Pasko ng Pagasa:

With Angel Locsin, Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo

at Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City

 

December 22, 2009

 

 

Bonus Tracks: Mga Guhit sa Papel ni Emil Yap

 

Video: Pasko ng Paglaya

 

 

 

Barangay Bagong Silangan is Quezon City is one of the areas most devastated by Ondoy with 119 dead and 20 still missing

 Migrante International: bring them home before Christmas
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Photos courtesy of Tine Sabillo
           
           

 

 

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRPERSON

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Warmest greetings of  revolutionary solidarity and best wishes for the new year 2010!

The current severe crisis of the imperialist system inflicts intolerable suffering on the people and incites them to fight back in order to uphold, defend and advance their rights.

Let us take up the 18 concerns of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS). Let us intensify our efforts at political education, strengthening the ILPS structure and mass campaigns in alliance with other forces.

We look forward to greater victories of the International League of Peoples' Struggle, all ILPS member-organizations and all allies in the anti-imperialist and democratic struggle of the people.

Best regards,

Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International Coordinating Committee

18 Concerns of the ILPS:


1. The cause of national liberation, democracy and social liberation against imperialism and all reaction; 

 

2. Socio-economic development for oppressed and exploited countries and nations and social equity for all working people; 

 

3. Human rights in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields against state violence, national oppression, class exploitation and oppression, gender oppression, fascism, castism, racism and religious bigotry; 

 

4. The cause of just peace and struggles against wars of counterrevolution and aggression and against nuclear, biological, chemical, missile and other weapons of mass destruction; 

 

5. Promotion of trade union and other democratic rights of the working class, improvement of wage and living conditions against all forms of intensifying exploitation of labor and the destruction of working class organizations in their pursuit of the historic mission of fighting for social liberation; 

 

6. Agrarian reform and rights of peasants, farm workers and fisherfolk against feudal, semifeudal and capitalist exploitation and oppression;

 

7. The cause of women's liberation and rights against all forms of sexual discrimination, exploitation and violence;

 

8. Rights of the youth to education and employment;

 

9. Children's rights against child labor, sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation; 

 

10. Rights of indigenous peoples, national minorities, and nationalities for self-determination and decolonization against discrimination, racism, and national oppression by imperialism and local reaction;

 

11. The rights of teachers, researchers and other educational personnel and struggle against ideas and researches directed against the people;

 

12. The right of the people to health and the rights of health workers;

 

13. Science and technology for the people and development, environmental protection against plunder and pollution and the destruction of the foundations of human life the right to safe and healthy food and water and opposition to manipulation of genetic technology for imperialist profit;

 

14. Arts and culture and free flow of information in the service of the people and the rights of artists, creative writers, journalists and other cultural workers against imperialist and reactionary propaganda and oppression;

 

15. Justice and indemnification for the victims of illegal arrest and detention (especially political prisoners), violations of due process, torture, extra-judicial executions, disappearances, mass displacement, and other blatant forms of human rights violations.

 

16. Rights and welfare of homeless persons, refugees and migrant workers displaced by imperialism and local reactionaries;

 

17. Rights of the elderly and differently-abled towards a life in dignity and secure existence;

 

18. Rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people against discrimination, intolerance and homophobia.

 
     
     
     
     
           
   
     
           

 

News Release
December 22, 2009

 Bayan wishes 2009 will be GMA’s last Christmas in Malacanang
The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today expressed the Christmas wish that 2009 would be President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s last Christmas as president and head of state.

“It has been a difficult year with GMA at the helm. The year 2009 has seen some of the worst in Mrs. Arroyo; from the persistent charter change moves, the sell-out of sovereignty in the Visiting Forces Agreement, the lavish US dinners, the coddling of warlords in Maguindanao, the declaration of Martial Law and her attempt to stay in power via a congressional run,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

“It is thus the collective Christmas wish of the people to see her out by 2010, the sooner the better,” he added.

The marked many firsts for the Arroyo regime. “Her regime was the first to impose Martial Law since 1972. She is the first sitting president to run for a lower position. Her administration had the most attempts at Charter change. It was under her watch that the most number of journalists were killed in one day,” Reyes said.

But Bayan warned that seeing Mrs. Arroyo out of power may not be that easy since she will attempt to secure a congressional seat, in what many believe to be the first step towards becoming Prime Minister under a parliamentary form of government.

There are also lingering fears of a failure of elections with the still untested Automated Election System.

“To the Filipino peoples credit, while we faced one bleak Christmas after another under GMA, the people never lost hope that change will come. As the new year approaches, our people will undoubtedly strive to bring about changes,” Reyes said.

“We have to remain vigilant and ensure that the people’s issues will taken up during the elections. We have to be conscious of the rottenness that still dominates this political exercise,” he added.

 
     
           
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Workers’ top Christmas wish: Dark days under Arroyo must end
 Date:  22 December 2009
Reference Person:  Elmer "Bong" Labog, KMU Chairperson
Contact information: 0929-629-3234

Of the many Christmas wishes that Filipino workers can utter, wishing an end to the dark days of Gloria Arroyo’s rule sits on top of the list with the regime’s grim record of labor rights violations and job massacres, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said today.

“Workers have been suffering bleak Christmases year after year under Arroyo’s rule, as wages remain depressed and joblessness continues to worsen. She has tapped the police and military to kill and arrest unionists, leaving many workers’ families incomplete this Christmas,” said KMU Chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

Since 2001, 93 union leaders and organizers have been killed while almost a hundred workers have been jailed based on trumped-up charges. For instance, twenty workers of Rizal-based Karnation Industries and Export, who were charged with slap suits for going on stike, spent two Christmases in jail (2007 and 2008). Two of them died due to disease acquired in jail.

