Ang Bayan, Aug 7, 2012

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Pahayagan ng Partido Komunista ng PilipinasPinapatnubayan ng Marxismo-Leninismo-MaoismoANG

English EditionVol. XLIII No. 15

August 7, 2012www.philippinerevolution.net

Editorial

Under the guidance of its imperialist master, the Aquino regime

is relentlessly conjuring the illusion of the "righteous road"and has been pouring in funds, lavishing attention and pro-

viding personnel to deceptive showcase projects.

Shatter the illusionof the "righteous road"

crete changes" as individuals,

without disturbing the currentorder of things and abandoningtheir personal dreams.

Schools, the mass media andthe internet are awash with theAquino regime's propagandaand programs to hoodwink andseduce the petty bourgeoisie.Their closest partners in thissinister endeavor to mobilize

the petty bourgeoisie for atten-tion-grabbing but limited hous-ing, education and health pro-grams are agencies appendagedto the International MonetaryFund (IMF) and World Bank(WB), the US Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID)or the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

Various imperialist agencies

In this issue...

Goodgovernanceis an IMF-WBdictate 3

Cha-cha andglobalization

5

Aquinos gagorder onmediaassailed 9

This is an indication of thedepths of the crisis of the rulingsystem. The regime wants to de-ceive the people, create falsehopes of a better life and nip inthe bud their determination to

put an end to the rotten exploit-ative system.

These programs are particu-larly aimed at winning over themiddle sectors of society, in-cluding the urban and rural pet-ty bourgeoisie, using the frame-work of "good governance."

It is crucial for the rulingclasses to "gain the trust" of thepetty bourgeoisie to maintainthe stability of the ruling sys-tem. The petty bourgeoisie areforcibly isolated from the move-

ments of the toiling masses anddistanced from the path of revo-lutionary change. They are in-undated by glittering propagan-da and enticed through idealistslogans that are attuned totheir dreams of making it bigeven as they partake of "con-

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2 ANG BAYAN August 7, 2012

are actively engaged in adorningthe ruling system's bankrupt po-litical processes. They likewisefund programs to "reform" thejudiciary, the bureaucracy, themilitary and police, aside fromsponsoring scholarships for se-lected students and professorsin universities in the US, Europe,Japan and other countries.

The Aquino regime is using"good governance" propagandato portray itself as the oppositeof the corruption-ridden formerregime. Aquino claims that thepeople's poverty is due only tothe rule of corrupt officials and

government's failure to provideservices to the people.

This tack aims to create theillusion and false hopes ofachieving change under a"clean, transparent and ac-countable" government. At thesame time, the regime is occu-pied with implementing show-case programs to create the im-

pression that it is doing some-thing concrete to address thepeople's grievances.

The biggest of such pro-grams is the so-called Progra-

mang Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipi-no or 4Ps, a World Bank-fundedand -driven project begun underthe previous regime. Through it,Aquino portrays his governmentas one that "invests in the fu-ture" of the impoverished evenwithout lifting a finger to re-solve the people's basic prob-lems, especially landlessness inthe countryside.

Aquino thinks that he couldbuy the confidence of the pooreven as he condemns them to alife of exploitation, oppressionand further impoverishment.The sheen of Aquino's gilded

programs may temporarilyblind, but these schemes aresoon exposed for what they areto the hungry and suffering toi-ling masses. Even after just afew years in power, it is al-ready clear that the Aquino re-gime has failed to stop the con-tinued advance of the peasant-ry, the working class and the

urban poor along the path ofmilitant and revolutionary re-sistance.

Nonetheless, Aquino and theIMF-WB will continue to invoke

the slogan of "good governance"and hail "concrete gains" in"poverty alleviation" to obscurethe real situation of the toilingmasses and blind the pettybourgeoisie into taking the re-formist road.

Aquino also has as his part-ners anti-communist petty bour-geois groups who have cooptedthe language of the Left to por-tray the US-Aquino regime as a"government of reform" andcover up its class and reaction-ary character.

Simultaneous to this is theregime's use of the AFP's brutal

Oplan Bayanihan campaign ofsuppression against the masses.Soldiers are used to implement4Ps and other programs in thecountryside. The AFP concealsits fangs behind the cloak of"peace and development" whileunleashing brutal encirclementand suppression campaigns.

