NEWS AT A GLANCE

Protest prompts release of ‘illegally’ detained strikers

Eighteen workers of the Soutech Development Corporation (SDC), who were arrested after the police broke their picket line last June 3,  were released from the Sta. Rosa Police headquarters after spending a night in jail.  Their co-workers held a vigil outside the station prompting the police to release the detained workers.  

The Soutech Development Corporation, an automotive parts factory owned by Mr. Ricardo Lu, was hit by a strike last May 22.  Workers under the Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Soutech, an affiliate of Organized Labor Association in Line Industries and Agriculture-Kilusang Mayo Uno (PMS-Olalia-KMU), went on strike to fight for the regularization of contractual workers, recognition of their union, and the reinstatement of  12 dismissed workers. According to PMS-Olalia-KMU, SDC had been hiring workers through labor-only-contracting.  Thus, workers who have been in the company for 5 to 8 years remain as contractuals.

PMS-Olalia President Elpidio Reponcio said 50 elements from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Sta. Rosa and PNP Regional Special Action Force (RSAF) with FSR security guards dispersed the strikers and dismantled their picket line at SDC. The union claimed that 50 workers were injured after they were hit with M-16 and M-14 rifles during the dispersal operations.  A certain Chief Supt. Sanque of the PNP and a certain Capt. Quiñones of the RSAF led the dispersal operations. The FSR security agency is owned by the vice mayor of Sta Rosa, Laguna.

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GMA can surely win but without a real mandate from the people - PCPR

“Unlike Senator-elect Mar Roxas who gained the highest votes in the senatorial race, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may soon be declared as winner in the presidential race BUT WITHOUT A REAL MANDATE FROM THE FILIPINO PEOPLE.”

In its May 30 statement, the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) criticized officials of the Arroyo administration, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for accusing, without basis, anti-fraud groups as “destabilizers” in order to “to  suppress legitimate protests against the fraudulent elections and to cover up their accountability in the massive misuse of government resources and machinery to secure GMA’s victory.

PCPR further criticized AFP and PNP intelligence officials for labeling the Philippine Church People’s Response and church institutions like the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) as communist fronts. According to PCPR, these churches were accused because they have been consistent in denouncing corruption, fraud and a host of unjust policies and programs of the government.

PCPR said it would be easy for the president to make a grab for the highest public office with the help of various government resources and the Pidal account allegedly belonging to his husband. The group however warned that “righteous outrage of the people will protest the massive plunder of the nation’s coffers by those in power.”

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EO seeks to reverse the culture being encouraged

In its June 3 statement, the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) described President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's issuance of Executive Order 314 as a reflection of her “ignorance of culture including values.”

Issued last April 30, Executive Order No. 314, creating the Presidential Commission on Values Formation, states that there should be an "intensified drive against graft and corruption, patronage politics, apathy, passivity, mendicancy, factionalism and lack of patriotism."

“Culture emanates from the dynamics of political, economic and social conditions,” CAP’s statement said. “When anti-imperialists are called terrorists, when profit and capital are given more importance than decent means of living, when funds for social services are slashed to boost military spending, when foreign investments are the priority instead of biodiversity, when History becomes secondary to school subjects that promote skills marketable abroad, and when dissenters are called "agents of anarchy," the culture that is encouraged is what EO 314 seeks to reverse.“

It was issued supposedly to establish "a strong foundation for moral value[s] formation in the government bureaucracy" but according to CAP, it, in fact, “contradicts the administration's disposition.”

Bulatlat.com

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