PHILIPPINES "people are going hungry" THE MAY 1 Movement (Kilusang Mayo Uno, KMU) is the principal "class struggle" trade-union confederation of the Philippines. (1) At the time of its inception in 1980 it counted 50,000 supporters. In 1985, it was claiming 500,000 and in 1986 the number is estimated at more than 600,000 (this later figure is cited by Far Eastern Economic Review, August 28, 1986). The National Federation of Sugar Workers - Food and General Trades (NFSW-FGT), of which the island of Negros is one of the bastions, is affiliated to the KMU.
Below, we are publishing substantial extracts from an interview given to Russell Johnson by Bob Ortaliz, who is both president of the NFSW-FGT and general secretary of the KMU. The interview first appeared in the weekly paper Militant, published in New York distribution of farm lots to help feed under-employed sugar workers?
A. There has been so much infusion of economic help — foreign and local - for Negros in particular that the tendency of the government has been to cooperate with the NFSW on this project. Even one of the ministers of the Canadian government came to see us.
However, the acquisition of land for the cooperative farm lots of the sugar workers is still meeting difficulties. While we are recommending giving the workers sequestered and even foreclosed lands free, this seems to be disputed by the planters' groups and even the government.
The opening of the sugar milling season, if there will be one this year, is still November.
So while there is this debate on how these cooperative farm lots will be undertaken, people are going hungry.
Q. Have there been any recent attacks on NFSW organizers?
A. Yes. In fact the recent repression was in response to the NFSW filing cases about the salvaging in Kabankalan last January. (4) The witnesses of the salvaging, torture, and killing of the three organizers are now hiding in fear because they have been harassed. In fact, the major witness was shot down next to the NFSW office in Bacolod by the police involved in the salvaging. Fortunately he was not killed.
1. See interview with Rolando Olalia, president of the KMU, in International Viewpoint' No. 68, January 28, 1985.
I philippines UP, denized f The Trade Union Congress the Marcos regime in 1975, under martial law. In 1985 it claimed 1,200,000 members. A member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions - like the AFL-CIO in the United States - the TUCP has been compromised by its collaboration with the regime over a decade.
On July 6, 1986, in the course of a gathering of Marcos loyalists, Arturo Tolentino, Marcos' vice-presidential candidate in the 1986 elections, proclaimed himself "interim" president while awaiting the return of the dictator. Supporters of Marcos and Tolentino still claim, in fact, that they won the elections, in spite of evidence of massive fraud.
Backed by a certain number of officers in the Philippine army (including four generals) and several hundred soldiers, Tolentino began to announce the names of his "government". This "opperetta" coup d'etat only lasted 40 hours. In the absence of Cory Aquino who was visiting the provinces, Juan Ponce Enrile - minister of defence — secured the surrender of the rebels without bloodshed. But what was remarked above all by the Philippine left was the indulgence accorded to Tolentino and his supporters and the complicity which they enjoyed among the armed forces. In this context the ambiguous role of Enrile himself was underlined.
4. Originating from American army slang, and adopted by Philippine soldiers, the term "salvaging" is used to mean "to disappear". It refers to the "disappearance" of trade union or left-wing activists who are kidnapped by the forces of order and whose bodies are found later, often carrying marks of torture. International Viewpoint 13 October 1986 by the Socialist Workers Party, an Fourth International.
Question. How is the labor movement responding to the opening provided by the ousting of Marcos?
Answer. As a result of the new situation the progressive bloc of the labor movement is now uniting into one big center called the Labor Advisory and Consultative Council (LACC). As agreed upon between this group and the minister of labor, the group will be the consultative body for major labor issues. So we are now establishing the basis for unity of the participants of LACC.
Q. What unions does that incorporate?
A. In the LACC are the KMU, the Federation of Free Workers, World Federation of Trade Unions affiliates, and independent unions.
Q. Except for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines?
A. At the first meeting the TUCP was there, but eventually it distanced itself from the LACC because its secretary-general, Herrera, said that the TUCP and the KMU could never unite for ideological reasons. (2) So as of now it is outside the LACC, but still we are trying to draw it into some sort of unity, even if it is just establishing the basis for cooperation in the labor movement.
We have had several meetings with the government already, and even during the first tripartite meeting 10 organization in solidarity with the called by the government between labor, employers and government, it was LACC that participated.
We are envisaging eventually making the LACC a trade union center because we think that the trends going on now - the Manila Hotel fiasco and the ongoing destabilization done by the [Marcos] loyalists and the militarists - have made the political situation so volatile that a coup d'etat is possible. (3)
Because of this we want unity in the labor movement, so that it, as a sector, will help to protect the democratic gains we have won since the so-called people's uprising.
Q. To turn to the situation of the sugar workers in Negros. The press has been reporting renewed military operations on Negros island. What is the situation there?
A. Actually the militarization is not only in the south as reported by the press. Recently, in central Negros very near the city of Bacolod, people were harassed because the sugar planters had asked for military protection.
In response to this military campaign, peasants went to Bacolod and had a campaign in the provincial capital. They requested the governor to take the military out of the area. This camp-in is still going on.
Q. What progress has been made in the NFSW's campaign for the