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Friday, May 30, 2008

Update sa Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) Meeting

Hiwalay na Kahilingan Para Sa UP Centennial Bonus ng mga Kawani ng PGH Isinumete Kay Pangulong Roman/BOR ng AUPWU Manila

Noong ika-21 ng Mayo 2008 ay nagkaroon meeting ang Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) kung saan tinatatalakay ang lahat na usaping pang-ehekutibo sa pamantasan at ang idudulog na pagdedesiyunan ng Board of Regents (BOR). Labas sa usapan sa ating bagong CNA, may apat (4) tayong kahilingan na pinag-usapan sa PAC meeting. Sa ulat ni Dr. Arlene Samaniego, Vice-President for Administration ng U.P. ang mga napag-usapan ng PAC ay ang sumusunod:

Una: Ang kahilingan P20,000.00 Centennial Bonus ay pag-aaralan pa kung kakayaning ibigay.
Ikalawa: Ang P1,700.00 na Rice Subsidy para sa unang isang sako ng bigas ay inirekomenda ang P1,500.00 “for Approval” ng BOR sa meeting nito ngayong ika-30 ng Mayo 2008.
Ikatlo: Ang dagdag na sampung (10) araw na sick leave para sa may malalang karamdaman ay para sa mga faculty lamang dahil ang mga admininstrative personnel ay meron nang 15 days sick leave.
At ika-apat: Ang 50-50 hatian sa budget para sa Merit Promotion ay pag-aaralan pa rin.

Maliban sa dagdag na P500.00 (mula P1,000.00 magiging P1,500.00) para sa isang sakong bigas, dama natin na hindi seryoso ang U.P. Administrasyon sa pagbibigay ng solusyon sa ating mga kahilingan at maiangat kahit papaano ang ating kabuhayan. Puro PAG-AARALAN ang kanilang mga sagot kaya’t kinakailangang magpalakas pa tayo at magparami upang higit nating maigiit ang ating mga kahilingan.

Samantala, tayo sa All UP Workers Union Manila ay nagsumite naman ng araw na iyon ng liham sa Office of the Secretary of the University para BOR sa pamamagitan ni Pangulong Roman upang hilingin na huwag ibawas ang P3,000.00 na PGH Centennial Bonus sa anumang ibibigay na UP Centennial Bonus. Mahalaga na igiit natin ang posisyung ito dahil nauna nang nagbigay ng posisyon ang UP Panel sa CNA Negotiation Meeting nitong ika-7 ng Mayo 2008 na ibabawas ang PGH Centennial Bonus sa UP Centennial Bonus.

Nasa pagkakaisa at sama-samang pagkilos pa rin natin makakamit ang ating TAGUMPAY! Suportahan ang ating Unyon para sa pagkamit ng mga dagdag benepisyo.

(Ito ang lead article sa ikalawang issue ng Pandayan Manila sa taong ito na lumabas noong ika-28 ng Mayo 2008.)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

CRISPIN BELTRAN: MOST OUTSTANDING LEGISLATOR

CenPEG ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 8
May 23, 2008
Series of 2008

In session, Beltran stood tall and dignified among many, untainted by the corruption that soiled many multimillionaire- congressmen' s seats.

As the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) prepares its assessment of the first 10 years of the Party-list system this year, we deemed it apt to devote this issue analysis to the life and struggles of Crispin Bertiz Beltran, first nominee of the Party-list group Anakpawis. Beltran, a charismatic labor leader who died in a fatal accident last May 20 in Bulacan, was a central figure in the Party-list system - defending it from subversion by the powers-that- be yet tirelessly asserting the people's right to democratic representation in governance.

Crispin Beltran is an exemplary product of his times. Trained in genuine unionism, steeled in the parliament of the streets, and more defiant after Marcos imprisonment, he brought new politics in Congress. Through it all he remained at the forefront of the workers' struggle – and that struggle has produced a hero.

Beltran, known to many Filipinos as Ka (short for kasama or comrade) Bel, was adjudged Most Consistent Outstanding Congressman from 2002-2005 and was elevated to the Congressional Hall of Fame by the Congress Magazine in 2006. He filed the most number of bills in the 13th Congress among the Party-list representatives and would have achieved the same record in the present one had he not met a fatal accident on May 20. The Philippine press and the whole nation – ruled by a government seen as one of the most corrupt in the world - were astounded to find that he died a poor man and had maintained an even frugal life.

