By Sonny Melencio
Arrests and harassment of anti-APEC activists continue in Manila as the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on November 25 approaches. Media report puts at 43 the number of Filipinos and foreigners harassed or arrested.
The latest targets were 14 people — seven Filipinos, six Japanese and one Dutch national — on a fact-finding mission concerning farmers affected by the construction of the Yokohama Tire plant in Pampanga. They were detained for a few hours and later released without charges. On November 18, 19 activists were arrested by the Manila police while putting up anti-APEC posters and charged with vandalism.
On November 12, the head of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP: Solidarity of Filipino Workers) was arrested. Filemon "Popoy" Lagman is still in detention. He has been on a hunger strike since his arrest.
Militarisation
Ten thousand soldiers, including a scout ranger company, a special forces company, two armoured companies and three anti-riot companies, have been mobilised for the APEC meeting, which will bring together 18 heads of state, including US President Bill Clinton, Indonesian dictator Suharto and Malaysian strong man Mahathir. Twenty thousand more troops, including anti-terrorist units, are on stand-by.
President Fidel Ramos has also ordered a ban on some foreigners coming for anti-APEC meetings. They include 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta, who was, however, able to send a representative to the meeting of non-governmental organisations in Manila.
Meanwhile, demands for the release of Popoy Lagman are escalating. The Philippine media called it "strike notices galore" as unions in 200 companies, representing around 130,000 workers throughout the country, filed strike notices simultaneously on November 19 to press for Lagman's release. Besides the BMP unions, the pilots' unions at Philippine Airlines and the union at Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company have also filed strike notices.
Lagman was hauled to a court hearing on November 19. A trumped-up charge, involving the murder of a policeman in 1992, was filed against him. Lagman appeared pale and weak but managed to read a statement to reporters covering the case.
The statement reads in part: "What is six days of incarceration compared with the still unrectified injustice perpetrated against my desaparecido [disappeared] brother [Hermon Lagman, missing since 1976], a labor and human rights lawyer, during martial rule when Fidel Ramos was the Philippine Constabulary Chief?
"What is six days of deprivation of due process compared with the unabated violations of labor standards and unfair labor practices unredressed by government because of defective labor laws and oppressively long legal processes? What is six days of hunger compared with the year-round crunching of stomachs of millions of Filipino masses?
"What does government fear about me? Government is not afraid of Popoy. Government is afraid of a unified labor which I, the BMP and the KPUP [Fraternity of Union Presidents] struggle for."
Labor Congress opens
Labour organisations belonging to the BMP, National Confederation of Labor and the KPUP opened their congress on November 20 with more than 1000 union presidents in attendance. Foreign delegations included the Indonesian People's Democratic Party and Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggle, the Democratic Socialist Party of Australia, the international building workers' federation and Japanese unions.
The two-day Labor Congress, which will be followed by another two-day International Solidarity Forum, focused on the adverse effects of globalisation on workers. Popoy Lagman released a handwritten statement from jail which was read at the congress.
The statement called on the Philippine government to amend the Labor Code and institute laws that will protect the workers. Lagman's demand coincided with proposals released by the Alliance of Progressive Labor, which has taken up Lagman's call towards unity of the fragmented Philippine unions.
Lagman also called on Philippine unions to link up with international labour groups to help address the problems spawned by trade liberalisation. He said the BMP aims to achieve this by preparing another labour forum to coincide with the next APEC meeting in Canada in 1997.