The oppression, exploita-

tion and poverty suffered bythe Filipino people push themtowards the path of struggle.They are aware that they haveno other recourse but to take astand and fight in the face ofworsening feudal and semifeu-dal exploitation, widespreadlandgrabbing and monopoliza-tion of land by big landlords,

foreign multinationals and eco-tourism projects, the displace-ment of minority peoples, theplunder by foreign companiesof the country's mineral resour-ces, the destruction of the envi-ronment, the pegging of work-ers' wages, the eviction of theurban poor, budget cuts for so-cial services and other antipeo-

ple policies.For the people's revolution-ary struggle to continue to pros-per, the Aquino regime's cam-paigns of deception must besharply exposed for hewing toits imperialist master's designs.We must shatter the illusion of

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Vol. XLIII No. 15 August 7, 2012

Contents

Editorial: Shatter the illusion

of the righteous path 1

Good governance 3

Arroyo released 4

Counter-SONA protests 4

Cha-cha andglobalization 5

Military uses 2 minors as shields 7

Urban poor leader killed 7

Desecration of guerillas remains 8

Political prisoners go on hunger strike 8

Gag order on media 9

ACT2Win founded 9

SOVFA violoates sovereignty 10

2 paramilitaries killed 11

ANG

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the "righteous road" and "goodgovernance."

Let us rouse the petty bour-geoisie by showing them themasses' concrete conditions.We must foster their closenessto the masses through wide-spread programs of integrationand service to the democraticmovement in both city and coun-tryside.

Let us raise the people's his-toric and class consciousness in

order to deepen their grasp ofthe need to put an end to impe-rialist domination and the ruleof the exploitative and oppress-ive classes.

The rotten system of govern-ment will never be cleansed un-der a corrupt social system. Letus expose the relentlessly wor-sening bureaucrat capitalismunder Aquino's regime and howhis "good governance" has beenof benefit only to his big com-

prador relatives and friends incahoots with foreign big capital-ists.

Let us propagate the pro-gram for a people's democraticrevolution as the solution to thebasic problems of the people.Let us hail the people's demo-cratic government as the onlygovernment in the Philippineswith the determination and thecommitment to serve the Filipi-no people. ~

efficient bureaucracy, wide-spread corruption and insuffi-cient mechanisms to guaranteefree competitionall of whichbelong to the "crooked road."

To solve this, the "righteousroad" aims to create "favorableconditions" to reduce costs forlocal and foreign companies todo business and ensure thattheir operations run smoothly.

Aquino has time and againtalked about purging the bu-reaucracy of anomalous practi-ces and corrupt officials andlaying down technical measuresostensibly to avoid the corrup-tion that is endemic to govern-ance.

These measures have no oth-er objective but to facilitate the

process of initiating and runningforeign capitalist businessesin the Philippines. Aquinohas been fast-tracking re-forms in order to jumpstartthe Public-Private Partner-ship program. His regime

has offered every conceiv-able incentive to foreigncapitalists. On top of tax

exemptions, it has allo-cated funds to guaranteetheir incomes and debtsin case their operations

go bankrupt. The regimehas no qualms about man-gling its own constitution

just to be able to accede to the

"Good governance"is an IMF-WB dictate

The "righteous road" slogan was lifted entirely from the "goodgovernance" program concocted by the International Mone-tary Fund-World Bank (IMF-WB) combine. It is part and par-

cel of the neoliberal "free trade" policy under imperialist globaliza-tion.

"Good governance" has been

an IMF-WB loan conditionalitysince the 1980s. But its role as atool for market manipulationgained prominence after theAsian crisis of 1997 when bigcapitalists needed direct IMF-WB intervention in governingAsian countries to create a morefavorable environment for theirinvestments in the region.

Among the nice-soundingprograms being pushed un-der the "good governance"framework are "transparen-cy" and "accountability." Fi-nancial institutions andnon-governmental or-ganizations (NGO) close-ly monitor and grade theIMF-WB debtor coun-

tries' compliance withthese programs. Amongthese NGOs are Trans-parency International(an organization foundedby a former World Bankdirector), bourgeois US in-stitutions such as the Her-

itage Foundation and broad or-

ganizations of the biggest capi-talists such the World EconomicForum.

"Good governance" has beena longstanding demand of for-eign capitalist investors in semi-colonies like the Philippines.Aquino has stated that the for-eign capitalists' most common

complaints

are an in-

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People launchcounter-SONAin NCR, other regions

Benigno Aquino III boasted of his regime's alleged suc-cesses in his 90-minute State of the Nation Address(SONA) on July 23, but in the National Capital Region

(NCR) and elsewhere, the people's SONA was being proclaimed.

The Bagong AlyansangMakabayan (BAYAN), BayanMuna and other progressiveorganizations led the decla-ration of the real state of the

nation. From northern Luzonto Mindanao, they opposedthe onslaught of big miningcompanies, the destruction ofthe livelihood of peasantsand Lumad and the govern-ment's neglect of calamityvictims.

