When I asked Sison about the present state of his trials, he explained, "We play for time, so that some day Marcos will weaken and so that the commission will not have a chance to convict us. If we were to be convicted, it would be quite a scandal, because China would be implicated. This would embarrass Marcos because the Philippines depends on China for 20 percent of its crude oil and also for rice imports."
Intercontinental Press November 12, 1984 with an invasion?
Interview with a leader of a small country," re-
"If the 52 million people the independent trade union movement here decided to change the entire system,
I think the United States would have difficulty in overthrowing
Attorney Rolando Olalia is the chairperson of the May First Movement
(KMU), an independent coalition of 12 labor federations and more than
"Because of the outrageous abuses of
100 individual unions. He also heads one of its component federations, the Marcos dictatorship, the long hoped the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU), and the National for united front has come about. Even
Coalition of Workers Against Poverty (PKMK).
within the military clique itself there is
Olalia is the son of the founder and former chairperson of the KMU, disunity. There is a scrambling for for-
Felixberto Olalia, who died in December 1983 after his health had been eign exchange. Export earnings and forseriously undermined by nine months in detention.
eign loans are dwindling.
States wouldn't be able to intervene. It is a declining power as the battle in Central America has shown.
"The fighting in Central America is a prologue to a bigger revolutionary upheaval in the whole of Latin America.
candidates for this revolutionary upheaval - Brazil, Chile,
The Americans learned a lesson from
Vietnam. It would be quite a change of policy for the United States to send troops overseas again," he stated in answer to a question about the possibility
International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
Question. How was the KMU formed?
The KMU was officially organized on May 1, 1980. It started with about 100,000 members. It now includes around 400,000 to 500,000 workers from the garment, textile, mining, steel food and hotel industries. Its organizations extend all over the Philippines.
Can you function quite openly? Definitely yes, because it is a legal Although the military of course claims it is a front of the CPP
[Communist Party of the Philippines] and the NPA [New People's Army] or that it is a "subversive" organization.
It was because of the continuing rethe trade-union movement that the KMU was organized.
pression started with the declaration of martial law in September 1972.
How strong is the trade-union movement today?
A. At present there are only two trade-union centers in the Philippines
15
There is the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), which is recognized by the government, and the KMU.
The TUCP is controlled by the government. It has about 600,000 members. We admit that the TUCP is bigger than the KMU. But in terms of sympathizers, the KMU is much bigger, because it is supported by all sectors. The TUCP is a company union. Practically all its officers are government officials.
Q. What are wages and work conditions like in the Philippines?
A. The minimum wage is 35 pesos a day. There is an emergency cost-of-living allowance of 14 pesos, which brings the wages to 49 pesos. Workers outside of Manila receive less. These wages are below the poverty level.
The rate of inflation is about 50 percent per year. This makes the ordinary factory worker even more impoverished. Even the government statistics indicate an ordinary worker needs 75 pesos a day to support a family of three.
Q. What is behind the struggle of the Artex textile workers, who have been on strike since April?
A. The reason the Artex workers went on strike was that the company did not want to comply with labor standards concerning the minimum wage law. In fact the Artex workers are receiving only 23 pesos a day, including the allowances. You can imagine, if 49 pesos a day is below the poverty level and you can hardly exist, how much worse it is on a wage of 23 pesos.
Of course the owner of Artex and his brother are very close to Marcos. When I met with the minister of labor, I asked him why the government can't enforce its own labor laws.
The primary reason there are strikes in the Philippines is that there are violations of the labor laws on minimum wages and allowances and so on.
tem where the landlord controls the movement of the workers. The sugar can't protest, because most of the sugar owners in the south have their
Imelda [Marcos, the wife of the president], comes from a wealthy the sugar workers' union is very militant.
Q. How many trade unionists are presently in jail?
A. There are presently five KMU leaders still under detention from the six who were arrested on July 22 this year. Then there are a number of others who have been detained since the crackdown
August 1982 when my father was
Crispin Beltran [secretarygeneral of the KMU] was arrested at this
They were charged with subversion and economic sabotage.
The minister of labor, Blas Ople, has endorsed the temporary release of Beltran. But Melacanang [Marcos' palace] refused. Under the Preventative Detention Act you can be arrested at any time, without any evidence against you.
you cannot be released until the president orders it. Beltran is a victim of this procedure.
What are the main demands of the union movement today?
The major demands are the scrapping or repeal of several repressive laws and executive orders.
"New Strike Law" enacted in 1981 restricts the right to strike. Management is given the power to lock out or dismiss workers; the president or labor minister can assume control over any dispute; strikes "adversely affecting the national interest" are banned; strikes must for by two-thirds majority; union officers or members can be dismissed for participating in an "illegal" strike;
The "Anti-scab and Peaceful Picketing Law" of 1981 allows the ingress and egress of nonstriking workers. Two other laws prohibit strikes in the export-oriented industries. This is perfect protection for the foreign investors, particularly in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Strikes are prohibited there, but there have been strikes because the people are so oppressed and exploited by the multinational corporations. They call the EPZs the "concentration camps of cheap labor."
Q. Are unions banned in these EPZs?
A. No, they are not banned, but they are banned from striking. Nevertheless we have had three general strikes in the EPZ in Bataan. The first was in June 1982 and was one of the reasons for the arrest of my father and the others. The issues of this strike were low wages, the dismissal of union officials, and union-busting tactics of the management. It lasted for three days.
Q. The comparison has been made between Nicaragua before the fall of Somoza and the Philippines today. Do you think this is accurate?
A. It is accurate because Somoza, the shah of Iran and Marcos are all the same. The political repression, the salvaging of people, the arrest and detention of people for no reason whatsoever, the government's cronies flourishing in business - there are many similarities.
The primary comparison is the support of the US to Marcos and the others.
Q. What message do you have to the workers of countries that have big investments in the Philippines?
A. Our message is to forge stronger solidarity and to counteract and fight any repressive intentions of the multinational companies in exploiting and oppressing the workers of the world.
Intercontinental Press November 26, 1984
Aquino's widow speaks at an anti-Marcos rally (DR)
Q. Does the KMU organize agricultural workers?
A. The biggest organization of sugar workers in the south, the National Federation of Sugar Workers, is an affiliate of KMU. Its membership is about 120,000. The sugar workers are among the most oppressed and exploited.
Q. I understand machinery is being introduced from Australia that will eliminate thousands of jobs.
A. This is true. It will increase unemployment. Mechanization may mean up to 50 percent of the workers, maybe 100,000, will be permanently laid off.
The Philippines cannot solve unemployment because it has no industrialization program. It is concentrating on agribusiness, which is controlled by Marcos' cronies.
The sugar workers' wages are below the minimum wage. The working conditions are those typical of the feudal sys16
28 January 1984
International Viewpoint
the NPA, he said, he was hit with a rifle butt. He was held by the army for sev-
"We're afraid of the military, eral days.
"We provide but not the NPA," he said.
them with food if we can.
But we don't