“That is why booting Arroyo out of public office means a huge relief for us workers. It means giving a decent and merry Christmas, which has long been denied to us, a chance.”

The labor leader said more than Arroyo’s removal from power, her anti-labor legacies should also be uprooted, including policies that have inflicted severe blows to livelihood of Filipino workers.

“Arroyo’s policies on intensified labor contractualization, for instance, should be junked by the next administration. DOLE order No. 2, which licensed forced leave and reduced workhours among others, should be scrapped so as to grant us job security,” said Labog.

“Her wage freeze policy should once and for all be ended, otherwise workers would continue to suffer from sparse Noche Buenas year after year, if you can really call it like that” he added.

KMU said for almost two years now, minimum wage rates in all regions have stagnated despite the ongoing global crisis and the rising cost of living. In the National Capital Region, the cost of living has risen to P912, while real wage stands at only P240. #

           

Migrante International: Bring them home before Christmas!

Photos courtesy of Migrante International
           

 

December 8, 2009
PRESS RELEASE:
Reference: Gary Martinez, Chairperson, 09393914418
Ailyn Abdula, Media Officer, 09212708994

Families cry: Bring home 300 distressed OFWs before Christmas!
Bring them home before Christmas!

This was the united battle cry of families of OFWs as they gathered and held a press conference at the gates of the Department of Foreign Affairs. They clamored for the immediate repatriation of at least 300 distressed Filipino workers from various countries particularly in the Middle-East.

“All we want for the holidays is to have our distressed relatives feel the warmth and comfort of our homes. We can never be happy in a situation where there is a lingering fear for the lives and safety of our loved ones,” said Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International.

Based on the records of Migrante’s Migrants Rights and Welfare Committee, there are 300 cases of OFWs and families seeking their assistance for repatriation. Included in their list are: 1) 89 Filipina caregivers who are on strike in protest of gross violations of employment contracts by a multi-million company, 2) 51 women, mostly domestic helpers, at the deportation center in Doha, Qatar who left their abusive employers, 3) 50 male runaways in various deportation centers in Saudi Arabia who were detained for simply not having their passports and employment documents with them, 4) 71 seafarers who were held hostage by pirates in Somalia, 5) 16 workers languishing in different jails for crimes they did not commit, and 6) 3 remains of Filipinos who are still lying in morgues.

“For sure there are thousands more who face the same predicament. Their cases are just not known because the government does not want to publicize their plight. Arroyo does not want the people to know the grave effects of her labor export program and her administration’s ineptness to protect the rights of Filipino workers abroad,” lamented Martinez.

Martinez explained that government agencies abroad maintain temporary shelters for troubled Filipinos. Examples of which are the embassy-run Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs), Bahay Kalingas, and safe houses administered by regional offices of Philippine Overseas Labor Offices and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA). He further stated that each facility houses around 100, and most if not all of Filipinos there are begging to be sent back home.

Reacting to government officials’ response to requests for repatriation, Martinez said “we will never again accept the perennial please-wait-we-will-do-all-we-can response nor the classic sorry-but-there-is-still-no-budget excuse. Just do your mandated work and release the billions of funds intended for OFWs.”

Martinez cited the P11.7 billion fund of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration which comes directly from the pockets of OFWs. Aside from this is the P50 million budget for repatriation and P100 million for providing legal assistance to accused and jailed Filipinos abroad. ###

--
http://migrantecampaign.ning.com
#10 Banuyo St.Brgy.Amihan, Project 3, Quezon City
Telefax: 9114910

 
Christmas wish list
           

 

Download in Word format::

Repatriation Cases (current cases being handled by Migrante’s Rights and Welfare Program

 

Sample cases

 

General Info

 

89 Hospital Caregivers from various jobsites of Annasban Group of Companies (KSA) on Strike

 

-         one (Emily Lucero) was already deported because his husband died of a vehicular accident while busy arranging Emily’s repatriation

-         many are already sick and many are soon to follow as they face the harsh weather of Saudi winter

 

 

 

 

51 Filipina Runaways at the Deportation Center in Doha, Qatar

 

-         one (Nelfa delos Santos) was already deported

-         one was raped and is now 3 months pregnant

 

 

 

50 Filipino Runways: from Khandera to Jeddah Deportation to various jails in KSA

 

-         7 was already deported

-         one died (Eduard Cuano) and one was hospitalized (Godfrey Espinas)

 

70 Seamen Held Hostage by pirates n Somalia

-    3 was recently been released

 

 

Abdul Jalil Sanil OFW from Jeddah detained in deportation center. clamouring about their worst conditions inside the center
Ffamilies of stranded OFWs hang their wish list for Christmas
Families of Stranded OFWs in front of DFA
           
           

 

From:

 

 May Day Productions

 

This Christmas, while many are enjoying with our families, we hope you take time to find out about fellow Pinoys in the country who aren’t with their loved ones.

Here, workers recount how they were sent to jail by their employer and struggled to get out. They now enjoin us to help those still in prison to attain justice and freedom. 



◄Pasko ng Paglaya
Interview with Karnation Workers

click to watch
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIrePrWKXQg
 
           
     

BONUS TRACKS

Mga Guhit sa Papel

ni Emil Yap

(Darating din ang pasko ng ating paglaya)
           
Darating din ang pasko ng ating paglaya Diwata ng bukas Hapunan kasama ang mga manggagawa
 
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