Pahayag sa Sentenaryo ng Rebolusyong Oktubre 1917

Sa Sentenaryo ng Rebolusyong Oktubre 1917 sa Rusya:

IPAGBUNYI ANG SENTENARYO NG TAGUMPAY NG REBOLUSYONG 1917 AT ANG PAGTATAYO NG SOSYALISTANG REPUBLIKA NG URING MANGGAGAWA!

Ipinagdiriwang ng manggagawang Pilipino, kasama ang uring manggagawa ng buong daigdig, ang sentenaryo o ika-100 taon ng matagumpay na pag-aalsa ng manggagawa na nagbagsak sa kapitalistang estado at nagtatag ng gobyerno ng manggagawa sa Rusya.

Tinagurian itong “rebolusyong sobyet” dahil sa pagtatayo ng mga konseho (soviet) ng mga kinatawan ng mga manggagawa, mahirap na magsasaka, at mga sundalo, na siyang pundasyon ng pampulitikang kapangyarihan na hindi lamang nagtatakda kundi nagpapatupad din ng batas. Ito ang pagkakaorganisa ng manggagawa bilang naghaharing uri.

Ang Rebolusyong 1917 ang ikalawang matagumpay na pagtatangkang itayo ang gobyerno ng manggagawa. Ang una ang ang Paris Commune, na itinatag ng mga manggagawang Pranses sa sentrong lungsod ng kanilang bansa subalit tumagal lamang ito ng dalawa’t kalahating buwan noong Marso hanggang Mayo 1871.

Malaki ang naging papel ng kababaihan dahil sila ang nagsindi ng mitsa upang maging matagumpay ang Rebolusyong Oktubre. Naglunsad ng malawakang pag-aaklas at pagkilos ang mga manggagawang kababaihan noong Marso 8, 1917 (Gregorian Calendar) o Pebrero 23, 1917 sa lumang kalendaryo. Hiniling nila noon ang Kapayapaan at Tinapay (Peace and Bread). Kumalat sa iba’t ibang pabrika ang kilusang welga at sumiklab bilang Rebolusyong Pebrero at napatalsik ang Tsar at mga kaalyado nito, at itinayo ang isang probisyonal na gobyerno o pansamantalang pamahalaan.Isa itong malawakang proseso na tumungo sa Rebolusyong Oktubre 1917 nang pinamunuan na ang pag-aalsang ito ni Vladimir Lenin at ng mga Bolshevik (salitang Ruso sa “majority”), pinatalsik ang probisyunal na gobyerno, itinayo ang unyon ng mga konseho (soviet) at nagpabago sa kalagayan ng mamamayan. Nagsimula ang matagumpay na pag-aalsang ito noong Oktubre 25, 1917 (Julian Calendar) o Nobyembre 7, 1917 (sa kasalukuyang Gregorian Calendar). 

Sa unang pagkakataon sa kasaysayan, ang lipunan ay pinamahalaan para sa benepisyo ng lahat, para sa lahat ng manggagawa, ng mga maralita at inaapi. Ang prosesong ito ng pagkakamit ng rebolusyon ang siyang naglatag din ng daan upang unti-unting kilalanin ang karapatang pantao, at magkaroon ng pagkakapantay-pantay sa lipunan. Sa gabi ng tagumpay ng Dakilang Sosyalistang Rebolusyon ng Oktubre at pagkakatatag ng gobyernong Sobyet, agad na ipinatupad nina Lenin ang pagwawakas ng paglahok sa daigdigang digmaan, pagkumpiska ng mga lupain mula sa mga panginoong maylupa, at pamumuno sa mga pabrika.

Isang inspirasyon sapagkat itinuturo nito sa mga manggagawa ng daigdig ang kakayahan ng uring manggagawa na mamuno at pangasiwaan ang isang pamahalaan. Kaya niyang ibagsak ang kapitalistang estado. Kaya niyang itatag ang sarili niyang gobyerno. Inspirasyon ang Dakilang Rebolusyong Oktubre ng 1917 sa manggagawa at uring api na nagnanais kumawala sa gapos ng mapagsamantalang sistemang kapitalismo.

