LIDY ALEJANDERO is secretary-general of BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) in the Philippines. In Sydney for an Australian-Philippines solidarity conference, Alejandero was interviewed for Green Left by MAX LANE.
Question: Could you explain just what BAYAN is and its role in Filipino politics?
BAYAN is a political federation of different grassroots organisations: trade unions (KMU), women (Gabriela), farmers and peasants in the KMP, a variety of student groups, professionals and church people.
We were founded in 1985, at the height of the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship. The aim was to gather together all the strength of the anti-dictatorship groups and groups which had a nationalist perspective. We wanted an organisation that would be more cohesive, firmer, more effective in organising immediate action.
After the change in government, BAYAN continued its work because its basic principles — sovereignty, genuine democracy for the people — would not automatically come with the new government. We are primarily engaged in mass struggles and campaigns.
But we also get involved in electoral politics. We support candidates or some of our people run as candidates. We do this in coalition with other progressive group and parties. Most of our experiences in direct participation in elections would be at local level. At the last elections we participated actively around the electoral campaign of Senator Bobby Tanada.
Question: Is BAYAN's strength concentrated in particular areas?
The federation's chapters are concentrated in the urban centres. Of course, we have members in the countryside through KMP. We function or are present in all the major cities, although in the last few years we have been having difficulties in sustaining and maintaining this federated structure, mainly because of militarisation.
At the moment we still have to rebuild in certain urban centres where we were present until 1987 or 1988. But out of 14 voting regions in the country, we are present in about 12.
Question: Could you outline the major campaigns BAYAN is conducting at the moment?
The campaign proceeding strongly now is the campaign against the Bataan nuclear power plant. This was a big issue from the time of Marcos up until Aquino took over and announced that she would stop building the plant and not operate the plant. Now, with w a settlement with Westinghouse which would include operating the plant has reactivated the campaign in a big way.
The other issue is the foreign debt. We are part of a larger coalition called the Freedom From Debt Coalition. This is an important phase, as the national budget is up for discussion in the Congress.
We basically have two immediate demands on the foreign debt campaign. One is the repeal of the Automatic Appropriations Act, because currently about 40% of the national budget is automatically appropriated to debt service. Secondly, we are demanding a debt cap of 10% of export earnings.
We anticipate that after November the campaign will move on to a new phase: against the conditions for the structural adjustment of the IMF.
The third issue we have just started in the last few weeks is the campaign on the peace process. Ramos made some initiatives which he calls his peace initiative as soon as he assumed power on June 30. Basically his offers have been tied around the concept of surrender of the National Democratic Front or, at the very least, enticing members of the NDF to abandon the armed struggle.
This is different from what we and many other groups have been advocating: that a peace process should address the root causes of the conflict. This is the same position the NDF has adopted. This concept is well supported by a broad range of groups.
Other issues include the campaign on energy. There will be an increase in power rates by December. We are suffering a severe power crisis, with four to six hour blackouts in Metro Manila and in many provinces. We have to adopt the whole energy issue comprehensively, not just the pricing aspect but also power generation, distribution.
The last issue is the withdrawal of the bases and base conversion. Ramos announced the intent to negotiate special access for the US.For the most part the US has already withdrawn its facilities and troops, but we are also much against the special access arrangements under which the Philippines will continue to be a link in the global military network of the US.
Question: What issues are concerning people most at the grassroots at the moment?
At the grassroots it will be the economic issues, so we expect grassroots participation to increase as the campaign against the structural adjustment program gets under way. KMU has already started its wages campaigns. This will fit in with the other issues that the other sectors will be taking up in the coming months.
Question: What has been the impact on organising of the change ?
Understandably, after the May elections there was a kind of break in the momentum of the mass mobilisations. I guess this had an effect on the general mood of the people ... There was a kind of feeling of let's wait and see what new the government will do. It is not as though they carry as much hope as they did in the Aquino government in 1986. People are pretty much aware of what Ramos' background is. He doesn't have a very large popular mandate, about 25% of those who voted.
Question: And the levels of militarisation and harassment?
The momentum of militarisation and war was not at all broken by the change of government. In certain areas of the country there was an escalation of surveillance, arrest and harassment. More than 30 people were arrested during the first two months.
It's kind of like a revolving door: some detainees were released, and some were also arrested. And the release of people during the first few months of Ramos was less due to his good will but more a product of long years of court battles. In most of the cases people are just out on bail. The only credit you can give Ramos is that the military authorities have decided to comply with the law by releasing the detainees on bail.