The Philippines elections, on May 11, will be dominated by the trapos (traditional politicians). In the style of US presidential elections, millions of dollars are being spent to buy votes. The frontrunner for president in the polls (by a huge margin) is Vice-President Joseph Estrada (popularly known as Erap), a former movie star with a populist mass appeal.
Estrada's electoral machinery is an organisation named JEEP, for Justice Economy Environment and Peace. JEEP is run by the "popular democrats" — ex-communists turned social democrats. Estrada's campaign slogan is "Erap sa mahirap" (Erap is for the poor). Despite this left veneer and populist rhetoric, Erap's overall program is right wing and fundamentally the same as that of President Fidel Ramos. As a Far Eastern Economic Review article summed up, "Erap is for the poor and the free market".
The elections, however, for the first time present the progressive movement with a chance of winning seats in congress due to the introduction of the "party list" system. This is a small concession from the 1986 mass upsurge against the Marcos dictatorship, when the progressive movement demanded a system of full proportional representation. It allows the marginalised sectors and their organisations 51 seats in a congress of 205 seats.
The organisations running for these 51 seats are dominated by front groups set up by the traditional politicians. However, two progressive organisations which have a good chance of winning seats are the broad democratic front Sanlakas and an alliance of left-wing organisations called Akbayan (Citizen's Action Party). Both organisations were represented at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference held in Sydney on April 13. REIHANA MOHIDEEN spoke to the chairperson of Sanlakas, RENATO CONSTANTINO (JR), about the coming elections.
Question: How significant are the elections for the left?
The elections are no different from those in the past. They are dominated by the elite and marginalise the people. As far as the regular elections are concerned, none of the candidates have made any significant attempts to tackle real issues.
Because of the party list elections, however, in spite of the very flawed election law, May 11 provides a unique opportunity for genuine people's organisations to consolidate their ranks and make a serious attempt to place their own representatives in congress.
The law puts a limit of three on the number of representatives an organisation can place in congress, so there is less incentive to unite.
Sanlakas, as a national multi-sectoral organisation, has decided to participate by itself. We have mobilised all our chapters to gather the maximum number of votes.
Since this is not a simple advocacy campaign, postering and public announcements and speeches won't suffice. One has to secure the votes and count heads. Therefore a grassroots campaign, a house-to-house visiting campaign, has been launched in certain target areas.
We do not have the resources to conduct a nationwide campaign, so we have identified a few focus areas. Our target is to achieve the requisite number of votes in these focus areas alone. Anything else will be a bonus.
The minimum number of votes required to win in the party list elections is 2%. We want to achieve more than that because the aim is not merely to seat our representatives in congress, but when they speak in congress they should be seen to be speaking for not just a few hundred thousand people, but hopefully for millions.
The electoral exercise is merely an extension of the broad progressive mass movement.
We also want to ensure that our own people feel a greater obligation to the people they are representing. Sanlakas is the only party list contender that has sought to guarantee the spirit of democratic representation.
We have drawn up a legally enforceable and binding contract between Sanlakas and its nominees, to the effect that, once seated, the nominees must and can act only on positions adopted by Sanlakas and never against any positions adopted by Sanlakas.
The covenant ensures that if the representative no longer represents the positions of Sanlakas, he or she will be replaced. Even the staffing of the representative's office is under the authority of Sanlakas.
Question: What are some of the critical issues that Sanlakas is campaigning on?
The covenant also ensures that, regardless of the region or sector our nominee comes from, they are obliged to take up issues beyond his or her sector or region.
So it doesn't matter if you are a worker — and you may take up the workers' issues in the best possible way — but if you fail to take up or vote against, say, a resolution on women's issues or even abstain, this will be a case for disciplinary action.
Sanlakas has been at the forefront of the protection of the people's interests. We will continue to fight for the people's interests in the streets and now in congress as well.
Some of the main issues will be basic rights of workers for decent wages and labour standards, the rights of the urban poor to permanent and decent housing.
We have a lot to learn and have to go beyond the rhetoric of upholding the interests of women. I am ashamed to say this, but I must admit that Sanlakas is rather week in this regard.
There is also the question of the environment. And hopefully, once we are in congress, this will be a motivation for Sanlakas to be more serious about women's rights and the environment. We cannot just limit ourselves to the issues of the urban poor, workers and students' rights.
Sovereignty in the political, economic and cultural sphere is also an area that we need to brush up on. Our attention has often been focused on sectoral issues, and a number of times we have failed to see the macro picture of the whole people and the nation. At this stage of our democratic struggle, it is very important that we are able to address the multifaceted aspirations of our people.
Question: A recent opinion poll showed a very high rating for Sanlakas' profile.
There is supposed to be an embargo on opinion polls [during the election campaign]. But without naming the poll, there was one that tried to analyse the awareness and trust of the people in candidates.
I was rather surprised to discover that 40% of the voting public were aware of the existence of Sanlakas. This reflects the fact that Sanlakas has been at the forefront of the mass struggle since its inception. We need to try to convert this awareness into votes.
Question: What is Sanlakas' attitude to Akbayan?
Akbayan is a competitor, but not an enemy. It's a progressive organisation vying for three party list seats. When Akbayan's application for accreditation with the commissioner of elections was initially denied, I issued a statement, which was immediately printed in the largest circulating newspaper, opposing their disqualification.
Even before Akbayan had mobilised its friends in the media, Sanlakas issued the letter of protest. I did this out of my conviction of the need for a non-sectarian attitude, and I also wanted to show our friends in Akbayan and our members that sectarianism has no place in our struggle.
We should close ranks whenever any progressive organisation is under attack by reactionary forces.
Question: Sanlakas isn't going to endorse any traditional politicians, but is Erap for the poor?
We haven't made up our minds yet. But on an individual basis, I have made public my choice for president, which is Joseph Estrada.
I have made it very clear that my choice is not based on any position or promise made by this candidate. I reduced the whole thing to one simple question.
Based on my personal experiences and those of other cause-oriented groups in the past, the presidential candidate who would provide us with the most favourable arena of battle for the next phase is Joseph Estrada. This is not to say that the arena is that favourable, but compared to the other presidential candidates, it would be Estrada.