Isang inspirasyon ang Rebolusyong Oktubre upang kumilos at magkapitbisig ang mga manggagawang Pilipino at mga manggagawa sa ibang bansa at isulong ang pakikibaka upang maitayo ang kanilang sariling pamahalaan - o gobyerno ng uring manggagawa, hanggang sa ganap na maitayo ang lipunang sosyalismo.

Iminarka ng Rebolusyong Oktubre ang tagumpay ng mga Bolshevik sa pagtatatag ng gobyerno ng manggagawa, sosyalistang konstruksyon, kolektibisasyon at mekanisasyon ng agrikultura, pag-unlad ng edukasyon at kultura ng anakpawis. Ang tagumpay na ito ang nagdala sa Rusya (na sa kalaunan ay naging USSR o Unyong Sobyet ng mga Sosyalistang Republika) sa rurok ng sosyalistang pag-unlad noong unang bahagi ng ikadalawampung siglo. Bagamat ganap na nawasak ang Unyong Sobyet noong taong 1991, ang Rebolusyong Oktubre ng 1917 ay nananatili at nagsisilbing aral at inspirasyon sa uring manggagawa sa kasalukuyan na naghahangad ng pagbabago at paglaya mula sa pagsasamantala ng kapitalismo, at sa mga nagmimithing maitatag ang lipunang sosyalismo at mawakasan na ang pagsasamantala.

Ang karanasan ng uring manggagawa sa Rusya ay tanglaw sa mga manggagawang Pilipino at sa buong sangkatauhan upang lumaya sa pagsasamantala. Ang masusing pagsusuri at pag-aaral ng tagumpay na ito ay gabay sa praktikal na pagkilos ng mga manggagawa upang lumaya mula sa kahirapan at pagsasamantala ng tao sa tao. 

Gawin nating pagkakataon ang selebrasyon ng sentenaryo ng Rebolusyong Oktubre upang palalimin at ipalaganap ang mga aral ng kasaysayan, at ilunsad ng malawakang pakikipag-ugnayan sa lahat ng manggagawa. Magpunyagi tayo at panghawakan ang mga aral at mga karanasan mula sa Rebolusyong Oktubre! 

Salubungin natin at ipagdiwang ang diwa ng Rebolusyong 1917! Mabuhay ang pakikibaka ng uring manggagawa sa lahat ng bansa! Mabuhay ang Dakilang Rebolusyong Oktubre 1917! 

Nobyembre 7, 2017

All Resist Movement of the Workers (ARM the Workers)

THE power balance is shifting. The previous advantaged position enjoyed by the popular Duterte regime is in peril. 

The War on Drugs with its patent wanton disregard for due process has taken its toll on the public. Thousands, with some estimates having a running balance of 13,000, have been killed; nearly all of them poor and underprivileged. The slaughter of the innocents, which was highlighted by the celebrated murder of 17-year old Kian delos Santos, has put into question the “kill, kill, kill” pronouncements of Malacanang, along with its P6.85 million bounty, in 2016, for the police in pursuit of alleged pushers and users of illegal drugs. 

More revolting is the gall and arrogance of Duterte’s rubber stamp in Batasan; for previously awarding a measly budget of P1,000 for the human rights commission before it backtracked, and has railroaded controversial anti-worker and anti-poor measures such as the excise taxes on petroleum products and sugar sweetened beverages, and is now toying with the impeachment of a co-equal branch of the state in the persona of Chief Justice Sereno. 

The Martial Law in Mindanao is dangled like a sword over the entire archipelago, a not-so-veiled threat against legitimate dissent and human rights, even as the city of Marawi is smashed to smithereens not to crush a handful of terrorists but to provide the backdrop for a historic land grab by property development firms of oligarchs such as the Sys, the Gokongweis, the Ayalas, etc. 

The oligarchy, which was subject to verbal attacks by the Duterte, was not alarmed. The neoliberal policies of liberalization, deregulation, privatization, and labor flexibilization – which reaped in billions of profits for them and concentrated social wealth in the hands of the richest 40 families – remains fully in force. 

The oligarchs know that they would cash in from the “build, build, build” thrust of Duterte-nomics, not only through their construction firms but also with their private banks that would lend capital to the planned infrastructure projects. Furthermore, these urban landlords expect to profit from the rise of land values in sprawling megacities with the development of transport and communication networks. 

