Labor Day 2019 is turning also into a major campaign day for Senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Labor Day celebration in the Philippines begins early on May 1 in various parts of the Philippines. Unions and workers’ associations gather in various points to eventually converge at an agreed intersection.

In Calamba City, Laguna, a province south of Manila, labor group Pamantik (Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan), the chapter of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Region 4, will converge at Crossing, Calamba City in the afternoon of May 1, following a morning of local, coordinated rallies. In Metro Manila, KMU member federations and allied groups will converge at Mendiola Bridge near Malacañang by noontime. They will meet with other labor groups at the Liwasang Bonifacio in the afternoon.

Southern Tagalog and Metro Manila are the Philippine regions with highest number of establishments, workers and unemployment rates. http://www.psa.gov.ph/content/employment-rate-january-2019-estimated-948-percent

Most workers’ gathering here plan to highlight calls to regularize contractual workers and increase the national minimum wages to at least P750. The progressive bloc of workers groups led by KMU is also highlighting calls to fight the “fascist attacks from the US-Duterte regime.”

Labor Day 2019 is turning also into a major campaign day for Senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares. A three-termer BAYAN MUNA Partylist Representative and a human rights lawyer, he is the main senatorial candidate of the labor sector. He graces the progressive labor sector’s main pick and also joins four other candidates, Ernesto Arellano, Allan Montaño, Sonny Matula and Leody de Guzman, as put forward and being campaigned for by other labor groups.

Senatorial bet Colmenares has proposed to do away with the regional wage boards and set a national minimum wage. He explained that since 1989, when Congress delegated its power to set minimum wages to the regional wage boards, a race to the bottom began with regard to workers’ wages. He said regions competed with each other in lowering wages to attract investors and eroding real incomes for workers. “It has created the situation where minimum wage workers can’t even earn enough to provide their families the most basic needs.”
The workers’ groups welcomed his vow to push for a law that would abolish the regional wage boards and re-establish a national minimum wage based on the actual cost of living in the country. He said it is high time for Congress to step in and give workers a substantial increase in wages and salaries.

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“Voters should be wary of party-list groups of known political dynasties and big business interests claiming to represent the poor.”

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Election watchdog Kontra Daya called for voter vigilance as the rich and the powerful dominate the recent survey of Pulse Asia.

The group said the Pulse Asia survey results released last April 25 showed that at least 34 out of the 58 party-lists that probably would garner enough votes in the May 13 midterm elections to gain sests in Congress do not represent the marginalized and the underrepresented of society.

These 34 party-lists, according to Kontra Daya, have: 1) links to political dynasties or officials already elected in other positions; 2) represent special business interests; or 3) possess questionable advocacies and nominees.
Kontra Daya reminds voters, “The party-list system should serve the marginalized and underrepresented.”

“Voters should be wary of party-list groups of known political dynasties and big business interests claiming to represent the poor. They should avoid party-list groups that have become family enterprises where nominees are confined to members of the same family,” the group said in a statement.

Party-list groups who does not belong to the marginalized

Among the questionable party-lists listed in the 39-page voter’s guide on the party-list election released by Kontra Daya on April 24 are the following:

Ako Bicol Political Party which, according to the survey, will probably get more than 2 percent of votes assuring them of three seats in the House of Representatives (HOR). According to the research of Kontra Daya, Ako Bicol is allegedly backed by the family of Elizaldy Co, a rich and influential family in Albay. His businesses include construction, real estate, malls, resorts, energy, mining and aviation. He is also the chairman and chief executive officer of the Sunwest Group Holding Company Inc.

The second nominee, Justin Caesar Anthony D. Batocabe is the son of the late Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe. The third nominee, Ronald S. Ang formerly worked at the Sunwest Group Holding Co. Inc.

Advocacy for Teachers Empowerment through Action, Cooperation and Harmony Towards Educational Reforms or A Teachers also will probably get more than 2 percent of the votes giving them three seats in the HOR. Kontra Daya’s research showed that its first nominee Mariano U. Piamonte Jr. is associated with the private education sector.

