Pingkian Volume 1 Number 2 2013

Volume 1 Number 2 | January 2013

Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) and Commission on Concern 11: Rights of Teachers, Researchers and Other Education Personnel, International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS)

PINGKIAN Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-imperialist Education Volume 1 Number 2 ISSN-2244-3142 CopyrightŠ 2013 CONTEND and ILPS All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations for the purpose of research or private study, or criticism or review, without permission of the publisher.

Editors Gonzalo Campoamor II (University of the Philippines) Peter Chua (San Jose State University, USA) Gerry Lanuza (University of the Philippines) Roland Tolentino (University of the Philippines) Layout Fred Dabu Cover design Rowena Bayon International Advisory Board Delia Aguilar (University of Connecticut) Joi Barrios (University of California, Berkely) Jonathan Beller (Pratt Institute) Ramon Guillermo (University of the Philippines, Diliman) Caroline Hau (Kyoto University) Bienvenido Lumbera (University of the Philippines, Diliman) Elmer Ordonez Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (University of California, Davis) Epifanio San Juan, Jr. (University of Texas, Austin) Neferti Tadiar (Barnard College) Judy Taguiwalo (University of the Philippines, Diliman) Ed Villegas (University of the Philippines, Manila)

PINGKIAN , e-Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-imperialist Education, is published by the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) and the Commission on Concern 11: Rights of Teachers, Researchers and Other Education Personnel, International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS). Papers submitted for consideration should be sent to the editors at pingkian.journal@yahoo.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1

ANG MGA GAMIT NG TEORYA NG MEDIA AT LIPUNAN, O TEORYA NG KRITIKAL NA BUHAY AT LIPUNAN Rolando B. Tolentino

5

ANG MARXISTANG LAPIT SA ISYU NG KABABAIHAN Judy M. Taguiwalo

11

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

23

#RescuePH or why the class struggle is alive and kicking Sarah Raymundo Kalamidad at Kultura ng Disaster: Pandestrungka sa Kawanggawa at Terorismong Dulot ng Estado Choy Pangilinan

23

27

Neoliberalismo at Pambansang Wikang Filipino Gonzalo Campoamor II

31

Mula Batas Militar hanggang Oplan Bayanihan Rommel B. Rodriguez

47

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC SCHOLARSHIP Philippine NGOs: Defusing Dissent, Spurring Change Sonny Africa INTERVIEWS Charity Di単o: Gurong Makabayan, Bilanggong Politikal Rommel B. Rodriguez Tanikala at Talinhaga: Ang Rebolusyonaryo Bilang Artista at Bilanggong Pulitikal Kerima Tariman and Rommel Rodriguez

49 49

67 67

71

STATEMENTS

75

Teaching Against the Imperialist Pedagogical Regime CONTEND on International Teachers Day

75

Salute the People’s Resistance to Fascist Rule ACT on the 40th Year of Imposition of Martial Law

79

Redeeming the Sufferings from the Terror of Martial Law

By Intensifying People’s Anti-Imperialist and Democraic Struggles CONTEND on the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law Padrino ng Independensiya ng Pilipinas CONTEND and ACT on the 114th Anniversary Of the Declaration of Independence DOCUMENTS Road Map to Public Higher Education Reform 2011-2016 Commission on Higher Education CHED Memorandum Order Number 09 Series of 2012 Guidelines on the Grant and Allocation of the Disbursement Allocation Fund Commission on Higher Education

83

87

89

INTRODUCTION

ANOTHER YEAR OF INTENSE ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE AHEAD The Worsening Crisis of Education Worldwide and the Intensifying Resistance of Anti-Imperialist Educators and Movements

Another year of intense struggle ahead. As the neoliberal and imperialist siege of educational institutions worldwide mounts, radical educators and teachers must close rank with other progressive sectors of society and the world to provide timely analysis of the local and global reach of imperialist assault on educational system. Education today is in a state of permanent crisis as a result of the neoliberal policies that define the orientation of education and its goals. Even students had made their own version of Occupy Movement. Last year, Cooper Union students of New York seized the clock tower atop the school's headquarters and hung a banner urging the administration to keep the school tuitionfree for undergraduates. According to International Student Movement website, “In June 2012 alone, we recorded 45 protests in more than 40 cities in connection with the struggle for free emancipatory education.”

The intensifying commercialization of education worldwide results to rising tuition fees, low salaries of educational workers, the contractualization of teachers and the deterioration of public schools' facilities. As a result of imperialist shrinking of the globe in order to facilitate the flow of capital and labor through superinformation highway and knowledge-based technologies, education today has become more and more enmeshed with the wider crisis of capitalist ideological state apparatuses and repressive machineries. As educators we cannot remain purely ensconced in the world of schools and educational issues no matter how they are relevant to our daily grind as teachers. We must be able to link and frame educational crisis within the wider horizon of the historic crisis of capitalism worldwide and the resurgence of mass movements that seek to end the brutalizing violence of imperialist assault on basic social services and workers' rights.

Hence in this second issue of Pingkian, the contributors address a host of problem that the current historical conjuncture of capitalism breeds. The first article of Roland B. Tolentino elaborates the role of critical media theory to demystify the alienating and reifying power of simulated images spewed in mass media channels under monopoly capitalism. Using the Lacanian theory of the Slovenian Leninist pop intellectual, Slavoj Zizek, Tolentino strongly advocates for a critical media theory that goes beyond superficial criticism of signs. The end of theory is “ang pagpapangalan sa karanasan at sa kinabukasan” [to name the present and the future].

In the second article, Judy M. Taguiwalo provides a much needed analysis and elaboration on the “woman question” in Marxist scholarship. By going to the texts of classical Marxist writers such as Engels, Lenin, Bebel, and Kollontai, Taguiwalo is able to demonstrate the saliency of feminism within classical Marxism. And then she elaborates on the possible dialectical reproachment of class analysis with the “woman question.”

The current issue also includes four original papers delivered during the University of the Philippine Diliman Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy's (UP-CONTEND)

1

Critical Pedagogy Series 2012. The first two papers are Sarah Raymundo's “#Rescue PH or Why the Class Struggle Is Alive And Kicking” and Choy Pangilinan's “Kalamidad at Kultura ng Disaster: Pagdestrungka sa Kawanggawa at Terorismong Dulot ng Estado” [Calamity and Disaster Culture: Uncovering Charity and State Terrorism]. Originally read during the Critical Pedagogy series on capitalism and disaster, Raymundo and Pangilinan effectively demystify the current capitalist discourse on disaster management by highlighting counter-discourse by progressive movements like the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

Capitalist political economy that generates inequalities makes class struggle very relevant in addressing the unequal impact of disaster on the rich and the poor.

In “Neoliberalismo at Pambansang Wikang Filipino (Neoliberalism and Filipino National Language), a paper originally delivered at another critical pedagogy series on language and neoliberalism, Gonzalo A. Campoamor II traces the historical development of Philippine national policy on national language. He frames the issue of national language within the colonial experience of the Filipinos and the continuing impact of imperialism on Philippine economic and educational system.

Following Mao Zedong's dialectical analysis of primary and secondary contradictions, Campoamor suggests that we should veer away from postmodern cultural idealism towards a historical materialist analysis of the role of national language in the development of Philippine nation. He argues, “Huwag nating isiping sa usaping wika nagtatapos ang pakikipagtunggali. Mahalagang pag-usapan ang Filipino (bilang wika at dalumat ng sambayanan) sa labas ng wika. Huwag nating gayahin ang mga postmodernistang tumutugon lamang sa patsi-patsing diskurso (contingencies) at sinusubukang hanapan ng pansamantalang solusyon ang maliliit na suliranin habang lumalayo sa mas malaking problema, at dahil dito'y nalelehitima pa. Ang pangunahing kontradiksiyon sa ating lipunan ay ang pambansang pakikipagtunggali natin sa global na pinansiya na pangunahing kinakatawanan ng neoliberalismo. Kalabanin natin ito. [Let us not think that struggle ends with issues on language. Filipino (as language and as concept of nation) should be discussed outside the framework of language. Let us not follow postmodernists who tackle only contingencies and try to find temporary solutions to small problems while distancing themselves from greater issues, and thus legitimizing the same. It is our national struggle against global finance represented by neoliberalism that is our society's primary contradiction. Let us fight this].”

In the article of “Mula Batas Militar Hanggang Oplan Bayanihan” [From Martial Law to Oplan Bayanihan], a paper delivered on the anniversary of Martial Law, Rommel B. Rodriguez argues that we should not think that the Martial Law is over. The role of educators is precisely to situate our current political constellation within the shadow of martial rule during the Marcos dictatorship. He concludes: “Hindi nabubura ang kasaysayan, hindi rin ito nauulit, sa halip ito'y nagpapatuloy. May madilim na kasaysayan ng batas militar, subalit ito rin ay kasaysayan ng rebolusyon at patuloy na pakikibaka.

[History is never erased, it is never repeated, it simply continues on. Martial law may have had a dark history, but it is also a history of revolution and continuing struggle.]”

As part of national democratic scholarship, we have Sonny Africa's critical evaluation of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the Philippines. In this article, the author effectively deconstructs the ideological character of NGOization of Philippine civil society. Deviating from the mainline pseudoleftist rhetoric that NGOs promote radical social transformation, Africa argues, “civil society and at least some NGOs may yet be encouraged as a countervailing force or social escape valve to undercut the further development of radical alternatives upon worsening social and economic conditions.” Like in Tolentino's paper, Africa does not stop at ideological critique. He offers a nuanced analysis on the alternative sites for radical change beyond NGOization: “The country fortunately remains the site of a vigorous Leftist urban and rural mass movement and of armed revolutionary struggles with embryonic political power in areas removed from government control. Those forces are the most effective counters to any reactionary influence by NGOs and civil society and are the most important means for ensuring that impulses for social reform, such as find expression in NGOs, are directed towards struggles for revolutionary change.”

2

Pingkian also includes two interview on political prisoners, Charity Dino, a school teacher, who has been in prison since November 2009 and political detainee and NDFP consultant Alan Jazmines, 64 years old. In an age when capitalism celebrates the end of history and proclaims liberal democracy as the Paradise here on Earth, we must remember the prophetic words of Walter Benjamin: “There is no document of civilization that is not simultaneously a document of barbarism.” Today, these words must be read literally. The triumph of capitalism has cost countless detention of political activists, disappearances of human rights advocates, and the mass killing of those who refuse to worship Moloch of capitalism -profit. Radical educators therefore should use these political experiences as “dangerous memories” in order to awaken the anger of students against a system that creates spaces for Agamben's “homo sacer” or the individuals who are stripped of their basic rights. It's time we teach our students to fight back. It is time that parents and the community organize themselves to replace this system that is beyond repair and regulation.

We hope that these articles will serve as critical resources for radical teachers to transform the consciousness of students inside and outside the classroom. As Lenin famously claimed, “Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” But more importantly, these theoretical resources should force students to think beyond the classroom and engage in the real struggle outside, within the belly of capitalism itself. For it is only by engaging in the real struggle in the world that educators and students can transform the world while changing their own consciousness. As Karl Marx correctly stated in his 3rd thesis on Feuerbach: “The materialist doctrine concerning the changing of circumstances and upbringing forgets that circumstances are changed by men and that the educator must himself be educated. This doctrine must, therefore, divide society into two parts, one of which is superior to society. The coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-change can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionary practice.”

The Editors January 2013

3

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Ang mga Gamit ng Teorya ng Media at Lipunan, o Teorya ng Kritikal na Buhay at Lipunan [The Uses of Theory of Media and Society, Or Theory of Critical Life and Society] Rolando B. Tolentino Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Ang mga Gamit ng Teorya ng Media at Lipunan, o Teorya ng Kritikal na Buhay at Lipunan [The Uses of Theory of Media and Society, or Theory of Critical Life and Society] Rolando B. Tolentino rolando.tolentino@gmail.com

Ang kaganapan – nakaraan, kasalukuyan at hinaharap – ng panlipunang individual at lipunan ng bansa ay maipapaliwanag lamang sa pamamagitan ng teorya. Ang lahat ng nakikita (at iba pang kognitibong pagkaunawa), nararamdaman, at nadaranas natin, lalo na ng gitnang uring buhay, ay naging mga imahe't simulacra na lamang ng isang makauri at kapitalistang ideal: ang gupit ng buhok, piniling salamin sa mata, damit at pantalon na suot, deodorant na gamit, pagngiti, paglahat ng pagkagusto at pagkaunsyami (Like/Unlike), paano lumigaw, ma-in love, masawi, ano ang magandang bukas?

Ang lahat ng aktwal na karanasan ay natutunghayan na lamang sa pamamagitan ng mediasyon ng global na kapitalismo na nanghihimok ng lifestyle shift tungo sa gitnang uring panuntunan sa isang banda at higit na pagsasamantala sa uring anakpawis, maralita, kababaihan at iba pang sexualidad, at mismong gitnang uri (sa pamamagitan ng substansasyon ng uring ito ng higit at regular na konsumerismo) sa kabilang banda; at ng mismong media na gamit ang tungkulin nitong magpalaganap ng informasyon at itaas ang kalidad ng opinion-making ng mamamayan pero dahil sa struktura ng pagmamay-ari nito at ang nesesidad ng pagpapalaki pa ng media conglomorate (o ang politikal na ekonomiya ng pagmamay-ari ng media), ang kasalukuyang infrastruktura na bumabalangkas ng kalidad ng informasyon at ipinapalaganap na textong media, ang diin ay sa kita at hindi sa pagbabalita.

Sa katunayan, ang dating kalakaran na ang balita ang tampok sa broadcasting at journalism ay nabago na, ginagamit na lamang ang balita dahil kahilingan ito para sa franchise na ipinagkaloob ng gobyerno, at kung gayon, ito ay naging isang format na lamang na mas mababa ang entertainment na kalidad kumpara sa iba pa, tulad ng teleserye, sitcom, talent show, reality show, at global spectacle ng laban sa boxing, Miss Universe, at Oscar Awards.

Ang nagawa ng pagmamay-ari ng media na ang diin ay kita ay ang transformasyon ng media bilang daluyan ng entertainment o pagbibigay-aliw (na para bang pagkatapos magtrabaho sa opisina at pabrika, o paaralan ay ang hanap ng individual ay hindi higit pang balita ng consequence ng dinanas nila kundi ng aliw para maibsan kundi man temporal na makaligtaan ang paggawa [labor] na ibinigay at sinamantala sa kanila). Ang media ay repositoryo ng mismong kapital na komoditi – na magical na nagbubura ng anumang bahid ng paggawa, at sa efektibong branding ay nakakapanghimok ng pagtangkilik sa dalawang antas, bilang aspirational na gitnang uring panuntunan na maaring pagnasaan, at bilang gitnang uring panuntunan na mas magiging pribilehiyado kaysa sa aktwal na mababang uring pinagmulan ng manonood (na sa kalabisan at kabuuan ay nagreresulta sa pagtatatwa ng mababa't abang uri ng manonood at “bilhin” ang lifestyle choice na inilalako sa kanya ng textong media) – ang kaakibat na lifestyle na transformasyon tungo sa global na pagkamamamayan na ang akses lamang ay sa pamamagitan ng pagpaloob at higit na intensifikasyon ng global na kapitalismo.

Sa negation ng tunay, ang prinibilehiyado ay ang media na realidad, ang virtual (na predicated na hindi kailanman madadanas sa aktwal dahil and realidad ng pagdanas nito ay sa pamamagitan ng isang

5

mediated na mundo ng mitong individual na ahensya at ng abstraktong kapitalistang agenda), makauring aspirasyon (ang gitnang uri bilang ideal ng 80 porsyento ng mamamayan na mahirap at nasa abang paghihirap, at 20 porsyento ng klasipikadong gitnang uri na intermittent na posisyonalidad lamang o paratihang nanganganib na maging nouveau poor, laban sa one-percent na maykaya sa bansa; o ang aspirasyon bilang aparisyon ng posibilidad sa hinaharap), at contestable na imahinaryo (sa estado, ang pagiging docile na katawan [Michel Foucault] na ang pagkaunlad ay nakabatay sa pag-alinsunod sa araw-araw sa kalakaran nito; sa kultural na afiliasyon, ang liberal na demokrasya na pagtatagumpay ng mga kompartamentalisadong agenda; at sa individual, ang posibilidad ng pagiging (be-ing) o ang utopia ng pagkabuo ng sarili; na kung tutuusin, ang mga imahinaryo ay pangunahing nakaangkla sa pagmimintina ng politikal na kapangyarihan ng estado poder, na tinatawag din na hegemoniya [Antonio Gramsci]).

Ang textong media na nakabatay sa fundasyon ng infrastruktura ng pag-aari nito (na hindi hiwalay sa iba pang negosyo at nagmamay-ari ng malalaking negosyo) ay pangunahing nagpapalaganap ng mediated (may interbensyon sa antas ng paglalahad ng texto, at ng mismong teknolohiyang may kapasidad magpalaganap sa isang mass at niche audiences) at mediatized (o ang pagdanas ng texto bilang libangan [leisure] na ang epekto ay pabuya sa paggawa at sa pagtangkilik nito) na realidad. Ito ang tinatawag ni Jean Baudrillard na “simulara of the real” na ang nalikhang realidad – na siya ring mas magkakaroon ng pagpapahalaga sa tumatangkilik – ay ang imahen at spektakulo ng imahen. Mas matimbang ang realidad ng mall dahil mas malamig, mailaw, presko, mas First World at mas ideal sa pagdanas ng gitnang uring pagkatao kaysa sa aktwal na kalsada at palengke (na magulo, maingay, marumi, hindi ligtas). O ang hostage-taking drama sa Luneta, halimbawa, ay mas “nalilibang” tangkilikin sa telebisyon na may iba't ibang camera placement, iba't ibang pananaw at pagsusuri sa “big picture” – at mas ligtas – kaysa sa aktwal na pakikipag-usyoso sa lugar ng kaganapan. Mas preferred ang gitnang uring sarili – kahit pa imahinaryo pa lamang – kaysa sa aktwal na mababang uring sarili. Sa isang banda na ang tunay ay nagiging imahen (tulad ng pag-aakda ng media sa mga texto nito), sa kabilang banda naman ay ang imahen ang mas matimbang sa individual na pagtangkilik (at kung gayon, ang kapangyarihan ng media, bukod pa sa ibang aparato ng estado, na makapanghimasok at makaapekto sa individual na pag-iisip, ang sikolohiya ng individual at ng gitnang uring individualidad).

Ang kapangyarihan ng teorya, kung gayon, ay kontrahin ang simulacra-sisasyon (virtualizasyon, aspirationalization, imaginarisisasyon) ng tunay at aktwal na realidad, at dagdag pa rito, ipaliwanag kung bakit hindi ito nasa best interest ng manonood, mamamayan, at ng bansa. May tatlong antas ang mga paliwanag at pagkaunawa: una ay ang factual na antas na sumasagot sa tanong na ano, sino, kailan, saan at bakit na ipinapaliwanag ang cast-of-characters sa isang kaganapan at penomenon na pinapagaralan; ikalawa ay ang operational na antas na sinasagot ang tanong na paano o kung paano ang penomenon ay nagiging isang penomenonkumikilos, ang pinagmulan, pagdanas sa kasalukuyan at ang direksyon sa hinaharap; at ikatlo ang analitikal na antas na sumasagot sa tanong na “eh ano ngayon?” na ang isang penomenon ay may horizontal na panorama (kasaysayan), vertical (lipunang iniinugan sa kasalukuyan) at ang epekto nito sa pagkatao (being). Ang mga ito ang magbabalangkas ng teorya ng penomenon: ano ang mga katangian nito, paano ito nagsimula't lumaganap, paano ito nakaugnay sa kasaysayan at lipunan, ano ang sinasabi nito sa pagkatao, paano ito nananaturalisa bilang kalakaran sa pang-araw-araw?

Ang ginagawa ng teorya ay gawing mahalaga (importanteng pagtuunan ng pansin, pag-aralan) ang isinasagawang operasyon ng kapitalismo at ng pangunahin nitong galamay sa bansa, ang estado, sa pangaraw-araw. Sa antas ng pang-araw-araw hindi lubos na napapansin ang maniobra ng estado. Sa katunayan, ang tagumpay ng estado ay gawing invisible ang kanyang orkestrasyon ng operasyon sa pangaraw-araw na realidad ng individual. Ang estado ang suprastrukturang nag-aayos ng ating mga buhay, ng buhay ng bansa, at ng buhay ng mundo. Sa bawat bansa at sa world order, ang nagpapatupad ng operasyon ng estado ay ang gobyerno (kaya ito ay tinatawag na “reaksyonaryo” dahil wala naman itong sariling gulugod, at ang tanging dahilan sa buhay ay para maglingkod sa malalaking negosyo, estado at kapitalismo na ekonomiya) at malalaking negosyo (na may quasi-governance na papel dahil

6

ipinapatupad nila ang ilang aspekto ng panlipunang serbisyo ng gobyerno, maimpluwensyahan ang goberyno sa pamamalakad ng politika, ekonomiya at kultura sa bansa, at may kapasidad din maimpluwensyahan ang mga tao hinggil sa gobyernong pananaw nila ay sutil dahil mayroon sariling pag-iisip).

Sa pangunahin ang ginagawa ng media – sa textong media at mediatized na realidad na ipinapalaganap nito – ay ang paglikha ng (virtual) na individual na ahensya (agency). Ang ahensya ang inaakalang kapangyarihan ng individual para bumuo ng nosyon ng sarili (self). Sa pamamagitan ng pagpili (choice), nagkakaroon ito ng nosyon at aseryon ng sarili. Noong bata, halimbawa, kailangan niyang kumain ng gulay, at may kaparusahan ang matatanda para mapakain siya nito. Kapag tumanda na ang individual, maari na niyang hindi piliing kumain ng gulay, at maari pa nga siyang pumili ng kontraryo sa diskurso ng kalusugan, tulad ng paninigarilyo at fast food na ugma naman sa diskurso ng kapitalismo. Sa kalaunan, sa summation ng ginawang pagpili ng individual – lalo na kung mayroon itong ekonomikong kapangyarihan – ay mapapanindigan niya ang kanyang mga pinili.