Even though the previous Noynoy Aquino administration is constantly subject to presidential ridicule, the economic policies of the current regime have not changed. As such, global capital and transnational capital remain confident in the so-called “economic fundamentals”, followed to the letter by the Duterte government. 

Despite the harsh anti-US rhetoric by Duterte, diplomatic ties with the American government are not severed. The military treaties that traditionally bind the country to the interests of the United States – the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the 2002 Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement – are untouched. In the continuing assault against the miniscule Maute group, American troops have even joined Filipino soldiers in the “War on Terror” in Malacanang. 

These agreements inevitably pushes the country in the middle of the brewing conflict between the United States and China – the world’s fastest growing economy – for economic hegemony and global dominance.  

Amidst the local and international turmoil, the Filipino people have spoken in the 2016 national elections. They want change. Lamentably, 16 million were fooled into believing that the warlord-thug who now sits in Malacanang is their champion. But they grasped an iota of truth in their wholesale rejection of the Yellow forces, whose dominance since Edsa 1986 has only led to a three-decade disappointment under the Liberal elite. 

The imperative is to build an alternative that is not only different from the stalwarts of elite democracy but also dissimilar in programmatic content for meaningful and sweeping reforms to ultimately change society and the state. 

Such alternative could only be proposed, with credibility and integrity, by the workers movement. The working class – more than any class in Philippine society – is most oppressed by the lack of democratic rights and by perpetual economic want. They form the majority in plantations, factories, offices, and workplaces. Yet, “majority rule” is non-existent. What prevails is the dictatorship of the owning few in the guise of “management prerogative”. It is the prevalence of property rights of the minority over the right to decent lives of the toiling majority. 

The working class not only comprises the majority in Philippine society. They are also the most organized. Out of more than a hundred million Filipinos, almost 23 million are wage and salaried workers. They are dwarfed only by the millions of informal workers in a backward capitalist economy. But all in all, their collective toil form the assembly line and distribution network for the production and distribution of goods and services, linked with the global economy. Organized across Philippine society as a profit-making machine but whose collective will remain as a disorganized mass of individual dreams and aspirations. 

Despite such formlessness, in terms of self-organization, the workers are among the most organized sectors in the country. The trade union movement is at almost 2 million, decimated by economic restructuring brought by globalization, but remaining as a formidable force, but only if the unionists would transcend craft and factory-level concerns by learning how to link these experiences with how society and the state are organized to favor the propertied few. 

The time has come for the working class to awaken from its slumbers. Its combined strength that now moves the levers of the economy must become a self-conscious force to change society. The powerful only appear high and mighty when one is on its knees. Arise!

Let every Filipino – who truly desires genuine and meaningful change, particularly those who marched against the arrogant impunity of the powerful as they trample upon the human rights of the poor on this fateful anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law – take as duty and responsibility the critical task of awakening the potential of the working class. Go among the workers; go to the toilers! Expose as a false prophet this murderous thug who serves the capitalist class! Join them in the immediate struggles against contractual labor, low wages, high prices, new taxes, lack of social services, etc. Teach them the inextricable link of these gut issues to ‘politics’ and the ‘state question’, on which class controls the state apparatus. 

In 1975, the deafening silence at the height of Martial Law was shattered by the La Tondena strike. It was soon followed not only by a strike wave in other factories but by a resurgent parliament of the streets. “Sobra na, tama na, welga na!” was the precursor of the “sobra na, tama na, palitan na”, which reverberated across the country during the revolutionary tide of 1983 to 1986. 

Now, in the face of an aspiring dictator, the imperative is for a resistance movement of the working class – the embryo of a plebeian-led upheaval that should be the culmination of the failures of the elite-led Edsa revolts. ARM the Workers! #

National Executive Committee, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

September 21, 2017

Workers’ Picket at the Palace Gates

PRESS RELEASE

April 7, 2017

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

Workers’ Picket at the Palace Gates:

Labor demands DU30 to issue Executive Order

to scrap DO#174 and prohibit contractualization

WORKERS from various companies in Luzon – from Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite and Bulacan – held a picket at the very gates of Malacanang Palace on Friday morning to ask President Duterte for an Executive Order to end contractualization, in line with his electoral promise last May elections.