The people are fullyaware that Aquino's govern-

ment is only for the few, saidBAYAN chair Carol Araullo ina rally held in front of the Ev-er Gotesco Mall in Common-wealth Avenue, Quezon City.Before they marched to theBatasan Pambansa, the rally-ists comprising workers,youth, students and teach-ers, urban poor, women, gov-

ernment employees, familiesof overseas Filipino workers,church people and otherdemocratic sectors swelled to10,000.

Araullo lambasted thefact that theAquino re-gime's Public-Private Part-nership pro-gram wasmaking bigbusiness out of housing,health and educationand driving up thecost of electricity,water, fuel and oth-

er commodities. She addedthat only Aquino's cronies,relatives and fellow landlordsin cahoots with foreignerswere benefiting from so-

called economic develop-ment. Despite the much-vaunted economic progress,unemployment, poverty andhunger are on the rise.

Other mass leaders as-sailed the absence of wageincreases in the face of risingprices; the demolition of ur-ban poor communities; the

rampage of the antipeopleOplan Bayanihan that hasgiven rise to grave humanrights abuses; and the grow-ing frequency of Americanmilitary presence in thecountry.

In Southern Tagalog, de-spite alternating bouts ofstrong rains and sweltering

heat, some 1,000 peasantsheld a three-day Lakbayan tooppose intensifying militari-zation in South Quezon andBondoc Peninsula. The Lak-bayan began on July 21 from

San Pedro, Laguna andwas led by BAYAN-ST andthe Save Bondoc PeninsulaMovement. They rallied atthe foot of MendiolaBridge, at the EDSAShrine, at Aquino's houseon Times Street, Quezon

City and at the US Em-bassy in Manila.

Peasants from STand members of Al-

demands of foreigners to be grant-ed the right to own land and localbusinesses. It has also justifiedthe rising costs of commoditiesand services brought about by theallout privatization of social servi-ces such as transportation, water,electricity, education and health.It uses violence and militarizationagainst those who oppose wide-spread land conversion and de-structive mining and energy pro-duction enterprises and commer-cial plantations.

a a i c

4Ps is the operationalization ofthe World Bank- and Asian Devel-opment Bank-funded conditionalcash transfer program. Aquino hasbeen giving doleouts to meet theday to day expenses of familieswho belong to the "poorest of thepoor." In exchange for the dole-outs, the beneficiaries are obligedto comply with very stringent re-

quirements and conditions.The poor are further oppressed

and exploited under 4Ps. The pro-gram involves a gruelling applica-tion process that is fraught withanomalies and corruption. Politi-cians use the program as a milchcow to attract votes during elec-tions and give out its benefits asfavors to members of their own

families and their loyal supporters.In villages and communities

where there is strong revolution-ary resistance, state armed forcesconsciously use 4Ps as an instru-ment of counterrevolution. Itsfunds are used to lure the peopleinto joining the program. Once in,the beneficiaries are required toattend frequent meetings and oth-

er activities that are designed tolimit their ability to engage in rev-olutionary action.

Anticommunist associationsare likewise organized under 4Ps,as well as programs whose objec-tive is to reduce revolutionary or-ganizations to passivity. ~

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yansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) and Haci-enda Luisita converged on the night of July 22 at the De-partment of Agriculture (DA), Quezon City, where theAMGL had held a vigil. The next morning, they joined themain body of the demonstration and marched toward theBatasan Pambansa.

"Oust Aquino!" cried the rallyists as they tried to movecloser to the legislative building. The urban poor demon-strators asserted that a president who oppresses the poordoes not deserve to stay a minute longer in power.

Some 6,000 anti-riot policemen blocked the rallyiststwice and refused to allow them beyond the Ever GotescoMall. The second time, the police brutally dispersed the ac-tivists, who fought back. More than 90 demonstrators wereinjured, with eleven of them needing hospital treatment.

Among the areas outside of the NCR where mass mobi-lizations were likewise held were Davao City, 5,000; Ca-

gayan de Oro City, 4,500; Koronadal, 500; Digos, 500; Gen-eral Santos City, 500; Tandag City, 1,500; Butuan City,2,000; Cotabato City, 100; Zamboanga City, 200; and Oza-miz, 100. In Western Visayas, 3,000 rallied in Panay and500 in Negros Occidental. Protests were also held in Cebu,Legazpi, Naga, Daet, Baguio and Iligan. Overseas, rallieswere waged in Hongkong, the US, Canada and The Nether-lands. ~

Arroyo freed in exchangefor support to Aquino regime

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gained her freedom in ex-change for her support for the Aquino regime. The

former president, who is charged with electoral sabotagewas allowed by the Pasay Regional Trial Court, Branch 12on July 24 to post a `1 million bail bond.