Ang hindi nalilinaw sa individual ay ang lahat ng kanyang pinili ay napiliian na ng estado para sa kanya at mga tulad niya. Paano siya hindi tatangkaing pakainin ng gulay kung ang sosyalisasyon ng lipunan, lalo na sa kanyang mga magulang at sa yaya na binabayaran ng magulang, ay nagbibigay-diin sa diskurso ng nutrisyon? Paano siya hindi mahahalina sa paninigarilyo kung ito ang napapanood niya sa mga artista at singer na tinatangkilik niya? Paano siya hindi tatangkilik sa fast food kung ang mismong magulang niya ay ginawa itong pabuya kapag matataas ang grado sa report card, at kung ang mga kabarkada niya ay tumatangkilik din rito? Ang pinili ay hindi naman talaga pinipili, pero ginagawa lang mapapagpilian pa ng individual batay sa available menu ng estado at kapitalismo.

Ito ang tinatawag ni Louis Althusser na overdeterminasyon, na ang lahat ng pinipili ay una nang pinili para sa tulad natin ng estado at ng kapitalismo: ang piniling kuro, mga sabjek, mga hobby, mga kaibigan, mga gimikan, mga magiging crush at liligawan, magiging karelasyon, magiging ambisyon, at magiging mundo. Sa klasikong halimbawa ni Althusser, para na lang tayong taxi na kapag pumara ang nakatayo sa sidewalk ay mapapahinto tayo't isasakay ang pasahero. Ito rin ang sinabi ng eksena sa The Matrix (Larry at Andy Wachowshi, 1999, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6qG4yn-Ps).

Tagubilin ni Morpheus, ang pinuno ng nagrerebelde, kay Neo, "You take the blue pill the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." Ang teorya ay ang red pill, ang makapagsaad ng pagkaunawa sa textong media, ng pagdanas nito sa mediatized na realidad, at ng operasyonalisasyon ng overdeterminasyon, at kung gayon, ang mitolisasyon – sa punto ng estado at kapitalismo – ng ahensya.

Ang ginagawa ng teorya ay dobleng reifikasyon na nakabatay sa negation (ang mediatisasyon ng realidad) ng negation (ng pagkaunawa ng textong media). Ang reifikasyon ay ang paggawa ng ideal bilang kongkretong bagay. Ang ideal ay nadadanas bilang aspirasyon. At sa manaka-nakang pagkakataon, tulad ng sachet na produkto, halimbawa, ang ideal ay nagiging bagay (nalalasap, naamoy, nakikita, naririnig, nararamdaman) kahit pa madalas ay temporal ang konkretisasyon. Ang bagay ay ang aktwal na kongkretisadong sandali.

Ang media ay may reifikasyon din, ang transformasyon – sa pamamagitan ng produksyon ng textong media – ng ideal (ng estado at kapitalismo) bilang pribilehiyado sa aktwal at tunay. Sa gawain ng media, nalilito pa nga dahil ang nais nitong maging layon ay ang pagkapakat ng ideal bilang tunay at ng tunay bilang ideal (ng estado at kapitalismo). Ang ginagawa ng teorya ay i-negate ang operasyon ng media bilang negation ng operasyon ng estado at kapitalismo. Ang dobleng negation ay magdudulot ng produktibong layunin, ang paglikhang visible ng operasyon ng media, estado, at kapitalismo; at nang sa gayon, ma-interrogate at maaresto ito. Politikal ang akto ng mobilisasyon at paggamit ng teorya dahil nga una, kontraryo ito sa proyekto ng media, estado, at kapitalismo sa isang banda; at nagtataguyod ito ng politikal na ahensya, ang mambabasa-manonood-mamamayan bilang politikal na nilalang

7

makakapagsuri sa aktwal at tunay na lagay ng kanilang estado, at kung gayon, ng tunay at aktwal na lagay ng estado.

Magagawa lang ito kung kritikal ang gamit sa teorya, ang kapasidad ng teorya na hindi lamang maipaliwanag ang penomeonon na pinapag-aralan kundi maging balangkas din sa pag-aaral ng kahalintulad na penomenon. Ang pag-aaral ng diskusyon para at laban sa RH bill (Reproductive Health) ay maaring makapag-inform sa ibang pang isyu at debate, tulad sa Freedom of Information, Anti-Torture, pagpaslang sa journalists at politikal na pagpaslang, na maaring may afinidad din naman sa mga isyu ng malling, palabas na sine, pinakabagong telenovela, milk tea drink, at iba pa. Magagawa ito kapag naiugnay ang kultural na penomenon sa iba pang infrastruktura ng politika, ekonomiya at kultural. Kung iisipin, magkakahalintulad din naman ang pinag-uugatang balon kung sabjek na pinag-aaralan sa iba pang dinadalumat: mga usaping media, estado at kapitalismo. Ang kahalagahan ng teorya ay ang kapasidad nitong iugnay ang sabjek sa historikal (ang kasaysayan ng bansa, mundo, sistema at idea) at pang-araw-araw na kaganapan (ang naturalisasyon at operasyonalisasyon ng mga value, kaisipan at praxis ng estado at kapitalismo, at ang mga detalye nagpapakita ng tangka sa pagbabalikwas nito).

Ang mga teorya ng media at komunikasyon ay hindi kontradiktoryo, na ang isa ay kultural at ang isa ay empirakal kahit pa ang layon ay ipaliwanag at penomenon at ang implikasyon nito sa mga institusyon, lipunan at bansa. Kailangang may datos na pinaghahalawan ang teorya ng media kahit pa ang mga dating, epekto at implikasyon ay ramdam na bilang tumatangkilik at may antas ng familiaridad (intimacy pa nga) sa mga textong media. Kailangan din naman ng mapangsaklaw na direksyon ng komunikasyong teorya, na ang prinoproblemang penomenon ay maaring makapag-inform sa iba pang kahalintulad na kaganapan at bagay, at ito ay maiuugnay, kundi man nakaugnay sa batis ng kasaysayan, lipunan at modernong pagkatao.

Dahil ito ay tinatangkilik ng mga tao sa iba't ibang panahon, ang penomenon ay may panghihimok sa panlipunang individual (social individual). Siya ay isang aktor na sa isang mas masaklaw na banda ay sumusunod sa asignaturang script, at sa kabilang banda ay may kapasidad din naman na pagnilayan, mamili, at mag-“make do” (o tahiin para sa sarili ang mga mass-produced na commodity, maging ng penomenong piniling maging mulat na kabahagi). Ang papel ng kritikal na teorya ay maunawaan ang penomenon at kung paano ito mayroong historikal at panlipunang relasyon sa individual, at kung paano ito lumilikha ng naturalisadong pagpapadaloy ng mga aparato ng estado at kapitalismo sa katawan ng individual.

Ang media ay may afinidad sa kulturang popular kahit pa ang media ang pangunahing daluyan ng diseminasyon ng kulturang popular. May pedagogical na function ang media, gayon din ang kulturang popular. Ang itinuturo ng media at ng textong media ay ang mga idea – sa partikular, values, kaisipan at praxis – ng estado at kapitalismo. Nasa individual ang minor na pagbabalikwas, at nasa kontraryong politikal na kilusan (kilusang masa) ang aktwal na tangkang magbalikwas. Kaya interesante na pagaralan ang mga tinatangkilik ng individual at ang mga isyu at kalakaran na ipinapalaganap ng kontraryong politikal na kilusan.

Ang kayang gawin ng kritikalidad, gamit ang teorya, ay ipaunawa sa mismong loob ng ideolohikal na aparato ng estado, ang kontraryong naratibo ng estado at kapitalismo na hindi lahat ay nangahimbing at nanaginip na lang ng Apple at Android. Dahil ang kritikal na teorya ay mga politikal na teorya, mayroon din itong kapasidad na maimapa ang pagtatangka – potensyalidad at limitasyon – ng pagbabalikwas.

Kung ang pagbabalikwas ay sa antas ng panlipunang individual, ito ay nagpapahiwatig lamang ng pagiging hindi porous ng kapangyarihan. Pero kung ang pagbabalikwas ay nasa antas ng lipunan (welga, People Power, rebolusyon, kilusang masa, welgang bayan, transport strike), ito ay mayroon kapasidad na maging rehersal para sa historikal na panlipunang pagbabago. Ito ang mahalagang bahagi ng kritikal na teorya, ang pagpapangalan sa karanasan at sa kinabukasan.

8

Magagamit ang media at kulturang popular dito dahil ang pangunahing lagusan ng pagdanas sa karanasan sa texto. Ang epektibong pedagogical na leksyon ng media, estado at kulturang popular ay ang pagdanas sa penomenon sa wika at struktura ng ligaya. Epektibong nabura ang bukal ng pasakit at pighati kahit pa ito ang bukal na bumabalot sa karanasan sa texto. Kung gayon, sa pagbabalik ng kasaysayan, lipunan at modernong pagkatao, ang ginagawang visible rin ay ang struktura ng pakiramdam (feelings) o kung bakit hindi masaya ang maging masaya sa textong media at popular na kultural na texto.

Dalawa ang punto rito hinggil sa kasiyahan sa textong media at popular na kultural na texto. Ayon kay Slavoj Zizek, “One of the common prejudices about theory and examples from high art or popular culture is that too much knowledge somehow damages our enjoyment. If we go to watch a film with an excess baggage of theoretical preconceptions about what we about to see, does this not spoil our spontaneous enjoyment of the show?”1 Una, kailangan ay hindi na kasiyahan (enjoyment) sa tradisyonal (na estado't kapitalistang) paraan – eskapismo, emosyonal na purgation, temporal na pagkawala sa sarili at ng ugnay ng sarili sa kasaysayan at lipunan, bilang libangan. Masiyahan pero gamitin ang kasiyahang dinanas para balikwasin ang ipinapataw na struktura ng pakiramdam.

Consequence ng ganitong diin ang paglabas ng nire-repress na pakiramdam mula sa pasakit at pighati.

Sa kalaunan, magiging killjoy ang nagsusuri, pero masayang killjoy: may kasiyahan sa pamamaslang sa naunang kaayusan at struktura at nang sa gayon ay makita ang panorama ng patag na lupaing pagtatayuan ng tunay na egalitaryong kaayusan.

Ang kritikal na teorya ay hindi bagahe na pabigat sa pagdanas ng textong media at popular na kultural na texto. Ito ay baon, parang dinadala sa loob ng sinemay kapasidad na lumikha ng karagdagang gratifikasyon kahit pa hindi ganap na kasiya-siya ang pinapanood at tinutunghayan.

Dagdag ni Zizek, “Today, it is only theory that can teach us how to enjoy themif we approach them directly, they necessarily strike us as naïve, ridiculous, 'inedible'….”2 At ito ang ikalawa, ang kritikal na teorya ay natatangi dahil ibinabalik nito ang tunay na kasiyahanang ugnay ng tinatangkilik (lalo na kung nagbayad at may alinsabay na dekorum para makatangkilik) sa tumatangkilik bilang tunay na panlipunang individual. Ang binabanggit ni Zizek ay isang pagtangkilik bilang isang politikal na aktibidad dahil sa pamamagitan lamang ng pagsasapolitikal ng tinatangkilik at akto ng pagtangkilik mayroon radikalisasyon – kahit pa temporal – ng depolitikal na sarili.

Ang pagdanas ng posibilidad ng politikal na sarili ay isang kontraryong pagpapangalan. Kung ang estado at kapitalismo ay may kapasidad pangalanan ang mundo (www, domain, like/unlike, tweets, retweets, favorited, follow, virtual na frieds, social networking, timeline, at iba pa), ito rin ang may hawak ng kapangyarihan sa karanasan. Isipin, halimbawa, ang milyon-milyon nasa Facebook na kahit pa may individual accounts ang mga ito, ang platform pa rin ang may kapangyarihan para pangalanan ang pagdanas sa karanasan. Ang papel ng individual ay hulmahin ang konsepto ng sarili batay sa demograpiyang hinihikayat ng Facebook. Siya ang content-provider sa virtual na mundo na umiinog batay sa dikta ng may-ari ng Facebook at negosyo.

Ang isinasaad ng kritikal na teorya ay ang pagpapatalas ng weapons of the weak lampas sa individualidad at individualismo kundi may kapasidad na makapanghimok ng mas malawak na partisipasyon at pagbabalikwas. Ang ipinagkakaloob ng kritikal na teorya ay bigyan ng bagong ngalan ang karanasan, maglahad ng parallel na uniberso sa uniberso ng karanasan sa ilalim ng estado at kapitalismo. Kahalintulad ito ng isinaad ni Paulo Freire tungkol sa edukasyon at edukasyong mapagpalaya na maari ring halawin para sa media at kritikal na praxis nito, pati na rin sa mismong kritikal na teorya at ang praxis nito: “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of the world.”3

9

Mga Tala: 1 2 3

Slavoj Zizek, The Metastases of Enjoyment (London: Verso, 1994), 176.

Ibid.

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 2007).

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Ang Marxistang Lapit sa Isyu Ng Kababaihan Judy M. Taguiwalo Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Ang Marxistang Lapit sa Isyu ng Kababaihan Judy M. Taguiwalo judymt2002@yahoo.com Bagamat may pagpulà sa Marxismo bilang bulag sa isyu ng opresyon ng kababaihan,1 naniniwala akong may malinaw na tindig sa teorya at praktika ang Marxismo sa usapin ng kababaihan at hindi komprehensibong Marxismo ang nagsasabing Marxismo ito nang hindi sinasaalang-alang ang aping kalagayan ng kababaihan at ang pangangailangan sa kanilang paglaya. Para sa akin, patuloy na may katuturan ang Marxismo sa orihinal na pagsusuri at tindig nito para maintindihan ang aping kalagayan ng kababaihan sa isang lipunang makauri at para mabago ang kalagayang ito bilang bahagi ng kabuuang agenda ng panlipunang pagbabago.

Ayon sa Marxistang materyalismong istoriko, ang istruktura ng lipunan, ang relasyong sosyal at ang kamalayan ng lipunan ay nakabase sa materyal na kalagayan at buhay ng lipunan, sa kalagayan ng produksyon at palitan ng mga materyal na pangangailangan para mabuhay ang tao. Ang tunay na ugat ng mga pagbabago sa kamalayan, mga ideya at mga institusyong pulitikal ay dapat alamin sa mga pagbabago sa materyal na kalagayan at buhay ng lipunan, sa kalagayan at buhay pang-ekonomya ng lipunan.2 Pero hindi economic determinism ang ganitong pagsusuri. May diyalektikal na ugnayan ang ekonomiya at ang kamalayan, mga ideya at institusyong pultikal at pang-ekonomiya.

Ayon sa materyalistikong pananaw sa kasaysayan, ang produksyon at reproduksyon ng buhay ang pinakamapagpasya sa pinakahuling pagkakataon. Higit pa rito'y hindi ko o ni Marx iginiit. Kung meron namang babaluktot nito upang sabihin na ang ekonomiya ang kaisa-isang mapagpasya ay ginagawa niyang walang kahulugan, abstrakto at absurdo ang pangungusap na ito. Ang kalagayang pang-ekonomiya ang basehan, ngunit ang iba't ibang bahagi ng super-istruktura – ang mga pampulitikang anyo ng tunggalian ng mga uri at ang mga resulta nito – mga saligang batas na ipinagtibay pagkaraan ng napagwaging pakikibaka ng isang uri atbp. – mga anyo ng batas, at maging ang repleksyon ng lahat ng mga tunay na pakikibakang ito sa utak ng mga nasasangkot, mga teoryang pulitikal, legal at pilosopikal, mga perspektibang pangreliyon at ang pag-unlad ng mga ito sa mga sistema ng dogma ay nagkakaroon din sa maraming pagkakataon ng pangunahing mapagpapasyang papel sa kanilang pag-aanyo sa kanilang pag-unlad at sa pagsulong ng mga pakikibakang pangkasaysayan. Sa pagtatalabang ito ng lahat ng mga bahagi at sa walang-katapusang dami ng mga aksidente (ng mga bagay at pangyayari na labis na magkakalayo o hindi mapatunayan ang panloob na ugnayan sa isa't isa kung kaya't maaari natin silang isantabi o ituring na hindi naririyan) lumilitaw bilang batas ang pagkilos ng ekonomiya. (Salin ni Dr. Ramon Guillermo. [All succeeding translations are from the same translator.] According to the materialist conception of history the determining element in history is ultimately the production and reproduction of real life. More than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted.

If therefore somebody twists this into the statement that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms it into a meaningless, abstract and absurd phrase. The economic situation is the basis, but the various elements of the superstructure – political forms of the class struggle and its consequences, constitutions, established by the victorious class after a successful battle – forms of law – and then even the reflexes of all these actual struggles in the brains of the combatants: political, legal, philosophical theories, religious ideas and their further development into systems of dogma – also exercise their influence upon the course of the historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their form. There is an interaction of all these elements in which, amid all the endless host of accidents (i.e., of things

11

and events whose inner connection is so remote or so impossible to prove that we regard it as absent and can neglect it), the economic movement finally asserts itself as necessary. Otherwise the application of the theory to any period of history one chose would be easier than the solution of a simple equation of the first degree ). 3 Habang susing usapin ang antas ng pang-ekonomiyang pag-unlad ng isang lipunan sa pagtatakda ng mga relasyong sosyal, dinamiko ang ugnayan ng dalawa sa kalagayang dinamiko rin ang pangekonomiyang kalagayan at relasyong sosyal: may tunggalian at pagkakaisa na siyang nagbubunsod sa patuloy na pag-unlad ng lipunan.

Ang usapin ng kababaihan sa Marxistang pananaw Kinikilala ng Marxismo na imposibleng magkaroon ng lahatang panig na panlipunang transpormasyon kung walang aktibong partisipasyon ng kababaihan. Ayon kay Marx at Lenin, imposibleng magkaroon ng mga dakilang panlipunang pagbabago kung hindi kalahok ang kababaihan.4 Ang opresyon ng kababaihan ay inilulugar ng Marxismo sa partikular na kontekstong pangkasaysayan at inaangkla ito sa partikular na antas ng pag-unlad ng sistemang pang-ekonomiya. Para sa Marxismo, ang hindi pantay na relasyon sa pagitan ng babae at lalaki ay hindi lubusang mauunawaan at radikal na mababago kung hindi nakaangkla sa pundamental na relasyon ng mga uri na siyang balangkas (frame) ng lahat ng sosyal na interaksyon sa isang lipunan.

Sa klasikong The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, malinaw na iniugnay ni Engels ang mga pagbabago sa mga porma ng pamilya at ang posisyon ng kababaihan sa loob nito sa mga pagbabago sa relasyon ng pag-aari (property relations) at relasyon ng mga uri.

Alinsunod sa materyalistikong pananaw, ang produksyon at reproduksyon ng buhay ang elementong mapagpasya sa kasaysayan sa kahuli-hulihang pagkakataon. Ngunit ito'y mayroon na namang magkakambal na anyo. Sa isang banda, ang paglikha ng mga pangangailangan para mabuhay, ng mga bagay na makakain, masusuot, mapagtitirahan at ang mga kinakailangang kasangkapan para rito. Sa kabilang banda ang paglikha ng tao mismo, ang pagpapatuloy ng lahi. Ang mga panlipunang organisasyon na namamayani sa isang tiyak na panahong pangkasaysayan at isang tiyak na bayan ay nabibigyang-hugis ng dalawang anyo ng produksyon: sa antas ng pag-unlad na nakamit, sa isang banda, ng paggawa, at, sa kabilang banda, ng pamilya. Habang hindi pa gaanong maunlad ang paggawa, habang limitado pa ang dami ng kaya nitong maprodyus, at gayundin ng kayamanan ng pamayanan, ay lalong nakapamamayani ang kamag-anakan sa kaayusang-pampamayanan. Gayumpama'y umuunlad nang umuunlad ang produktibidad ng paggawa sa ilalim ng ganitong pamayanang nakabatay sa kamag-anakan. Kasabay nito'y lumilitaw ang pribadong pagmamay-ari at pagpapalitan, pagkakaiba sa kayamanan, ang paggamit ng lakas-paggawa ng iba at sa gayon, ang batayan ng tunggaliang makauri: mga bagong elementong panlipunan, na sa pagtakbo ng mga henerasyon ay nagsisikap na maiangkop ang lumang anyong panlipunan sa bagong kalagayan, hangga't ang hindi na pagkakatugma ng dalawa ay humahantong sa isang ganap na pagbabago. Sa pagbabanggaan ng bagong litaw na mga panlipunang uri mawawasak ang lumang pamayanang nakabatay sa kamag-anakan. Papalitan ito ng bagong uri ng lipunan, na pinanatiling buo ng estado, na ang mga bumubuong yunit ay hindi na mga kamag-anakan kundi mga lokal na samahan. Isa itong lipunan kung saan ganap na namamayani sa ibabaw ng kaayusang pampamilya ang kaayusang pagmamay-ari, at kung saan maaari nang malayang umunlad ang mga tunggalian at labanang makauri na siyang nilalaman ng lahat ng nakasulat na kasaysayan. (According to the materialistic conception, the determining factor in history is, in the final instance, the production and reproduction of immediate life. This, again is of a twofold character.: on the one side the production of the means of existence of food, clothing and shelter and the tools necessary for production; on the other side, the production of human beings

12

themselves, the propagation of the species. The social organization under which the people of a particular historical epoch and a particular country live is determined by both kinds of production; by the stage of development of labour on the one hand and the family on the other.

The lower the development of labor and the more limited the amount of its products, and consequently, the more limited also the wealth of society, the more the social order is found to be dominated by kinship groups. However, within this structure of society based on kinship groups the productivity of labor increasingly develops, and with it private property and exchange, differences of wealth, the possibility of utilizing the labor power of others, and hence the basis of class antagonisms: new social elements, which in the course of generations strive to adapt the old social order to the new conditions, until at last their incompatibility brings about a complete upheaval. In the collision of the newly developed social classes, the old society founded on kinship groups is broken up. In its place appears a new society with its control centred in the state, the subordinate units of which are no longer kinship associations but local associations; a society in which the system of the family is completely dominated by the system of property, and in which there now freely develop those class antagonisms and class struggles that have hitherto formed the content of all written history.)5 Ang kabuuang talatang nabanggit sa itaas at ang aktwal na laman ng Origin of the Family ay nakatuntong sa pagsusuring ang pag-unlad ng produktibidad ng paggawa at ang paglaki ng yaman ng lipunan ang mapagpasyang pwersa sa mga pagbabago sa lipunan kabilang na ang pagbabago sa kinship at sa pamilya.