Nasaan ang pagbabago? Tuparin ang pangakong wawakasan ang kontraktwalisasyon!

The protest, which went farther than traditional rallies at the foot of Mendiola Bridge, sought to “highlight the determination of the labor movement in battling a scourge that has wrought havoc on the rights and welfare of Filipino workers”. It likewise “challenges the ‘Change is coming’ mandate of the present regime and the promise of ‘contractualization must stop’ by no less than President Duterte himself”.

BMP national president Leody de Guzman said, “On the tenth month of this populist regime that rode on the people’s disgust over neoliberal policies such as contractualization, nothing has changed especially in the sphere of employer-employee relations. Nasaan ang pagbabago? Mananatili bang pangako ang pagwawakas sa salot na kontraktwalisasyon? Was it just a Dutertean electoral gambit to woo the votes of millions of Filipino workers?”

Executive Order to Scrap DO#174 and Prohibit Contractualization

De Guzman explained, “DOLE Secretary Bello’s Department Order 174 runs counter to the President’s commitment to end exploitative labor contractualization. We are here today to ask the President to act decisively on this pressing concern. We want him to issue an Executive Order to scrap Bello’s DO174 and, once and for all put an end to the menace of contractulization, a promise he has yet to keep”

“Secretary Bello is playing politics by trying to appease both sides – labor and business. His alibi that DO#174 is ‘legal’ is not only misleading. More so, it is unacceptably stupid. Digong should remind his alter-ego in the labor department that Article 106 does not only provide for the regulation of contracting and subcontracting schemes. It also gives power to the labor secretary to prohibit it in order to protect the rights and welfare of workers,” he added.

“After more than two decades of contractualization, we now have a cheap and docile labor force that could not defend itself against unjust practices of abusive employers. Contractual workers are cheap because they are denied seniority benefits that should by enjoyed by employees upon regular status. They are likewise docile because of the perpetual threat of unemployment via termination of contract, which hangs over their heads like the proverbial sword of Damocles,” the socialist labor leader clarified.

“But since it appears that the hand does not do what the brain is telling it to do, as Sec. Bello is unable to fulfil the presidential promise to end contractualization, it is but logical – if there is an iota of sincerity and seriousness in the words of President Duterte – that an Executive Order be enacted to prohibit contractualization, in accordance to Article 106 of the Labor Code”, de Guzman concluded. #

BMP: Huwag Magpalinlang sa DO 174

Huwag magpalinlang sa maka-kapitalistang rehimeng DU30: TULOY ANG LABAN SA KONTRAKTWALISASYON!

Sabi ni Presidential Communications Sec. Ernie Abella, dumating na raw ang katuparan ng “contractualization must stop” na paulit-ulit na ipinangako ni pangulong Digong kahit pa noong siya ay nangangampanya pa lamang sa pangkapangulo.

Natupad na raw ito sa pagkakalabas ng Department Order 174 (DO174) ni DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III. Ang DO174 ay kautusan na nagpapatupad sa Artikulo 106 hanggang 109 ng Batas Paggawa ukol sa contracting and subcontracting.

Mga kauri at kababayan, ito ang pawang kasinungalingan! Hindi totoong pipigilan ng DO174 ang laganap na kontraktwalisasyon. Bakit?

1. SAPAGKAT ANG DO174 AY NAGPAPAHINTULOT, HINDI NAGBABAWAL, SA KONTRAKTWALISASYON. Papayagan pa rin nito ang pagkuha ng mga agency, manpower cooperatives, labor service providers na kumokontrata ng trabaho sa mga tinaguriang “principal employer”.

Tuloy ang ligaya ng mga kapitalistang umuupa sa serbisyo ng mga agency upang makaiwas sa pagbabayad ng tamang pasahod at benepisyo na dapat nilang ibayad sa mareregular nilang mga manggagawa.

Ang ipinagbawal ni Sec. Bello ay ang “labor only contracting” na matagal nang ipinagbabawal ng Batas Paggawa. Kailangan lamang daw tiyaking may substansyal na kapital at may tuwirang kontrol sa mga empleyado ang mga contractor at subcontractor. Marahil sasabihin pa niyang sinunod niya lang ang sinasabi ng Artikulo 106 hanggang 109 ng Batas Paggawa.

