EC 608: Laying the shields from impending defeat - SANLAKAS PARTY-LIST

Obviously in an attempt to secure her
control over institutions of power,
Arroyo recently signed Executive Order
(EO) 608 to amplify her earlier gag
order – the Memorandum Circular 108.
The said EO establishes a national
security clearance system for
government personnel with access to
sensitive documents, apparently to
deny her critics any inside
information which may prove damaging
to her regime.
Indeed, this only shows how insecure
Arroyo is with her government. Arroyo
knew that the elections are tipped
towards her opponents’ favor. With her
popularity rating still at -4%
according to the latest SWS survey,
she knew that her association alone
would spell doom to any candidate
vying for a Senate seat this
elections. She can thus imagine
another hostile Senate after this
election prying open her closet and
exposing her secret malevolent, anti-
democratic designs to the public.
This and other Arroyo’s recent
policies seem to form a seamless
strategy – a controlled issuance of
gag orders intending to stifle the
public’s ability to investigate her
and her government. It can be
remembered that Malacañang issued last
year EO 464 which effectively barred
ranking government officials from
appearing in congressional
investigations unless authorized by
the President. The said EO was later
declared unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court.
The refusal of Malacañang to let
itself be subjected to legislative
investigation is not just a mere
display of dominance nor a mere effort
to deny the public any knowledge of
its corrupt acts. It is also a strong
message that from now on it will do
things in covert and outside the
scrutiny of the public. The silence of
Malacañang should thus been taken as a
manifestation of more frightening
things to come.
Laying the shields for an expected
Senate defeat, however, doesn’t
preclude pro-Arroyo forces from
manipulating this election again
towards her advantage. We all know
that this election would be marred by
another round of unscrupulous
cheating – particularly caused by
systemic attempts to bastardize this
democratic practice. ###

SANLAKAS supports LADLAD's Remoto

Party-list group backs gay candidate for Congress
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 08:50pm (Mla time) 04/22/2007
MANILA, Phiilppines--A gay rights advocate seeking a seat in the next Congress has found an ally in a militant party-list group that is also running in the May elections.
On Sunday, Sanlakas offered its political machinery to help ensure the victory of Ateneo professor Danton Remoto, who is running for Congress in the third district of Quezon City.
“We are supporting Danton’s run for a House seat because we believe he represents a unique brand of politics that is open, honest and transparent,” said Wilson Fortaleza, Sanlakas national president.
“Things will be interesting once he gets elected because, for one thing, he represents none of the trappings of a traditional politician like guns, goons and gold.”
Despite his relative prominence in the literary and academic worlds, Remoto is an underdog in the political arena. He is a political neophyte running against the more experienced Matias Defensor, father of administration Team Unity senatorial candidate Michael Defensor.
Fortaleza acknowledged the disparity, which was why Sanlakas decided to help Remoto.
Remoto was twice prevented by the Commission on Elections from running in the May polls.
He lost his bid via the party-list route after the Comelec refused to accredit his group, Ang Ladlad. Next, he tried to run for senator but the poll body declared him a nuisance candidate.
Fortaleza said the Comelec decision on Ang Ladlad “reeks of homophobia and bad faith cloaked in legalese.”
He described Remoto’s candidacy as a “great leap forward for progressive politics.”
“If he wins, he would be the first openly gay legislator in the House of Representatives,” Fortaleza said. “His campaign is also a test of the political maturity of Filipino voters who are so used to choosing between the lesser of two trapos (traditional politicians).”

Sanlakas, Aksa party-lists face off at Comelec - Inquirer

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 09:53pm (Mla time) 03/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A left-leaning party-list group found itself face-to-face with another group that has been accused of being an administration “front” at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila.

Members of Sanlakas and the Aksyong Sambayanan (Aksa) gathered in front of the Comelec standing side-by-side.

Aksa is one of 11 party-list groups accused by Akbayan Representative Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales of being “fronts” of the administration. It is linked to the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas headed by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.

At a rally staged by Sanlakas, one of its nominees, lawyer JV Bautista, accused Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Malacañang of allowing “fake” party-list groups to run for the House of Representatives.

He also slammed the election body for allowing Aksa and retired major general Jovito Palparan Jr. to enter politics.

Addressing the hundreds of Aksa members nearby, Bautista said: “Why don't you join us? We are not your enemies. We only hate your leaders.”

Probe not enough, heads must roll at Comelec – Sanlakas Partylist (April 14, 2007)

When the partylist system was introduced in the 1998 elections, Sanlakas and Akbayan were the very first Partylists who won and acted as fiscalizers of a House of Congress packed with trapos, landlords and millionaires. Sanlakas, along with Akbayan, were the only solons brave enough to expose the 'Payola scam' in which a hefty sum was distributed by the office of the House speaker in exchange for the passage of the Omnibus Power Bill.

It was then Sanlakas congressman, Renato Magtubo (now with Partido ng Manggagawa) who said in a now-famous privilege speech at the plenary that the House of Congress is a 'corral ng baboy (pigsty). The act incurred the ire of a conservative and subservient House and cost him his share of much-needed projects. For the majority of marginalized sectors from the workers, farmers, fisherfolk and the like, this is how a partylist should stand on burning issues.

Malacanang sees a dual-bladed threat when it comes to the partylist system because partylist congressmen, especially the ones coming from the progressive blocs, are dynamic, uncompromising and untainted by traditional politics. They are the ones you can never bribe into submission.

Furthermore, they are the ones who will most likely vote for an impeachment complaint which the president does not want to happen when the next session starts; it is the administration that stands to gain the most in a partylist victory for its fronts and a defeat of progressive partylist groups that's why it is moving heaven and earth to pack the PL system with its lackeys. Malacanang has turned the partylist system into a system of convenience.