Arroyo's release forms part of a quid pro quo arrange-

ment between the Aquino clique and various other factionsof the reactionary classes, including the Arroyo clique. Ittherefore comes as no surprise that Arroyo was freed a dayafter her minions in the congressional minority hailed Aqui-no as a "great leader" and applauded the programs he laiddown in his State of the Nation Address.

Despite being accused of grave violations of humanrights, plundering the nation's coffers and betraying thecountry's sovereignty, Aquino's people have been givingArroyo a wide legal berth to prevent her incarceration. Her

release from hospital detention was due to a series of legalblunders by Aquino's lawyers and those of the Commissionon Elections.

Arroyo is likewise facing a plunder case but the Sandi-ganbayan failed to issue an arrest warrant that would haveprevented her from leaving hospital detention. These de-velopments are clear indications of the Aquino regime'slack of resolve to mete justice to Arroyo. ~

Cha-chaand the mythof globalization

Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrileand House Speaker FelicianoBelmonte, two of the most

rabid advocates of charter change(cha-cha) insist on the need toamend the 1987 constitution be-cause its economic provisions are al-legedly preventing the country's de-velopment. In particular, Enrile andBelmonte are targeting the removal

of restrictions on foreign ownershipof land, public utilities, educational,health and media institutions andthe country's natural resources.

In chorus with neoliberal econo-mists and their imperialist master,Enrile and Belmonte claim that allouteconomic liberalization is a requisitefor development. This view is in syncwith the Aquino regime's economic

program framed in accordance withthe bankrupt "free market" policy.Whatever else Aquino says, they areall in agreement that protectionismis pass in the face of globalization.

The actual conduct of interna-tional trade shows that this is far-thest from the truth. The imperialistcountries have never dismantledtheir markets' basic protective bar-riers. After the financial crisis of2007-2008, protectionism has evenheightened worldwide. Most of therecent protectionist measures andrestrictions have been implementedby no less than the biggest capitalistcountries to defend their industrialbases. Growing numbers of smallercountries have also been implement-ing their own restrictions to salvagetheir economies from the ravages

caused by decades of liberalization.

v tImperialist countries have long

been ramming the "free market"doctrine down the throats of neocol-onies and their trade partners. Be-

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hind this, however, they havebeen enforcing measures thatclose their economies and limitthe entry of products and servi-ces from other countries.

Since 2008, up to 1,272 newprotectionist measures and re-strictions have been imposed onproducts, services and capital. AWorld Trade Organization re-port said that 1,013 or 79% ofthese measures are being imple-mented by the G20, whichcounts as its members the big-gest economies worldwide. FromOctober 2011 to May 2012alone, its member countries en-

forced 124 new restrictions. Ex-ploiting the weaknesses of mul-tilateral agreements, they havestepped up the use of tradition-al forms of protectionism andhave refused to comply with theagreements that they them-selves have been pushing for thelast two decades. Multilateralnegotiations under the World

Trade Organization have beenat a standstill due to their refus-al to implement further liberali-zation measures.

About 30% of these restric-tions were imposed by the impe-rialist countries as measures tocounter alleged abuse of impor-tation and unfair competition. Abigger percentage, 39%, are in

the form of "traditional" protec-tionist measures such as the im-position of higher tariffs andlower import quotas, subsidiesfor local products and controlson local currency. They have al-so resorted to laws that guidelocal competition and industrialproduction and have instituted

preferential treatment for localproducts, capital and labor.

In the US, the Obama regimehas been imposing tariffs as highas 35% on imports it deems to bedetrimental to local industries.It taxes companies on thegrounds that they violate theanti-dumping law which imposesfines on imports that are pricedlower that counterpart localproducts.

In 2009, it included a "BuyAmerican" provision as a condi-tion for companies to enroll ineconomic recovery programs.The provision bans government

pump-priming projects frompurchasing and using foreignproducts such as steel and in-dustrial machinery.

In 2010, the US passed the"currency bill," a law imposingtaxes on 22 Chinese products asa fine on China for allegedly ma-nipulating the yuan in order tomaintain lower prices for these

products. On the other hand,the US continuously refuses toremove government subsidies onagricultural products, which ar-tificially lower their prices in theinternational market.

This year, Obama attemptedto have the insourcing bill passed,which grants incentives to compa-nies that would relocate their op-

erations and factories to the US.The bill would also impose hightaxes on companies that refuse todo so. One of the bill's targets isthe business process outsourcingsector which operates call centersin various countries, including thePhilippines.