Maari niya pang ikatuwirang ligal naman ang kanyang ginawa – katulad din ng mga naunang department order ukol sa kontraktwalisasyon (DO10 at DO18-A) – na pinahintulutan ngunit nilagyan ng regulasyon ang mga pagkokontrata ng paggawa.

Subalit may hindi sinasabi si Sec. Bello. Ayon sa Artikulo 106, ang Kalihim ng Paggawa ay maaring, sa pamamagitan ng karampatang mga regulasyon, mag-restrict o mag-probihit ng pagkokontrata ng manggagawa upang proteksyunan ang mga karapatan ng manggagawa.

Ang prohibisyon – na isang kapangyarihan ng DOLE Secretary – ay mahigit dalawang dekada nang hinihingi ng mga samahan ng mga manggagawa dahil di-maitatangging masamang epekto nito sa karapatan at kabuhayan ng mga empleyado.

• Noong 1996, ang bilang ng mga sahurang manggagawa sa bansa ay nasa 12.649 milyon. Mula dito, may 3.646 milyon ang napapabilang sa mga unyon at may 542,223 ang nagtatamasa ng isang collective bargaining agreement o CBA.

• Matapos ang 18 taon, noong 2014, halos dumoble ang bilang ng wage and salaried workers (22.555 milyon). Ngunit ang may unyon at may CBA ay nangalahati, naging 1.874 na may unyon at 257,405 lamang na may kasunduan sa kanilang employer.

Hinihingi natin ang probisyon o pagbabawal sa pagkokontrata ng paggawa sapagkat pinatatakas nito ang mga employer sa pagbabayad ng tamang benepisyo (nagiging mura ang manggagawa) bukod pa sa nagiging palagiang banta ng gutom at kawalang trabaho sa mga kontraktwal na empleyadong maaring alisan ng kontrata anumang oras (nagiging maamo ang manggagawa). Ang kontraktwalisasyon ay salot sa karapatang mabuhay nang disente’t marangal ang mga manggagawa, laluna sa karapatang mag-unyon at makipag-CBA na kanilang natitirang ligal na depensa laban sa ibayong pang-aabuso ng mga kapitalista.

2. ANG DO174 AY TALIWAS SA KAISAHAN NG MGA LABOR GROUP AT NI PANGULONG DIGONG SA KANILANG PAG-UUSAP NOONG PEBRERO 27 SA MALAKANYANG. Matapos ang ilang beses na pakikipagharap ni Sec. Bello sa halos lahat ng mga labor groups (sa ilalim ng Nagkaisa at KMU), naobliga siyang iharap ang mga lider-manggagawa kay pangulong Digong dahil sa nakitang pag-aatubili niya isabatas ang “prohibisyon” sa kontraktwalisasyon.

Sa naganap na paghaharap, hinamon si pangulong Duterte ni Ka Leody ng BMP na pirmahan ang Executive Order para ipagbawal ang kontraktwalisasyon. Ang kanyang tugon, hindi daw yun uubra, bagamat pumabor siya sa mga kahilingang inihapag ng manggagawa. Kaya’t inutusan niya si Sec. Bello na ilabas ang Department Order na ayon sa napagkasunduang pagbabawal sa kontraktwalisasyon. Subalit noong Marso 15, lumabas ang DO174, na pinahintulutan imbes na ipagbawal ang contracting at subcontracting.

Ang tanong: saan humihiram ng lakas ng loob si Sec. Bello para baliktarin ang pangakong “contractualization must stop” ni pangulong DU30? Walang iba kundi kay Digong mismo. Sapagkat siya ay “alter ego” lamang ng presidente. Maaring tanggalin anumang oras kung hindi na mapapaboran ng pangulo ng bansa.

Ang problema’y pumopostura ang pangulo bilang nyutral at walang kinakampihan sa mga magkatunggali’t nagbabanggaang mga interes sa bansa. Sabi niya noon (inaugural, June 2016), siya ay hindi lamang pangulo ng mga manggagawa Pilipino kundi presidente rin ng mga kapitalista sa Pilipinas.

