MANILA Some
20,000 militant workers, together with the urban poor and student youth,
celebrated National Heroes Day on November 30 with a vow to continue Gat
Andres Bonifacio's struggle by resisting imperialist globalisation and
war. Bonifacio was a left-wing leader of the 1898 Philippine revolution
against Spanish colonial domination.
The big worker-led mobilisation slammed the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (known as GMA) for selling out the country to imperial America.
Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa (Workers Party), claimed that the impending implementation of the zero tariff regime as demanded by the World Trade Organisation will be the straw that breaks the back of Filipino industry and agriculture. Tariffs on a majority of imported goods will be slashed to between zero and 5% by 2004.
Magtubo stated that with zero tariffs and unfair competition staring them in the face, even Filipino capitalists are now calling for a delay, if not a stop, to unbridled liberalisation. But the worse hit will be the workers who will bear the burden of factory closures, retrenchments, contract work, casualisation and wage freezes.
The Partido ng Manggagawa is calling on the government to enact legislation to protect the working class. Instead of zero tariffs, workers want zero layoffs and zero casualisation, Magtubo explained.
The socialist labour group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Philippines Workers Solidarity BMP) chairperson Victor Briz declared that workers and the poor are wallowing in destitution and dying of hunger, yet GMA spends plenty of time to look after US interests. Poverty not terrorism is the number one problem and should be the primary priority of the government.
The BMP leader noted that the threats of terrorist attacks that recently forced the closure of foreign embassies and have created prejudice against Filipinos seeking work abroad is a blowback from Macapagal-Arroyo's all-out support for America's imperial war of aggression. The republic of GMA is nothing but a puppet republic of the USA.
The socialist workers of the BMP pledge to complete the unfinished revolution of Bonifacio for national sovereignty and social justice, Briz declared. In 1898, it was a battle against Spanish and American colonialism. Now it is a struggle against imperialist globalisation and war. This time the people's struggle will not be betrayed because it will be led by the revolutionary workers and will target the rabid promoters of globalisation and the diligent lackeys of war, Briz promised.
From Green Left Weekly, December 11, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly
home page.