People’s SONA staged successfully

MEDIA RELEASE

July 28, 2009

Davao City – With around 30,000 people coming from various parts of Southern Mindanao, the nationwide protest against Gloria Arroyo’s SONA yesterday (July 27) headed by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and People’s March was indeed historic and a first in Davao City.

“There is more that could be learned and realized with the people’s overwhelming response to our call for a unity against Gloria Arroyo and her morally bankrupt regime. What was significant and undeniable with the turnout of the mobilization yesterday is the fact that the people are now conscious of their situation and are ready to oppose the exploitations inflicted against them by the Arroyo administration,”
Bayan-SMR spokesperson John Birondo said.

“What could have been a missed opportunity for those who failed to experience a truthful event yesterday will surely make them want to know more of the people’s genuine and most popular opinion than the bragging and self-defense mechanisms of Gloria Arroyo against her critics during her SONA,” Birondo added.

“There is nothing more realistic than what the people think about Gloria Arroyo’s performance in her nine years of sham, corrupt, and fascist presidency. Economic and social injustices are evident with majority of the Filipino people living below poverty line and with very little opportunities to earn for a living,” Birondo lamented.

“What were bragged mostly by Gloria Arroyo in her SONA were temporary and very insignificant resolutions she has done like the P500 economic subsidy for every poor Filipino family. An amount that is way insufficient for a day’s need of a family with a minimum of four members,” Birondo stressed.

“Infrastructure is not a gauge of genuine development. A simple, non-complicated, and very layman manifestation of poverty are the families living in urban communities whom the Arroyo government labels and treats as squatters,” Birondo said.

“It is neither difficult to understand the kind of jobs being provided by the Arroyo administration. Mostly on contractual basis, nothing is stable and sustaining. Jobs created through Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) like call centers are also vulnerable to retrenchments with the global financial crisis still looming and is expected to worsen in the coming months,” Birondo added.

“If we only try to analyze deeply our country’s situation, and with bias to what is only true, our everyday struggles and encounters with other people will make us more critical, honest, and factual,” Birondo said.

“It is a challenge for all of us to be sincere in our efforts to know the truths and make use of these truths to influence genuine societal changes. The people are just there, waiting for us to ask them about their real opinions and aspirations,” Birondo added.

The People’s State of the Nation Address

UNITY STATEMENT

July 27, 2009

Gloria Arroyo’s nine years in Malacañang gave the worse in every aspect of the Filipino people’s existence. With a sham, fascist, and corrupt president in control of the country’s economic and political affairs, the worse has nailed every Filipino family to extreme sufferings. Gloria Arroyo’s mantra “BEAT THE ODD” literally speaks for how she should be treated. She is the ODDEST that ever happened to our country and she must be BEATEN at all cost… Now or Never!

Gloria Arroyo’s 9^th SONA is expected to pronounce the accomplishments of her “BEAT THE ODD” program which she said has focused on fighting poverty through: Balanced Budget, Education for All, Automated Elections, Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Terminate Hostilities, Healing the Wounds of EDSA 1, 2, and 3, Electricity and Water for All Barangays, Opportunities to Create 6 to 10 Million Jobs, Decongesting Metro Manila, and Develop Subic and Clark.

A well-formulated acronym indeed, Gloria Arroyo’s “BEAT THE ODD” program was a perfect gimmickry – a skill she has harnessed over the years. However, reality will speak for what is obvious. Gloria Arroyo’s nine years of sham presidency can be summed-up to one hard truth, a Filipino nation reeling in deep and permanent CRISIS.

How possible was it for Gloria Arroyo and her morally bankrupt administration to claim any accomplishment amid facts of massive corruption, apparent deceits, gross human rights violations, dereliction of the people’s right to decent and stable jobs, and rejection of the people’s access to basic social services?

Gloria Arroyo’s record-breaking performance reveals today’s 27.6 million number of Filipinos that are officially considered poor from 23.8 million in 2003. There are 15.6 million of Filipino workers officially considered as jobless & underemployed as of the latest count, while those that are employed are receiving a meager minimum wage of P265 in Mindanao alone.

