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Vol. VI, No. 13      May 7-13, 2006      Quezon City, Philippines

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PHOTO ESSAY

Face-off after 1017

This year’s Labor Day rally in Manila was the first big demonstration since the Supreme Court declared the dispersals of mass actions under Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 as unconstitutional. As if to underscore the intensity of the economic crisis at present, the May 1 activity was not for workers alone. Other sectors went there to show how they are affected by the most pressing concerns affecting workers.

PHOTOS BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
TEXT BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO

Bulatlat

This year’s Labor Day rally in Manila was the first big demonstration since the Supreme Court declared the dispersals of mass actions under Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 as unconstitutional.

As if to underscore the intensity of the economic crisis at present, the May 1 activity was not for workers alone. Other sectors went there to show how they are affected by the most pressing concerns affecting workers.

From the youth sector, recent college graduates showed up to tell of how threatened they are by the prospect of unemployment. Migrante International decried government’s practice of resorting to labor export instead of job generation as the means of addressing the unemployment problem. There were also labor leaders from other countries – many of whom are here for the International Labor Solidarity Mission (ILSM) – who came to protest the killings of Filipino union leaders.

Of course, the workers’ children would not let themselves be beaten in the “game,” and also went there to join in their parents’ long-standing call for a legislated P125 across-the-board, nationwide wage increase. Organized labor has been pushing for the P125 wage increase since 1999, and workers need it now infinitely more than they did seven years ago.

But the rally was not for wages alone. The ralliers also took potshots at the government campaign to revise the Constitution through so-called “people’s initiative,” as well as the illegal detention of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran.

Cultural groups were also there, to keep the ralliers’ spirits high amid the excruciating heat that threatened to dry up even the sweat from their foreheads.

The ralliers were also treated to speeches from a number of famous personalities. These included the new idol Maria Theresa Pangilinan, who only a few weeks before had created a stir by heckling President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the graduation rites of her alma mater, the Cavite State University (CvSU). Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. was also there.

The ralliers converged at the Liwasang Bonifacio from various assembly points in Manila, where they held a three-hour program.

After that, they tried to march to the foot of the Don Chino Roces Bridge (formerly the Mendiola Bridge), a few meters from the presidential palace, but were stopped by anti-riot police at the corner of C.M. Recto Avenue and Nicanor Reyes Street. They engaged the police in a brief face-off before being allowed to hold a short program there.

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