But why was Beltran tagged and imprisoned as an "enemy of the state" by two Presidents – Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s and, for a year-and-a-half, by Gloria M. Arroyo? What kind of politics did he wage that provoked state authorities to believe that by neutralizing him – either by arrest or physical harm (he had faced countless attempts on his life) – they would put an end to his ideology as well?

Humble beginnings

Born of humble beginnings in Bikol in 1933, Beltran's life had been etched by struggles whether as a young guerilla courier fighting the Japanese imperial occupation or as a farm worker, office sweeper, gasoline attendant, messenger, bus driver and later, as a cab driver to support his education. His legacy as one of the country's outstanding labor leaders traces its roots to when, at age 20, he joined fellow drivers in a strike. From thereon, there was no looking back. He either helped organize or served as leader of pioneering labor organizations, the last as chair of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in 1987 following the abduction and brutal murder of Rolando Olalia and his driver by military operatives. Three years earlier, he escaped Marcos torture and imprisonment and went to the countryside to organize workers and farm laborers.

For Beltran, working alongside the country's proletariat did not only mean going on strikes for bread and butter or facing company executives in tough wage negotiations. The years spent in labor leadership also produced hard-fought lessons in ideological skirmishes with "yellow" or compromising trade unionism and also linking up with organizations of farmers, youth-students, urban poor and other sectors in a nationwide cause-oriented movement. It meant taking up the cudgels of the poor through peaceful but militant engagement with state authorities in denouncing oppressive policies while advocating for genuine social, economic and political reform. He knew that any picket or street protest would be met by police truncheons, water cannons, or even bullets but Beltran never for a second vacillated in the frontline of the struggle, as colleagues in the street parliament would narrate.

Known for his solid pro-people leadership in the labor movement, Beltran was invited to join the senatorial slate of the Partido ng Bayan (PnB or people's party) in the 1987 elections – the first to be held after 14 years of Marcos dictatorship. Reminiscent of the fate suffered by the Democratic Alliance (DA) whose six representatives elected in the 1946 elections were unseated for opposing onerous economic and military agreements with the United States, the PnB came out badly bruised from the polls with many of its volunteers killed and most of its candidates for Congress and local positions victims of fraud.

Beltran and the Party-list organizations that he represented (Bayan Muna and, later, Anakpawis) garnered significant seats in elections for the House, with BM topping both the 2001 and 2004 polls. House records show that the labor leader championed the issues of the poor in privilege speeches as well as by filing bills and resolutions on their behalf. The speeches, bills and resolutions penned by Beltran, among others, called for investigations of violations of the rights of workers, farm laborers, urban poor, migrant workers, consumers, GSIS members as well as public employees and victims of human rights violations. He was most vehement in opposing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Arroyo's support to the U.S. war on terror and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vindictive Arroyo

These initiatives inevitably antagonized government agencies, big industrial and agricultural corporations, energy companies, and military authorities. Consequently, the congressman earned the vindictive ire of Mrs. Arroyo as she watched her centerpiece policies and bills sponsored subjected to condemnation one after the other by the labor leader - together with Party mates and other legislators - inside and outside the halls of Congress. Co-authoring three impeachment initiatives and denunciations against scams linking the Arroyo couple also cost Beltran's office access to the countrywide development fund, among others.

The denial of CDF funds became part of what the progressive Party-list bloc denounced as a systematic campaign to unseat them from the House through demonization, election fraud, and the use of physical violence. The campaign was integral to a national security doctrine that seeks to neutralize the underground Left's alleged political infrastructures resulting in a series of summary executions and forced disappearances. Beltran was picked up and jailed by Arroyo authorities in February 2006 in a crackdown mounted by the President's attack dogs against the progressive bloc. After nearly two years in detention, he was set free by the Supreme Court which dismissed the trumped-up charges. By then, however, Beltran had physically weakened - a result of harassment, threats, and stress he suffered under a government that considered him "a threat to national security" and only because, as workers in the labor movement said, he stood by his principles and refused to be cowed by Malacanang through bribery and other pressures.