Effective rate of Meralco per kilowatt-hour is now P8..81 from P5.13 in 2001. Retail price of LPG per 11-kg tank which was P192 in 2001 is now P605. Pump price of diesel is currently at P33.29 per liter from as low as P12.62 per liter in 2001. Retail price of regular-milled rice which was P17.51 per kilo in 2001 is now P30 per kilo. Water in Manila as a basis is now P23.05 per cubic meter from P17.51 in 2001. Tuition fee in Davao City alone is now P302.50 per unit at the minimum from P170 per unit in 2001.

To top it all, Gloria Arroyo’s declared net worth of P66.75 million in 2001 has soared to P144.54 million as of 2008. This is to exclude the money and properties she has amassed out of corruption. To note, an estimated P17 billion was corrupted by Gloria Arroyo and her family from the ZTE-NBN project, fertilizer funds, and others more.

The infrastructure projects which Gloria Arroyo claims to have been completed under her term were either tainted with anomalous transactions or have actually been the number one source corruption. More so that the construction of farm to market roads are irrelevant for majority of the Filipino farmers who, to begin with, are incapable of sustaining their productions due to the high cost of farm inputs and stiff competition in the market brought by the influx of imported agricultural goods. Realistically, these infrastructure projects are meant to back multinational and transnational investments in the country.

Urban communities have become more congested over the years due to lack of livelihood opportunities in the countryside. Majority of the people are forced to seek for greener pasture in the cities making life more difficult for each to survive. While this problem exists, the Arroyo administration has instead intensified the demolitions of urban communities and continues to ignore the people’s need for employment and affordable housing services.

Hostilities remain uncontained and are intensifying with the rebellion waged by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines. Not even Gloria Arroyo’s pronouncement of beating rebellion by 2010 has resulted to anything realistic. Worst, incidents of political killings and other human rights violations have intensified, victimizing thousands of innocent civilians as results of the Arroyo regimes implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya. To date, there are 1,015 victims of political killings nationwide since 2001 where 105 are from the Southern Mindanao Region. Moreover, militarization in the countryside continues to sow terror and displace the farmers and Indigenous Peoples.

Gloria Arroyo was never sincere in mending the wounds that continue to divide the Filipino people. HHHer latest manipulation of charter change is pushing more oppositions and divisions. Unity is impossible with Gloria Arroyo becoming more persistent to perpetuate herself in power at the expense of the nation’s sovereignty and genuine democracy.

Thus, we say:

ENOUGH OF GLORIA ARROYO!

NO TO CHARTER CHANGE!

NO TO NOGRALES’ HR 737!

NO TO US PLUNDER OF OUR NATIONAL PATRIMONY AND SOVEREIGNTY!

OUST GLORIA!

JOHN BIRONDO

Spokesperson- Bayan-SMR

BP. CONSTANTE CLARO

ConvenorPEOPLE’S MARCH

Davao City

Bayan urges Dabawenyos to go out and protest Gloria Arroyo’s SONA

MEDIA RELEASE

July 24, 2009

Davao City – Bayan urged here today in a protest rally in front of Nograles’ office the people of Davao City to go out and show their opposition to Gloria Arroyo and her highly anticipated theatrical State of the Nation Address (SONA) this coming July 27.

“There is nothing significant to what Gloria Arroyo will say in her SONA as her nine years of sham presidency will speak for the failures of her administration to address and resolve the poor state of the nation. It is not enough that we just stay at home and witness Arroyo’s SONA through our televisions and radios as what is needed of us now is our active opposition,” Bayan-SMR spokesperson John Birondo urged.

“It’s a shame for anyone in the Arroyo administration to brag about their sham president and her accomplishments knowing that they themselves knew of the people’s worse situation. It is high time that we all show our dissent against the exploitations we have been suffering all our lives and act among ourselves the genuine societal changes we direly aim for,” Birondo said.

“We can not afford to be very complacent and be caught unprepared when the worse of the Arroyo administration reveals its real intention of keeping Gloria Arroyo in power by all means. Time and again, we warn our people about the possibility of Arroyo making use of the SONA to manipulate the realization of charter change through ConAss, worse, her declaration of martial law,” Birondo added.

Bayan also hit Prospero Nograles for conspiring with Gloria Arroyo’s plot to pursue charter change and allow, through his self-authored HR 737, foreign plunder of the nation’s patrimony and sovereignty.

“It is sheer arrogance for the speaker of the House to act as if he has the confidence and vindication of the people of Davao to represent the concerns of the city. The forums we are conducting in the city’s various communities reveal the people’s strong opposition to charter change contrary to the projections being made by Boy Nograles,” Birondo stressed.

