They use a pen, a guitar, and their voices to let the people and the government recognize their cries. These people inspired other workers through their songs. Their songs emphasize the situation and plea of Filipino workers.
BY JOSETTE EMILY DE JESUS
CULTURE
Bulatlat
They use a pen, a guitar, and their voices to let the people and the government recognize their cries. These people inspired other workers through their songs. Their songs emphasize the situation and plea of Filipino workers.
Kulturang Organisado Teatro sa EMI, otherwise known as KOTSE, is a small group of workers in EMI Yazaki, a car manufacturing company located at Barangay (village) Anabu, Imus, Cavite. The group, consisting of 11 members, was formed on April 1, 2008. They persuaded other workers of EMI Yazaki to join the group, to be active in voicing out their cries in the form of songs to the people and to the government.
Personal experiences
Some of the members of the group have personal experiences with the government’s maltreatment and violence. Bernard Florino, the chairperson of the group and a union member shared that some of their friends were killed by the abusive government for fighting for their rights.
They also experienced having water cannons used on them on March 12, 2008 at Trece Martires City, Cavite. According to Lord Dennis Pascual, a member of the group, it was two days after the death of their leader, Gerry Cristobal, when they went along with other workers from Cavite to stage a protest action. They were hosed down with a water cannon and were driven from one place to another in order to prevent them from reaching the provincial capitol.
“Sila (gobyerno,) nagpapasasa lang sa mga buwis na binibigay namin sa kanila bilang mga manggagawa. Sila lang y’ung nakikinabang tapos sila pa y’ung may gana manakit ng mga empleyado, sa mga manggagawa na hindi naman dapat” (They merely live on the taxes we pay them as workers. They benefit from us and yet they have the gall to hurt us employees and workers.), Florino narrated.
Songs of workers’ lives
The songs of the group came from friends who want to relay their message to the Filipino people. Renato Perez, one of the members of KOTSE, told Bulatlat that their songs are reflections of their experiences as workers.
