia”.

As of May 16, there were already thirty two (32) Filipino migrant workers nabbed by the Immigration police last week few days after the Ministry of Justice announced the conduct intensified crackdown on May 4, 2010. The Filipino migrant workers are among the hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrant workers which are target of cleaning-up of criminals in the country, a xenophobic response that violates the fundamental human rights of migrant workers and all foreigners working and living in the country. Migrant workers of coloured race are doubly prejudiced because they can be easily identified such as the South and Southeast Asians, Africans and Chinese are the targets of the crackdown, in comparison to the fair skinned Caucasians from North America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The National Police Agency on May 4, 2010 announced through a press statement that they have also started the “G-20 Preemptive Response” beginning May 2nd. They have stated that as the foreign population increases in the country so do the crime rate committed by foreigners. The National Police Agency has started the conduct of special investigations in areas where there is a high concentration of foreigners. The investigation will continue for fifty days (50) on the national level while for Seoul region the investigation will be for two weeks.

Since majority of the foreign population in Seoul metropolitan area are 75% Chinese. It is founded that the target for arrests are primarily these ethnic groups. Areas specific to one nationality are classified as target areas such as the following: the Chinese in Yeoungdungpo, Guro and Guemcheon areas, Mongolians in Junggu  specifically the Mongolian town in Gwanghuidong; the Vietnamese in Seongdonggu, Geumcheongu and Seongbukgu; Russians and Uzbeks in Junggu, especially the Russian Street in Gwanghuidong. Finally, the Nigerians in Yongsan and Itaewon.

According to their press release the target of their investigation and eventual deportation are the following:  foreigners who are suspects in a crime; foreigners who are in possession of deadly weapons (e.g. knives, etc.); foreigners who have pending arrest warrants; sex workers and their costumers and the undocumented migrant workers. The statement as well disclosed that raids on houses and work places of foreigners would be done both day and night in identified areas as well as random street checking of the foreign nationals.

Although the government through the Ministry of Justice has advertised that the period of intensified crackdown on undocumented migrant workers and foreigners will begin on June 1st and will last until August 31, 2010, several hundreds of migrant workers have already been arrested and waiting for deportation to their home countries. The enticement of the government for voluntary departure comprise of these: all migrant workers who voluntarily leave Korea within this period will not be penalized for overstaying and will be exempted from a 5-year immigration ban in Korea. They will be able to take the Korean language test and reapply for work in Korea through the Employment Permit System (EPS). The employers are also encouraged to surrender their undocumented workers so that they can be exempted from paying the fine of up to 20 million won. They will also be able to hire EPS workers that would replace their lost manpower.

KASAMMAKO calls on President Lee Myung-Bak to immediately STOP THE CRACKDOWN on migrant workers. The continuance of this immigration strategy is a violation of the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. It will further alienate South Korea from the migrant workers who have contributed in sustaining the economic development of the country. It will also aggravate the condition of the weakening productivity of the small and medium scale enterprises.

We denounce the militarist approach of resolving labour and immigration issues. Migrant workers regardless of their visa status have been working in the country as productive forces and have been contributing to the national economic development, but they are treated with suspicion as common criminals and are racially discriminated. The use of police power to reduce the number of undocumented migrant workers and foreigners in preparation for the G-20 Summit in Korea would widen the racial divide and will intensify xenophobia among Korean citizens and will result in racial motivated conflicts.

KASAMMAKO demands for the legalization of undocumented migrant workers which is the right solution to solve the problem of undocumented. Furthermore The increase of number of undocumented migrant workers is consequent of the faulty labor Employment Permit System (EPS).We demand the EPS must be change to new labor arrangement that would ensure the respect of rights of migrants and equal protection under the law.

We call on the Philippine government especially the Philippine Embassy in Seoul to protest this inhumane program of the Korean Government and actively monitor the every detention center around the country for Filipino migrant workers processed for deportation in need of assistance such the speedy issuance of travel documents and provide them free for the Filipino Migrant Workers, provide shelter and basic subsistence for those who are forced to leave their jobs for fear of their employers of possible penalty for hiring them.

We call on all migrant workers network, concerned institutions, and individuals around the world to similarly denounce this ongoing crackdown, criminalization and repression of migrant workers and foreigners in South Korea.