“We disown Boy Nograles as our House representative as he has never represented the real demands of his co-Dabawenyos. We only want to remind that Boy Nograles was among the congressmen who rejected the passage of House Bill 345 which was supposed to benefit the workers with P125 across-the-board wage increase,” Birondo said.

“Like his superior, the corrupt and anti-people Gloria Arroyo, Boy Nograles should be condemned and be disallowed from holding any public office. His posturing now manifest the worse he can be in the future,” Birondo added.

Bayan ensures big mobilization to counter Arroyo’s SONA

MEDIA STATEMENT

July 21, 2009

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan ensures Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of a mobilization that will reveal the real state of the nation as against her usual untruthful statements. This year’s SONA of Gloria Arroyo is the most crucial one knowing the possibility of her declaration that will either enforce martial law or will pave the way for the Congress to convene in a “Senate-less” constituent assembly and discuss and approve their amendments to the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

In any ways that Gloria Arroyo will try to push her filthy agenda, we are making sure that we have the people with us to oppose and deny her plans. What seems to be unusual with the rigid gearing-up of the Philippine National Police for this year’s SONA, as compared to the previous ones, is their anticipation of a strong opposition from the people. Whatever it is that they think will ignite the people’s resistance, we will ensure readiness among our ranks and be as peaceful as we have always been.

Our community forums in the city’s various barangays are successful in giving education about the real situation of our country amid the worsening global financial crisis and the looming effects of charter change to our sovereignty and patrimony. The people’s responses are overwhelming and we believe that their participation to our mobilization this coming July 27 is a result of their consciousness and willingness to be active against the manipulations of the Arroyo administration.

The Filipino people have expressed enough of their dissents against Gloria Arroyo’s corrupt, sham, and fascist regime. Apparently, Gloria Arroyo is too shameless and uncaring to realize that she has never won the people’s confidence and sympathy since the time she rigged the 2004 presidential election and be seated as a sham president of the country.

Gloria Arroyo has gone further with her sins after she initiated anomalous transactions and conspired with her allies in corrupting the people’s money. This is to remind us all of Gloria Arroyo and her family’s involvement to NBN-ZTE deal scandal, the P728 million fertilizer fund scam, and many others. Gloria Arroyo has also caused gross human rights violations and senseless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians through her implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya.

Gloria Arroyo has blatantly neglected the people’s economic rights by ignoring their needs for stable and decent jobs, lands, food, shelter, and access to basic social services. These are more than enough reasons for the Filipino people to ensure the end of Gloria Arroyo’s anti-people regime. There is no way that we will allow her manipulations to stay in power and be granted the immunity from any lawsuit.

Gloria Arroyo deserves nothing less than ouster. We need to stop and kick her out from Malacañang before her evil works succeed in exploiting more the Filipino people and our nation.

No to Charter Change!

Never Again to Martial Law!

Oust Gloria!

Mobilization is set on SONA day despite holiday declaration

PRESS RELEASE

July 20, 2009

Davao City – Bagong Alyansang Makabayan announced today that the big mobilization next Monday (July 27) will push through despite a special working holiday declaration by the Palace on Gloria Arroyo’s 9^th State of the Nation Address.

The Palace declared July 27, as a special working holiday for the founding anniversary of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

“The declaration will not affect the preparation of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan for the big protest action this July 27. Build-up activities are also set this week,” said John Birondo, spokesperson of Bayan-Southern Mindanao.

Bayan is expecting for a bigger mobilization this year than the previous SONAs.

“This is Arroyo’s last SONA. It will all be the same SONA speech showcasing deceitful figures and sheer lies but at the same time we see the desperate moves of Malacañang to stay in power with the moves to amend the charter. We have to show our numbers,” Birondo said.

“This administration is desperately trying to quell the coming public outrage come July 27. We have heard of the planned emergency rule and even the red alert status of the security forces to last until SONA. But still, the people’s wrath will prevail,” Birondo said

“We enjoin everyone to join the protest action this coming SONA. Let us show our disgust over this regime that will be leaving us with the most unbearable legacy of corruption, human rights abuses and economic degradation,” he said. #

Bayan condemns bombings, warns reinforcement of martial law

Media Release

July 10, 2009

Davao City- Bayan condemned here today in a picket rally the recent bombing incidents in Mindanao that grisly took the lives of innocent civilians and have worsened the instabilities in the country’s present political and economic conditions.

