Workers Stage 1st
Big Rally After CPR Junking
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Posted
7:36 p.m., May 1, 2006
Thousands of
workers and activists belonging to the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or
May 1st Movement), the Gloria Stepdown Movement (GSM), the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), the
People's Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), and the Laban ng Masa (The
Masses' Fight) commemorated Labor Day by staging the first big rally
after the Supreme Court junking of the calibrated preemptive response
policy.
President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo imposed the CPR policy in September last year amid
broad protest actions against her continued stay in office. The CPR
policy, among others, brought about the banning of rallies at the foot
of the Don Chino Roces Bridge (formerly the Mendiola Bridge) a few
meters from the presidential palace, and consequently the violent
dispersals of mass actions that attempted to defy the ban.
The ralliers from
the KMU reiterated the call for a P125 across-the-board, nationwide
increase in the daily minimum wage,which the said labor federation has
been campaigning for this since 1999. The daily cost of living has
increased nationwide by more than P125 since then but the demand remains
unheeded.
Meanwhile,
public-sector workers belonging to the Confederation for the Unity,
Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) expressed
their also long-standing demand for a P3,000 across-the-board,
nationwide increase in monthly salaries.
“Our loved ones do
have not enough to feed their families,” Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep.
Crispin Beltran, who is also KMU chairman emeritus, said in a taped
message sent from detention.
“And if our loved
ones get sick, we suffer even more,” Beltran added. “We cannot afford to
buy medicine because these cost 25 times more, when compared to other
countries such as India.”
Speakers from other
sectoral groups assailed the violent demolitions of urban poor
communities, the skyrocketing prices of prime goods and commodities,
charter change, and the curtailment of labor rights and civil liberties.
They also reiterated the call for Arroyo's ouster.
The ralliers,
numbering around 20,000 had converged at the Liwasang Bonifacio from
various assembly points in Manila and held a three-hour program. Another
group of workers led by the Alliance of Progressive Labor and the
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, numbering around 5,000 also held
program at the other end of Liwasang Bonifacio. Both groups then tried
to march to Don Chino Roces Bridge but were stopped by police at the
corner of C.M. Recto Avenue and Nicanor Reyes Street, where they were
allowed to hold a brief program, one after another, before dispersing
peacefully. Bulatlat
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