MR. POL PAR, Chairperson
KASAMMAKO – Seoul, South Korea

Nanay Perla and Tatay _ are among family members taking the daily trip from Quezon City to visit loved ones, the detained health workers in Camp Capinpin, Rizal, Philippines. Their daughter, Jaqueline Gonzales, or Jaq, as she is fondly referred to among friends and family, is one of the 43 health workers illegally arrested last February 6, 2010 in Morong, Rizal, Philippines.

Ever since her daughter’s arrest, Nanay Perla never missed an opportunity to visit Jaq. The trip from their home in Valenzuela to Rizal would take a few hours, one way. Arriving in the military camp, the visitors would only be allowed to see and talk to their loved ones for about 5-10 minutes, just enough for a few hugs and tears. “Natatakot kami na kapag minsan lang kaming hindi makabisita ay saktan nila si Jaq,” Nanay Perla said. (We fear that if we missed one day of visit, they would hurt Jaq.)

Human Rights Violations

Two doctors, a registered nurse, two midwives and 38 volunteer community health workers comprised the arrested group. At the time of the arrest, they were involved in a Community First Responders’ Health Training held by the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) and the Council for Health and Development (CHD) in Morong, Rizal. Their venue was raided in the morning of February 6, 2010 and their arrest was on the pretext that they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and that the training being held in Rizal was actually for bomb-making.

The arrest based on a defective search warrant and the detention of the health workers is illegal. At the time, they were even denied legal counsel and medical treatment. Reports of torture, sexual harassment among the women detainees and other forms of human rights violations have been reported by the detainees in the hands of their military captors. According to the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the continued detention of the innocent health workers in the military camp would subject them to further physical and mental torture. The group, now more popularly known as the Morong 43, has started fasting last April 13 in protest to the delay of their transfer from Camp Capinpin to Camp Crame, a civilian detention facility.

Concern for Health Workers

The news of the Gestapo-like arrest of the health workers and the subsequent human rights violations has immediately sparked an outrage not only within the country but the international community as well. Various organizations have called for the health workers’ release. Furthermore, the medical community has expressed fear that health graduates, workers and volunteers would be discouraged to work in rural areas of the Philippines. This is in addition to the growing number of health professionals opting to go abroad for higher pay. Not only are they facing the lack of opportunities in the country, they now have to think of their own safety and security.

Conrado de Quiros, a famous columnist in the Philippines slammed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in his column, There’s the Rub, in the Philippine daily Inquirer, last February 16, 2010,

… The AFP’s logic has always been that even if the people they arrest, or abduct or kill, are doctors or health workers, they are also NPA, who are merely using health care to advance their cause in far-flung areas. Well, if so, then that is not a good reason to arrest them, or abduct them, or kill them. That is a hell of a good reason to join them. If their cause brings them to heroically risk life and limb and forgo the conveniences of city life, particularly Metro Manila life, many of the suspects being professionals or NGO members, to bring life to the dying, then we can do worse than support that cause. If, on the other hand, the cause causes the people who are responsible for health care, among other cares, to not provide it because of greed, and cause them to order the military to arrest, abduct or kill the people who do because they make them look bad, then we ought to stop paying taxes to that cause…”

In a country wherein social welfare is least prioritized by the government, community workers and volunteers are truly invaluable.

Fight against Impunity

“Hindi ko alam na totoo palang nangyayari ang ganito. Gusto lang naman tumulong ng anak ko pero siya pa ang nalalagay sa panganib,” (I did not know that this sort of thing really happened. My daughter only wants to help but instead she is put in danger.) Nanay Perla muses, describing the case of her daughter and the rest of the health workers. Nanay Perla is one of many relatives of health and community workers, activists, journalists, and the like who have been arrested, abducted or killed under the Arroyo government.

The illegal arrest and detention of the health workers, physical and psychological torture, denial of legal counsel and medical treatment, fabrication of evidence, coercion of witnesses, defying the order of the Supreme Court are clear manifestations of the Arroyo regime’s tolerance of impunity in the country.

This state of impunity, however, only manages to strengthen the people’s resolve to fight it. It even managed a smile from Nanay Perla as she prepares to leave with the other relatives of the health workers going to Camp Capinpin. “Tulad nga ng sabi ni Jaq, walang bibitaw.” (Just like what Jaq said, no one should quit)

N.B. As of press time, 38 of the 43 health workers have already been transferred to Metro Manila District Jail in Bicutan, Taguig City, from Tanay, Rizal.