The last public performance that he did was when as a minority member of the House energy committee he spoke against attempts by the President to place Meralco in the hands of her business cronies in the guise of state nationalization. Before that, he filed a bill calling for a genuine agrarian reform program in place of CARP which for two decades he had denounced as a hoax. Just like the P125 legislated wage increase that Beltran and the militant labor groups had been asking for nearly 10 years, the genuine agrarian reform measure that the progressive legislator filed will be shot down by Congress' dominant conservative members and Arroyo allies. Ever a leading figure in major rallies even while he was already in Congress, Beltran delivered what turned out to be his valedictory – wearing a white T-shirt and a red cap together with co-workers at the May 1 rally in Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

Tributes

In a tribute to the fallen labor leader, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said Beltran is probably among the few members of Congress deserving of the title "Honorable." People who visited him while in detention to lend moral support left being inspired instead, a fellow activist leader recalls. Down with ailment, he still took pains serving food or coffee, a former KMU public information writer also says. "Don't deprive me of my wanting to serve you – no matter how small it is - if that's the only way I'll be of service," Beltran told him, quoting Golda Meir.

There are at least two lessons that can be drawn from the legacy left by Beltran. One is that his participation in the Party-list system led to the infusion of new politics in an elite-dominated Congress and with it a sterling record of legislative work for social and economic reform for the poor. A member of the legislature once noted that the entry of the progressive Party-list bloc into Congress gave the body the meaningful role that it never had. In session, Beltran stood tall and dignified among many, untainted by the corruption that soiled many multimillionaire- congressmen' s seats. But the political repression that Beltran and his colleagues endured – and continues to endure – all the more unmasks not only the state's subversion of the Party-list program that aims to represent the poor in policy making but also the continuing dominance of elitist politics that denies the poor a role in governance participation.

Beltran is vindicated for devoting his life to labor militancy alongside other marginalized classes – building power from the bowels of poverty and injustice – from where people's governance will rise. The labor and legislative record of Beltran proves that the breed of people's leaders is bound to increase – as it now appears - and that elitist rule will be a thing of the past. And that is the second lesson.

Reference:

Bobby Tuazon
Director, Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
TelFax +63-2 9299526; mobile phone: 0915-6418055
E-mail: cenpeg.info@gmail.com; info@cenpeg. org
http://www.cenpeg. org

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ka Bel’s Legacy

The accolades coming the way of Anakpawis Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, in his untimely death, salute his honesty and self-sacrifice, his courageous resistance against all forms of political repression, his unwavering commitment and service to the cause of the working class, his example of humility, good cheer and sincere concern for the lowly and downtrodden and, not the least, his being a loving and responsible family man who found time to rear ten children in the midst of his life-long struggle against exploitation and oppression.

by: CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise
Business World

The accolades coming the way of Anakpawis Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, in his untimely death, salute his honesty and self-sacrifice, his courageous resistance against all forms of political repression, his unwavering commitment and service to the cause of the working class, his example of humility, good cheer and sincere concern for the lowly and downtrodden and, not the least, his being a loving and responsible family man who found time to rear ten children in the midst of his life-long struggle against exploitation and oppression.

It is not difficult to imagine what sorts of blandishments, bribes and outright persecutory schemes were thrown at Ka Bel by his foes who were, as far as we know, all political and ideological and not personal, adversaries. The most outrageous recent ones have been chronicled in the mass media: an attempted bribe of P2 million pesos for him to support a flawed-and-programmed-to-fail impeachment complaint against de facto President Gloria Arroyo and his 15-month detention on rebellion charges that were dismissed by the Supreme Court as baseless and a gross violation of his right to due process.

As a grizzled icon of the trade union movement in the country, the opportunities to grow rich by compromising the interests of workers were always present. As chairperson of the multisectoral alliance, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a volte face in his leftist viewpoint and politics on many a burning issue would have been a boon to ruling regimes and the elite class interests they protect and promote.

As a bone fide member of the House of Representatives (he didn’t use public funds, military generals and corrupt members of the Commission on Elections to get elected) he acted in true form – a radical oppositionist in a reactionary institution. He spoke on and filed countless bills and resolutions addressing the urgent and most basic problems of the nation from the P125 legislated minimum wage increase to genuine agrarian reform to making the US-backed Arroyo regime accountable for its grievous crimes against the people.

But never for a moment did Ka Bel forsake the Parliament of the Streets where his familiar smiling face, firm handshake and steady stride inspired both demonstrators and onlookers alike.

Ka Bel had traveled to many places around the world but not to the United States of America. Succeeding administrations, whether Republican or Democratic, had continued to blacklist him as an unwanted alien long after the downfall of his jailer, the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and even when he had already attained the title of “Honorable” as an elected representative to Congress. His staunch anti-imperialist stance and his identification with progressive causes and leadership role in the International League for Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) have earned him the ire of rabid pro-imperialists while endearing him to struggling peoples and their movements worldwide.
Next to having devoted his entire life to the struggle for national and social emancipation, the most remarkable thing about Ka Bel is how he remained simple and humble despite his fame and stature. He is the best, if not the only person we know who could get away with wearing a dressy suit or barong tagalong without losing his “masang-masa” aura.