In spite of this, the imperial-

ist countries have the gall tocriticize the neocolonies andsmall countries implementingtheir own restrictions. In 2011,several African and Latin Amer-ican countries passed laws tolimit foreign investments in landand agriculture. It was a reac-tion to the widespread land sei-zures by the imperialists world-wide for mining activities andfood production for their ownconsumption. Many countrieshave also begun limiting foreignownership of businesses. Coun-tries where the anti-globaliza-tion movement is strong have al-

ready effected the nationaliza-tion of certain basic industriesand services. One example is Ar-gentina which has nationalizedthe Spanish-owned Repsol, anoil company.

lIn the face of all this, Philip-

pine puppet officials are scram-

bling to dismantle the remainingprovisions in the 1987 constitu-tion that provide protection tolocal industries and the nationalpatrimony.

Actually, many of these con-stitutional provisions have al-ready been superseded by a se-ries of antinational policies en-acted in the last 25 years.

Among these are the Foreign In-vestment Act of 1991 that re-moved restrictions on foreignownership in practically all localindustries and the InvestorsLease Act of 1993 that allowsforeigners to lease land for up to75 years.

In the same vein, the MiningAct of 1995 allows foreign own-

ership of the country's naturalresources and 100% profit repa-triation. The Senate had earlierratified the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade (GATT)that dismantled protective bar-riers for local industry and agri-culture against the influx of

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cheap foreign goods. Thederegulation of the oil in-dustry likewise allowed for-eign companies to extractoil and natural gas.

In 2000, the RetailTrade Liberalization Actwas passed, allowing 100%foreign ownership in the lo-cal retail industry. Foreign-ers are also allowed to pur-chase local banks and runthem without Filpino part-ners under the GeneralBanking Law.

This year, the SupremeCourt further amended the

constitution when it de-clared that the PhilippineLong Distance TelephoneCompany (PLDT) did not vi-olate the constitution's 60-40 requirement when it al-lowed Salim Group, a Ma-laysian-owned company tohold 64% of the company'scommon stocks. The Su-

preme Court rationalizedthat Filipinos still hold abigger percentage of thestocks if the preferredstocks are taken into con-sideration. This is despitethe fact that the preferredstocks are largely held byPLDT subscribers who haveno say in the company's

ownership and operations.The reactionary state

has been enforcing economicliberalization for more thantwo decades, contrary tosome of the provisions of the1987 constitution.

This bankrupt economycan only be terminated withthe implementation of genu-

ine land reform and nation-al industrialization. Devel-opment and progress canonly be achieved if local in-dustries are protected andconditions are created thatwould make fair trade possi-ble. ~

Military uses 2 minorsas human shields

The AFP used two minors as guides and human shields in its militaryoperations in Magpet, North Cotabato on July 16.

The 57th IB Alpha Companyforced two cousins age 12 and 13years to guide them in looking foran alleged camp of the New Peo-ple's Army (NPA) in the area. Thetwo children belong to the Mano-bo tribe in Sitio Buay-buay, Ba-rangay Basak, Magpet.

The victims were forced to

join the military operation forfour hours. They were told that ifthey refused to cooperate, theywould be tied to a rubber tree.The children, who did not knowwhere the camp was, pointed toan area with dense foliage andimmediately ran away.

Despite claims by Lt. NasrullaSema, spokesperson of the 59thCivil Military Operations thatthey comply with policies forbid-ding the use of civilians in theiroperations, a research by the Ki-lusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas(KMP) shows that violations arerampant in the AFP.

The KMP, GABRIELA, Chil-

dren's Rehabilitation Center(CRC) and Kabiba Alliance forChildren's Concerns vigorouslycondemned the military's viola-tion of Part 4, Article 3, Section 9of the Comprehensive Agreementon Respect for Human Rights andInternational Humanitarian Law(CARHRIHL) that prohibits the

participation of civilans or civil-ian authorities in military opera-tions and campaigns. The militaryalso violated a provision of theUnited Nations Convention on theRights of the Child that statesthat children must be protectedagainst all forms of abuse, ne-glect and exploitation.

The two child victims revealedtheir ordeal in an activity con-ducted by the CRC to assist vic-tims of militarization to recoverfrom severe psychological trau-ma. They said that their forcibleuse as guides in a military opera-tion was their most terrifying ex-perience. ~

Urban poor leader killed

FORTY-THREEyear old urban poor leader Marilou "Malou" Bacani Vallewas shot to death in Sitio Damayan, Smokey Mountain II, Tondo, Mani-la on July 22, a day before Benigno Aquino III delivered his SONA.

