Reihana Mohideen, Manila
Around 2000 delegates from factory unions and urban poor organisations attended a Working People's Summit organised by Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the Masses) on October 17. Laban ng Masa is a new left coalition that has spearheaded the campaign for the Gloria Arroyo regime to be replaced by a transitional revolutionary government.
The summit was organised to consolidate this campaign; to launch a movement for a people's strike or welgang bayan; and to organise municipal assemblies and "committees of struggle" at the municipal level.
The summit came at a critical time in Philippine politics. The deeply unpopular Arroyo regime is hanging on by a thread, with surveys consistently showing that 75% of the population want the president to resign. The military is divided and sections of the junior officers, as well as some generals, are calling for Arroyo's resignation. Threats of a coup d'etat are in the air. There are rumours of former president Fidel Ramos organising a US-backed coup, which would establish an interim council, institute a new constitution in line with the neoliberal economic agenda and set in place a parliamentary system of government.
The regime has increasingly cracked down on protests that demand Arroyo's resignation. The area around Malacanang Palace (the president's residence) has been declared a no-protest zone, however, there are daily demonstrations challenging this dictate, with protesters attempting to cross the historic Mendiola Bridge to reach the palace. Scores of protesters have been wounded and arrested. A prayer rally led by Catholic bishops was hosed down, causing a scandal for the regime.
The government has described its response as a Calibrated Pre-emptive Response (CPR), which involves a ban on rallies. A newly issued executive order also bans government officials and military officers from attending Congress investigations of government corruption. The Anti-Terrorism Bill, soon to be passed by the Arroyo-dominated Congress, makes all forms of dissent against the government acts of terrorism, and is a part of the government's CPR tactic for survival.
The Working People's Summit was opened by Laban ng Masa chair Francisco Nemenzo. Sonny Melencio, head of the summit organising committee, explained in his speech: "The GMA regime is sure to fall. It's a question of time. For the military factions it's just a question of timing. However, we must ensure that people's power and not a military coup must be the main cause of [Arroyo's] downfall. The CPR is an attempt to set in place martial law restrictions without declaring martial rule. The CPR of Gloria must be met with a Calibrated People's Response or a calibrated welgang bayan. We must escalate our activities in the streets. We also call on the soldiers to join the people's movement and to defend the people's struggle."
The welgang bayan has a historical precedent in the struggles against the Marcos dictatorship in the early 1980s, when a wave of strike action combined with road blockades and walkouts in schools and universities brought the country to a standstill.
The transitional revolutionary government, envisaged as being a product of a welgang bayan and mass upsurge, is to organise a mass consultation to put in place a new constitution and bring about political transformation of state institutions in order to end elite rule. The Cory Aquino government, which replaced the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, was a product of a mass upsurge and was then described as a revolutionary government. It refused to abide by the Marcos constitution, and put in place a "people's power" constitution. It also closed down some of the political institutions of the dictatorship, such as the Marcos Congress.
However, the Cory Aquino government settled for maintaining the status quo and the system of elite rule instead of pushing forward with the creation of a government that genuinely represented the interests of working people and the rural and urban poor.
A message of solidarity from anti-Arroyo junior officers was also read out at the summit. The group calling itself the Young Officers Union — New Generation (YOUNG) demanded "for the last time that Arroyo and her corrupt officials and generals should resign immediately to avoid bloodshed". The statement also assured the assembly that the military would protect the people in their struggle.
From Green Left Weekly, October 26, 2005.
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