By Jennifer Binegas

I was listening to the news sometime in March and heard of the persistence of the Australian government to get the facts about the death of Britt Laptorne, an Australian who was holidaying in Croatia.  Two Federal police were being sent to Croatia to examine the Croatian government’s investigation on the case. Britt Laptorne went missing in September 2008 and her body was found 18 days after.  After one year and five months, the Australian government is still investigating her death.

Then I read a statement from Migrante Middle East an Overseas Filipino Workers’ group seeking probe on the death of a Filipino worker in the United Arab Emirates.  The worker was Ragima Jamal, 19 years old, working as a domestic worker or maid. She allegedly died of unexplained head and body injuries.  Ragima’s death adds to the long list of mysterious deaths of overseas Filipino Workers. In many cases, the body of the dead Filipinos are brought to the Philippines, delivered to the family and forgotten by the Philippine government with no compensation nor help to the families and no investigation.  Only when progressive Filipino groups learned about it and demanded an investigation, did the Philippine government, fearing public condemnation.

On election

Voting in Australia is conducted manually.  People go to the polling places from eight in the morning and cast their votes by marking the ballot paper with pencil and dropping them in the ballot boxes. The voting generally lasts up to six in the afternoon.  Polling places are schools in local electorates.  There are no police or military guards in the polling places and candidates’ representatives are not allowed inside the building perimeter.  The counting however, is done by machines and the result of the election is known the next day as early as morning. We do not hear of voting ghosts, or persons who may have died years ago but turn out alive on election day as their identities are used by unscrupulous elements to pad certain candidates’ count. We do not hear of missing ballot boxes or ballot boxes that wander and never reach their proper destination. We do not hear of politicians or their supporters being harassed, vanished or killed.

The Philippine government is ambitious and arrogant. In the May 2010 presidential election, automated voting was tested.  The testing was actually carried out on a national level since the machines have not been used in any local election. There were not enough machines for all the polling places which meant that several polling places were bundled together.  People from various localities and barrio travelled far and had to wait in long queues to be able to vote.  The ATS machines malfunctioned and crashed in certain areas and contributed to the chaos and disenfranchisement of people on election day. Uniformed and plainclothes guards and military were spotted hovering and staying within and around the polling places. Cheating and other irregularities were reported despite illegal heavy military presence. Election-related harassment, abduction and killings started as early as six months before the election, as in the Maguindanao massacre when more than 50 people were killed.

The events above become norms to many Filipinos. They know that there are problems but some of them are resigned to the belief that nothing can be done.  Their fears and worries are constant and they have no choice but to live with them.

By Dingin Dalisay

I stand at the doorway and I hear someone shouting at the far end of the house. It is Patrick, the Korean chap, who is Allan and JR’s workmate and a border of the house too. He might be calling JR to meet us.

JR, the youngest of the group, comes out of his room smiling. He greets me and shakes my hand with delight.

“Musta po?” he asks, his arms tucked across his chest. “Okay naman.” I reply, as my eyes wander at the white wall of the corridor. Not a bad house, I thought, with a touch of a colonial cottage house: massive adobe bricks and corrugated green iron roof from the outside, and high ceiling and thick floor board in the inside.  To me, this is an almost perfect house.

“Kuya Allan will be here soon. He just went to the shopping centre to buy some food,” JR says, smiling and a bit tense because he might be thinking that we have not had a lunch yet.

Soon, Allan arrives. With an average height and a strong presence, he is dubbed as the ‘Mayor’ of the group for leading the nine abused 457 visa workers in July 2009 that resulted to their eventual gaining of permanent residence visa. He looks cool in his sunglasses, and a pair of T-shirt and cargo short. He carries a carton box filled with foods he bought from nearby local Asian store.

“Have you guys eaten? I’ve bought some food for our lunch,” he asks placing the box on the table.

Everyone is all in the kitchen, shoving each others’ shoulders, packed with stories to tell. Gossips, politics, jobs—everyone is busy having their chika-chika ‘thingy’ that for a while, we all have forgotten to have a lunch.