He is a former head of the Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines (CEAP), a nationwide association of Catholic schools in the country. He is also a former board member of a private university in Malolos, Bulacan. He is also consistent in his stand against the tuition rollbacks in private universities and the Magna Carta of Students. 

Another questionable party-list group is the Duterte Youth, a right-wing youth organization supporting the Duterte administration. Pulse Asia survey showed that Duterte Youth will probably get votes assuring them of at least one seat at the HOR.

Kontra Daya Research on Par… by on Scribd

The Duterte Youth is led by National Youth Commission (NYC) chairman Ronald Cardema. He is the chairman of the Kabataan for Bongbong Movement, a youth organization supporting Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a forum with the University of the Philippines alumni on the party-list system last April 16, Kontra Daya convener and UP Professor Danilo Arao said Duterte Youth is the only party-list that uses the name of the president. The LPGMA or the LPG Marketers’ Association, he said is a different case since it is only an acronym of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Arao also said that the goal of the Duterte Youth is to counter progressive party-list groups particularly the Kabataan Party-list.

Duterte Youth is also a dynasty in the making, said Arao. The first nominee is Cardema’s wife, Ducielle Marie D. Suarez while the fifth nominee is his sister, Elizabeth Anne F. Cardema.

Arao also said that Cardema is the principal campaigner of the Duterte Youth using the NYC logo. The party-list also used the logo of the HOR in their tarpaulins. “This is the only party-list that we know of that uses the logo of the HOR in their campaigns. Technically, they’re not supposed to do that,” he said.

Be critical

In the forum, Arao said, the rich and the powerful continue to rule the paryt-list system in the Philippines. It is being used by those who are in power to put forward their own interests.

But, he said, true power is still in the hands of the people.

He urged voters to be more critical in choosing the party-list that truly represents the marginalized and the underrepresented in the society.

Kontra Daya in statement also said,“The party-list system should aim to broaden representation, not make it narrower to the point of representing the interests of one family. Dynasties among party-list groups go against the intent of the party-list system as stated in the Constitution,” the group added.

(DISCLOSURE: Danilo A. Arao, a convenor of Kontra Daya, works as an associate editor of Bulatlat.)

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The ban extends to any journalist who would write or broadcast anything that the President deems to be ‘fake news.’

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Three days before the World Press Freedom Day, 41 journalists filed a petition urging the Supreme Court to lift President Rodrigo Duterte’s ban against Rappler.

In a petition for intervention, journalists from print, online and broadcast media argued that the ban “abridges the freedom of the press.” Journalists, they said, are entitled to freedom of the press as stated in Section 4, Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

“The guarantee prohibits any law from being passed that abridges press freedom. In the same vein, it also prohibits overbearing and over expansive exercise of executive power that trenches on press freedom,” the petition read.

Among the petitioners were Florangel Braid, one of the framers of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; veteran journalists Inday Espina-Varona, Ceres Doyo, Marites Vitug, Tina Monzon-Palma; Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s Melinda Quintos-de Jesus and Vergel Santos; talk-show hosts Winnie Monsod and Lourd de Veyra as well as broadcasters Atom Araullo, Raffy Tima and Mariz Umali.

Former UP College of Mass Communication Dean Luis Teodoro and UP journalism professor Danilo Arao, also associate editor of Bulatlat, are also among those who signed the petition.

The petitioners pointed out that the ban constitutes “content-based prior restraint.” They noted that the ban was imposed without a substantial government interest other than the President’s disagreement at how the news was reported.

Citing the Chavez v. Gonzales jurisprudence, the petitioners said there are only four types of expression that may be subject to prior restraint: pornography, false or misleading advertising, advocacy of imminent lawless action and danger to national security. All other expression, the said ruling states, is not subject to prior restraint and absolutely protected from censorship.

They added that while they have not been physically barred from reporting on the President’s activities, the ban extends to any journalist who would write or broadcast anything that the President deems to be ‘fake news.’

The petitioners also maintained that the ban creates a chilling effect on other journalists as journalists are being punished for the content of their reporting.