She was the hundredth victim of extrajudicial killing under the Aqui-no regime.

Valle was elected president of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap(KADAMAY)-Barangay 105. She was also the president of the SityoDamayan Smokey Mountain II. She succumbed to four bullet wounds in

the face and one in the shoulder.Her assailants were members of the Barangay Tanod (village watch-men) in the area.

The crime, which was perpetrated at around 5:45 p.m. in front ofthe victim's house, was witnessed by her relatives and neighbors.

After Valle was killed, the assailants went to her brother Jerry Ba-cani's house, where they shot him and his son Ninoy. The victims sus-tained bullet wounds in their calves and feet and were rushed by neigh-

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Political prisoners goon hunger strike

Aweek before the State of the Na-tion Address (SONA), political

prisoners, their relatives and support-ers went on hunger strike to demandthat Benigno Aquino III's regime re-lease all 385 political prisoners nation-wide. They called for a General, Uncon-ditional and Omnibus Amnesty for allpolitical prisoners. The hunger strikelasted from July 16 to July 23. It wasthe third nationwide hunger strikelaunched by political prisoners sinceAquino came to power.

KARAPATAN secretary-generalMarie Hilao Enriquez assailed Aquinofor claiming that there are no politicalprisoners in the Philippines. The humanrights watchdog said that 104 out ofthe country's 385 political prisoners in-carcerated in various detention centersnationwide were arrested under theAquino administration.

Detainees and their supporters

from seven regions joined the hungerstrike. At the Compostela Valley Pro-vincial Jail, some 500 regular detaineesalso staged their own hunger strike tosympathize with the political prisoners.

In Iloilo, activists wore orangeclothes to mimic the prisoners' uni-forms and stayed inside mock prisoncells put up at the center of PlazoletaGay in Iloilo City.

Relatives of Moro political prisonersalso appealed to Aquino to release theirloved ones. Most of them were impris-oned during Gloria Arroyo's regime andfalsely accused of being members of theterrorist Abu Sayyaf.

In a rally, Kilusang Magbubukid ngPilipinas deputy secretary-general andNational Democratic Front of the Phil-ippines (NDFP) peace talks consultant

Randall Echanis also slammed the Aqui-no regime for refusing to release thepolitical prisoners, including 14 con-sultants of the NDFP. The consultantsare covered by the Joint Agreement onSafety and Immunity Guaranteessigned by both the Government of thePhilippines and the NDFP. ~

Families to charge AFP withdesecrating guerrillas' remains

Relatives of New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas killedin a gunbattle in Quezon are set to file charges

against the military at the Joint Monitoring Committee(JMC). The JMC monitors the compliance of the Govern-ment of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democrat-ic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) with the ComprehensiveAgreement on Respect for Human Rights and Internation-al Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) that was signed by bothparties in 1998.

Among the complainants are Leslie Olvinar and AdelisaAlbarillo. Leslie is the 20-year old daughter of Eduardo andRosario Olvinar and Adelisa is the younger sister of Arman-

do Albarillo. Albarillo and the Olvinar couple were among11 NPA guerrillas killed in a firefight with the military onJune 30 in Sitio Sinagtala, Barangay White Cliff, San Narci-so town. The gunbattle reportedly lasted three hours. (Formore details, read the July 7 and 21 issues ofAng Bayan.)

The fascist soldiers brutally desecrated the remains ofLeslie's parents. Her mother's intestines were spilling outof her abdomen, and the back of her father's skull wasshattered although he had no bullet wounds in the face.The embalmer said that he was likely shot through the

mouth.On the other hand, Armando's body was riddled with

bullets and one of his hands was severed.Both the CARHRIHL and the Geneva Conventions

strictly prohibit the desecration of the enemy's remains.Article 3 (4) of the CARHRIHL states that "desecra-

tion of the remains of those who have died in the course ofthe armed conflict or while under detention shall remainprohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever withrespect to persons hors de combat. Article 4 (9) provides:

Every possible measure shall be taken, without delay, [to prevent the] mutilation of [the dead].Hustisya secretary-general Cristina Guevarra who

joined the fact-finding team formed by the Save BondocPeninsula Movement said that the military used excessiveforce against the small team of NPA guerrillas. Severalhours had also passed before their bodies were brought tothe barangay center. ~

bors to a hospital.In March, Malou Valle filed a case of grave threats and

child abuse against local goons Raffy and Conchita Tejas,and Benjamin and Sonny Tejas for pointing a gun at herchildren Marjorie, Jomar and George de Jesus, all of minorage.