We survey the backyard, thinking that this might be a good place to construct the tent for the camp site. It is huge than we expect. Dry grey sands around the Hills Hoist, with few shrubs and midget bamboo trees planted at the far end of the patch. In the middle are old grapevine plants, their trunks as solid as rocks, zigzagging on the ground like a huge python.

“It’s a bit bumpy,” I say to George, while Danny stares on the ground. George or Butch to friends and family, nods, his teeth gnashing as usual. I am not sure if he feels hot or he does not seem impressed with the setting.

It is three o’clock in the afternoon and the group decides to look for a camp site for the rest of our stay in Murray Bridge. We are already driving for thirty minutes and it is not looking good. This is not really the initial plan as we thought the campsite is only around Murray Bridge’s vicinity. We continue driving and hit two camp sites. “Nop… fully booked because of the Holy Week. We could have foreseen this earlier,” I whisper, smiling, as we head back to Allan and JR’s place to chill out our disappointment.

AT NIGHT TIME, we are all sitting in the lounge. The room is pitched black, and the only light I could see is the beam of the overhead projector in front of us. Butch introduces the topic—Reyalidad ng Migrasyong Pilipino (RMP).

I pull out my camera and take some photos of the participants. Butch sits at the front, as Danny, Charo and I sit at the opposite side. Allan, JR and Zaldy are sitting next to Butch at the far end of the room. Dexter, the new Migrante Melbourne member, sneaks in to the room like a phantom, standing near the doorway.

In the middle of the room is a coffee table, full of bottles of beers, cans of passion fruit soft drinks, adobong mani, and a container of chocolate cookie bar prepared by Butch’s daughter, Kayy. Everyone is focused, their eyes and ears at Butch as he heads the discussion.

As the power-point presentation reaches its conclusion, it becomes more apparent to the participants about the root cause of the Filipino migration around the world. Why many Filipinos choose to go overseas and why we are here in Australia in the first place? These are the questions that are dealt with in the presentation.

Everyone has the opportunity to reflect the materials on Philippine history, politics and migration—a complex topic that is not simple to absorb for a rushed three-hour discussion on RMP.

Soon, Zaldy and Allan share their experience of migration in Australia and we are all interested to hear what they are about to say.

Zaldy, the new face in the group is a keen participant. He is in his early 40s, with an average built and short haired. He has one child and a wife who has just gone back to the Philippines as his wife’s previous student visa has now expired. He is now working with Allan and JR and is waiting for the result of his lodged 457 visa application.

“I never really experienced a union collective or have I organised workers as such because I was a manager in a big company in the Philippines. But I could feel my sympathy for the workers and for what they are fighting for whenever they have strikes”, Zaldy explains, as he clasps his hands, arms folded between his legs.

He explains to me that taking up the RMP is a kind of an ‘eye-opener’ for those who have not yet understood the root cause of Filipino migration abroad. He then tells me that he is very willing to join Migrante, and that he knows Migrante’s work very well, even before when he was still in the Philippines. In essence, I could tell that he has insight of what the group is really fighting for.

Allan is equally passionate and eager to tell his experience as an abused 457 visa worker almost a year ago. He describes how they were abused by their previous employer and how Migrante Melbourne coordinated the support, through the South Australian union and the Filipino community groups in Adelaide.

We concur that what Allan and the rest of the group did in July 2009 was a clear indication of their readiness and conscious attempt to collectively act and fight for what they believed was just, fair and reasonable, and that is—to stand-up and fight for their rights and dignity.

IT IS EARLY SUNDAY MORNING and we start packing our bags and belongings for our intended departure after lunch time. At the same time, the hosts are also occupied preparing for a group picnic at a park near the Murray River bank.

Every month, a group of Filipino families and friends, including the Murray Bridge boys, gather together for their ‘paluwagan’, where members pool their money and each one takes turn in bringing home the accumulated amount every month.

Around eleven in the morning, I hear people entering the doorway and they are all pleased to greet Allan and the rest of the group. I recognise Doc in his sky blue sweater and I say ‘hello’ to him, while I shake his hand near the doorway to the kitchen. The whole house is jam-packed and the noise continues to arise like a market-place as more Filipino families enter the corridor.

The night before, we decided to formally establish the Migrante Adelaide “Ad Hoc Committee’ composed of Allan, JR and Zaldy. The interim officers were also created to oversee the expansion of Migrante Adelaide in the near future. It was also decided on that night that we should speak to Doc as he was also instrumental to assisting the abused nine 457 visa workers way back in July 2009.