Sa lipunang agrikultural na kalakhan ng pangangailangan ng tao ay nagmumula sa sariling produksyon o ang tinatawag na ekonomyang nakasasapat sa sarili (subsistence economy), lupa ang susing kagamitan sa produksyon. Ang magsasakang pamilya ay binubuo ng grupo ng kamag-anakan na ang tirahan ay hindi malayo sa lupang sinasaka. Kalahok ang kababaihan (at mga bata) sa paggawa sa lupa at sa paglikha ng iba pang pangangailangan para mabuhay pero itinuturing silang bahagi ng tinatawag na family labor na kinakatawan ng lalaking magsasaka. Sa ganitong sistemang pangekonomiya, napaiilalim ang babae't lalaki sa tatlong sistema ng dominasyon: Ang dominasyon ng estado, ang dominasyon ng clan at ang dominasyon ng relihiyon. Pero may karagdagang dominasyon sa kababaihan at ito ay ang otoridad ng mga lalaki (the authority of the husband). Ang apat na dominasyong ito ay ang bumubuo ng pyudal-patriarkal na sistema at ideolohiya. Ang pinakagulugod ng dominasyong ito ay ang otoridad ng mga panginoong maylupa na siyang may kontrol sa sistemang pampulitika. 6 Ang paglitaw ng lipunang kapitalista na resulta ng akumulasyon ng kapital at pag-unlad ng pwersa ng produksyon ay nagpalawak sa produksyon ng kalakal at nagwasak sa ekonomiyang nagsasarili.

Lumitaw ang mga manggagawang walang pag-aaring maliban sa kanilang lakas-paggawa sa isang banda, at ang mga kapitalista na may monopolyo sa kagamitan sa produksyon, sa kabilang banda. Sa ganitong sistema, ang “household� ay kailangang umasa sa pamilihan ng kanilang lakas-paggawa at sa pamilihan ng mga kagamitan para sa kanilang ikabubuhay.

Ginagamit ng kapitalista ang kababaihan para sa pagmantine o pagpapababa pa ng sahod ng buong uring manggagawa. Ayon kay August Bebel: Nakakahanap ang babae ng dumaraming pagkakataon sa trabaho sa tabi o bilang kapalit ng lalaki dahil mas kakaunti ang kanyang mga materyal na kahilingan kaysa sa lalaki. Dahil sa kanilang likas na mga katangian bilang babae ay napipilitan silang mas murang ibenta ang kanilang lakas-paggawa. Mas madalas sa pangkalahatan siyang naaapektuhan ng mga usaping may kinalaman sa kanyang pangangatawan na nagiging sanhi ng pagkaputol ng trabaho at, dahil sa kumbinasyon at organisayon ng lakas-paggawa sa malaking industriya, ay nagiging sanhi ito ng panandaliang mga pagtigil sa paggawa. Ang pagkabuntis at panganganak ay nagpapahaba sa panahon ng pagtigil sa paggawa. Pinagsasamantalahan ng negosyante ang ganitong bagay, para sa mga kaabalahang ito ay nakakakuha siya ng dobleng

13

kompensasyon sa pamamagitan ng pagbabayad ng higit na mababang sahod. Dagdag pa rito, nakatali ang babae sa lugar ng kanyang paninirahan o malapit dito, hindi niya magawa, tulad ng karamihan ng lalaki, na lumipat ng pinagtitirahan. Higit pa rito'y may karagdagang pakinabang ang paggawa ng mga may-asawang babae – tulad ng makikita sa sipi sa pahina 128 sa "Kapital" ni Marx – para sa negosyante. Bilang manggagawa, ang babaeng may asawa ay "higit na maingat at madaling matuto" kaysa sa walang asawa. Hinihingi sa kanya ng pagsasaalang-alang sa kanyang mga anak ang pinakamatinding pagbubuhos ng kanyang lakas upang matamo ang kinakailangan para mabuhay at sa gayo'y maaaring mabata ang hindi mababata ng babaeng walang asawa at lalo't higit ng manggagawang lalake. Sa pangkalahata'y pambihira lamang magtangka ang babaeng manggagawa na makiisa sa kanyang mga kapwa manggagawa upang humiling ng mas magandang kondison sa paggawa. Isa pa itong nagpapataas sa kanya sa paningin ng negosyante. Madalas ay nagagamit niya sila bilang baraha laban sa mga lalaking manggagawang matitigas ang ulo. Mas mapasensya ang babaeng manggagawa, mas may kasanayan sa paggamit ng mga daliri, mas maunlad ang kanyang panlasa. Mga katangian itong nagbibigay sa kanila ng higit na kahusayan kaysa sa mga lalake sa maraming trabaho. (One reason why employers resort more and more to the employment of women beside men, or instead of men, is, that women are accustomed to require less than men.

Owing to their nature as sex beings, women are obliged to offer their labor power cheaper than men. They are, as a rule, more subjected to physical derangements that cause an interruption of their work, and owing to the complication and organization of modern industry, this may lead to an interruption in the whole process of production. Pregnancy and child-birth lengthen such periods of interruption. The employer makes the most of this fact and finds ample indemnification for these occasional interruptions by the payment of considerably lower wages.

Moreover the woman is tied to her particular abode or its immediate environment. She cannot change her abode as men are enabled to do in most cases. Female labor, especially the labor of married women workers – appears particularly desirable to employers in still another way, as may be seen from the quotation from “Capital,” by Karl Marx on page 129. As a worker the married woman is “far more attentive and docile” than the unmarried one. Consideration for her children compels her to exert her strength to the utmost in order to earn what is needful for their livelihood, and she therefore quietly submits to much that the unmarried working woman would not submit to, far less so the working man. As a rule working women rarely combine with their fellow workers to obtain better working conditions. That also enhances their value in the eyes of the employers; sometimes they even are a good means to subdue rebellious male workers.

Women moreover are more patient, they possess greater nimbleness and a more developed taste, qualities that make them better suited to many kinds of work than men.)7 Ang paglaya ng kababaihan ay hindi lubusang makakamit kung hindi mapapawi ang mga uri sa lipunan. Para kay Alexandra Kollontai: Tinatanggihan ng mga tagapagtaguyod ng istoriko-materyalismo ang pagkakaroon ng espesyal na usaping pambabae na hiwalay sa pangkalahatang usaping panlipunan ng ating panahon. Nasa likod ng pang-aapi sa kababaihan ang ilang tiyak na mga salik pangekonomiya; pumapangalawa lamang dito ang mga likas na katangian. Ang paglaho lamang ng mga salik na ito, ang ebolusyon lamang ng mga pwersa na lumikha sa pang-aapi sa kababaihan sa isang panahon noong nakaraan, ang maaaring makaimpluwensiya at makapagpabago ng kanilang panlipunang kalagayan sa isang pundamental na paraan. (The followers of historical materialism reject the existence of a special woman question separate from the general social question of our day. Specific economic factors were behind the subordination of women; natural qualities have been a secondary factor in this process. Only the complete disappearance of these factors, only the evolution of those forces which at some point in the past gave rise to the subjection of women, is able in a fundamental way to influence and change their social position. In other words, women can become truly free and equal.) 8

14

Ipinakita sa karanasan ng Unyong Sobyet na sa pagtagumpay ng sosyalistang rebolusyon pinawi ng estadong sosyalista ang lahat ng restriksyon sa karapatan ng kababaihan. Nagkaroon ng diborsyo, inalis ang pagkakaiba sa pagitan ng mga anak na lehitimo at ilehitimo. Hinabaan din ang panahon para sa sa apat na buwang “paid maternity leave.� Nagtayo ng mga nursery para sa mga sanggol at mga bata sa mga pagawaan. Gayunpaman, patuloy ang pag-iral ng kaayusang nanatiling aliping tahanan ang kababaihan bagama't aktibong binaka ito ng estado.

Sa kabila ng mga mapagpalayang batas na naipasa na, patuloy ang pagiging aliping domestiko ng babae dahil nakakadurog, nakakasakal, nakakabansot at nakapagpapababa sa kanya ang maliliit na gawaing bahay, tinatali siya sa kusina at pang-alaga ng bata, at winawaldas ang kanyang lakas sa barbariko at di-produktibo, hamak, nakakanerbiyos, nakakabansot at nakakabagot na gawain. Magsisimula lamang ang tunay na paglaya ng kababaihan, o totoong komunismo, kapag nagtaguyod ng isang pakikibakang masa (na pinangungunahan ng proletariat na nasa kapangyarihan) laban sa maliit na ekonomiyang domestikong ito, o sa ibang salita, kapag naitransporma na ito sa isang pangmasang antas o sa isang malakihang antas na ekonomiyang sosyalista. (Notwithstanding all the liberating laws that have been passed, woman continues to be a domestic slave, because petty housework crushes, strangles, stultifies and degrades her, chains her to the kitchen and to the nursery, and wastes her labor on barbarously unproductive, petty, nerve-racking, stultifying and crushing drudgery. The real emancipation of women, real communism, will begin only when a mass struggle (led by the proletariat which is in power) is started against this petty domestic economy, or rather when it is transformed on a mass scale into large scale socialist economy. )9 Hindi lamang ang patuloy na pagkakulong ng kababaihan sa gawaing-bahay ang basehan ng hindi nila paglaya kahit may legal na pagkakapantay ng kasarian sa isang sistemang sosyalista. Matalas na tinurol ni Lenin ang papel ng patriarkal na kamalayan ('the master ideas') sa hanay ng kalalakihan, kahit na nga sa mga rebolusyonaryong kalalakihan, bilang mahalagang salik sa patuloy na pagkaalipin ng kababaihan. Binigyang-diin niya ang kahalagahan ng pagmulat sa kalalakihan at ang pagpawi sa mga patriarkal na pananaw at paniniwala sa loob ng Partido at sa hanay ng mamamayan.

Nakakalungkot na makatotohanan pa ring masasabi hinggil sa marami sa ating mga kasama na 'komunista sa ibabaw, pilistino sa ilalim'. Siyempre, kailangan mong balatan ang sensitibong bahagi, ang kanilang pananaw hinggil sa kababaihan. Wala nang ibang patunay dito kundi ang mahinahong pagtanggap ng mga lalaki na nakikita kung papaano napapagod ang kababaihan sa mga maliliit at paulit-ulit na gawaing bahay, naaaksaya ang kanilang lakas at panahon, nagiging makitid at panis ang kanilang mga utak, bumabagal ang tibok ng kanilang mga puso, humihina ang kanilang kalooban! Syempre, hindi ko tinutukoy dito ang mga kababaihan ng mga burgesya na ipinapapasan sa mga katulong ang responsibilidad para sa lahat ng gawaing bahay, maging ang pangangalaga sa mga bata, ang tinutukoy ko rito ay ang pinakaraming bilang ng kababaihan, ang mga asawa ng mga mangggawa at ang mga nakatindig buong araw sa pabrika.

Napakakaunting lalaki – maging sa proletariat – ang nakakakita kung gaano karaming hirap at problema ang maaaring mabawas o mapawi sa mga kababaihan kung tumulong lamang sila sa mga 'gawaing babae'. Pero hindi, labag daw ito sa 'kaparatan at karangalan ng lalaki'.

Nais nila ang kanilang ginhawa at kapayapaan. Ang bahay tahanan ng babae ay pang-arawaraw na sakripisyo sa isang libong hindi mahalagang maliliit na bagay. Nakasekreto pa rin ang lumang karapatang panginoon ng lalaki. Gumaganti ang kanyang alipin, na palihim din.

Ang pagkaurong ng kababaihan, ang kakulangan nila sa pag-unawa ng mga rebolusyonaryong ideyal ng lalaki ay nakakabawas sa kaligayahan at katatagan sa pakikibaka ng lalaki. Para silang mga maliliit na uod na hindi nakikita pero mabagal na nambubulok at nang-aagnas. Kilala ko ang buhay ng manggagawa, at hindi lamang mula sa mga aklat. Ang ating gawaing komunista sa hanay ng kababaihan, ang ating gawaing

15

pulitikal, ay sumasaklaw ng pagkarami-raming gawaing pang-edukasyon sa hanay ng kalalakihan. Kailangan nating bunutin ang dating ideya ng 'pagkapanginoon' hanggang sa pinakamaliit nitong ugat, sa Partido at sa masa. Ito ang isa sa ating mga tungkuling pampulitikal, at kagyat na pangangailangan ang pagbubuo ng istap ng mga lalaki at babaeng kasama na may sapat na kasayanan sa teorya at praktika na maglunsad ng pawaing pampartido sa hanay ng manggagawang kababaihan. (Unfortunately it is still true to say of many of our comrades, 'scratch a communist and find a philistine'. 0f course, you must scratch the sensitive spot, their mentality as regards women. Could there be a more damning proof of this than the calm acquiescence of men who see how women grow worn out In petty, monotonous household work, their strength and time dissipated and wasted, their minds growing narrow and stale, their hearts beating slowly, their will weakened! Of course, I am not speaking of the ladies of the bourgeoisie who shove on to servants the responsibility for all household work, including the care of children. What I am saying applies to the overwhelming majority of women, to the wives of workers and to those who stand all day in a factory. “So few men – even among the proletariat – realise how much effort and trouble they could save women, even quite do away with, if they were to lend a hand in 'women's work'. But no, that is contrary to the 'rights and dignity of a man'. They want their peace and comfort. The home life of the woman is a daily sacrifice to a thousand unimportant trivialities. The old master right of the man still lives in secret. His slave takes her revenge, also secretly. The backwardness of women, their lack of understanding for the revolutionary ideals of the man decrease his joy and determination in fighting. They are like little worms which, unseen, slowly but surely, rot and corrode. I know the life of the worker, and not only from books. Our communist work among the women, our political work, embraces a great deal of educational work among men. We must root out the old 'master' idea to its last and smallest root, in the Party and among the masses. That is one of our political tasks, just as is the urgently necessary task of forming a staff of men and women comrades, well trained in theory and practice, to carry on Party activity among working women.) 10 Hindi nangangahulugang walang maaaring pag-unlad sa kalagayan ng kababaihan habang hindi pa nakamit ang sosyalismo. Ipinaliwanag ni Kollontai na: Hindi ito nangangahulugan na hindi posible ang pagpapabuti ng ilang bahagi ng buhay ng kababaihan sa loob ng balangkas ng modernong sistema. Ang radikal na solusyon sa usaping manggagawa ay posible lamang sa pamamagitan ng ganap ng rekonstruksyon ng mga modernong ugnayang pamproduksyon, ngunit nangangahulugan ba itong mapipigilan na tayong magtaguyod ng mga reporma na makatutugon sa mga kagyat na interes ng proletariat?

Taliwas dito, ang bawat pakinabang para sa uring manggagawa ay isang hakbang ng sangkatauhan tungo sa kaharian ng kalayaan at panlipunang pagkakapantay: ang bawat karapatan na napagwawagi ng babae ay nakapagpapalapit sa kanya sa layunin ng ganapna paglaya. (This, however, does not mean that the partial improvement of woman's life within the framework of the modem system is impossible. The radical solution of the workers' question is possible only with the complete reconstruction of modem productive relations; but must this prevent us from working for reforms which would serve to satisfy the most urgent interests of the proletariat? On the contrary, each new gain of the working class represents a step leading mankind towards the kingdom of freedom and social equality: each right that woman wins brings her nearer the defined goal of full emancipation.)11 Mahalaga sa Marxistang programa para sa pagkakapantay ng kababaihan at kalalakihan ang pagkakaroon ng kababaihan ng sariling ikinabubuhay o ang paglahok sa produktibong gawain. Habang nakakulong ang kababaihan sa makitid na sulok ng tahanan at umaasa sa kalalakihan para sa kanilang ikabubuhay, mananatiling api at sekundaryo ang kanilang posisyon sa lipunan. Hindi nangangahulugan ito na awtomatikong magkakaroon ng pagkakapantay ang kababaihan at kalalakihan kapag nagkaroon

16

ng sariling ikinabubuhay ang kababaihan. Pero naglalatag ito ng kondisyon para lumawak ang mundo at pananaw ng kababaihan sa mga usaping panlipunan. Kung gayon ang paglahok ng kababaihan sa produksyong sosyal ay “kailangan pero hindi nakasasapat para wakasan ang lahat ng manipestasyon ng pang-aapi sa kababaihan.� 12 Ang Pagkakaiba sa Makauring Interes ng Kababaihang Burges at Kababaihang Manggagawa Bagamat may pagkilala ang Marxismo na maaring magkaisa sa mga taktikal na kahilingan ang lahat ng kababaihan, dahil nakabatay sa makauring pananaw ang Marxistang pagsusuri sa aping kalagayan ng kababaihan, ipinag-iiba ng Marxismo ang makauring interes ng kababaihang burges o maykaya at kababaihang manggagawa sa usapin ng pundamental na pagbabago sa lipunan. Sa kabilang banda, binibigyang-diin ng Marxismo ang pagkakaisa ng uring manggagawa, babae't lalaki, sa pagharap sa komon na kaaway, ang kapitalismo .

Nahahati ang daigdig ng kababaihan, tulad ng sa kalalakihan, sa alawang pangkat; ang mga interes at hangarin ng isang grupo ng kababaihan ay nakapagpapalapit dito sa uring burgesya, habang ang isa pang grupo ay may malapit na ugnayan sa proletariat, at ang mga panawagan nitong huli sa paglaya ay sumasaklaw sa ganap na solusyon sa usaping pangkababaihan. Sa gayo'y kahit sinusundan ng dalawang pangkat ang pangkalahatang islogan na 'paglaya ng kababaihan', magkakaiba ang kanilang mga layunin at interes. Hindi malay na ginagawang panimulang batayan ng bawat pangkat ang mga interes ng sarili nilang mga uri, na siyang nagbibigay ng makauring kulay sa kanilang mga layunin at sa mga tungkulin nilang inaangkin‌ Gaano man karadikal ang mga panawagan ng mga peminista, hindi dapat mawala sa paningin ang katotohanang hindi nila maaaring maipaglaban, sanhi ng kanilang makauring posisyon, ang pundamental na transpormasyon ng kasalukuyang kaayusang pangekonomiya at pampulitika ng lipunan na kinakailangan upang maging ganap ang paglaya ng kababaihan.

Kung magkatagpo sa ilang pagkakataon ang mga kagyat na tungkulin ng kababaihan ng lahat ng uri, ang huling layunin naman ng dalawang pangkat, na siyang nagbibigay direksyon sa kilusan sa pangmatagalang panahon at nagtatakda sa mga taktikang gagamitin, ay may malalim na pagkakaiba. Habang para sa mga peminista, ang pagtamo ng pantay na karapatan sa kalalakihan sa balangkas ng umiiiral na kapitalistang daigdig ay bumubuo na ng sapat na konkretong layunin, ang pagkakapantay ng karapatan sa ngayon, para sa mga kababaihang proletariat, ay isang paraan lamang para sa pagsusulong ng pakikibaka laban sa pangekonomiyang pang-aalipin ng uring manggagawa. Tinuturing ng mga peministang kaaway ang mga lalaki dahil inaangkin nila ang lahat ng mga karapatan at pribilehiyo para sa kanilang mga sarili at iniwan lamang ang mga tanikala at tungkulin para sa kababaihan. Para sa kanila'y nakakamit na ng tagumpay kapag natamo na rin ng "fair sex" ang isang pribilehiyong dating tinatamasa lamang ng mga lalaki. Iba ang pananaw ng mga babaeng proletarian. Hindi nila itinuturing na kaaway at mang-aapi ang mga lalaki, taliwas nito, itinuturing nila ang kalalakihan bilang mga kasama, na nakikisalo sa kanila sa araw-araw na pagkabagot at nakikibaka kasama nila para sa mas magandang kinabukasan. Naaalipin ang babae at ang kanyang kasamang lalaki ng parehong mga panlipunang kondisyon, ang parehong kinamumuhiang tanikala ng kapitalismo ang sumisikil sa kanilang kalooban at nagkakait sa kanila ng mga kaligayahan at kasiyahan ng buhay. Totoong maraming aspekto ng kasalukuyang sistema ay dumadagan nang doble sa kababaihan. Totoo rin na ang mga kondisyon ng sahurang paggawa ay sanhi ng pagiging kakumpetisyon at karibal ng babae ang lalaki. Ngunit, sa ganitong hindi magandang kalagayan, nakikilala ng uring manggagawa kung sino ang may sala‌ (The women's world is divided, just as is the world of men, into two camps; the interests and aspirations of one group of women bring it close to the bourgeois class,

17

while the other group has close connections with the proletariat, and its claims for liberation encompass a full solution to the woman question. Thus although both camps follow the general slogan of the “liberation of women”, their aims and interests are different. Each of the groups unconsciously takes its starting point from the interests of its own class, which gives a specific class colouring to the targets and tasks it sets itself. ...

However apparently radical the demands of the feminists, one must not lose sight of the fact that the feminists cannot, on account of their class position, fight for that fundamental transformation of the contemporary economic and social structure of society without which the liberation of women cannot be complete.