The machinations of the OEA, in connivance with the Comelec, comes as no surprise for the poll body has, time and again, acted as a 'hocus pocus' agency of manipulators, operators and shady characters the likes of which has bred a Virgilio Garcillano. Public trust in the Comelec is so low that anything that happens there, including the burning of its building, arouses suspicion.

Even without Garcillano, the Comelec is viewed as a cheating machine and regardless of the outcome, the coming 2007 elections will not resolve the doubts of a skeptical public. As the cynics say, there will only be two kinds of politicians after the elections: the winners and the cheated.

We join the call for a probe so the people may know who's who behind these syndicates who have transformed the partylist system into a thriving 'buy and sell' venture. But a probe is not enough. Heads must roll in the Comelec and it should start with Comelec commissioner Benjamin Abalos.###

Disqualification sought for 41 Partylists

While the partylist system is intended to include marginzalized sectors in policy-making and legislation, the entry of "fake" party-list groups in the upcoming midterm elections hampers if not impedes the democratization of Congress or bringing Congress closer to the grassroots through the direct participation of the marginalized sectors in govrenance. It follows therefore that the nominees of party-list organizations must represent a marginalized sector.

The 41 party list groups whose nominees are being asked to be disqualified are:

Biyaheng, Pinoy; Aksyon Sambayanan (AKSA); Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM); Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE), The True Marcos Loyalist
Inc.; Kapatiran ng mga Nakakulong na Walang Sala (KAKUSA); Barangay Association for
National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT);Alay sa Bayan ng Malayang Propesyonal
and Repormang Kalakal; Babae Para sa Kaunlaran (Babae Ka); Abante Ilonggo; Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines Inc.;Bago National Cultural Society of the Philippines; Angat Antas Kabuhayan Pilipino Movement; Ahon Pinoy; Arts
Business and Science Professional; Ang Galing Pinoy; Abgbiag Timpuyog Ilocano
Inc.; Asosasyon ng Maliliit na Negosyanteng Gumaganap Inc.; Sulong Barangay Movement; Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA); Aangat Tayo; Association of
Administrators, Professionals and Seniors; Kasosyo Producer-Consumer
Exchange; Kasangga sa Kaunlaran Inc.;United Movement Against Drugs; Parents
Enabling Parents (PEP); Akbay Pinoy OFW-National Inc.; Alliance of People's
Organizations; Alliance of Neo-Conservatives; Angat AtingKabuhayan; 1-United Transport Koalisyon (1-UTAK); Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya Para sa Mamamayan Inc. (AGHAM);Alliance for Barangay Concerns; Hanay ng Aping Pinoy; Biyayang Bukid; Bagong Alyansang Tagapagtaguyod ng Adhikaing
Sambayanan (BATAS); Ang Laban ng Indihinong Filipino (ALIF); Alagad; Bigkis Pinoy Movement; Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD);and Abay-Parak.

Reference:
GMANews.TV

It's the military that should get out of urban poor communities - SANLAKAS Partylist (March 28, 2007)

Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane's call for activists in urban poor communities to get out if they do not want the military there smacks of machismo and can only come from someone with a fascist mindset which is typical of his police character. By Ebdane's pronouncements, his tendency to shoot from the hip is funny only because he succeeded in shooting himself in the foot instead. The Defense Secretary's statements are wrong on all levels because of one simple truth: the military doesnt deserve to be there.

It's the military that should get out of urban communities in the first place. the residents of urban poor communities did not demand their presence. Their presence in the communities is plain militarization with the main objective of neutralizing the advance of militant partylist groups. The AFP said as much when it said that the role of the troops is to monitor any citizens or legal organizations perceived to be critical of the administration.

The right thing to do would be to pull out the military than to dislocate the everyday life of people in the urban communities. Especially during elections, the proper place of the military is in the barracks, not in peaceful communities.

The AFP can never win the hearts and minds of the people that's why it resorts to intimidation in urban poor communities. The images of military troops carrying long firearms or concealed weapons and asking for the location of houses of urban poor organizers with the intent of harassing and intimidating them can hardly be called community service.

So much for winning the hearts and minds of the people. The military is there and for one reason only and that is to intimidate the people into submission## #

We Shall Overcome

Over the horizon the red banner greets my beating heart. I embrace the kinship fostered in this parliament outside parliament.

As I make home of the wet and cold pavement, I dismantle the overarching castles and structures of the powers that be. where in these high places the ephemeral defines the essence of existence, here I am in my humble bivouac speaking the language of the destitute humanity.

And as the lively uproar swarmed the place and the marching beat made zealots out of the meek, the silenced and the oppressed, a gathering storm reveals in the offing. the castles and structures entrenched on sands shall come caving in and forever washed away.

The high walls that now divide shall come crumbling with the mighty force of paper planes. dudurugin ang pader ng eroplanong papel. And the towering and domineering shall kneel before the altar of the triumphant flag bearers only to be helped on their feet. for those who have been oppressed have seen the light of hell to impose the gloom of heaven on their oppressors. it would not make them any different if with the demise of the Establishment, they seek to erect a new one from its ashes.

I hear joyous revelry. The thunderous cries of exoneration. The contradictions have finally delivered us before the gates of a promising dawn. This shall go on. This ecstatic fever shan't be vanquished. The past has taught us the gems of conscious counter-action. To pursue ascent, never to recede - never to leave once more the struggle unto the tarred hands of the narcissistic hedonists, whose whims no one can slake.

"We shall overcome!" the negro cried and they have reached the pedestal of equality. Now, i declare the same.

We shall overcome! to breach not only the poverty in capitalist abundance but to make pedestal over this bivouac i call home.

aaron pedrosa
sanlakas youth
tuloy ang laban!
padayon!