Press Statement
June 14, 2009 Workers Oppose the Neoliberal Agenda behind GMA’s Cha-Cha The majority of organized labor stands up in opposition to GMA’s con-ass and the neoliberal agenda behind cha-cha. Ang Tindig ng Manggagawa ay pagtutol sa con-ass na ang imbing layunin ay ang term extension ni GMA at sa cha-cha na ang maitim na agenda ay iayon sa globalisasyon ang ating Konstitusyon. It is not only GMA who is interested and will benefit from cha-cha. It is also the foreign capitalists and their local lackeys who are pushing and will gain from revising the Constitution. GMA is principally concerned with her perpetuation in power while the foreigners are mainly after removing the protectionist provisions of the Constitution. Even as GMA continues to deny her hidden agenda, the foreign capitalists and their local lackeys make no secret of their main motivation. In fact in the Nograles resolution, it is clearly spelled out that the Constitution will be amended to allow foreign ownership of land. The limitation on foreign ownership of strategic industries and utilities are surely next in line. If GMA, the elite and the foreigners have their way with con-ass and cha-cha, the token Constitutional provisions on protection for the national patrimony and labor rights will be deleted. For the workers and the people, it will be a giant leap backward to eliminate the gains expressed in the Constitutional provisions on “full protection to labor,” the freedom to organize and even to strike, the right to a living wage, security of tenure and full employment. Even though these Constitutional guarantees have remained dead letters since the State has failed to enact implementing laws, abolishing these provisions will leave the workers and people no protection in the fundamental law of the land. The importance of such Constitutional guarantees is reflected in the desire of foreign capitalists and their local lackeys in erasing these protectionist provisions. They would like to trick the workers and the people into believing that social progress has been hindered by the protection on national patrimony and labor rights. They keep on repeating the lie that if the limitation on foreign ownership is lifted then investments would pour in and employment will be generated. Such propaganda has been exposed as a myth by the fact that the economy is in crisis not because of economic protectionism but due to neoliberal globalization. In fact the solution to the crisis of globalization is not further liberalization but appropriate protectionism. There are those in the broad movement against con-ass who approve of cha-cha for the purpose of abolishing the protectionist provisions and oppose merely GMA’s term extension. The workers however resist both perpetuating GMA in power forever and removing the protectionist provisions of the Constitution. The working class oppose cha-cha not to defend the elite democracy enshrined in the 1987 Constitution but to protect the progressive provisions on national patrimony and labor rights. The workers march side by side with the multisectoral movement against con-ass but build a parallel movement with independent demands for labor protection and economic protectionism. The workers add their voice to the people’s indignation over con-ass even as we air our own slogans for system change instead of charter change. ### |