Before we head to the park, I ask Butch if he has already spoken to Doc about the formation of Migrante Adelaide. He says yes, and Doc is more than happy to join and is willing to help organise Filipinos to join the group.

The park is just about ten minutes away from Allan’s place. We arrive at around midday and we are lucky enough to find a big shed with a barbeque hotplate. The weather is warm and sunny, with a light cool breeze coming from the banks of the river. People walk along with their dogs, children running around, and weird men walking on a Batman, Superman and Spiderman costumes—they complete the atmosphere with fun and laughter.

Each family brings their own share of food for the salu-salo meal; and all the tables are filled with Filipino foods: Goto, Tokwa’t Baboy, Kaldereta, Spaghetti and Barbeque, amongst the feast for the gathering.

It is two o’clock in the afternoon and the time comes for us to leave Murray Bridge. We say good-bye to everyone and we confirm that we will definitely stay in touch with them. The sky is clear and although our road trip back to Melbourne is daunting, our minds are filled with rich memories, encounters and experiences.

POSTCRIPT: The Migrante Adelaide ‘Ad Hoc Committee’ will be visiting Melbourne on 21-23 May for leadership training and briefing for the upcoming First Migrante Australia assembly in June this year.

Ilang araw matapos maibalita ang plano ay umakit na ito ng sari-saring mga kuro-kuro, batikos at pagsusuri galing sa iba’t -ibang panig ng lipunan. Marami ang nagsasabi na hindi tuluyang bumagsak ang ekonomiya ng Australia nitong nakaraang krisis pampinansyal dahil sa biglang paglakas ng pangagailangan sa mga yamang mineral, katulad ng coal at iron ore, ng China at ng iba pang mga bansa sa Asya.

Bakit kailangang patawan ang mga kompanyang ito ng mas malaking buwis kung gayong ito pala ay nakakatulong sa ekonomiya ng bansa?

Lumalabas sa mga pagsusuri na ang pinakamalalaking kompanya ng mina katulad ng BHP at Rio Tinto ay hindi na pagmamay-ari ng Australia. Apatnapung porsyento ng BHP at 70 porsyento ng Rio Tinto ay pagmamay-ari na ng mga banyagang kompanya. Sa loob ng sampung taon, kumita ang mga kompanyang ito ng higit sa AU$80 bilyon ngunit AU$9 bilyon lamang ang napunta sa kabang-bayan ng Australia. Ang napakalaking kita ng mga kompanyang ito, na galing sa likas yaman ng Australya ay napupunta lamang sa ibayong-dagat.

Ngayon pa lang ay nagpahayag na ang mga malalaking kompanya na lalabanan nila ang pagbaba ng patakarang ito sa pamamagitan ng media. Determinado ang malalaking kompanyang ito na hamunin ang patakarang ito sa pamamagitan ng paglaban sa parlyamentaryo gamit ang partidong liberal at iba’t-iba pang media-based propaganda. Naglalabasan ang  malalaking pahina ng patalastas na naglalayong gumawa ng mass-hysteria laban dito.

Ginagamit  nila ang argumento na dahil sa buwis na ito, malaki ang posibilidad na umalis ang mga malalaking kompanyang ito at mamuhunan na lamang sa mga bansa sa Africa o sa North America. Sa kabilang banda, ito ay mistulang scare-tactic lamang sa kadahilanang hindi naman naililipat o naisasalin ang mga likas-yaman hindi tulad ng ibang yaman tulad ng lakas-paggawa. Ang pangagailangan ng mundo sa mga minerals na ito ay idinidikta lamang sa mga kompanyang ito. Sa madaling salita, hindi aalis ang mga kompanyang ito dahil dito nila kinukuha ang mga likas-yamang ito sa Australya.

Ang buwis na ito ay hango na sa netong kita ng mga kompanyang mina. Nabawas na lahat ng gastusin at ito ay mababawas lamang sa perang  mapupunta  sa bulsa ng mga may-ari ng kompanya. Hindi ito gaya ng ‘income tax’ nating mga manggagawa na hango sa buong kita natin. Kahit ano pa kalaki ng gastusin natin sa ating pamilya, nagbabayad pa rin tayo ng buwis.