If in certain circumstances the short-term tasks of women of all classes coincide, the final aims of the two camps, which in the long term determine the direction of the movement and the tactics to be used, differ sharply. While for the feminists the achievement of equal rights with men in the framework of the contemporary capitalist world represents a sufficiently concrete end in itself, equal rights at the present time are, for the proletarian women, only a means of advancing the struggle against the economic slavery of the working class. The feminists see men as the main enemy, for men have unjustly seized all rights and privileges for themselves, leaving women only chains and duties. For them a victory is won when a prerogative previously enjoyed exclusively by the male sex is conceded to the “fair sex”. Proletarian women have a different attitude. They do not see men as the enemy and the oppressor; on the contrary, they think of men as their comrades, who share with them the drudgery of the daily round and fight with them for a better future. The woman and her male comrade are enslaved by the same social conditions; the same hated chains of capitalism oppress their will and deprive them of the joys and charms of life. It is true that several specific aspects of the contemporary system lie with double weight upon women, as it is also true that the conditions of hired labour sometimes turn working women into competitors and rivals to men. But in these unfavourable situations, the working class knows who is guilty. ...)13 Ang Marxistang Konsepto Bilang Tanglaw sa Pag-aaral sa Kalagayan ng Kababaihang Manggagawa sa Panahon ng Kolonyal na Paghahari ng United States sa Pilipinas Sa pagsusuri sa epekto ng pang-ekonomyang pagbabago sa kababaihan sa usapin ng paggawa, may lapit na gumagamit sa ekonomyang pampulitika at ang pagsusuring nagsasaalang sa kasarian. Ang paglahok at pananatili sa gawaing produksyon ng kababaihan ay itinatakda kapwa ng isang pangekonomyang kaayusan, halimbawa ng kapitalismo, at ng nangingibabaw na pananaw na pangkasarian sa lipunang masasalamin sa hatian ng gawain batay sa kasarian at sa mga laganap na pananaw ukol sa mga katangian at mga papel ng babae at lalaki. Sa gayon, ang kombinasyon ng partikular na sistemang pang-ekonomya at ang pananaw sa papel ng kababaihan ang nagtatakda ng posisyon ng kababaihang manggagawa sa isang lipunan.

Sa bansang tulad ng Pilipinas na ang ekonomiya ay sinukuban ng pagpasok ng isang abanteng kapitalistang bansang tulad ng Estados Unidos, ang kolonyal na patakaran sa ekonomya at ang nangibabaw na pananaw sa kababaihan ang magtatakda sa posibilidad at limitasyon ng paglahok ng mga kababaihan sa gawaing produktibo o may kabayaran. Gayundin, ang mga patakarang pang-ekonomiya at nangingibabaw na pananaw sa kababaihan ang magtatakda sa posibilidad at limitasyon ng paglahok ng kababaihan sa mga panlipunang kilusan, kabilang na ang kilusang paggawa.

Bilang isang imperyalistang bansa, bahagyang pinalawak ng Estados Unidos ang kapitalistang sektor ng Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng tuwirang pamumuhunan at di-pantay na kalakalan. Gayunpaman, pinanatili nito ang atrasadong agrikultural na produksyon at relasyon sa malaking bahagi ng bansa para magsilbing pagmumulan ng murang hilaw na materyales. Kaya habang lumaki ng bahagya ang sektor ng manggagawang Pilipino, nanatili ang malaking reserba ng murang lakas-paggawa sa kanayunan. Kung

18

gayon, magkaugnay na malawak na atrasadong kanayunan at kulumpon ng iilang lungsod na may bahagyang industriyal na produksyon ang naging katangian ng pag-unlad ng Pilipinas sa panahon ng Amerikano. Ang ganitong materyal na kaayusan ay magpapanatili sa mga kaisipan at pananaw na maiugnay pa sa paghahari ng mga Kastila kaugnay ng pagiging agrikultural ng bansa at ng paglaganap ng mga bagong pananaw at kaisipang maikakawing sa isang antas ng pag-unlad na inilatag ng mga Amerikano.

Kaya kahit na mapaloob ang kababaihang Pilipino sa bayarang paggawa bunga ng bahagyang paglawak ng modernong sektor ng ekonomiya sa Pilipinas, ang katangian ng kanilang gawain, ang kondisyon ng kanilang paggawa ay nakabalot sa dominanteng patriarkal na pananaw sa kanila bilang mga babae na ang pangunahing papel sa lipunan ay bilang ina at bilang sekundaryo sa kalalakihan na siyang nangibabaw na pananaw sa kababaihan na lumaganap sa panahon ng kolonyalismong Espanyol.

Sa kabilang banda, ang limitadong kapitalistang pag-unlad sa panahon ng kolonyal na paghahari ng Estados Unidos sa Pilipinas ay matabang lupa para sa paglitaw, paglakas at pagsigla ng kilusang paggawa at kilusang kababaihan. Ang mga kilusang ito ang makapaglikha ng mga kontra-kaisipang makaka-impluwensiya sa “subjectivity� ng kababaihang manggagawa at maging batayan para sa kanilang paghulagpos sa nangingibabaw na pangkasariang ideolohiyang naglilimita sa kanilang papel sa lipunan.

Ang interaksyon at hugpungan ng mga ito, ang ekonomiyang pampulitikang itinayo ng kolonyalismong Amerikano, ang pangkasarian pananaw, ang kilusang paggawa at ang kilusang kababaihan ang konseptwal na tanglaw sa pagsusuri sa papel ng kababaihang manggagawa sa panahon ng kolonyal na paghahari ng mga Amerikano.

Unang Ilustrasyon: Ang Marxistang Pagsusuri sa Relasyon ng Ekonomiya, Superistruktura at ang Kilusang Paggawa at Kababaihan

19

Ikalawang Ilustrasyon: Ang Hugpungan ng Ekonomiya, Paggawa, Uri at Kasarian

20

Mga Tala: Ang artikulong ito ay ang aking teoretikal na balangkas sa disertasyong “Babae, Obrera, Unyonista, Ang Kababaihan sa Kilusang Paggawa sa Maynila, 1901-1941” para sa Doktorado sa Araling Pilipino sa Kolehiyo ng Agham Panlipunan at Pilosopiya ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Diliman.

Nailathala ito bilang Apendiks sa aklat na may ganoon ding pamagat na inilabas ng University of the Philippines Press noong 2011. Maaaring gamitin ito sa pagtuturo ng Marxistang tindig at lapit sa isyu ng kababaihan.

1

Tingnan ang Lydia Sargent, ed., Women and Revolution: A Discussion of the Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism, Boston: South End Press 1981; at Zillah R. Eisenstein, ed. Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979.

2 Karl Marx. “Critique of Political Economy” nasa Reader in Marxist Philosophy, Selected and Edited by Howard Selsam and Harry Martel. New York: International Publisher, 1963, p.

186.

3 Frederich Engels, “Letter to Joseph Bloch “(1898), Marx and Engels Selected Correspondence from Reader in Marxist Philosophy, op.cit. mp. 204-206.

4 Marx to L. Kugelmann, December 12, 1868 at Vladimir Ilyich Lenin,”Speech at the First All-Russia Congress of Working Women” November 19, 1918 nasa The Emancipation of Women: From the Writings of V.I. Lenin, Moscow: International Publishers: 1966, p. 114.

5 Frederich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, New York: International Publishers, 1973, mp. 71-72.

6 Mao Tsetung . “ Report of an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” March 1927 sa Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume I, mp. 44-46.

7 August Bebel sa Woman and Socialism sa http://www.marxists.org/archive/bebel/1879/woman-socialism/ch13.htm.

8 Alexandra Kollontai , “The Social Basis of the Woman Question” sa http://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1909/social-basis.htm na mula sa Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, Allison & Busby, 1977. (walang pagpapahina ang batis).

9 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin na sinipi ni Clara Zetkin sa “Lenin on the Woman's Question” sa The Emancipation of Women: From the Writings of V.I. Lenin, Moscow: International Publishers: 1966, p. 114.

10 Ibid., 115.

11 Kollontai, op. cit.

12 Linda Burnham and Miriam Louie. “The Impossible Marriage: A Marxist Critique of Socialist Feminism” sa Line of March, A Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification, Oakland California: Institute for Social and Economic Studies, 1985. p. 108.

13 Kollontai, op.cit.

14 Elizabeth Uy Eviota, The Political Economy of Gender, Women and the sexual division of labour in the Philippines. London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd, 1992, mp. 11-17.

21

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

#RescuePH or why the class struggle is alive and kicking Sarah Raymundo Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

#RescuePH or why the class struggle is alive and kicking Sarah Raymundo sarahraymundo@yahoo.com

The current state of calamity caused by floods from southwest monsoon rains has matched if not surpassed that of the tropical storm Ondoy in 2009. It has affected at least one million people, killed 19 as of Wednesday morning, left major cities and at least five provinces in Luzon severely inundated.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo claims an improved preparedness and prevention for calamities such as floods. However, images of massive flooding in news reports and other media tell us otherwise.

DILG vs KMU Robredo on Wednesday morning stressed that “the government is doing its part with regard to disaster readiness. The public should do their part, too. The first half of the work is always with the government, and the other half is with the citizens…What we are trying to say to the public is that, 'Hey, this is what we are doing. Tumulong naman kayo. [do your share at the very least]” Meanwhile, rescue and relief operations speak of another truth.

Beginning Tuesday, a disaster was in full swing as continuous torrential rains impacted on the lives of poor people living in towns and cities of Luzon. Homes were buried by landslides or swept by floodwaters. Overflowing dams continued to release water. Poor people were forced out of their houses to evacuation centers. Worse, some people died of electrocution and drowning.

But, too, beginning Tuesday, Kilusang Mayo Uno (May One Movement), together with other labor advocates created Task Force Obrero, a relief mission for workers and their families. Its poster states that the sectors “most affected by the incessant rains, flooding and other calamities are the communities of workers and urban poor.”

What do natural calamities tell us about the present? What is missing in the explosion of the discourses on disaster management and preparedness, which include rescue and relief operations in times like this?

Context: Risks of Post-Politics Bill Clinton's Happy 90s marked the era of neoliberalism, the end of the struggle for economic redistribution and the disappearance of the proletariat and its universal class interest into thin air. For a while, the world was pacified by the trickle down campaign that was "bound to come true" with the

23

worldwide ratification of the WTO's GATT (now GATS). For a little bit, religious revivalism held sway in terms of mobilizing people around collective endeavors. For a time, people believed that our biggest problem was the all too general yet all too specific problem of risk: First, it tells us that we must alter our notions of human agency and social organization. That there is no such thing as a system which we can blame for what and how we are and so we must take full responsibility for what we have become indicates symbolic deficiency. We are not supposed to identify the existence of an entity to which we can connect all of our combined disappointment and disenchantment with life.

Second, it instructs us to recognize the probability of an ecological catastrophe based on nebulous accounts of its causes and possible solutions. It is precisely the manufacturing of uncertainty that makes this catastrophe imminently real. Supposedly a universal feature of contemporary life, manufactured uncertainty conceals the socio-economic bases of so-called risks. We are told that if big corporations do things (earn profits) whose consequences are beyond their control (environmental hazards), so do ordinary people like us. Therefore, we are equally responsible for the risky effects of our choices. The invisible hand of the market gets off the hook. People are to be blamed for the disasters that kill them. Big corporations are supposed to be valued for their CSRs (corporate social responsibility--perhaps the only act of contrition that guarantees more profit).

And that is the condition which the high priests of post-politics/postmodernism call the end of ideology? The pragmatist, the one who is supposedly free from ideology, one whose popular appeals capture the attention of a broad audience is the eclectic whose expertise lies in gathering a diversity of views under a common cause that is not supposed to halt the accumulation of profit as we speak.

Allegedly, only an ideology(dirt)-free advocacy can push effectively for people's concrete needs and demands.

This eclectic expert, like any traditional politician trained in the corrupt imperialist ways of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's Structural Adjustment Program, also loves to talk about nation building, citizenship, and the need for a public discussion or debate in order to arrive at democratic decisions that will govern social life.

At this point, a reminder of what Zizek refers to as “unknown knowns” is in order (“things we do not know that we know”). Our politicians and “ideology-free radical moderates” know that social welfare that stems from state subsidy is being diminished by the economic imperatives of neoliberalism. As a strategy of accumulation and social discipline exploited by the Imperialist U.S. and its allies in satellite nation, neoliberalism can only work through the privatization of the fulfillment of basic human needs.

But it can work better through the empowerment of private corporations/big business to respond to basic human needs through private-public partnerships (PPP is a crafty way of politicians to legitimize the enabling role of the state in empowering big business). Peoples' economic struggle depoliticized through cuts in social welfare combined with more deceptive privatizing social welfare schemes such as conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and the proliferation of NGOs also impact on people's collective participation. For how can one expect an active citizenry attuned to the ways of deliberative democracy in the context of a depoliticized economy? So instead of politicizing social affairs to make the economy serve society, what we have is the administration of social affairs to make society serve the economy (Karl Polanyi is not amused in his grave).

State of Emergency Walter Benjamin's powerful insight into the state of emergency clarifies the same condition not as an exception but the rule in the history of the oppressed. The retooling of U.S. Imperialism in the 90s, and the current constellation that such retooling has completed make up the deadly current of neoliberal

24

globalization to which we are all supposed in sink or swim. It is the state of emergency against which the oppressed is bound to make history. But just how in the current constellation when the state and its ideological apparatuses dogmatically preach that ideological divisions no longer exist? That we no longer have a sizable working class to comprise the Internationale and unite the human race?

That the victims of natural calamities are poor people from the peasant and the working classes, from the urban poor semi-proletariat, and the slum dwellers is telling of the current status of imperialist buzz words such as “modernization,” “development,” “free market”: they are empty slogans of a moribund system that continues to enjoy structural adjustment precisely to avoid change.

This condition plainly reveals that our society has not run out of oppressed and exploited people to push the right buttons for social transformation. More importantly, it exposes the extent to which postpolitics as the corresponding ideology of imperialist globalization has concealed the articulation of social antagonisms. This is the necessary consequence of the innermost logic of capitalism. And it is revolting and despicable because it takes away hopes, lives, and futures.

But the class struggle is alive and kicking through the politicization of crucial biopolitical events such as natural disasters. The activation of voluntarism among ordinary citizens through their engagement in relief missions directed towards helping poor people survive is NOT an ugly picture of pacification and charity winning over criticism and radicalization.

Why are we ever so mobilized to do things for others in times of natural disasters? Why, for instance, were people furious upon learning that some BPO company still required its call center agents to go to work as “they don't take orders from government?” Why do we shed tears for strangers trapped in their houses? For babies and sick people shut in flooded hospitals? For informal settlers and street vendors who now have nothing to lose? Why is this not an occasion to blame the poor for their fate?

Because we still need a class standpoint. We still need a proletarian position to stake a claim on labor that was rendered, on life that was hard and dedicated to hard labor, and to other lives. We still need a proletarian position to stake a claim on life, on labor and on the future against the bourgeois state that relentlessly steals them away. And in doing so, we overtake ourselves towards the future, “one acts now as if the future one wants to bring about is already here (Badiou's futur anterieur or the time of the fidelity to the event cf Zizek, 2008:460).”

When KMU opened an opportunity for a relief mission for workers and their families, and insisted that the “most affected by the incessant rains, flooding and other calamities are the communities of workers and urban poor,” it politicized a biopolitical event that targets the weakest link in the global capitalist constellation. The Faustian monster (capital) is exposed for what it is: it devours the source of labor (workers) that created it to begin with. More significantly, KMU opened a space for us to overtake ourselves towards the future-- to engage in voluntarism which involves large-scale collective decisions to provide immediate relief for the laboring majority. When people are mobilized by proletarian rehearsals of overcoming disasters, the class struggle is alive and kicking in Third World countries like our very own.

Reference: Zizek, Slavoj. 2008. In Defense of Lost Causes. London:Verso

25

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Kalamidad at Kultura ng Disaster: Pagdestrungka sa Politika ng Kawanggawa at Terorismong Dulot ng Estado [Calamity and Disaster Culture: Uncovering Charity and State Terrorism] Choy Pangilinan Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Kalamidad at Kultura ng Disaster: Pagdestrungka sa Politika ng Kawanggawa at Terorismong Dulot ng Estado [Calamity and Disaster Culture: Uncovering Charity and State Terrorism] Choy Pangilinan kontradiskurso@gmail.com

Ang tanong na nag-uusig ay bakit palagiang walang pananagutan ang estado sa tuwing may sakuna? Simple lamang ang sagot, sapagkat ang estado, na siyang tiga pag dambana ng kapital at diskurso ng neoliberalismo, ang pinakamalaking sakuna sa sambayanang Filipino.

Ang pagpapadanas sa atin ng pambansa-estado kung sa paanong paraan uunawain, haharapin, at iigpawan ang mga panlipunang kaganapan gaya ng kalamidad at disaster ay marapat sipatin bilang mga pagpapakaranasan at diskursong hubad na sa kanyang katotohanan. Ibig sabihin, ang pagpapaunawa sa atin ukol sa kaganapan – gaya ng nakalipas na baha na dulot ng hanging habagat o ang mga nauna pang mga panlipunang sakuna na sadyang hinarap ng bansa – ay hinabi at nilirip na batay sa pangangailangan at ideolohikal na kumpigurasyon ng estado. Ang kaganapan, kung gayon, ay nagiging isa ng non-event tuwing niyayapos at sinasalansan muli ito ng estado para sa konsumpsiyon ng nakararami. Non-event sapagkat ang natutunghayan ay isa ng kaganapan mula sa umakda, nag-ugit at arkitekto nito na sadya namang lutang na mula sa kanyang materyalidad, poltikal, historikal, at panlipunang kontexto.

Kung kaya't sa larang ng namamayaning pambansang imahinaryo, ang angkop na tugon lamang para lutasin ang isang konkretong panlipunang suliranin ay ang mga pansamantala, ampaw, huwad, at kung minsan pa nga'y mga anti-mamamayang solusyon gaya ng relief operations, infrastructural development, modernisasyon, relokasyon, demolisyon, at pagbunton ng sisi sa hanay ng mga maralitang tiga-lungsod bilang salik sa paglala ng kalagayan tuwing nalulunod ang siyudad at karatig probinsiya sa baha.

Paratihang inilalayo ng pambansa-estado ang mga mamamayan upang sana'y mabatid at masiyasat na ang mga kalamidad at disaster, gaya din ng isyu ng kahirapan at politikal na pamamaslang halimbawa, ay mga kaganapan at kondisyong dapat batirin bilang sosyo-politikal, sosyo-ekonomiko, at historikal na danas ng isang lipunang may dysfunctional at anti-mamamayang gobyerno. Sa halip, ang palagiang iniaangat na diskurso ay ang isang pamahalaang marunong magkawanggawa, maka-mamamayan, at handang tumulong sa kanyang nasasakupan. Kung kaya't sa huli, paratihang walang pananagutan at accountability ang estado sa paghihirap at material na kondisyon ng sambayanan.

Ang obscurity na ito sa kaganapan ang pangunahing layon ng estado upang disarmahan at madepolitisa ang mamamayan upang disin sana'y mabatid ang tunay na kontexto ng mga panlipunang kaganapan gaya ng disaster. Sa salita nga ng antropologong si Oscar Lewis, ang ganitong pagpapatining ng diskurso ng “kultura ng kahirapan� ang nagiging balakid sa realisasyon ng masa na ang antas ng kanilang kondisyon ay paratihang kakawil ng antas o pangkalahatang layon, polisiya at prayoridad ng kanyang pamahalaan (Lewis, 217-224). Sa kaso natin, ng isang estadong nakasukob sa ideolohiya ng kapitalismo at neo-liberal na globalisasyon. Ang ilang batayang mga salik gaya ng dispalinghadong urbanisasyon, pribatisasyon ng lupa, uneven at underdevelopment ng bansa dahil sa mala kolonyal at

27

mala pyudal na katauhan nito, kahirapan dulot ng naghaharing iilan, metropolitanisasyon ng siyudad at buhay ng mamamayan (hiram ang termino kay Tadiar), deforestation, pagpapasok ng mga multinasyunal sa larang ng pagmimina, misalokasyon ng panlipunang badyet para bigyang prayoridad ang laban kontra insurhensiya, at failure ng mga panlipunang istruktura ay mga diskursong pilit na kinukubli, nililihim at pinapaanod ng estado sa tuwing nakakaranas ang bansa ng kalamidad. Ang mga iniaangat nilang suliranin ay walang pagkakaiba sa hangarin nilang magtulos ng hangganan at limitasyon sa kung papaano lamang ba maaaring tanggapin ang isang panlipunang diskurso tunay na dulot ng isang pabayang estado.

Sa ganitong ideolohikal na posisyon natin dapat binabasa at dinedestrungka ang akto halimbawa ng 'kawanggawa' na nakikita sa mga relief operations drive ng mga nasa hanay ng civil society, mga institusyon (gaya ng media, paaralan, simbahan, NGO), mga indibidwal, at estado. Ang akto ng relief operations o diskurso ng kawanggawa ay hindi nga lamang dapat sipatin bilang mga band-aid solutions sa mas malaking problemang panlipunan ngunit mas pa bilang mga hakbanging nag-aangat at nagsisilbing reapirmasyon sa imahe ng estado sa publikong espero.

Ang relief operations ang nosyon ng estado sa kanilang kunwang funktionalidad para lutasin ang isang konkreto at sistemikong suliraning panlipunan. At kung galing naman ito sa ibang sektor, ito ay isang uri ng pagsalo sa kakulangan ng estado, paglahok sa ideolohikal na makinarya nito bilang mga suheto, at pagkunsinti sa mismong mga iskema ng isang pamahalaang baog at lumpo. Kinikitil nito ang posibilidad at potensyal ng mamamayan para masipat ang tunay na lugar o kawalang lugar nila sa pagkatao ng kanilang estado. At ang problema dito, natatapos ang sakuna ng walang inaako ang estado at kaakibat naman nito na ang nakikitang redempsiyon lamang ng mamamayan mula sa kanilang pag-iral at kalagayan ay nakasukob lamang sa isang plastic bag na naglalaman ng isang kilong bigas, dalawang dilata, dalawang instant noodles, stampita, poster ng politiko o organisasyon nagbigay, at isang sachet ng pagasa.

Ang akto din ng relief operations o paglahok dito, ng hindi pinapabatid sa tao ang puno't dulo ng mga kalamidad at ang pangangailangan na panagutin ang estado ukol dito, ay tila pagiging bahagi pa ng pagayuda sa lohika at pamamayagpag ng kultura ng kahirapan at katahimikan sa hanay ng mga nasalanta.