Subalit ang hindi makita (marahil dahil ayaw tingnan) ng Pangulong DU30, may dalawang kampo sa isyu ng kontraktwalisasyon: may nagsasamantala at may pinagsasamantalahan. Hindi pwedeng maging nyutral. Sapagkat ang pagiging diumano’y nyutral ay peke at pretensyon lamang. Ito ay patagong pagsang-ayon at pagkunsinti sa pagsasamantala ng iilang elitista sa nakararaming masa.

Ngunit kung patuloy na paninindigan ni pangulong Digong ang kanyang postura bilang kampeon ng mga inaapi, hinahamon natin siya para (1) sibakin si DOLE Sec. Bello para mapalitan siya ng totoong makamanggagawang Kalihim at, (2) higit sa lahat, pirmahan ang isang Executive Order na magbabawal sa kontraktwalisasyon alinsunod sa Artikulo 106 ng Batas Paggawa upang magsawalang-bisa sa DO174.

Kung hindi, pinatutunayan lamang nito – sa milyon-milyong masang naniniwala pa rin sa “Change is coming” – na si Rodrigo Duterte ay walang pinag-iba sa nakaraang mga pangulo ng bansa. Siya rin ay tuta ng “oligarkiya”, ng mga kapitalista’t asenderong matagal nang naghahari sa ating Inang Bayan. Nananatiling isang maka-kapitalistang rehimen ang nakaluklok sa Malakanyang!

Mga kamanggagawa! Magkaiba ang “tama” at “mali” sa pagitan ng kapital at paggawa. Ang tama para sa mga kapitalista ay “no union”, “no CBA”, “no wage increase”. Ngunit paanong naitatayo ang unyon at napagkakasunduan ang CBA sa mga kompanya? Dahil sa pagkakaisa ng mga manggagawa. Pagkakaisa sa katumpakan ng ating katuwiran, at higit sa lahat, pagkakaisa sa sama-samang pagkilos para ipagwagi ang ating mga kahilingan. Manggagawa magkaisa! Wakasan ang kontraktwalisasyon!

National Executive Committee,

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino

Marso 2017

BMP Statement of Solidarity with Kadamay Occupiers

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH KADAMAY OCCUPIERS

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), a socialist workers’ organization, extends its solidarity to members of the urban poor who have dared to occupy public housing projects.

For the past several decades, the government has been remiss in its duty of guaranteeing quality, dignified housing for all. Workers have been producing tremendous amounts of wealth and spurring economic growth and yet, instead of ensuring that this wealth goes back to workers, the government has been allowing capitalists, landlords and other favored groups sectors to gobble up this wealth by gutting or failing channel sufficient resources to social services.

Worse, it has even helped some of the country’s richest families and largest corporations to profit from people’s desperate need for these basic necessities by promoting the privatization or commercialization of housing, as well as health care, education and other services.

Moreover, the government has been promoting anti-worker policies such as contractualization which has made it even more difficult for so many Filipinos to afford not just the houses constructed by these developers (on land typically grabbed or withheld from the public or from peasants and smallholders) but even the limited and supposedly cheap housing projects offered by the government.

As a result, land developers and other conglomerates such as those of the Sys, the Ayalas, the Gokongweis, the Villars have raked in billions and live in fabulous mansions while millions of Filipinos have no roof over their heads or live in squalid slums.

It is therefore only right that the urban poor fight for quality public housing.

This is not “stealing” or “theft”: the ones who stole or who committed theft are those who took the wealth workers produced, thereby depriving them of the means by which to build their own dream houses for themselves.

Workers fighting for quality public housing are in fact trying to stop this theft by taking back what is rightfully theirs.

This is not “anarchy” or “lawlessness”: anarchy describes a situation in which the powerful violate the laws of justice and morality by using violence or the threat of violence to take what is not theirs—violence which has forced so many workers to reside in shanties and to live in conditions not fit for humans.

Workers demanding quality public housing are in fact trying to stop this anarchy and to build order by fighting for what they deserve.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino stands with them and sees itself as part of their struggle. We denounce all those who vilify and denigrate urban poor communities fighting for social justice, and we will condemn any further act of violence against any of us.#