Ang Resource Super Profit Tax ay magiging makatarungan lamang kung ang patakarang ito ay naglalayong makabuti sa pamumuhay ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan at mabawasan ang pagwasak sa kalikasan. Nasa interes ng Australia na ibalik ang kita ng mga malalaking kompanyang ito upang magsilbing puhunan na magiging kapaki-pakinabang sa lahat ng mga mamamayan. Mahalagang maibalik sa mga mamamayan ang bahagi ng yaman ng bansa na kanila din namang pagmamay-ari.

Kung ang buwis na ito ay mapupunta lamang sa pagpapatayo ng inprastaktura para sa mga kompanya ng mina, hindi ito mapakikinabangan ng mga mamamayan. Kailangan isaisip na dapat ay nawawasto sa lokal na mga proyekto sa pagpapasya kung ano ang gagawin sa buwis na ito.

Kailangan ding maging mapagbantay ang mga manggagawa at mga unyon ng industriyang ito sa mga  gagawin ng mga malalaking korporasyon. Kailangang matyagan ng mabuti upang masigurong hindi magiging dahilan ang buwis na  ito upang abusuhin ang karapatan ng mga manggagawa.

Hindi pa tiyak kung saan talaga mapupunta ang kita sa buwis na ito sa kadahilang sa taong 2012-2013 pa ipatutupad ang patakarang ito. Subalit ngayon pa lamang ay kailangan na nating tingnan ang magiging epekto nito sa hinaharap.

By Stephanie Rabusa

Overview

The introduction of automated polling was heralded as the ‘cure all’ for all election problems of the past.  Automation alone, did not solve all problems, and may not have solved the specific problem of vote rigging.  There were numerous glitches with automation.  Many of the same old problems were observed and documented by the PIOM – guns, goons and gold.

What’s new?

Machines were used for the first time ever in any election; anywhere in the world.  Hired at the cost of several billion, from a South American company, Smartmatic, the machines were riddled with problems, and widely ridiculed, in the lead up to the election.  They were meant to deliver accurate results quickly after the election and prevent ‘dag dag bawas’ (vote shaving and padding).

Glitches

However, the cheapest version was used; voters were not able to confirm their vote had been accepted. Too few were used (one school I visited on Election Day had 25 machines for 23,000 voters, which forced voters to wait from three – eight hours to vote). The backup battery did not always work after a power failure, some ballots had to be trimmed to fit through the machine and voters and their ballots could easily be observed by the mass of ‘official observers’ that seemed to fill every precinct room we visited.  In addition, more than one week after the election, 10% of the results had yet to be transmitted to Comelec, the government body responsible for running the election.  This is great cause for concern, as 10% can make the difference between winning and losing for most candidates.

A further fundamental issue raised by this automation – that of a government privatising an election – needs further consideration.  It is generally seen as the role of government to conduct elections for and on behalf of its citizenry – not to hand it to a private company, at the cost of billions.

Same old, same old

The majority of the ruling family dynasties remain intact.  Some are extended.  The Marcos family has well and truly returned to public life (Marcos’ wife and son now both hold seats).  “Noy Noy’ Aquino, never before a public figure, is now elected President, thus continuing that family dynasty.

Harassment of candidates and voters, vote buying, deaths and violence, the common hallmarks of elections in the Philippines, remain through-out the country.  PIOM Observers noted and documented significant and recurring and apparently widespread incidents of many of these events throughout the seven regions that we were spread.  The Cavite monitoring team, of which I was a member, narrowly missed being caught in the crossfire of a gun battle, allegedly between two rival groupings.  Certainly the police and serving or retired members of the Navy were involved.  Progressive groups and parties continued to report incidents of harassment in the lead up to the elections.

What now?

Concerned groups, such as PASA in Melbourne and others around Australia should maintain vigilance about remaining positions to be declared.  The final report of the PIOM should also be widely promoted.  It will include recommendations for the Philippines government and points upon which representations can be made to the Australian government.

The PIOM

The PIOM was formed to monitor the election on behalf of the people of the Philippines. PASA participated in the first observer’s mission in 2004.  This year’s mission consisted of 86 international participants from 11 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Margot Hoyte, PASA representative
3rd PIOM, Observer, Cavite area, Southern Tagalong