Ang nais kong ipunto dito ay kung ang akto na pagbibigay tulong o kawanggawa ay walang masisteng panunuri sa kaganapan, natitiyak na ito ay magiging daluyan lamang ng isang dekontextualisado at depolitisadong pagsipat sa mga bagay bagay. Ibig sabihin, ang paglahok sa ganitong siklikal na pagbibigay lunas sa kalagayan ng nasalanta na palagian nating nararanasan bilang bahagi ng pambansang meta naratibo sa tuwi't tuwinang humaharap ang bansa sa kalamidad ay pagiging kalahok at kawal pa ng estado sa kanilang hungkag na pag-iral.

Ang pag-iral ng mga relief operations tuwing may kalamidad ay maaari ngang tingnan bilang kaganapang tunay na nagbibigay relief sa estado na dapat sana'y may accountability lalo na upang sa larangan ng pagbibigay ng marangal na buhay sa mamamayang Filipino. Sa katunayan, sa ganang akin lamang, ang paglahok sa relief operations, na para sa ilan ay isang uri ng “pilantropikong kapitalismo” (Tolentino), “kolektibong indibidwalismo,” gitnang uring guilt ay maaari ngang sipatin bilang pag-iral sa sinasabi ni Tadiar na “capitalist humanity.” Ito yaong mga pagkilos ng mga suheto batay sa iginagawad na ahensiya ng nagtatakda, estado at lohika ng kapitalismo.

Kailangang basahin natin sa ibang lente ang umiiral na kultura ng disaster. Higit itong umiigting at tumitimo sa kamalayan ng nakararami dahil na din sa sabwatan ng media at estado para idesimina ang kanilang ideolohiya. Mahalagang isipin, na gaya ng kampanya ng estado para supilin ang rebolusyon ng masang Filipino, na ang lahat ng kanilang ginagawa, gaya na lamang ng kawanggawa, ay nakapakat sa diskurso ng “winning hearts and minds.” Nais ng estado na sakupin ang ating mga kamalayan at pag-iral, gaya ng hangarin nilang pasubalian at wakasan ang rebolusyonaryong pagkilos tungo sa panlipunang pagbabago, upang hindi makita ng sambayan na ang lahat ng kaganapan ay dulot na din ng pandarahas ng estado. Kung kaya't sa huli, marapat nating matanto, na ang karahasan, hilakbot, pasakit, paghihirap ng

28

mamamayan sa tuwing may kalamidad, ay isang kaganapang dulot ng isang pabaya, inutil, at teroristikong estado.

Ito ang terorismo ng estado sa kanyang mamamayan.

29

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Neoliberalismo at Pambansang Wikang Filipino [Neoliberalism and Filipino National Language] Gonzalo A. Campoamor II Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Neoliberalismo at Pambansang Wikang Filipino [Neoliberalism and Filipino National Language] Gonzalo A. Campoamor II g_lovecamp@yahoo.com

Many appreciate the provision on Filipino (both as language and as term) in the 1987 Constitution as the nascence of the truly national language and a product of a very hopeful if not ultimately positive transition from a dictatorship to a rebirth of “democracy.” But as with the perceived minimal gains of the 24-year history of the 1973 Constitutional provision on language, the now 25 year-old national language, notwithstanding its gains throughout the years, is yet to achieve its rightful place in Filipino society. Indeed, while we now celebrate Filipino as legitimate medium of mass media and schools, pedagogues and editors continue to seek for a standardized, if not clear definition of the national language. I believe that when Article XIV of the Constitution labeled Filipino as an evolving (and yet to be fully developed) language, it merely opened up the language to various intemperately liberal interpretations. Indeed, people outside the small circle of Filipino advocates liberally substitute the terms “Tagalog” and “Pilipino” to mean “Filipino.” This paper seeks to analyze the generational history of the national language in the context of the neoliberal world order which made its way into the country during the 1980s and has since molded the country by way of ideological codification, mode of governance, and policy packages. Neoliberalism is the monopoly capitalist attempt to remedy the global 'structural crisis' caused by the decline of the profit rate in main capitalist countries and manifested by the recession brought out by the mid-1970s oil shock. Key western countries during this time were determined to regain their economic foothold by bringing back elements of classical liberalism of the enlightenment era, only this time applying very similar economic and ideological principles to a highly globalized world. It is during this time when several trends in forging a national language emerge in the Philippines, particularly those led by the linguists (E. Constantino, C. Paz, and others), the “Tagalogs” (V. Almario and others), and the progressives (National Democratic movement), not to mention the English sellouts, the Spanish romanticist-stragglers, and the language cop-outs. It is the aim of this historical analytical paper to prove that the objective conditions during which Filipino was constitutionally designated as and henceforth would be developed as national language acted as both boon and bane on the strengths and weaknesses of the 25 year-old language. It further argues that although it was eventually the linguists that prevailed in the determination and development of the national language in the 1980s and the 1990s, other trends scored their own triumphs (i.e., attempts at standardizing the language and analyzing the language in the context of class struggle). The paper metaphorically views Filipino as “comparative advantage” – the Ricardoan classical liberalist concept of free trade – which interestingly mirrors the constitutionally mandated liberalism in forging a national language. Given the current waning legitimacy of neoliberalism, the paper ends by delineating the challenges that the Filipino language and its advocates face in the 21st century.

31

Introduksiyon MARAMI ANG TUMATANGKILIK SA PROBISYONG PANGWIKA NG KONSTITUSYONG 1987 na nagtatakda sa Filipino (kapuwa bilang wika at bilang lehitimong termino) bilang pagsilang ng isang tunay na pambansang wika at isang produkto ng pag-asa sa at positibong transisyon mula sa diktadurya tungo sa “demokrasya.” Pero sa kabila ng malalaking tagumpay ng probisyon, hindi pa rin naaabot ng Filipino ang karapa't dapat nitong lugar sa lipunang Pilipino, sa kabila ng dalawampu't limang taong pagiging pambansang wika. Habang ipinagdiriwang natin ang Filipino bilang lehitimong midyum sa mass media at sa mga paaralan, patuloy na gumagalugad ang mga guro at ang mga manunulat ng isang estandardisado, kung hindi man isang malinaw na pagpapakahulugan sa pambansang wika. Hindi pa kabilang dito ang patuloy na pamamayagpag at pagtutulak sa Ingles at ang hindi pa natin nararanasang epekto sa pambansang wika at sa bansa ng patakarang K to 12 at Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE). Ang pambungad ng probisyong pangwika ng Konstitusyong 1987 ay: “The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.” Tiyak na may kani-kaniya tayong ekstensyonal na pagpapakahulugan o positibo at negatibong interpretasyon sa mga pariralang “as [Filipino] evolves” (habang pumapaloob ang Filipino sa ebolusyon) at “[Filipino] shall be further developed and enriched” (ibayong pauunlarin at payayamanin ang Filipino). Hindi ko na ibubulalas kung ano ang pansarili kong interpretasyon sa mga pariralang iyon, pero naniniwala ako na ang mga parirala ring iyon ang nagbukas sa iba't ibang liberal na interpretasyon sa pambansang wika, gaya ng ipaliliwanag ko maya-maya. Sa katunayan, hanggang sa kasalukuyan, maliban lamang sa mga napapaloob sa maliit na sirkulo ng mga intelektuwal at nagtataguyod sa Filipino, liberal na ihinahalili ng mga tao ang mga terminong “Tagalog” at “Pilipino” upang tukuyin ang “Filipino.”

Tatangkain ko ngayong umaga ang maglatag sa inyo ng isang panghenerasyong kasaysayan1 ng pambansang wika. Isinasakonteksto ko ito sa nakapangyayaring kaayusang mundo (world order) na neoliberalismo na pumaloob sa bansa noong dekada 1980 at mula noo'y nakapag-establisa ng matibay ng pundasyon sa bansa sa pamamagitan ng kodipikasyong ideolohikal, paraan ng pamamahala, at kalipunan ng patakaran (Steger at Roy 2010; Holborow 2006; Levidow 2002). Neoliberalismo ang tawag sa tangka ng monopolyong kapitalista na matugunan ang “estruktural na krisis” sa global na ekonomiya na dulot ng pagbaba ng tantos ng ganansiya (profit rate) sa mga pangunahing kapitalistang bansa.

Nadama ang krisis na ito sa paghina ng ekonimiyang dulot ng oil shock sa kalagitnaan ng dekada 1970 at sa krisis sa utang ng mahihirap na bansa dahil sa pag-akyat ng interest rate noong 1979. Sa mga panahong iyon, determinado ang mga susing bansa sa kanluran upang manumbalik ang ekonomikong kapangyarihan nito sa pamamagitan ng paghugot sa mga elemento ng klasikal na liberalismo noong panahon ng kaliwanagan (enlightenment era) at ilapat ang kahalintulad na prinsipyong ekonomiko at ideolohikal sa isang lubos na globalisadong daigdig ng kasalukuyan. Kapansin-pansing kasabay ng neoliberal na panahong ito ang pag-usbong ng ilang tunguhin (trend) sa paghubog ng pambansang wika sa Pilipinas. Partikular kong tinutukoy rito ang sa “mga lingguwista (Ernesto Constantino, Consuelo Paz at iba pa), ang “mga Tagalog” (Virgilio Almario at iba pa), at ang mga progresibong grupo (Kilusang Pambansa Demokratiko). Hindi ko na isinama rito ang mga maka-Ingles (English sellouts), ang mga idealistikong makabayang kontra-Ingles (anti-English idealist nationalists), ang mga nalalayong-landas na romantisistang maka-Espanyol (Spanish romanticist-stragglers), ang mga sumuko nang pag-usapan ang wika (language cop-outs), at ang mga natataguyod ng inang wika at multilingguwal na edukasyon (partikular ang DepEd) nang walang paninindigan sa pambansang wika. Tunguhin ng sanaysay na ito na maipakita kung papaanong nakabuti at nakasama o nakapagpalakas o nakapagpahina sa dalumat ng wikang pambansa ang mga obhetibong kondisyong dulot ng ekonomiko at politikal na pananaig na neoliberalismo mulang 1987 hanggang kasalukuyan. Sasabihin din ng papel na bagaman ang “mga lingguwista” ang nanaig sa pagtukoy at pagpapaunlad sa pambansang wika noong mga dekadang 1980 at 1990, nakapagtala rin ng sarili nilang tagumpay ang iba pang mga trend (i.e., ang pagtatangkang gawing estandardisado ang wika at ang pagsusuri sa wika sa konteksto ng tunggalian ng uri). Sa ilang pagkakataon ay ituturing ang Filipino bilang “komparatibong bentaha” (comparative advantage)

32

(Ricardo 1821/2001), konseptong klasikal na liberalismo sa malayang kalakalan na sumasalamin sa itinakda ng Konstitusyong liberalismo sa paghubog ng pambansang wika. Dahil sa naglalahong lehitemasiya ng neoliberalismo, magtatapos ang sanaysay sa pamamagitan ng paglalarawan sa mga hamon sa pambansang wikang Filipino at sa mga tagapagtaguyod nito.

Liberalismo at Neoliberalismo Masaklaw2 na termino ang “neoliberalismo” na tumutukoy sa mga espesipikong patakarang global na naglalayong ideregula ang mga pambansang ekonomiya, iliberalisa ang internasyonal na kalakalan, at lumikha ng iisang global na merkado (Steger at Roy 2010, x). Nakabatay ang prinsipyong ito, na reaksiyon ng mayayamang bansa partikular ng Estados Unidos at ng Europa sa estruktural na krisis pang-ekonomiya noong dekada 1970, sa paghugot ng mga elemento ng (klasikal na) liberalismong nagpasigla sa ekonomiya ng rehiyon noong kapanahunan nito (siglo-17 at -18). Kabilang sa mga elementong ito ang mga kaisipang tinukoy ng mga klasikal na liberalistang sina Adam Smith at David Ricardo bilang “malayang kalakalan” at “laissez-faire” (o pagpapaubaya sa naisin ng mga mamamayan) gaya ng mas sumisigla ang ekonomiya at kalakalan kung hindi ito pinakikialaman ng gobyerno at ng tiyak na tagumpay ng kalayaan sa pangangalakal dahil bawat bansa ay may kanikaniyang espesyalisasyon sa produksiyon ng kalakal o komparatibong bentaha sa kalakal kumpara ng sa ibang bansa (ibid., 3). Samakatwid, tinitiyak ng “di-nakikitang kamay” (invisible hand) ng merkado ang episyente at epektibong alokasyon ng mga resource habang sabay na naseseguro ang mapayapang pagpapalitan ng kalakal sa pagitan ng mga nasyon (ibid.). Naglaho lamang ang lehitimasiya ng (klasikal na) liberalismo nang sisihin ang mga idea at praktika nito bilang dahilan ng Great Depression (Dakilang Depresyon) nang mga dekada 1920 at 1930. Sa katunayan, ang nasabing depresyon ay dulot ng siklikal na pagtamlay, kung hindi man pana-panahong pagbagsak, ng burges na kapitalismo sa isang banda, at ng sumisidhing rebolusyong sosyalista sa parehong panahon. Ang tinaguriang Keynesianismo3 ang papalit sa liberalismo bilang kaayusang mundo mulang 1945 hanggang 1975. Ang panahong ito, na tinatawag ding “ginintuang panahon ng kontroladong kapitalismo,” ay sustansiyal na naiba sa liberalismo dahil sa ipinailalim sa kontrol ng mga gobyerno ang daloy paloob at palabas ng pera ng kanikanilang bansa (ibid., 5). Gayumpaman, muling dumanas ng pana-panahong pagtamlay ang burges na kapitalismo, at kinailangang muling halinhan ang kaayusang mundo, sa pagkakataong ito, mula Keynesianismo tungong neoliberalismo sa pamamagitan ng pagpapanumbalik ng mga elemento ng klasikal na liberalismo sa patakarang ekonomiko ng daigdig. Ang pangunahing suliranin dito ay ang mismong pagpataw ng malayang kalakalan sa panahon ng lubos na globalisasyong dulot ng maunlad na teknolohiya sa transportasyon at komunikasyon. Ang mabilis na paraan ng pag-export at pag-import ng hilaw na materyal at maging ng kalakal na lalong pinalakas ng mahusay na komunikasyon sa pamamagitan ng internet, mass media, at iba pang instrumentong teknolohikal ang nagseseguro ng hindi patas na kalakalan, o isang kalakalang tumitiyak sa monopolyo ng mga susing kalakal ng mga piling mayayamang bansa. Maging ang idea ng klasikal na liberalistang si Ricardo na komparatibong bentaha ay nalilimitahan ng antas ng halaga ng mga espesyalisadong kalakal ng bawat bansa (i.e., mananatiling mahirap ang mga bansang itinatakda ng global na pinansiya para lumikha at mangalakal lamang ng produktong higit na mababa ang halaga, kumpara sa mga mamahaling yari-nang produkto ng mayayamang bansa).

Sa konteksong lokal, walang naibahaging pangmatagalang solusyon sa kahirapan ang ilang dekadang imposisyon ng agendang neoliberal sa bansa, bagkos ay lalo pang nakalala sa lokal na krisis pang-ekonomiya. Makikita sa Tala 1 ang listahan ng mga nasyonal na patakarang pumapabor sa neoliberal na globalisasyon sa loob ng tatlong dekada (AUPAEU 2011).

33

Tala 1. Mga neoliberal na patakaran sa Pilipinas mulang 1981 (AUAEU 2011) Mga Patakaran at mga Naapektuhang Salik ng Lipunan

Taon ng Pagkakatatag/ Simula

Tariff Reform Program I Tariff Reform Program II Pagdagsa ng mga dayuhang puhunan Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Pagtanggal ng kontrol sa forex (palitan ng piso) Transport na pantubig Telekomunikasyon Banking Shipping ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Tariff Reform Program III National Water Crisis Act Oil Industry Deregulation Act Airlines World Trade Organization (WTO) Retail trade Power / Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) Public-Private Partnership

1981 1991 1991 1993 1993 1992 1993 1994 1994 1992 1996 1995 1996/1998 1995 1995 2000 2001 2008 2010 2010

Tunay na isa sa mga pangunahing katangian ng neoliberal na globalisasyon ang mabilis na pagunlad ng ekonomiya ng bansa gaya ng makikita sa Larawan 1 at 2. Gayumpaman, gaya ng makikita sa mga Larawan 3, 4, 5, at 6 ang bulto ng pag-unlad na ito ay tinatamasa lamang ng mayayamang bansa at ng mga lokal na naghaharing uri sa mahihirap na bayang gaya ng Pilipinas. Samantala, ang Larawan 7 ay nagpapakita na walang pangmatagalang solusyon sa krisis ekonomiko ng bansa ang resulta ng patakarang neoliberal.

34

Larawan 1. Mabilis na pag-unlad ng ekonomiyang dulot

Larawan 2. Pagsigla ng ekonomiyang dulot ng neoliberal na globalisasyon (AUPAEU 2011)

35

Larawan 3. GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) (World Bank 2012)

Larawan 4. Mga bansa ayon sa nominal na GDP per capita noong 2008 (Wikipedia)

36

Larawan 5. (AUPAEU 2011)

Larawan 5. (AUPAEU 2011)

37

Larawan 6. (AUPAEU 2011) Ang mga nabanggit sa itaas ay bahagi ng nakapangyayari at malawak na pananaig ng global na pinansiya sa ekonomiya ng bansa. Marahil ay naitatanong ninyo ngayon kung ano ang kaugnayan nito sa wika. Gaya ng ilang beses nang tinukoy ng mga progresibong intelektuwal, ang mga ekonomikong institusyon at mga patakaran sa pandaigdigang kalakalan (gaya ng sa tinaguriang Washington Consensus) ay dinisenyo ng mayayamang bansang gaya ng Estados Unidos para iglobalisa hindi lamang ang Amerikanong kapitalismo kundi maging ang mga kaugnay nitong sistemang kultural (cf., Steger at Roy 2010, x). Pero bago ako tumungo sa mas malalimang pagtalakay sa ugnayang ito, hayaan ninyong ibahagi ko muna ang tinutukoy kong tatlong trend ng pambansang wikang umusbong sa panahon ng neoliberalismo.

Mga Trend ng Pambansang Wikang Filipino sa Panahon ng Neoliberalismo Sa loob ng panahong unti-unting nahubog ang patakarang ekonomiko batay sa neoliberal na balangkas ng global na pinansiya, umusbong (kung hindi man muling lumitaw) ang tatlong pangunahing trend sa paghubog ng pambansang wika: ang “mga Tagalog,� ang “mga lingguwista,� at ang kilusang pambansa-demokratiko sa wika. Bahagya kong ibabahagi sa inyo ang katangian ng bawat isa.

Maaaring ilarawan ang unang trend sa pamamagitan ng sumusunod na katangian4 o salik ng pambansang wika (factors of the national language) (cf. Almario 2009): 1. impatient longing for academy 2. primacy of and intimacy with well-established systematic sources 3. populist 4. organic philosopher stance 5. editor perspective 6. poet inspired, pedagogue dubiety/distrust (inspired in archaic sense "to infuse, as life, by breathing" and individualist subjectivist sense of artistry); (dubitation as in archaic sense of distrust)

38

7. quezonian 8. the written form is serious / “seryo ang pagsusulat” Ang pangalawang trend ay tinatawag kong “mga lingguwista,” gayumpaman, gaya ng sa unang trend na hindi naman lahat binubuo ng mga Tagalog, ang ikalawang trend ay binansagan lamang ng ganoon para sa pansamantalang talakayan. Dagdag pa, batay ito sa komposisyon ng mga akademistang pangunahing kinonsulta ng Constitutional Commission (ConCom) ng 1986. Nang magduda ang ilang miyembro ng ConCom sa komiteng naatasang magsulat ng borador ng probisyong pangwika para sa Konstitusyon sa pag-aakalang Tagalog lang din naman ang iminumungkahi, tumugon ang pinuno ng komite na si Komisyoner Wilfrido V. Villacorta ng: The committe would... like to point out that the persons we consulted were not Tagalogs only but mostly non-Tagalogs; namely, Dr. Ernesto Constantino and Dr. Consuelo Paz who are Ilocanos; English Professor Teresita Maceda who is a Cebuana; Dr. Bonifacio Sibayan, an Ilocano; Dr. Andrew Gonzalez, a Pampanguaño, Professor Jesus Ramos, a Bicolano and Professor Anicia del Corro, a Pampangueño. (Constitutional Commission 1986, 478) Nakasandig ang trend na ito sa mga kaisipan at pananaliksik na lingguwistiko upang tukuyin ang wikang pambansang Filipino. Maaaring ilarawan ang ikalawang trend na ito sa pamamagitan ng sumusunod na paghambing sa mga katangian ng unang trend (cf. Paz 1995):

Unang Trend (“mga Tagalog”)

Ikalawang Trend (“mga lingguwista”)

impatient longing for academy

patient wait for the development of (the national) language

primacy of and intimacy with wellestablished systematic sources

primacy of data intensive linguistics-based studies (E. Constantino at the helm; sometimes C. Lopez)

populist

(self-proclaimed) democratic; liberal

organic philosopher stance

[linguist]

editor perspective

silent on the editor plight

poet inspired, pedagogue dubiety/distrust

linguist

quezonian

vinzonian

the written form is serious / “seryo ang pagsusulat”

(Oral) communicative

Ang ikatlong trend marahil ang pinaka-hindi pamilyar ang karamihan sa silid na ito, ang sa kilusang pambansa demokratiko. Nahahalintulad ang trend na ito sa unang trend dahil sa pagkiling sa Tagalog bilang basehan ng wikang pambansa (cf. Atienza 1992; Kawsa 1998/2008), ngunit kaiba sa naunang dalawang trend, mas may impluwensiya ito sa kanayunan at bahagya lamang ang impluwensiya sa Kamaynilaan at kalungsuran. Kabilang sa mga pinagbabatayang tuntunin ng ikatlong trend ay ang mga prinsipyong:

39

1. Ang Tagalog ang basehan ng pambansang wika o Pilipino. Kayat ang sistema ng pagbabaybay sa Pilipino ay sumusunod sa sistema ng pagbabaybay sa Tagalog...