The journalists are represented by former SC Spokesperson Theodore Te.

Nine Rappler reporters filed a petition, April 11, asking the high court to stop the ban on coverage, saying it violates constitutional guarantees of press freedom, free speech, due process and equal protection.

The ban started in February 2018 when Duterte prohibited Rappler’s Palace reporter Pia Ranada and CEO Maria Ressa from covering Malacañang and the President’s events. The following month, the ban extended to all their reporters and correspondents in the provinces.

Duterte had publicly accused Rappler of peddling fake news for its critical reportage on Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs.”

DISCLOSURE: The author is among those who signed the petition for intervention in support of Rappler.

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The only prohibition on Churches is against registering as a political party

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Non-partisanship.

This is perhaps the biggest obstacle nowadays as many faith-based organizations try to appear “clean” in the face of the “most dangerous” elections yet, according to lawyer Alex Lacson of the People’s Choice Movement.

In a forum today at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Conference Center in Manila, bishops, priests, and lay organizations gathered to discern on the need to to have an independent senate and actively campaign for it.

Being non-partisan, Lacson said, will benefit those who have the money and the machinery of a political dynasty.

“Ayaw kasi nilang madumihan,” he said.

Why is there a need to have an independent senate?

In what he considers as the “most dangerous” elections yet, Lacson said it is high time for faith-based organizations to join the political battlefield and fight for an independent senate.

Lawyer Cristina Yambot of the Makabayan Bloc underlined the importance of an independent senate that will not be kowtowed to the political interests of the present administration.

The senate, she added, plays a big part in present government actions such as in the extension of martial law, charter change, and its foreign policy, including its present relations with China.

“Their loyalty must lie in the people,” she said, adding that country needs “to have a senate who will dare ask critical questions on extrajudicial killings and seek justice as well.”

Lacson said that to have an independent senate, the opposition must have majority in the senate. As it stands, he added, voters need to elect at least 10 opposition senatorial aspirants.

How about the separation of Church and State?

Lacson pointed out that Church leaders and workers actively campaigning for certain candidates do not violate the separation of Church and State, as provided by the Constitution.

He explained that the Constitution only prohibits the government from preventing the people from practicing their faith, establishing a State-sponsored religion, showing preference or discrimination to any religion, using of “religion test” to avail of any right, and carrying out of mandatory teaching of religion in public schools.

Meanwhile, the Church is not allowed to register as a political party.

In fact, he noted that it was President Duterte himself who violated the separation of Church and State clause when he issued derogatory statements and even death threats against bishops.

Lacson said that if at all, church leaders who will come up with a list of senators they will vote for and share it among the faithful is “good guidance.”

What history tells us

Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila University history professor Francis Gealogo said it is important to “historicize” the present cry of the people for an independent senate.

He said such calls have been present during the fall of the Malolos convention up until this very day.

As such, the present political conditions pave the way for the ruling few to dominate elections. Gealogo added that these are politicians who can afford to cough up funds for a 30-second television advertisement that could be somewhere from P299,000 to P1.4 million.

Case in point, the professor added, former presidential aide Christopher Go’s mere P12.8 million assets and liabilities on one hand and P422.5 million electoral spending on another speaks a lot.

He called on the faithful to discern voting for candidates who are for life, liberty, freedom, and for poor people.

People’s choice movement

But more than just a set of criteria, lay organizations have gathered and joined a selection convention in March that led to the identification of their 10 best candidates, whom they will actively campaign for in the midterm elections.

Lacson explained that in the process of selecting the 10 candidates, they identified two knockout issues: if they believe in God and if they are against moves to shift to a federal form of government or Charter Change.

He said that only 17 candidates were able to make it to the first cut.

The 17 candidates were then subjected to another round of standard test using “Gabay ni Kristo” until they were able to reach 10 candidates.

They are: Gary Alejano, Bam Aquino, Makabayan senatorial bet Neri Colmenares, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, peace advocate Samira Gutoc, former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Grace Poe, Mar Roxas, and Erin Tañada.

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