“One lesson we should not forget about the circumstances that justified the declaration of martial law by the dethroned Marcos regime was the ploy of social unrest and the consequent military take-over and supremacy,” Bayan spokesperson John Birondo said.

“The theories and justifications of the military linking the recent bombings to terrorism sound so cliché and unbelievable. It is so irreconcilable that the military has not preempted the bombings when all these times, they claim they knew of the plans through intelligence reports,” Birondo added.

Birondo added “the military was very quick to point with certainties at the MILF and the Abu Sayaff group as the ones instigating the bombings in Mindanao, yet, they can not explain how the bombings happened beyond their control.”

“Whichever angle the military will try to situate the bombings, the people’s utmost vigilance is needed to impede any attempt that will take advantage of the situation and cause the reinstatement of martial law,” Birondo warned.

“It is not coincidence that the bombings are happening with the coming of Gloria Arroyo’s SONA three week s from now. Time and opportunities are slithering from Gloria’s hand as nothing is working to ensure her continued stint in Malacañang,” Birondo said.

“Martial law is Gloria Arroyo’s remaining hope to stay in power. The people’s movements against her sham presidency are too strong for her to contain and stop,” Birondo stressed.

Bayan recalled the aftermaths of the martial Law declaration in June 21, 1972 where opposition figures, including Benigno Aquino, journalists, and student and labor activists were arrested. A total of about 30,000 detainees were kept at military compounds run by the army and the Philippine Constabulary.

Bayan added “the assassination plot of then Minster of National defense Juan Ponce Enrile which precipitated Proclamation 1081- Marcos’ proclamation of Martial– was learned to be a ploy admitted by Enrile himself after the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986.

“The statement of whistleblower Vidal Doble involving the military to the bombings in the country is too serious to be treated unaddressed and uninvestigated,” Birondo added.

“There are many lessons in the past and in the present times that are enough to teach us of the actions we should be making now. A radical opposition against Martial Law is a must for us Filipinos to take-on. Let us fight now before our actions become irrelevant and toothless against Martial Law,” Birondo said.

Bayan warns US meddling in 2010 elections dubious

MEDIA RELEASE

July 6, 2009



Davao City – Bayan warned here today that the expression of possible interference of the US government in the 2010 national elections will dangerously lead to more interventions of the country’s economic and political affairs.



“The statement issued by US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney expressing the need to pursue the 2010 national elections was not a simple gesture of concern. There is a need for the US to ensure the elections in 2010 for its agenda of having charter change to also push through,” Bayan spokesperson John Birondo said.



“The mounting protests against Gloria Arroyo’s Con-Ass and Cha-Cha have caused huge damage in the credibility of charter change in general. Issues of term extension for Gloria Arroyo and her cabals did not help in building the people’s confidence over the initiatives for charter change,” Birondo added.



“We see now a shift in the efforts of the Arroyo administration to continue with cha-cha as dictated by US. The 2010 national elections will pursue as other details of ensuring Gloria Arroyo’s top post as prime minister will come after the form of government is changed to parliamentary from the current presidential system,” Birondo warned.



“In anyways the whole thing will happen, Gloria Arroyo will surely benefit from Cha-Cha,” Birondo said.



Bayan reiterated that the declaration of national patrimony and sovereignty in the 1987 Philippine Constitution is a barrier to the full operations of foreign investments in the country. It limits the implementation of policies brought by the concepts and practices of globalization such as the Mining Act of 1995.



“The US economy trampled under recession has aggressively pushed the US government to find viable options for its survival. It is in this aspect that the Philippines’ semi-feudal and semi-colonial characteristic is sustaining the need of the US and other capitalist countries for cheap labor and raw materials and a market for its surplus products,” Birondo explained.



Bayan added that the denationalization, liberalization, privatization, and deregulation policies of globalization have annihilated the role of the government in decision makings involving local investments, taxation, employment, prices of basic commodities and services, food security, public utilities, and land use.



“The root cause of social and economic disorders in the country is systemic. The crisis that has permanently caused poverty and exploitation of the Filipino people for more than a century now can only be defeated through the people’s movements,” Briondo said.



“In any way or form, a US dictated charter change will further neglect and abuse the people’s civil and economic rights,” Birondo added.