2. Ginagamit na istandard o pamantayang bigkas ang umiiral sa Kamaynilaan na siyang sentro ng komunikasyon, komersiyo at gubyerno sa Pilipinas. Sa Kamaynilaan din mas mabilis na sumusulong ang paggamit ng Pilipino, sapagkat dito nag-uugnayan ang mamamayan mula sa iba't ibang dako ng Pilipinas. (Kawsa 1998/2008, 3; akin ang diin) Masarap sanang tanungin ngayon kung alin sa tatlong trend, laluna sa naunang dalawa (“mga Tagalog” at “mga lingguwista”) na impluwensiyal sa Kamaynilaan at sa mga sentro ng mga probinsiya, ang naging pinaka-impluwensiyal sa pagtatakda ng ngayo'y dalawampu't limang taong gulang na pambansang wika. Ang sabihing lubhang kontra-demokratiko ang “mga Tagalog” sa pagpupumilit nito sa estandardisadong pambansang wikang nakabatay sa Tagalog ay sindaling sabihin ng ang neoliberal na kaayusang mundo sa nakalipas na ilang dekada ang pangunahing dahilan ng pananaig ng liberal ding tindig ng mga lingguwista sa pambansang wika. Napakadaling sabihin, pero napakirap patunayan, maliban lang kung gagawing simple, padaskol-daskol, at idealistiko ang pagpapahayag. Hindi rin ito ang punto ng aking sanaysay. Sa katunayan, ang subukang pag-awayin ang mga trend sa wika ay maituturing na tagumpay ng neoliberalismo dahil kabilang sa ideolohikal na opensiba nito ay ang ipagbukod-bukod ang disinsana'y nagkakaisang kontra-ideolohiya; ang lusawin ang kolektibong pagkilos sa pamamagitan ng mapagsamantalang pag-promote ng huwad na humanismo at indibidwal na liberalismo.

Neoliberalismo at Politika ng Wikang Pambansa Sabi ni Marx, diyalektikal ang ugnayan ng ekonomikong kaayusan at ng sosyo-politiko-kultural na estruktura ng lipunan (sa kahuli-hulihan ay mapagpasya ang una). Ang pananaig noon ng klasikal na liberalismo sa kanluran bilang tugon sa kapangyarihang ekonomiko ng mga monarkiya ay nagdulot hindi lamang ng mga makasaysayang pagbabago sa ekonomiya ng rehiyon at ng kilalang mundo kundi maging sa kaisipang politikal. Nakatutuwang isipin na sa kabila ng tunguhing ekonomiko (at sa gayo'y mapagsamantala) ng liberalismo ay naisalin ang mga ideang ekonomiko nito sa praktika ng mapagpalaya (bagaman burges na) mga rebolusyon ng siglo 17 at ng Enlightenment movement ng parehong panahon. Nakakalungkot nga lamang na sa kabila ng liberal na ugat nito, napakahirap makita ang neoliberalismo bilang nitsa ng at paghuhugutan ng impluwensiya para sa isang makabayang rebolusyon, bagkos ay tinitiyak pa nga nito ang pagseseguro sa kapitalistang pagsasamantala. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit tinawag ni Piere Bourdieu ang esensiya ng neoliberalismo bilang “utopia ng walanghanggang pagsasamantala... isang programang gigiba sa anumang estrukturang kolektibo na maaaring humadlang sa purong lohika ng merkado” (Bourdieu 1998). Susing dalumat ng neoliberalismo sa paglusaw ng kolektibo ang payak na idea ng pagiging “malaya,” halimbawa, “kalayaan sa pagpili,” at implikasyon nito sa panlipunang penomenong gaya ng wika. Komplikado ang pagteteorya hinggil dito kaya lalaktawan ko na muna, pero maaari nating pag-usapan mamaya. Sa ngayon, tututok ako sa mga praktikal na direktang epekto ng neoliberalismo sa wikang pambansa at sa mga wika sa bansa.

Dahil sa kalikasang ekonomiko ng talakayang ito, tangkain nating ituring ang wika bilang isang produkto at kalakal. Ang wika ay produkto, pero hindi sa esensiya ng produktong luwal ng pabrika o bukid; produkto ito ng mahabang kasaysayan ng grupo, bayan, o bansang nagpasya sa pagpapakahulugang maaaring gamitin sa epektibong komunikasyon (tandaan lamang na ang kahulugan ng epektibo ay maaaring ituring na neutral at maaari ring biased). Mahirap ring ituring na kalakal ang wika. Sa ekonomiyang pampolitika, itinuturing na kalakal ang anumang produkto ng paggawa ng tao, tumutugon sa partikular na pangangailangan ng tao, at nilikha para ibenta o ipagpalit sa ibang bagay.

Pero ang wika ay hindi isang produktong maaaring ikalakal sa sari-sari store, sa Mall, o sa eBay. Hindi rin maaaring ilapat sa wika ang formula ng pagtatakda ng presyo o halagang gaya ng sa karaniwang kalakal.

Ang wika ay hindi gaya ng sa sektor ng manupaktura na mada-daling natutukoy ang halaga ng produkto dahil sa materyal na katangian nito (e.g., nababatid ang kabuuang halaga ng kalakal o kabuuang karaniwang oras ng paggawang kailangan sa paglikha ng produkto pormulang [panahong ginugol sa

40

paggawa batay sa huling inilakip na halaga sa paggawa ng produkto + karaniwang oras ng paggawa na ginamit sa paglikha ng mga hilaw na materyal + bahagi ng karaniwang oras ng paggawang nakaimbak sa mga makinarya, kasangkapan at gusali, na nagastos sa paglikha ng proukto]). Pero nagsisilbing integral na sangkap ang wika ng maraming produkto at kalakal, gaya ng sa mga textbook sa paaralan, sa mga prosa at mga tula, sa mga diksiyonaryo sa iba't ibang wika, sa mga pelikula at telenobela at iba pang anyo ng mass media na kadalasa'y isinasalin pa sa ibang wika upang lumawak ang abot at sakop ng kalakal. Samakatwid, sa halip na ituring na produkto o kalakal ang wika ay maaari itong ituring na puhunan.

Ayon sa ilang pagsusuri ni Monica Heller (2010, 104), dahil sa mga espesipikong katangian ng bagong anyo ng globalisadong ekonomiya (na kinapapalooban ng neoliberalismo), unti-unting nagkakaroon ng sentral na papel ang wika kapuwa bilang paraan sa pagsasakatuparan ng gawa (“the work process”) at bilang isang produkto ng gawa (“the work product”). Kabilang aniya rito ang mga katangian ng global na ekonomiya na may kinalaman sa pamamahala (management), teknolohiya, kasanayan ng mga manggagawa, at mga estratehiyang marketing (ibid.): 1. Ang globalisasyon o ekspansiyong kapitalista na nangangailangan ng pamamahala sa pamamagitan ng komunikasyon sa pagitan ng mga producer, mga consumer, at ng mga ahensiyang lokal at internasyonal; 2. Kompyuterisasyon ng proseso ng paggawa na nangangailangan ng mga manggagawang taglay ang bagong anyo ng kaalaman at kakayahang pangwika; 3. Ang paglago ng isang serbisyong sektor na nakasandig sa kakayahang komunikatibo; 4. Mga tugon sa saturasyon o lubhang tigmak na merkado sa pamamagitan ng paghahanap ng “niche markets” (na nangangailangan ng mga lokal na lapit [sa pagbenta] na kadalasa'y nakatutok sa paggamit ng espesipikong wika) at sa paggamit ng simbulong kadalasa'y lingguwistiko upang madagdagan ang halaga ng produkto.

Sa mga BPO sa Pilipinas, pinakamaraming naeempleong Pilipino at pinakamalaking nalilikhang pera ang industriyang call center. Nasa bansa na noong huling bahagi pa ng dekada 1990 ang industriyang ito pero naitala ang pinakamalaking paglago nito noong bandang 2005 nang umabot sa higit sa isandaang libo ang empleado at kumita nang 1.79 bilyong dolyar (BPA/P 2006). Noong 2010, para sa tinatawag na Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, and Global In-house Centers (IT-BPO GIC) na ang industriyang call center pa rin ang pinakamalaki, naitala ng Business Processing Association Philippines (BPA/P) ang taunang kitang siyam na bilyong dolyar ($9B) at kalahating milyong (500,000) direktang empleado na t inatayang magiging dalawampung bilyong dolyar ($20B) na kita sa bansa at siyam na raang libong (900,000) empleado sa taong 2016 (BPA/P 2012). Hindi tuloy nakapagtatakang ang mismong tagapangulo ng bansa (mapaArroyo man o Benigno S. Aquino III) ang pangunahing nagmamalaki sa bayan o kaya naman ay personal na naglalako sa mga dayuhang mamumuhunan sa serbisyong “cyber” (tignan ang mga lar. 911)

Larawan 9. Si Pangulong Arroyo kasama si Michael Dell (kaliwa), Tagapangulo at Tagapagtatag ng Dell Inc. (na nakabase sa Amerika), nang bisitahin ang call center ng kompanya sa Mall of Asia sa Pasay City noong 21 Marso 2006. (Kuhang retrato ni Exec8; nasa Wikipilipinas 2007)

41

Larawan 11. Si Pangulong Aquino noong pinasinayaan ang call center ng EXL (na nakabase sa Delaware sa Amerika) sa Mall of Asia sa Pasay City noong Enero 2012. Nasa retrato rin ang pinakamatataas na Amerikanong opisyal ng EXL. (Kuhang retrato ng Malacañang; nasa Business Mirror 2012)

Larawan 10. Si Pangulong Arroyo habang binibisita ang pinakamalaking call center sa Davao City, ang Concentrix (na nakabase sa Taiwan), noong 3 Pebrero 2010. Nasa likod lamang ng Pangulo si Vincent Fan, General Manager ng kompanya. (Kuhang retrato ni A. Francisco; nasa Balita 2010)

At pangunahing dahil sa pagsang-ayon at lubusang suporta ng estado sa istratipikasyong global kung saan ang papel ng bansa ay ang magbahagi ng mababang kaledad na produksiyon (serbisyo at mabababang halagang produkto), ang malawakang pag-unlad ng call center ay nagdulot ng isang subculture laluna sa mga piling siyudad. Maraming lugar sa Metro Manila, kung saan pinakamarami ang call center,5 ang binago upang makaangkop hindi lamang sa pangangailangan ng mga kompanyang BPO kundi maging sa bagong paraan ng pamumuhay ng mga empleado sa call center. Ang mga bagong gradweyt na kumikita ng mga labingtatlong libong piso kada buwan ay inilalarawan na may paraan ng pamumuhay na hindi nalalayo sa ng mga yuppie. Napansin ng mga taong naninirahan sa paligid ng Eastwood Cyber City at Araneta Center sa Quezon City, ng distrito ng Malate sa Maynila, at ng Rockwell sa Makati ang nakakagulat na transpormasyon ng lugar na inokupa ng mga empleadong panggabi (nocturnal employees). Pinakanotable ang pagbabago ng Araneta Center dahil bago ang boom ng call center sa bansa, hindi ito dumaan sa malaking renobasyon simula nang sumikat ito noong 1976 sa bakbakang Muhammad Ali at Joe Frazier. Sa paglalarawan niya sa tipikal na empleado sa call center, minutawi ni Jorge Araneta (Tagapangulo ng Araneta Group) na sila ay “kadalasang naninirahan pa rin sa kanilang mga magulang, at ginagamit nila ang kanilang sahod para sa pansariling gastusin (kung kaya't) malaking bahagi sila ng aming merkado” (Hookway 2004; akin ang salin).

Mga Hamon sa mga Tagapagtaguyod ng Wika at Pambansang Wika Dahil ang wika ay hindi naman produkto at hindi rin kalakal (sa esensiya ng manupaktura, industriya, at merkado), batay sa nakapaabstraktong pagtingi'y maaaring sabihing totoong may kalayaan ang sinuman na gumamit ng anumang wika, anumang salita, anumang parirala, at anumang pangungusap nang hindi nangangamba sa presyo ng pagkukuwento, sa halaga ng bawat salita sa paguusisa, sa kung tutubo ng pera ang bawat pangungusap na inilahad sa isang talumpati. Pero dahil puhunang maituturing ito, kaakibat ng pagsasamantalang gaya ng sa call center na tinatapatan ng sahod ang iisang uri ng espesyal na wikang panserbisyo, maaari ring gamitin ang wika bilang kontra-gahom, o mas espesipiko, bilang kontra-kultura. Dito nanggagaling ang idea ni Bakhtin ng dayalogo at ang idea ni Gramsci ng “pilosopo ang lahat ng tao,” maging iyong mga hindi nakapagpormal na pag-aaral dahil tinitiyak ng kakayan nila sa wika ang kakayahan din nilang makipagtunggali, kahit papaano. Sabi ni Bourdieu (1977), “simbolikong kapital” ang kakayahan ng tao sa wika. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit hindi

42

kailanman magiging kasing-epektibo ang anumang wikang maliban sa (estandardisadong) wikang pambansa upang lubusang makipagtunggali sa global na pinansiya at upang tapatan ng makabayang pagkilos ang neoliberal na kaayusang mundo; kumbaga'y simbolikal na komparatibong bentaha.

Gayumpaman, ang kalakasang simbolikal ng wika ay siya ring kahinaan nito. Noong nabubuhay pa si Monico Atienza (cf., Atienza 1992), ang mentor ko sa araling wika, makailang beses niyang ipinaaalala sa akin ang sanaysay ni Mao Zedong na “Hinggil sa Kontradiksiyon.� Ayon dito, sa anumang pakikipagtunggali at upang epektibong mapangibabawan ito, mahalagang maipagbukod ang primarya o pangunahing kontradiksiyon sa sekondaryong kontradiksiyon. Kapuwa mahalagang pag-aralan at pagtuunan ng pansin ang dalawang kontradiksiyong ito, may mga panahong dapat na tumutok sa una, pero may mga panahon ding dapat tutukan ang huli. Pero sa kahuli-hulihan, mapagpasya ang pagtugon sa primaryang kontradiksiyon kaysa sa sekondaryo. Kung maresolba ang primaryang kontradiksiyon, mas madalas kaysa hindi ay sunod na mareresolba ang sekondaryo. Pero hindi nangangahulugang kapag naresolba ang sekondaryong kontradiksiyon ay awtomatikong mareresolba rin ang primarya.

Sa ganitong mga paraan natin maaaring tignan ang usapin ng wika at wikang pambansa. May mga panahong kailangan nating lubusang tutukan ang sa wakas ay pagtukoy sa hugis at anyo ng ating wikang pambansa. Pero huwag nating isiping sa usaping wika nagtatapos ang pakikipagtunggali.

Mahalagang pag-usapan ang Filipino (bilang wika at dalumat ng sambayanan) sa labas ng wika. Huwag nating gayahin ang mga postmodernistang tumutugon lamang sa patsi-patsing diskurso (contingencies) at sinusubukang hanapan ng pansamantalang solusyon ang maliliit na suliranin habang lumalayo sa mas malaking problema, at dahil dito'y nalelehitima pa. Ang pangunahing kontradiksiyon sa ating lipunan ay ang pambansang pakikipagtunggali natin sa global na pinansiya na pangunahing kinakatawanan ng neoliberalismo. Kalabanin natin ito.

Sanggunian: All-UP Academic Employees Union (AUPAEU). 2011. Continuing neoliberalism: New administration, old problems. Presentation to the general assembly based on IBON February 2011 presentation, 11 March, Recto Hall, Faculty Center, UP Diliman.

Almario, Virgilio S. 2009. Filipino ng mga Filipino: Mga problema sa ispeling, retorika, at pagpapayaman ng wikang pambansa [Filipino of the Filipinos: Problems in spelling, rhetorics, and development of the national language]. Manila: Anvil.

Atienza, Monico M. 1992. Kilusang pambansa-demokratiko sa wika [National democratic movement on language]. Lungsod Quezon: Sentro ng Wikang Filipino.

Bakhtin, Mikail. 1981. The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Balita. 2010. PGMA tours the main room of Concentrix, Davao City's largest call center facility. 4 February. Online newspaper, http://balita.ph/2010/02/04/pgma-tours-themain-room-of-concentrix-davao-citys-largest-call-center-facility/, 8 September 2012.

Bonal, Xavier. 2003. The neoliberal educational agenda and the legitimation crisis: Old and new state strategies. British Journal of Sociology of Education 24(2): 159-175.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information 16(6): 645-668.

-----. 1998. The essence of neoliberalism. Le Monde Diplomatique, December. Online paper, http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/08bourdieu, accessed 9 October 2011.

Business Mirror. 2012. Aquino: Proposed US ban on BPOs a poll play. 11 January. Online newspaper, http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/21853-aquino-proposedus-ban-on-bpos-a-poll-play, accessed 8 September 2012.

Chang, Dae-oup. 2005. Neoliberal restructuring of capital relations in East and South-East Asia. In Neoliberalism: A critical reader, ed. Alfredo Saad-Filho and Deborah Johnston, 251-258. London: Pluto Press.

Chang, Ha-Joon and Ilene Grabel. 2004. Reclaiming development. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

43

Constitutional Commission. 1986. Record of the constitutional commission: Proceedings and debates Vol. 4, ed. Pablo P. Liwanag. Republic of the Philippines.

Duménil, Gérard and Dominique Lévy. 2005. The neoliberal (counter-)revolution. In Neoliberalism: A critical reader, ed. Alfredo Saad-Filho and Deborah Johnston, 9-19.

London: Pluto Press.

Ferraro, Joseph. 1992. Freedom and determination in history according to Marx and Engels. NY: Monthly Review Press.

GMA News Online. 2012. Carbonated softdrinks top-selling products in PHL marketNielsen, 1 3 N o v e m b e r.

O n l i n e p e r i o di c a l, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/282105/economy/business/carbonatedsoftdrinks-top-selling-products-in-phl-market-mdash-nielsen, accessed 16 November.

Harper, Stephen. 2012. Beyond the left: The Communist critique of media ideology. Winchester: Zero Books.

Heller, Monica. 2010. The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology 39: 101-114.

Holborow, Marnie. 1999. The politics of English: A Marxist view of language. London: Sage Publications Ltd. -----. 2006. Ideology and language: The interconnections between neo-liberalism and English.

L' é c o le dé m o c r a t i q u e , 2 9 M a y. O n l i n e do c u m e n t , http://www.skolo.org/spip.php?article254&lang=fr, accessed 12 September 2012.

-----. 2012. Neoliberalism, human capital and the skills in higher education--the Irish case.

Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 10(1): 93-111.

-----. 2012. 'Enhancing human capital?' language and the neoliberal university. Lecture presentation, 5 October 2012, Berkeley Language Center, Berkeley, California. Online document, http://blc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/BLC_talk_Lang_Neoliberal_Uni.pdf, accessed 16 November 2012.

Kawsa (Pambansang Kawanihan sa Pagsasalin). 1996/2008. Gabay tungkol sa ispeling, bokabularyo at balarilang Pilipino [Guideline on Pilipino spelling, vocabulary and g r a m m a r ] .

R e v. e d.

O n l i n e do c u m e n t , http://www.padepaonline.com/index.php/gabay/155-gabay-tungkol-sa-ispelingbokabularyo-at-balarilang-pilipino, accessed 10 October 2012.

Levidow, Les. 2002. Marketizing higher education: Neo-liberal strategies and counterstrategies. In The virtual university? Knowledge, markets and management, ed. Kevin Robins and Frank Webster, 227-248. NY: Oxford University Press.

Paz, Consuelo J. 1985. Ang wikang Filipino: Atin ito [The Filipino language: It's ours]. Quezon City: Sentro ng Wikang Filipino.

Pechey, Graham. 2007. Mikhail Bakhtin: The word in the world. London: Routledge.

Ricardo, David. 1821/2001. On the principles of political economy and taxation. 3rd ed. reprint, Ontario: Batoche Books.

Sayer, Derek. 1979. Marx's method: Ideology, science and critique in 'Capital.' Sussex: The Harvester Press.

Smith, Tony. 2006. Globalisation: A systematic Marxian account. Leiden: Brill.

Steger, Manfred B. and Ravi K. Roy. 2010. Neoliberalism. NY: Oxford University Press.

Tan, Peter K. W. And Rani Rubdy, eds. 2008. Language as commodity: Global structures, local marketplaces. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Wikipilipinas. 2007. Call center industry in the Philippines. 17 September. Online document, http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Call_center_industry_in_the_Philippines, accessed 8 September 2012.

Wo r ld B a n k . 2 0 1 2 . G N I p e r c a p i ta , a t la s m e t h o d. O n l i n e do c u m e n t , http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD/countries?display=map, accessed 12 November.

44

Mga Tala 1

Gagamitin ko ang katagang “panghenerasyong kasaysayan” (generational history) upang matugunan, at kasabay nito’y matukoy, ang dalawampu’t limang taong kasaysayan ng pambansang wika.

2

Tinatawag kong masaklaw dahil termino itong kapuwa ginagamit ng nakapangyayari at pinangyayarihan, ng una bilang patakarang global at ng huli bilang terminong kritikal.

3

Batay sa ngalan ng pangunahing tagapag-isip at ekonomistang John Maynard Keynes, na siya ring namuno sa delegasyon ng mga Briton noong Hulyo 1944 sa Bretton Woods Conference sa Estados Unidos na mag-eestablisa ng International Monetary Fund (IMF) at ng International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (kalauna’y World Bank).

Ang nasabing kumperensiya rin ang magbibigay-daan sa pagtatakda ng mga kasunduang global na kalakalan sa pamamagitan ng General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) noong 1947, na hahalinhan ng naman ng World Trade Organization noong 1995, kung kalian nahalinhan na ng neoliberalismo ang disenyo ng mga kasunduang malayang kalakalan (cf., Steger at Roy 2010, 5).

4

May limitasyon ang gawaing gaya nito. Ang mismong gawaing sumusubok na i-teorisa ang masalimuot na dalumat laluna sa pamamagitan ng paglalapat ng mga susing salita o parirala upang katawanin ito ay nagsisilbi ring limitasyon nito sa dahilang nagiging bulnirable ito sa kontra-puntong kadalasa’y bunsod ng husgang simplipikasyon ang naturang Gawain.

5

Ayon sa website na Call Center Directory (2012), may 1,319 na call center sa bansa (noong 2006 ay 672 pa lamang ito). Pinakamarami sa Makati, Ortigas Center, at Quezon City na bumibilang sa 374, 191, at 109 (249, 131, at 64 lamang noong 2006) ayon sa pagkakasunod-sunod. Hindi nalalayo sa mga bilang na ito ang sa Cebu, Eastwood CityLibis, Mandaluyong, Maynila, Taguig, Alabang Muntinlupa, Pasig, at Pampanga.