Now the secret is out, ironically revealed by his accidental death. Ka Bel looked like a man of the masses, not only because he always took up the cudgels for them and was with them in their day-to-day as well as historic struggles, but because, in truth, he lived and died a man of very modest means. His wife of more than 50 years, Ka Osang, recounted between sobs, how he had been recently occupying himself with repairs on their house, clearing a space in their cramped residence to park an old van he had been using but was badly in need of repair and sweetly promising that he would help her pull the weeds from the garden in the coming weeks so that their vegetables would grow well and help feed the hungry.

His comrades, co-workers and subordinates and even some on the opposite side of the fence in many a bruising political battle, can attest to Ka Bel’s good-heartedness and humility. He never threw his weight around in meetings nor did he demand special treatment wherever he went. He was always willing to give his time and energy to undertake risky, strenuous and even unglamorous roles so long as these were needed. He was concerned about the welfare of "kasamas", the ordinary people and his growing brood of grandchildren.

Ka Bel was never intentionally mean to anyone (of course he would get angry at oppressors and exploiters and would have willingly engaged his persecutors in the Department of Justice in a street brawl). He was generous, some say to a fault, in giving even the policemen standing ready to violently disperse demonstrators, the option to disobey unlawful orders from their superiors by addressing them as “kababayan” (countrymen) and asking them to open their eyes to what was happening in the country.

Those in the Arroyo regime who contributed in no small measure to Ka Bel’s deteriorated health condition, his economic difficulties and his unabated political persecution would now want to act as if they had, all along, only the highest regard for Ka Bel despite their disagreements with his ideology and politics. They send flowers and make sympathetic noises now that he’s dead and even wish to let it appear that as far as they are concerned, bygones are bygones.

Let us in the democratic mass movement express ourselves clearly and emphatically. Ka Bel was an uncompromising, untiring fighter for freedom, justice and fundamental reforms. He has left us a legacy that serves as an inspiration to generations of activists and the toiling, struggling masses he so loved and whom he served to his last breath.

We celebrate his life by affirming the progressive, nay revolutionary, principles and national democratic program he fought for. As the marchers who accompanied his hearse to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Cathedral shouted resolutely, “Ka Bel, tuloy ang laban!”

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Apat na Kahilingan, Tuloy na Ipaglaban! Diskriminasyon sa Unibersidad Tutulan, Labanan

Ulat sa Tugon ng President’s Advisory Council sa Apat na Kahilingan ng
ALL-UP WORKERS UNION AT ALL-UP ACADEMIC EMPLOYEES UNION

Halos walang ibinigay ang administrasyong Roman sa kahilingang inihapag natin sa President’s Advisory Council meeting ng Mayo 21, 2008.

Ganito ang ibinihagi ni UP Vice President for Administration Arlene Samaniego sa mga kawani, REPS at guro na matyagang nag-antay hanggang alas dose ng tanghali:

  1. Pag-aaralan pa ang hinihingi nating P20,000 centennial bonus
  2. Ibibigay ang P1,500 para sa bigas pagkatapos ng BOR meeting sa May 30, 2008.
  3. Sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS. Meron na raw nito ang mga kawani at REPS
  4. 50-50 na hatian sa merit promotion. Pag-aaralan pa rin daw ito. Ayon kay VP Samaniego may mga report na hindi daw naubos ang alokasyon para sa merit promotion ng mga kawani at REPS noong 2005!!
P20,000 Centennial Bonus:

Sa Hunyo 18, 2008 na ang isang daang taon ng UP at sa Mayo 30, 2008 ay ang pulong ng Board of Regents na pusibleng mag-uusap kaugnay ng mga benepisyong matatanggap natin para sa mahalagang okasyong ito. Noon pang Enero 8, 2008, inumpisahan ang opisyal na selebrasyon ng sentenaryo ng UP. Marami nang pinaggastusan ang UP kaugnay ng sentenaryo: mga fireworks, mga centennial lectures, mga centennial professorial chairs. Pero hanggang ngayon, pag-aaralan pa nila kung ano ang maaaring tanggapin nating mga karaniwang kawani, REPS at guro para sa sentenaryo. Ano ba yan?