On March 22, the Tejas family confronted Valle for dis-tributing leaflets that railed against the demolition of ur-ban poor communities. ~

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join the union and granted thema three-day emergency leaveand a five-day sick leave whichthey could convert to cash if notavailed of. They also won a 70-day maternity leave, medical

health insurance and`

5,000 inhospitalization assistance. TheRMN likewise agreed to provide`10,000 for an education re-search fund and allowed a ten-day union leave for the employ-ees.

The RDEU president saidthat the union showed that itcould not be cowed by the RMNmanagement's intimidation tac-tics. The union members reliedon their own strength to fightfor their interests.

The RDEU is affiliated withthe National Federation of La-bor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno(NAFLU-KMU). ~

CPP assails Aquino's gagorder on media

T

he Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) supported the Na-tional Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in its call

to the media to resist the Aquino regime's campaign to dictatewhat they could report on the Philippines.

The CPP issued its state-ment of support after the NUJPtook exception to Benigno Aqui-no III's accusation that themedia only reported negativedevelopments and refrainedfrom carrying the good news

such as the country's "robust"economy.The CPP said that the media

should not turn a blind eye tothe basic issues confronting thepeople such as widespread un-employment, poverty, extremelylow wages and the persistenceof extrajudicial killings and vio-lations of civil and politicalrights.

The CPP added that Aquinowas in no position to dictate onthe media editors, reporters,broadcasters and technicalcrew what to report on in theface of his regime's continuedfailure to give justice to themore than 30 media personnelwho were among the victims ofthe Maguindanao Massacre in

November 2009. There is no as-surance to date that the rela-tives and friends of the mediavictims would obtain justice be-cause political maneuvers byAquino's minions have causeddelays in the trial of the ac-cused.

In a related development,members of the Radyo Mindanao

Network Davao Employees Un-ion (RDEU) won their demandsafter an eight-day strike. Theemployees of one of the coun-try's biggest radio networks of-ficially returned to work on July20 after union representativesand the RMN management

ACT2Win: New alliance

vs contractualization

Anew alliance to fight the scourge of contractualization hasbeen formed. The Action Against Contractualization and

Towards Significant Wage Increase Now (ACT2Win) is com-posed of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, Alliance of Filipino Workers,Federation of Free Workers, National Labor Union, Makati Med-ical Center Employees' Association, Koalisyon ng Progresibong

Manggagawa at Mamamayan andBanking and Financial UnionsAgainst BSP Circular 268.

On July 18, the alliance picket-ed the Department of La-

bor and Employment(DOLE) to demand

the immediate rev-ocation of De-

partment Order18-A Series of2011 (DO-18-

A), an order thathas worsened contrac-tualization in the coun-try. They called for an

signed a two-year CollectiveBargaining Agreement (CBA).Twenty-two employees, includ-ing the members of RDEU won`1.3 million in wage increasesand other benefits.

Among their benefits are a`

1,040 monthly wage increasethis year and a `1,560 hike nextyear. They will also receive twosacks of rice per year, a signingbonus of`2,500 and a daily foodsubsidy.

The management also al-lowed all regular employees to

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SOVFA with Australiaviolates Philippinesovereignty

The newly ratified Status of Visiting Forces Agreement(SOVFA) with Australia which allows the Australianmilitary access to Philippine docking and airport facil-

ities is an affront to Philippine sovereignty.As a junior partner of US imperialism in the Asia-Pacific,

Australia launches interventionist military operations in theregion that directly support the US' objectives of establish-ing its hegemony worldwide.

Historically, the US has been able to mobilize Australian

military forces in most of its wars of intervention. A few ex-amples are the US' interventionist wars in Korea and Viet-nam in the 1950s to the 1970s, in the Persian Gulf in the1990s and in Afghanistan in recent years.

No less than the US government pushed the Aquino re-gime to ratify the SOVFA because of the need to provide theAustralian military access to Philippine facilities. The SOVFA,which had been pending at the Philippine Senate since 2007,was ratified by the Australian parliament in the same year.On December 10, 2011, Benigno Aquino III aggressively

sought the SOVFA's immediate approval. It was ratified bythe Senate on July 24 on a vote of 17-1. The voting, whichwas conducted the day after Aquino's State of the Nation Ad-dress was done hurriedly to avoid a public debate on the is-sue.

The US' current plans to strengthen its military presencein the Asia-Pacific likewise necessitates its use of Australiaas a base of operations for its war machinery. In December2011, the US and Australian governments signed an agree-ment allowing the US to construct a military base in Austral-

ia's far north that will host 2,500 American troopsone ofthe biggest US deployments in that country since the Second

World War. ~

end to all forms of contractual-ization and the passage of alaw that would regularize allworkers.