45

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Mula Batas Militar hanggang Oplan Bayanihan [From Martial Law to Oplan Bayanihan] Rommel B. Rodriguez Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Mula Batas Militar hanggang Oplan Bayanihan [From Martial Law to Oplan Bayanihan] Rommel B. Rodriguez rommelrdrgz@gmail.com

Kung mayroon tayong itinuturing na pambansang alaala dahil sa paggunita natin sa ika-40 (apatnapung taong) anibersaryo sa pagkakadeklara ng Batas Militar sa bansa, mayroon ding iba na piniling kalimutan ang madilim nitong nakaraan. Mistulang naging selektibo kung sa anong lente ba marapat tingnan ang nakaraan, ang kasaysayan.

Tiyak, karamihan sa atin na naririto ngayo'y sa mga teksbuk ng hayskul lamang nakakuha ng mga tala o kulang-kulang na mga impormasyon tungkol sa batas militar. At karaniwan, sa halip na magmulat ang sistema ng edukasyon sa himbing na kamalayan ng mga mag-aaral tungkol sa nakaraan, mas nagsisilbi pa itong aparato ng pagkabulag. Epekto ito ng pagtingin ng kasalukuyang henerasyon na sila'y hiwalay sa kasaysayan, na kung tutuusin, ang kasalukuyang henerasyon ngayon ang iniluwal ng mga naunang sigwang pilit inililihim ng estadong nagpapanatili ng kaayusang may pino-protektahang interes, ang interes ng mga kumprador at mga panginoong maylupa sa ating bansa.

Sa mga pagkakataong ito, kinakailangan natin ng kontranaratibo sa pangmalawakang selebrasyon na ipine-prenta sa atin hinggil sa batas militar. Bagaman ito'y itinuturing na lamang na pambansang alaala bilang proyekto ng pasismong estado, itinatago ito sa bago nitong hubog, na bagaman walang pormal na proklamasyon ay damang-dama at nananaig pa rin sa kasalukuyan. Sa paanong paraan natin ilalatag ang mga kontranaratibo? Maraming paraan, at isa na itong isinasagawa nating talakayan ngayon.

Nitong mga nakaraang araw, ipinalabas ko sa klase ang pelikulang “Orapronobis� ni Lino Brocka, isang pelikula na tumatalakay sa post-EDSA, kung saan ipinakita na matapos paalisin sa poder ng kapangyarihan ang mga Marcos, nagkaroon na ng pagsasakatuparan ng demokrasya, at marami ang nahulog sa patibong na ito. Hindi lamang ang karaniwang mga mamamayan, kundi ang mismong mga nasa akademya at mga mabuway na kilusang panlipunan. Sinadya kong ipanood ito sa mga mag-aaral na nakaangkla lamang ang kaalaman sa mga kuwento ng tagumpay ng EDSA na ipinamudmod ng midya noong kalagitnaan ng dekada otsenta. Nang matapos ang pelikula, sila na rin ang nagsabing marami silang napanood at nalaman na hindi nila inakalang nangyari matapos ng People Power.

Idineklara ang Batas militar bilang pagsagip sa krisis pang lipunan ng bansa. Isinakatuparan ito upang manatili sa poder ng kapangyarihan ang mga Marcos at ang mga lokal na naghaharing-uri sa dikta ng bansang Estados Unidos. Kinailangan ang bats militar upang tiyakin ang pananatiling papet ng rehimeng Marcos sa kamay na bakal ng Amerika. At katulad ng Batas Militar, ang mga sumunod na kontra-insurhensiya ng pamahalaan tulad ng Oplan Lambat-Bitag, Oplan Makabayan, at sa kasalukuyan, ang Oplan Bayanihan ay nakapaloob sa isang sistematikong pamamalakad. Bukod sa paglalaan ng pamahalaan ng pinansya, naka-package ngayon ito sa tagline na “peace and development operations.� Kumukuha na rin ng kurso ng community development ang mga militar, nagsasagawa ng mga community service habang patuloy naman sa kanilang gawain sa pagsona sa mga lugar na sinasabing malakas ang insurhensiya laban sa estado. Habang hawak ang armas ng kanangkamay, may gamot o bigas na hawak naman ang kaliwa. At narito ang balintuna, paano magbibigay-lunas ang siya mismong pinagmumulan ng sakit?

47

Ang intensipikasyon ng prisensya ng mga ahensiya ng militar sa kanayunan sa kasalukuyan ay bunsod ng pagnanais ng mga kumprador at mga panginoon maylupa na manatali sa kanila ang monopolyo ng yaman ng bansa. Suportado ito ng estado na kung tutuusin, ang siyang pinakamalaking panginoong maylupa. Ang nagmimistulang tagasagip, ang siyang tunay na pinagmumulan ng terrorismo.

Ang dahas na ito'y esensyal sa pagsasakatuparan ng mga neoliberal na polisiya sa bansa; ang pag-angkin sa mga lupa, ang pagkasira sa kalikasan, ang panunupil sa mga batayang-karapatan, dislokasyon ng mga maralita at pesante. Lahat ng ito'y orkistrado ng kapitalismo. Sapagkat batid ng sistemang ito na hindi magtataggal ay papalitan ng bagong sistemang panlipunan ang isang atrasadong kaayusan, pinagmumukha ng kapitalismo na wala nang iba pang sistemang panlipunan ang maaaring umiral.

Pinalaganap ang idealismo, tanggapin na lamang na may mahirap at mayaman. At ang anumang ideolohikal at pampulitikang paninindigan na maaaring mabago ang lipunan sang-ayon sa materyalistang pananaw ay sinusupil at ipinagmumukha masama at hindi karapat-dapat tangkilin ng mamamayan. Subalit ang mismong pagpapalakas ng mga ahensiya ng militar sa buong kapuluan ay hudyat na rin ng pagkukumahog ng kapitalismo na mapanatili ang isang simbolikong kaayusan na untiunti na ring nawawasak dahil sa patuloy na pagkamulat at pakikibaka ng mga mamamayan; mula sa mga pagkilos sa syudad hanggang sa paghawak ng armas sa kanayunan. Nananatili ang kasalukuyang rehimen bilang papet, eksploytatibo, kurap at brutal.

Sa konteksto ng kasalukuyang rehimen, ginagamit nitong kapital ang nangyari noong batas militar upang ipronta ang sarili bilang biktima at ngayo'y bayani ng bayan dahil sa pangako ng demokrasya at tuwid na daan. Subalit ito'y marka rin ng isang mapanlilang na alaala kundi man ng isang nag-uulyaning estado. Hindi ba't kaya nagwagi ang kasalukuyang presidente ay dahil na rin sa paggamit niya sa kamatayan ng kanyang mga magulang? Ang nagmumukang bayani ngayo'y siyang mitsa ng terorismo sa bansa. Nais ng estado na burahin ang tunay na kasaysayan ng batas militar; ang libong katao na nag-alay ng buhay para sa bayan, ang mga nagwegang mga manggagawa mula sa iba't ibang panig ng bansa, ang mga magsasakang ipinaglaban ang kanilang karapatan sa lupa. Nais ng estado ng kalimutan natin ang mga martir na kabataan tulad nina Edgar Jopson, Eman Lacaba, Gregorio Rosal, Lorena Barros, Maita Gomez at iba pang mahuhusay at matatalinong kabataan na inalay ang buhay para sa higit na nakararami at nangangailangan. Nakibaka sila sapagkat ginamit nila ang kanilang napag-aral. Mayroon pa bang hihigit na praktika ng karunungan kung nais nitong baguhin ang di-pantay na lipunan?

Ang mga pangyayari noong batas militar ay magsisilbing materyal upang matasa natin kung nasaan tayo ngayon, kung ano ang kasalukuyang kalagayan ng ating bansa. Dito nating mailalantad ang desepsyon sa kasaysayan at karahasang pinapalaganap ng estado upang mapanatili sa poder ng kapangyarihan ang mga naghaharing-uri sa bansa. Sa pamamagitan ng Oplan Bayanihan, ipinagpapatuloy ang mga anti-mamamayan at anti-demokratikong mga polisiya. Bagaman naging maigting ang pakikibaka ng mamamayan upang patalsikin ang diktador, hindi naging sapat ang lakas na ito upang tuluyang wakasan ang pananatili ng mga kumprador at malalaking panginoong maylupa sa bansa. Kung kaya't mas kailangan natin ang ibayong lakas at pakikiisa ng bawat naririto ngayon.

Hindi nabubura ang kasaysayan, hindi rin ito nauulit, sa halip ito'y nagpapatuloy. May madilim na kasaysayan ng batas militar, subalit ito rin ay kasaysayan ng rebolusyon at patuloy na pakikibaka.

48

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Philippine NGOs: Defusing Dissent, Spurring Change Sonny Africa Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC SCHOLARSHIP

Philippine NGOs: Defusing Dissent, Spurring Change Sonny Africa sonnyafric@gmail.com

The Philippines has one of the longest-running and reputedly among the largest and most active civil society movements in the developing world.1 Millions of Filipinos now participate in or are influenced by citizen-based organizations amid the right to assembly, free speech, a lively press, open elections and a market economy. Mirroring global trends over the last three decades, Philippine nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in particular have multiplied and expanded the range of their development activities.

The supposedly transformative potential of NGOs and of civil society in general should presumably be evident in the Philippines, if anywhere, but there is instead a disturbing lack of progress: still widespread poverty and severe inequality, entrenched vested interests in the economy, oligarchic and patronage politics, and tens of millions of Filipinos remaining disempowered with little real control over their economic and political lives. Underlying patterns of socioeconomic backwardness and elite rule persist even if increasingly overlaid with pro-people NGO and prodemocracy “civil society” features.

The Philippine experience highlights the possibilities but also the practical limits of NGOs as opposition to prevailing hegemonies. In the country's specific conditions and historical context the general tendency has been for NGOs to operate in accordance with prevailing political and economic arrangements rather than in sustained opposition to these. Whether consciously or inadvertently, they have aligned with the conservative political program of the established State rather than of progressive social movements challenging inequitable structures. This is notwithstanding a brief activist countercurrent among NGOs mainly during the Martial Law interregnum.

The chapter begins by clarifying its notion of “NGOs” and tracking Philippine NGO trends over the last decades against the overall backdrop of so-called civil society and the country's major social forces.

Particularly relevant is how NGOs increased in number, scope and participation in governance since the second half of the 1980s largely in line with the global neoliberal offensive instead of in resistance to this; this trend continues under the current Aquino government. This is followed by an overview of economic policies and poor development outcomes in the country to emphasize the persistent underdevelopment amid decades of NGOization. This discussion points to how NGOs helped create the political conditions for implementing neoliberal policies. Taking all these into consideration the chapter concludes with how NGOs as a whole can at most have only a subsidiary role in the struggle for fundamental social change.

49

NGOs and civil society in the Philippines NGOs are part of a broader “civil society” in the Philippines that also includes people's organizations (POs), cooperatives, church groups, professional or business-related associations, academe and assorted other non-state and non-business organizations. From a social change perspective, NGOs and POs are particularly significant not just because development-oriented NGOs generally express links with POs in pursuit of their goals but because together they comprise the largest portion of politically active groups amongst this so-called civil society.

The term “NGO” is interpreted in many ways from the sweeping “non-government” understood literally to include everything outside of the official government machinery, to the more restricted and legalistic “non-stock, non-profit corporations,” to the most limited notion of only referring to expressly social development-oriented NGOs. For consistency this chapter uses “NGOs” to refer to non-government and non-profit organizations – regardless of funding source, ideology (or lack thereof), values and orientation – that provide development-related services to other groups, communities or individuals.

This definition covers the likes of charity or welfare groups, social foundations set up by private business groups, as well as more ideologically-grounded activist NGOs. All these NGOs are generally staffed by more or less full-time “professional” NGO workers (as opposed to unpaid volunteer or part-time workers).

NGOs combine into different kinds of alliances, coalitions and networks. The Caucus of Development NGOs (CODE-NGO) is the Philippines' largest network of NGOs with a membership of some 2,000 and illustrates these diverse combinations. Among others CODE-NGO includes six national networks and six regional networks. The six national networks each have distinct identities: rural development (PHILDHRRA), urban development (PHILSSA), corporate members (PBSP), services for children and youth (NCSD), cooperatives (NATCCO) and an association of foundations (AF).2 The regional networks in turn respectively cover the country's Bicol, Cordillera, Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Mindanao regions which are among the poorest areas in the country. There are also other permutations in NGO groupings such as the Council for People's Development and Governance (CPDG) which is a national network of NGOs and POs with programs on poverty alleviation, environmental protection, women, children, disaster risk reduction and aid effectiveness and democratic governance.

POs on the other hand are membership-based organizations of citizens coming together to advance their common/collective interests and welfare and are sometimes referred to as grassroots organizations or community-based organizations. Politically active POs are generally organized along class/sectoral lines (e.g. peasant organizations, trade unions, indigenous peoples, youth, overseas Filipino workers), gender (e.g. women), geographical proximity (e.g.. village, province) or some permutation or combination of these. Among the largest and most active Filipino POs are the peasant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), fisherfolk Pamalakaya, worker Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and women's group GABRIELA which are all national formations with local chapters. But there is also Migrante International which has country chapters of overseas Filipino workers around the world. POs can also come together under a multi-PO multi-sectoral umbrella such as the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN).

The Philippines has a reputation for having a “vibrant civil society”.3 Estimates of the number of civil society groups and of NGOs varies widely due to the lack of generally accepted definitions, inadequate monitoring and the fluidity of their operations. An NGO literature review gives an estimate of “between 249,000-497,000 [non-profit] organizations.4 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) similarly acknowledges “up to 500,000” civil society groups but specifies between 3,000-5,000 “developmentoriented” NGOs among these.5 The World Bank (WB) on the other hand cites “an estimated 18,000 registered NGOs” in the country.6 The Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) mentions “as

50

many as 60,000 non-profit, non-governmental organizations”.7 The most recent comprehensive study on the matter compiles figures from various sources and reports that the number of NGOs in the country is estimated to range from “between 15,000 and 30,000” to “around 34,000 to 68,000”.8 Regardless of the exact numbers the Philippine NGO sector is not insignificant – and apparently even relatively large compared to other countries – even as the biggest number of NGOs are apparently small with less than 25 staff and often struggle financially.9 Rough estimates of the number of NGO staff in the Philippines place these at around one percent (1%) of the total 37.2 million employed in 2011 (for comparison the public sector accounts for some 5% of total employment).10 There is no direct survey of the ideological tendencies underpinning the country's numerous NGOs but various indirect evidence supports the notion that only a minority are actively engaged in mass struggles with POs, national policy reforms, local government and related political activities.

Indeed there is reason to suspect that their political views and levels of political engagement are so disparate that they have no qualitative impact as a whole beyond the mere sum of their incongruent parts.

Philippine NGOs chiefly implement projects and provide social development-related services to their chosen constituencies covering education, training and human resource development and community development.11 Taking the CODE-NGO network as an example, a survey of its members found these concentrated in education/training/human resource development (77% of NGOs surveyed), health/nutrition (44%) and enterprise/livelihood development (43%) versus, at the other end of the scale, agrarian reform (18%), urban poor (12%) and labor organizing (3%).12 While such a profile of activities does not necessarily mean political passiveness the bias towards welfare projects and income-generation is clear.

That result can also be read with how one of the few NGO surveys in the country found that “few NGO respondents implement asset reform programs” because they are “prone to conflict and therefore more difficult to implement” which indicates a tendency to avoid addressing important structural inequities that requires political activism.13 NGOs' choice of sectoral partners certainly leans towards non-controversial ones: children and youth (57% of respondents) and women (53%) versus peasants (35%), urban poor (33%) and labor (13%).14 Taken together these can be interpreted as indicating how Philippine NGOs are mainly about immediate service delivery rather than about long-term struggles mobilizing grassroots sectors against systemic inequities in resources and power.

This characterization is consistent with the results of a recent nationwide survey: while almost half of the population (46%) considered themselves active members of at least one civil society organization, only about a quarter (26%) considered themselves active members of at least one political organization and just 15% participated in political activities (understood merely as attending a demonstration, signing a petition or joining a boycott).15 The same survey also found that just some 5% and 10% of the population considered themselves active members of an NGO and PO, respectively, versus 34% for church or religious organizations, 10% for sports/recreational organizations and 6% for art, music or education organizations.16 It can be roughly estimated that there are perhaps only some hundreds or few thousand NGOs that are more activist in the sense of operating with a more consciously political framework and a selfdefinition as actively working for more profound social change. Increasing the political power of erstwhile disempowered sectors always figures strongly with such NGOs whether in the sense of being accumulated from the ground up through ever-expanding grassroots organizations or by working within state structures or via some combination of both. An example of this approach is the Council for Health and Development (CHD) which provides health services and sets up community-based health programs under a framework of the social determinants of health – or where ill health is rooted in

51

structural poverty and not just the absence of health services. CHD thus also works closely with the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) which is a PO describing itself as “composed of individuals from the health sector who adhere to the principles of the Filipino people's struggle for sovereignty and democracy”.

The social development and service delivery orientation of NGOs results in a particularly significant characteristic with implications for how they operate as a sector: they are resource-intensive and dependent on external funding. They require continuous and sustained human, technical and financial resources to keep providing services to their chosen beneficiaries while, conversely, are chronically unable to generate substantial incomes in the normal course of their operations because their beneficiaries are poor communities and sectors. This makes them reliant on external subsidies and correspondingly vulnerable to the priorities, values and orientation of these external subsidizers.

As it is, Philippine NGOs' main sources of funding are foreign (on which 48% of NGOs primarily rely), corporate (12%) and government (10%) sources.17 The foreign sources could be Northern NGOs although a recent trend is for these Northern donors to themselves be tapping official funding in their home countries and hence being drawn into the foreign policy frameworks of their own governments.

The European Union (EU) and individual European governments for instance have so-called co-financing arrangements where they fund European NGOs who in turn provide grants to NGO partners in the South according to priorities set by the official agencies which are the primary source of funds.18 Business groups have also become increasingly active in the NGO sector which further blurs the supposed civil society-market distinction. The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) was set up in 1970 and describes itself as a corporate-led foundation of more than 240 member-companies pledging one percent (1%) of their companies' net income before taxes for poverty reduction and committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR); it reports having supported 6,200 projects with 3,300 organizations and 4.5 million beneficiaries in 65 provinces.19 Since 2000, PBSP has been the most organized expression of the business sector's support for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There is also the League of Corporate Foundations which has been growing in number from around 60 members in 2005 to over 80 in 2010 which reflects both their access to corporate financial resources as well as the CSR trend.20 The nature of NGO funding sources and the corresponding process of fund-raising is potentially problematic where NGOs will be predisposed, consciously or unconsciously, to functioning within the political and economic spaces acceptable to the State and private enterprises that sponsor them – else these discretionary funds would just go to other NGOs who share the development paradigm espoused by government and big business. The reality is that organizations with the financial resources to spare for NGOs will generally be conservative and will not be inclined to be counter-hegemonic. Diverse funding sources with respective priorities and requirements will also tend to aggravate the fragmentation of NGOs who are already extremely diverse as it is in terms of lines of work and political orientation.

The chronic backwardness and underdevelopment in the country are conditions for the rise of radical alternatives outside the more accustomed forms of civil society and NGO social action. The mainstream Left in the Philippines – referring to the “national democrats” which still compose the largest and most organized Left formation in the country – is meaningful for remaining resilient in the face of “end of history” triumphalism. This bloc continues to work on the basis of an understanding of the structural problems of the country and the crisis of capitalism. It correspondingly still gives primacy to working class politics as the building blocks for wider social change which means a much greater emphasis on ideological work and organizing peasants, workers, national minorities and other oppressed groups into POs towards claiming political power rather than on service NGOs.

52

It is also important to emphasize that the conventional categorization of social forces being split into State, market and civil society is particularly inappropriate in the Philippine context which has armed revolutionary movements going back for at least four decades. The influence of these movements includes parallel governance structures in large portions of the country's territory.21 The biggest and most important are the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) that operates in 70 of 79 provinces across the country, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) which is active in 14 provinces in the southern Philippines.22 These radical alternatives are objectively the strongest counterpoint to neocolonialism and capitalism in the country.

The CPP decries the “semicolonial and semifeudal” character of present-day Philippine society in which the Filipino people suffer from “foreign and feudal domination”.23 It declares that it is waging a “national democratic revolution” which, upon victory, will proceed to the “socialist revolution”. The integral components of its “protracted people's war” are explicit: “revolutionary armed struggle, land reform and mass-base building”. The CPP categorically opposes neoliberalism as imperialist globalization. The MILF's struggle on the other hand asserts political and military control over territories in Mindanao based on a legacy of protecting the ancestral domains of Moro sultanates there.

The Moro struggle espouses the right to self-determination and the creation of an independent Bangsamoro homeland.