P1,700 para sa rice subsidy

Ang rice subsidy ay dati nang natatanggap natin. Mula P1,000 bawat sako hiniling nating gawing P1,700 bawat sako dahil P34 bawat kilo na ang relatibong maayos ayos na kalidad ng bigas. Sa P1,500 na ibibigay ng Administrasyong Roman, hindi aabot sa 50 kilong bigas ang makukuha natin bilang rice subsidy!!!

Sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS

“Meron na raw nito ang mga kawani at REPS”. Ano ba yan? Noon pang Nobyembre 2008 ay sumulat na ang dalawang unyon natin na nagpapaliwanag kung bakit tayo humihiling ng sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS

Ang esensya ng kahilingan natin ay ang pagbibigay suporta ng Administrasyong Roman sa mga kawani at REPS na mayroon o magkakaroon ng malalang sakit tulad ng suportang ibinibigay sa faculty na siyang pinagmulan ng extended sick leave. Ang pagsagot na meron ng leave credits ang mga kawani at REPS ay hindi tumuturol sa esensya ng usapin at nagpapakita na bingi ang Administrasyong Roman sa pangangailangan ng tulong ng mga kawani at REPS na may malalang sakit.

Bakit hindi saklawin ang mga kawani at REPS ng probisyong katulad sa ibinigay sa mga regular, full time faculty members na may naipong leave credits bunga ng paging administrador. Sa naturang probisyon, ang mga faculty na may naipong leave credits na magkakaroon ng malalang sakit ay magkakaroon ng sick leave with pay sa ilalim ng ganitong patakaran hanggang sa maksimum (10 araw sa bawat taon ng panunungkulan) bago nila gamitin ang naipong leave credits.

50-50 na Alokasyon para sa Merit Promotion ngayong 2008

Nakakainsulto ang tinuran ni VP Samaniego na “may report na hindi naubos ang alokasyon para sa mga kawani at REPS sa hatiang 80-20 noong 2005”. Alam ba ni VP Samaniego at ng mga kagawad ng PAC na sa guidelines noong 2005 promotion, isang step lamang ang pwedeng maitaas ng isang kawani o REPS sa saklaw ng limang taon (1999-2005) ? Kaya kahit na kwalipikado ang marami rami na lampas sa isang step na promotion, ay hindi nila nakuha ito. Ngayon naman, sa guidelines for promotion, kailangang OUTSTANDING ang kawani o REPS habang satisfactory ang minimum na hinihiling para sa faculty teaching. Mga kagalang-galang na mga panginoon sa Quezon Hall. Ang one step o two step promotion ng mga kawani ay magkakahalaga lamang sa karaniwan ng dagdag na P150 o P300 bawat buwan!!! At sa marami-raming opisina, nagmulti-tasking na ang mga kawani dahil sa patuloy na atrisyon sa hanay nila. At wala pang overtime pay para sa kanila!!!

Hindi namin lubos maisip kung paanong nakatutulog nang mahimbing ang mga administrador ng unibersidad gayung nagpapatupad sila ng hindi makatarungan at hindi makataong mga patakaran. Paano nila nagagawang magpatupad ng mga patakarang nagpapalaganap ng elitismo at indibidwalismo sa hanay ng iisang sektor sa halip na pagbuklurin ang lahat ng sektor.

Lahat ng kawani ng unibersidad -- administratibo, REPS o guro man -- ay may mahalagang papel, batay sa kanilang posisyon, sa pagpapaunlad at pagpapayabong ng dantaon nang unibersidad. Nakapagtataka kung bakit hindi makatarungan ang pamantayan sa pagbibigay ng merit awards. Hindi nga ba't ang pagtingin ay "to the extend that his/her position will permit"? Nangangahulugan ito na lahat ng kawani ng unibersidad ay esensyal na miyembro ng tumatakbong institusyon.

Hindi maglulubay ang All UP Workers Union at All UP Academic Employees Union sa paggigiit ng benepisyo para sa mga kawani, REPS at guro batay sa prinsipyo ng social justice at equity. Hindi maglulubay ang ating dalawang unyon sa paglantad sa parami-rami at tumitinding diskriminasyon sa pagtrato sa mga kawani at REPS sa ilalim ng Administrasyong Roman.

Apat na kahilingan, tuloy na ipaglaban!!
Diskriminasyon sa Unibersidad, tutulan, labanan!!