ACT2Win belied DOLE'sclaim that its DO-18-A is favor-

able to contractual workers.Contrary to its provisions, it isnot true that contractual work-ers would be enjoying the samerights as regular workers.ACT2Win said a provision whichallegedly establishes a directrelationship between the com-pany and contractual workersthrough the establishment ofcontractual agencies is fraughtwith loopholes.

The order does not guaran-tee the protection of the wel-fare of contractual workerssince only corporations or coop-eratives with "substantial capi-tal" may run contractual agen-cies.

The alliance is likewise upin arms against the capitalists'

growing use of manpower co-operatives that are allegedlyrun by contractual workers.The practice is becoming aswidespread as mass layoffs.Manpower cooperatives areeven more sinister compared tomanpower agencies since man-agements portray contractualworkers are among the co-

owners of the cooperatives.In fact, companies make a

lot of money from contractualworkers who are sent to workfor other corporations in needof their services. These con-tractuals merely receive allow-ances even if they perform thesame work as regulars.

Greedy capitalists have been

cashing in on this scheme bypaying contractual workerslower wages and depriving themof their right to job security.Capitalists rake in ever biggerprofits, while workers' familiesare condemned to live lives ofhunger and poverty. ~

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ANG BAYAN Agosto 7, 2012 ANG BAYAN August 7, 2012

In Sitio Lumondao, MarilogDistrict, Davao City, CawsingOgaw, leader of the dreadedarmed vigilante group Black-fighter was killed at a check-point set up by Red fighters un-der the New People's Army(NPA) Front 54 OperationalCommand.

In a statement, Front 54spokesperson Ka Sandawa saidOgaw and his son Keem shot itout with the Red fighters whenthey were intercepted at thecheckpoint and were killed in theensuing gunbattle. Seized fromthem were two cal .45 pistols.

Ogaw's fanatic group had

many victims in Davao City'sMarilog and Calinan districtsand in the towns of Magpet andArakan in North Cotabato. Asidefrom killings, robberies and ter-rorizing the local

populace, Blackfighter alsoserved as a private army of mul-tinational plantations and biglandlords like Pastor Apollo Qui-boloy. In 2010, Blackfighter alsoformed part of the private armyof the Japanese-owned Sumifruplantation. The private armywas then led by Ret. Gen. JovitoPalparan. Ogaw also providedsanctuary to Junie Corvala aliasKumander Iring, a paramilitaryleader from North Cotabato,after he murdered Italian mis-sionary Fr. Fausto "Pops" Ten-torio in October 2011.

Ogaw's bosses in the 84th IBimmediately instigated a panga-

yaw, or tribal war. It goadedOgaw's clan to sow terror in thecommunities of Marilog. Themilitary also rode on the inci-dent to revive the Alsa Lumad,

an anticommunist campaign.

The military has been sup-porting the depredations com-mitted by Ogaw's fanatic groupsince the 1980s. As a concurrentmember of the paramilitaryCAFGU, Ogaw also guided themilitary in encircling and attack-ing NPA units and arresting andkilling a number of Red fighters.

Almost all of Ogaw's sonsare engaged in criminal activi-ties. Two of them are notoriousbandits while a third one is alsoa CAFGU element. The latterserved as his right hand in his il-legal logging forays.

Meanwhile, in Sitio Kiapat,

Barangay Ganatan, Arakan,North Cotabato, operatives ofthe NPA Front 53 OperationalCommand meted punishment onbandit leader Abantas Ansaboalias Kumander Ibon. Ansabowas responsible for the murdersof 19 peasants and Lumad, in-cluding the massacre of a familyof seven and the hacking death

of two children. Ansabo's pun-ishment was implemented in ac-cordance with an order from thepeople's court which found himguilty of heinous crimes commit-ted in coordination with theAFP. He was also involved inthree cases of attempted mur-der, three cases of destruction

to property and slaugh-

tering of themasses' farmanimals, fivecases of rob-

bery and extortion, acase of arson and two cases ofgrave threats.

As an asset of the 57th IB,Ansabo's latest project was theforcible recruitment to the CAF-

GU of 30 Lumad from the villa-ges of Ganatan, Mahungkog andAmabel in Arakan town.

Six of Ansabo's men whowere arrested with him werelater released. Seized from themwere a Garand rifle and twoshotguns. ~

NPA kills 2 notoriousparamilitaries

T

wo notorious leaders of counterrevolutionary paramilitarygroups operating in Southern Mindanao Region were killed in

two separate incidents on July 27. Five firearms were likewiseconfiscated in these operations.

Ang Bayan, Aug 7, 2012

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