Historical sketch of Philippine NGOs The Philippines has a long history of civil society organizations dating back to at least 19th century Spanish colonial times and early 20th century American colonization covering various church welfare groups, charities, cooperatives, anti-colonial/pro-independence resistance, peasant and labor groups, and other service groups.24 In terms of NGOs, the years immediately after the Second World War saw more welfare and civic organizations formed for post-war relief and rehabilitation for poor communities; many of these focused on children, the elderly and persons with disabilities. In the late 1940s and early 1950s some community development NGOs were set up in perceived Communistinfluenced areas in the country's Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions to provide health, education and cooperative services and undercut support for the armed struggle.25 Among the most prominent anti-Communist NGOs set up in this period were the Jesuit-organized Institute for Social Order (ISO) in 1947 and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) in 1952. The early 1960s saw the start of family, corporate, and scientific foundations in the country.26 The contemporary history of civil society and NGOs in the Philippines however can be said to have begun during the Marcos regime from the late 1960s and especially upon Martial Law in the 1970s. While most NGOs remained characteristically welfare-oriented and non-activist social development organizations, a visible sub-section of progressive NGOs emerged in the 1970s and 1980s which did not just implement the usual socioeconomic and welfare projects but also widely propagandized and organized resistance to the regime in close coordination with POs. The external conditions were set by how revolutionary and anti-imperialist social movements were surging abroad and how the Catholic and Protestant churches adopted more socially progressive orientations after, respectively, Vatican II and exhortations by the World Council of Churches (WCC). Under this influence Filipino church-based NGOs became an important beachhead for the expansion of anti-dictatorship NGOs and Pos. Further momentum came from how the Filipino radical Left at the time did not just wage armed revolt but also underpinned legal aboveground opposition through civil society including NGOs . This period saw the mobilization of wide swathes of the population from the lower to the upper classes which combined with the Communist and Moro armed struggles to weaken and eventually overthrow

53

the Marcos regime. Particularly notable and with implications until this day is how these Left-driven NGO and PO efforts were often expressly couched in terms of a larger struggle for systemic change which injected an activist dynamism and degree of counter-hegemonic ideology in generally conservative civil society and the public in general. For instance, the community-based health programs (CBHPs) set up by the religious Sisters of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) were explicit in their orientation: “The underlying causes of health problems in society are deeply embedded in the social, economic and political structures… The CBHP is [not] the answer to all health problems, but serves as a means to initiate social transformation.”27 The important role peasant- and trade unionlinked NGOs and POs played in expanding political opposition to the dictatorship and even in supporting the armed struggles exemplifies their mobilizing potential. The late 1970s also saw innovations towards environmental, indigenous peoples, women, and migrant workers' issues and even cultural work.

But this was in the specific historical circumstances of Martial Law, an overt dictatorship and a single dominant channel – the radical Left which gave primacy to mass-based POs organized along class lines – to give vent to the impulse for change. The 1986 “People Power” uprising was quickly hailed as some kind of model for a peaceful transition from authoritarianism to democracy. It was also widely interpreted even in sections of radical Leftist circles as changing the nature of the Philippine state into one more pliable to social and economic reforms such as upon the influence of NGOs, POs and civil society in general. Indeed this was among the major orientational fault lines causing a split within the Communist Left between those who affirmed a “protracted people's war” strategy and those who entertained other paths to social and political change including, among others, more actively engaging the government to implement reforms in a process of gradual transforming the current elite democracy into a more participatory democracy.28 That premise of a more pliable State dovetailed with the emerging neoliberal governance paradigm of civil society as remedying authoritarianism, improving transparency and accountability, and leading to equitable economic development. Together they impelled the emergence of a systematic framework in the Philippines for NGOs to engage and participate in, rather than contest, the state.

This governance concept advanced on two fronts since the mid-1980s. From the foreign side, the United Nations (UN), international financial institutions (IFIs) and virtually every major government with neoliberal foreign policy objectives started promoting this notion. NGOs were portrayed as more deeply embedded in communities, innovative, cost effective and development-oriented than government agencies.

IFIs institutionalized mechanisms to engage civil society organizations (CSO) and NGOs. The case of the World Bank (WB) and ADB which are among the Philippines' biggest sources of official development aid is illustrative. The WB reports that “active CSO involvement” in its global operations has risen steadily “from 21% of the total number of projects in 1990 to 82% in 2009” and that “civil society participation occurs throughout the project cycle from the design and planning stages, to implementation and monitoring.”29 It also reports “civil society engagement in 75% of its loans, 87% of country assistance strategies, and 100% of poverty reduction strategy papers in the period 20072009”.30 The ADB in turn reports that 81% of its approved loans, grants and related technical assistance today included some form of CSO participation31; in 1990, only 5% of ADB loan approvals “involved NGOs directly in some manner”.32 The late 1980s and early 1990s saw tens of millions of dollars in overseas funding going to NGOs through various windows. Among others the WB gave a US$20 million “biodiversity conservation grant” for the NGOs for Integrated Protected Areas (NIPAS) program and access to its Small Grants Fund. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had a US$25 million debt-for-nature arrangement with the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) in 1993 aside from over US$30

54

million for co-financing NGOs in the period 1989-1996. The Canadian government gave US$15.3 million for the Diwata project and the Philippine Development Assistance Program (PDAP), the Swiss government gave US$25 million for the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI) and so on.

On the domestic front, consecutive post-Marcos administrations built up institutional mechanisms for working with NGOs that established a framework for their participation in governance. The Corazon Aquino government (1986-1992) enshrined the role of NGOs and POs in Philippine development in three articles of the 1987 Constitution. Civil society was also formally given a role in local governance through the Local Government Code of 1991 which created local development councils that must include NGOs and POs (composing a quarter of its members) and gave NGOs positions in local school boards, health boards, peace and order councils, law enforcement boards, and procurement committees. NGO/PO liaison desks were also set up in the government's departments of agrarian reform, environment and natural resources and health.

The Ramos government (1992-1998) set up a National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) with formal NGO representation, organized a series of multisectoral summits on NGO issues such as the environment, poverty, food, water and peace, and drew up a Social Reform Agenda (SRA) comprehensively covering NGO concerns. CSOs were given spots in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) which was actively used to coordinate work between these two branches of government. The Estrada (1998-2001), Arroyo (2001-2010) and Benigno Aquino, III (2010- ) governments did not introduce anything substantially new relative to NGOs but built on those previous efforts and further institutionalized them.

It is also notable that this series of administrations gave rising numbers of government positions to NGO leaders with long histories of political activism.33 These included Cabinet-rank positions in agrarian reform, social welfare, education, health, housing, peace and others aside from various national and regional posts.34 These NGO leaders kept their ties with NGOs and POs which served as important means by which to bring civil society on board in official programs and projects and hence give substance to the NGO/PO-related institutional mechanisms being put in place. NGOs were particularly visible in the implementation of agrarian reform communities, health service devolution, housing projects, environmental projects and indigenous people's programs.

NGOs apparently also financially benefited from such ties. A prominent controversy in this regard was in 2001 when CODE-NGO was accused of using its influence to make a government flotation of Treasury bonds more profitable in favour of a specific purchaser for which it received a large Php1.5 billion (US$29 million at prevailing exchange rates) commission for zero cash outlay. This was around the time that key CODE-NGO leaders held the top positions in the government's social welfare department, anti-poverty commission, urban poor commission, civil service commission and presidential management staff (aside from the CODE-NGO chair being the sister of the finance secretary).

The neoliberal governance paradigm, Philippine government civil society mechanisms, and greater NGO openness to work with government were conditions for the proliferation of NGOs in the post-Marcos dictatorship era and by one estimate the number of NGOs increased from an estimated 5,000 in 1986 to over 15,000 by the end of the decade.35 But it was not only that new NGOs were being formed – even erstwhile protest or activist NGOs were shifting towards socioeconomic programs and participating in government or official aid programs. There was a financial dynamic underpinning this. During the Marcos regime antidictatorship NGOs were able to access foreign funding from politically-sympathetic international NGOs, church-based funding agencies, solidarity groups and even political parties. This type of funding dried up upon the “democratic space” of the Corazon Aquino government – often replaced by official

55

government sources – and the demand was increasingly for so-called concrete or tangible gains that were not always compatible with the priorities of NGOs seeking structural change.

Indeed there was also an ideological dynamic. Left-leaning groups that eschewed armed struggle replaced this with, in effect, an approach of seeking an accumulation of social, political and economic changes through alliances with perceived reformist wings of the local bourgeoisie and landlords as well as through electoral victories.36 Mass-based organizations are still invoked as the axis of struggles but these are not developed as units of democratic political power for eventually replacing the State but rather as vital points of leverage with which to modify the functioning of the existing elite-dominated State. This trend arguably also reduced the activism and militancy of the portion of the country's social movement that relied on these NGOs for intellectual direction and that correspondingly also bought into the poverty alleviation, sustainable development, participatory democracy and good governance agenda.

In any case it is clear that NGOization in the Philippines was mainly upon the initiative and according to the terms set by the government and international agencies which goes far in explaining the inherently conservative tendencies of NGOs as a whole. It can also be put forward that the way NGOization has developed has created tendencies toward political demobilization and atomistic communities. First is how accepting domestic or foreign official funding could, even inadvertently, diminish NGO independence and their taking up systemic concerns. Second is how NGOs may find themselves entangled in the intrinsic bureaucracies of government or official agencies which further strains their already scarce resources and attention. Third is how the communities the NGOs service may themselves get caught up in a reactionary fund-driven dynamic where they become preoccupied with short-term material benefits and disinclined towards the painstaking efforts needed for structural change and longer-lasting gains; the bias moreover is for self-help rather than farther-reaching collective efforts. This is reinforced by how the immediate gains from externally-funded NGO projects and mechanisms will often surpass those from merely internally-financed but collective efforts. And fourth is how competition for finite funding even means that NGOs, and communities, are in effect competing with each other for this.

NGOization today Developments during the current administration of Pres. Benigno Aquino III which came to power in mid-2010 affirm the continuation of decades-long trends. Among the high-level positions going to NGO leaders are the social welfare department, national anti-poverty commission, human rights commission and presidential adviser for political affairs. The Akbayan Party which was formed by various NGO leaders – some of whom now hold Cabinet-level positions – is also in coalition with Pres. Aquino's traditional political party the Liberal Party.

The current government also shows how NGOs and community projects are used against challenges to the State. This phenomenon takes sharpest form in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) latest internal security plan for 2011-2016 Bayanihan.37 The plan declares taking a “Whole of Nation Approach [and] People-Centered Security/Human Security Approach” with “community-based peace and development efforts” as one of its four strategic concepts (the others being military operations, peace processes, and internal AFP reforms). “NGOs, POs and CSOs” are explicitly defined as responders astride the government's military and civilian agencies and are declared “indispensable [in filling the gaps] in the dispensation of tasks and functions of national government agencies and local government units.”38 The result is that NGOs are partners in the implementation of the PAMANA (Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan, or Peaceful and Prosperous Community) and KALAHI-CIDSS (Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan [or Linking Arms Against Poverty]-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) community development components of the AFP's counterinsurgency program. PAMANA is a tentatively Php90 billion (US$2.1 billion at current exchange rates) four-year program of cash transfers,

56

livelihood projects, post-harvest facilities and road works in armed conflict areas; the WB-supported KALAHI-CIDSS is a smaller Php9.3 billion (US$216 million) program of community education, health, water, farming, access, electrification and environmental infrastructure projects.

On the face of it the projects are not undesirable and do meet real local needs. The overall motive becomes suspect though inasmuch as they are implemented selectively in armed conflict areas and in the absence of more far-reaching structural changes with longer-lasting benefits. At the local level, such changes could include speedy and free distribution of land to decisively break rural monopolies; at the national level there could be the reversal of destructive neoliberal policies implemented over decades.

The record of the military itself that NGOs are now working with remains questionable: the human rights group Karapatan reports that violations have continued with 64 extrajudicial killings and nine enforced disappearances so far under the new Aquino administration; the number of political prisoners continues to rise to 356 already. Rural communities continue to suffer forced evacuation due to combat operations with many thousands of families recently displaced from villages in Surigao del Sur, Negros Oriental, Davao Oriental, Agusan del Norte and North Cotabato. These give rise to criticisms that these projects with NGOs merely seek to undermine community support for the rebel groups and cover up for continuing rights abuses by the military.

The Aquino administration's flagship anti-poverty program also shows how NGOs can be used to make neoliberal policies more acceptable. Some 370 accredited NGOs are participating in a multi-year Php307 billion (US$7.1 billion at current exchange rates) WB- and ADB-supported Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme. Beneficiary families will receive cash grants of up Php15,000 (US$349) per year upon compliance with certain education and health conditions. However this relief for poor families is in the context of unreformed neoliberal economic policies that cause the poverty to begin with so the net effect is a temporary dole-out to mitigate the adverse social consequences of these policies and rationalize their continued implementation.

The affinity of CCTs to neoliberalism is evident. They are justified as 'efficient' in focusing on 'deserving poor', children are 'human capital' to be invested in for their future income-generating capacity, and the role of 'individual responsibility' in social poverty is overstressed – while the government is excused for privatizing essential social services because the welfare intervention has shifted to selective cash transfers.

It is worth mentioning that the protracted global crisis may have implications for civil society in general and NGOs in particular. There are two contradictory tendencies. On one hand, the crisis will strain the government funding and private resources that have so far been directed to NGOs in support of state-civil society interaction and “participatory democracy�.

NGOs as a whole have already been facing an increasingly difficult funding environment since the start of the 2000s. For instance, net official development assistance (ODA) loan commitments to the Philippines which has been a major source of funding for NGOs, directly and indirectly, has fallen by 24% between 2001 (US$13.2 billion) and 2010 (US$10.1 billion).39 There are no similarly precise figures for grant funding from Northern NGO donors to Philippine NGOs although the general consensus is that the global funding slump is well-reflected in the country which has driven many NGOs to seek alternative sources and even compete with other NGOs.40 NGO activities are unfortunately not self-sustaining and dependent on what is essentially discretionary funding and so could be among the first to suffer cutbacks in public and private sector budgets.

On the other hand, civil society and at least some NGOs may yet be encouraged as a countervailing force or social escape valve to undercut the further development of radical alternatives upon worsening social and economic conditions. It is also possible for government-aligned NGOs and POs to

57

be used to justify the imposition of further neoliberal policy measures such as higher taxes ostensibly for state-provided social services and even outright austerity on public education, health and housing services.

Philippine neocolonialism and underdevelopment NGOs and civil society are frequently construed as institutional mechanisms by which the poor, vulnerable and marginalized can empower themselves, improve their conditions and even challenge structural inequities and exploitation. An accounting of NGO projects, civil society efforts and community beneficiaries would doubtless show quantitative increases over the past decades. But notwithstanding such an aggregation, overall socioeconomic and political outcomes in the Philippines are consistent with just narrow and localized NGO gains amid more generalized social, economic and political disempowerment.

Civil society and NGOs have been absorbed into the margins of policy-making and implementation, especially their social welfare and social mobilization components, but the fundamental policies that truly define the economy and its arc remain in the hands of accustomed domestic and foreign power elites. The direction of development policy has not changed hence the persistence of poverty and backwardness.

NGOs have been increasingly involved in the formulation of the country's periodic medium-term development plans. Former president Ferdinand Marcos' 1978-1982 and 1983-1987 plans at most mentioned “participatory schemes for the broader base of society will be developed, principally through the rural cooperatives, barangay, and youth mobilization programs”.41 While NGOs rapidly grew under Pres. Corazon Aquino her 1987-1992 plan still only had a generic “All sectors of society, public or private, shall be consulted to the fullest extent to obtain their opinions and positions on matters related hereto”.42

By Pres. Fidel Ramos' 1993-1998 plan however the government declared: “The plan shall be formulated in close collaboration with other agencies of the executive branch, the legislative branch and private/non-government sectors.”43 Pres. Joseph Estrada's 1999-2004 plan went even further and said “Civil society will complement and possibly substitute for the efforts of government in areas where it is deemed more effective and efficient.”44 Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's 2004-2010 plan mentioned civil society and NGOs prominently in its chapters on environment and natural resources, housing, labor, anti-poverty, elections, peace process, national reconciliation, rule of law, science and technology, culture, anti-corruption, national security and constitutional reforms.45 Current Pres. Benigno Aquino, III came to power on a platform of “good governance” which is reflected in the overall thrust of its 2011-2016 plan.46 His plan declares: “A big part of the solution to the governance problem however lies outside government itself and involves the active participation of private business, civil society and the media… This gives “voice” to people, enables civil society and the media to become partners of government, and makes the government more responsive to the needs of citizens.” The plan was drawn up in close consultation with civil society and NGOs but remains thoroughgoingly neoliberal and proposes even more free market policies for the country.47 Economic outcomes have remained poor despite greater civil society and NGO participation and engagement in socioeconomic policy-making – in the periodic medium-term plans, in program and project implementation, in assorted consultative summits, in local government bodies, and actually holding high Cabinet positions.

The Philippines is the twelfth largest country in the world with its population of some 94 million.

Though classified by the WB as a lower middle-income country it still ranks among the world's poorest by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at 131st out of 190 countries.48 In 2009, some 65 million or 70%

58

of Filipinos lived off Php104 (US$2.20) or even much less per day.49 Inequality remains as bad as in the mid-1980s notwithstanding two-and-a-half decades of supposedly increasing democratization: the highest income 20% of the population corners over half of total family income (52%) while the remaining poorest 80% divide the leftover 48 percent. Strikingly, the net worth of the twenty-five richest Filipinos continues to rise and at Php1,021 billion in 2009 (US$21.4 billion) is almost equivalent to the combined annual income of the country's poorest fifty-five million Filipinos (Php1,029 billion).

Filipino producers have suffered under imperialist globalization policies that gave up trade protection and investment support, opened up the national economy, and integrated key sectors into the global economy. The share of manufacturing in the economy is as low as in the 1950s or half a century ago; the share of agriculture is down to the smallest in the country's history. This deprives millions of Filipinos of the opportunity for decent work, livelihoods and their means of subsistence.

The period 2001-2010 was the worst decade of joblessness in the country's history with average annual unemployment of over 11% and underemployment of 19 percent – forcing some 9.5 million Filipinos, or roughly a tenth of the population, overseas for work.

The rural poor meanwhile still suffer backward agricultural systems and feudal relations.50 Despite decades of successive agrarian reform programs overseen by former NGO leaders over half of all farms and total farm area in the country remain under tenancy, lease, and other forms of tenurial arrangement (52%). Less than a third of landowners still own more than 80% of agricultural land. Half of all farms still rely on hand tools, ploughs and water buffalos and only 30% of the total farm area is irrigated.

If anything, the NGO language of alternative development has been used by the government to embellish its socioeconomic policies and bolster the notion that technical solutions to the intrinsic problems and contradictions of the system are possible and, indeed, can be initiated by the oligarchic state. The 2011-2016 Philippine development plan for instance talks about “human rights, cultural sensitivity, gender equality, people empowerment and sustainable development” and decries the “perennial condition of poverty, inequity and lagging human development” but seeks to solve this merely through “massive investment in physical infrastructure [and] transparent and responsive governance”.51 Political outcomes have likewise remained poor despite greater civil society and NGO participation and engagement in various aspects of democratic governance – civil society and the NGO sector has not just been active during national and local elections, including presidential elections, but have also formed new political parties and entered into coalitions with traditional ones. Major NGO networks and prominent leaders actively campaigned for or otherwise supported recent presidents.52 Yet political parties in the country still lack substance, the electoral system remains corrupted and shallow, key government positions remain in the hands of local elites, and the military establishment is still tasked to attack the most active democratic forces in the country (as shown in its record of human rights violations discussed above). This is not to say that traditional elites have not had to adjust to a situation where civil society and NGOs are marginally more prominent and engaged in governance than before – only that despite this situation their hold on power remains consolidated and unthreatened.

The most recent national elections in May 2010 for instance did not see a significant departure from the country's tradition of elected national and local leaders coming from the ranks of established structures of power and patronage. The popularly elected president hails from one of the country's oldest political and landlord families. The country's peasants, workers, urban poor, indigenous peoples

59

and other marginalized sectors meanwhile remain grossly underrepresented in the elected government including the presidency, vice-presidency, Senate, House of Representatives, and local government units.

There is actually even violent resistance to political incursions by the Left at even just the congressional and local levels – it is telling of the rigidity and resistance of oligarchic rule that, as reported by rights group Karapatan, over 200 members of Left-leaning partylist groups have been assassinated in the last decade. The external features of democracy such as regular, high-turnout and citizen actionintensive elections coexist with deep social cleavages, economic backwardness and lack of real sovereignty.

It is also noteworthy that United States (US) “democracy promotion” – a key soft power instrument of the US for stabilizing the global capitalist order – has included support to Philippine NGOs across a wide range of “good governance” areas. These projects have spanned electoral processes, good governance, anti-corruption reforms, building the legal system, assisting law enforcement agencies, promoting a free press, local governance and decentralization.

All this has given domestic elite economics and politics a human face, more democratic flavour and development façade. Yet post-1986/Marcos dictatorship Philippine governments clearly retain their elite character and do not confront the powerful local and imperialist interests that benefit from unimplemented land reform, non-industrialization, wage repression and liberalization of trade, investment and finance. The last three decades of thriving NGOs and increasing state-civil society interaction in the country has seen continued implementation and deepening of neoliberal “free market” policies of imperialist globalization. The Ramos government for instance actively courted civil society, as discussed above, but this administration also saw the most extensive implementation of neoliberal policies of any post-Marcos government with liberalization of trade, investments, infrastructure, oil, telecommunications, airways, shipping, foreign exchange and banking. The current Aquino government in turn, despite the accumulated failures of neoliberal globalization globally and domestically, is set to push free market policies even further.

Conclusion The Philippine experience over the last decades fits well with a view of neoliberalism as post-Cold War neocolonialism and imperialist domination: opening up markets to foreign plunder, consolidating capitalist market processes and structures, and promoting Western liberal democracy and free elections.

The civil society and NGO trend has gained much traction in the course of the neoliberal policy offensive since the 1980s and especially after the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Social forces in the country spanning the traditional to ideologically-driven counter-hegemonic movements have all seen opportunities in NGOs. NGOs have accordingly flourished and now provide services and even engage in portions of governance to an unprecedented degree. And yet the country remains deeply underdeveloped.

The Philippine experience with NGOs can be taken as showing their dual character in relation to social transformation. On one hand, they are vehicles for people to mobilize and act on issues and concerns beyond their immediate families and selves. They can potentially support larger struggles for political and economic change as well as deliver concrete benefits at the community level, as they notably did during the Marcos dictatorship. They have a progressive potential to spur change in this regard.

On the other hand, their service character predisposes them to seeking immediate and concrete gains which is not necessarily undesirable in itself but can have unintended adverse consequences. Two possibilities are particularly problematic. First, in terms of orientation, NGOs may give undue emphasis on parochial community concerns rather than real and sustained political engagement whose gains will only be realized over the long-term. Second, in terms of practice, the chronic need for the funding

60

necessary to deliver services could cause undue reliance on conservative funding sources – such as governments and corporations – and result in a correspondingly conservative political stance. These could diffuse dissent to the extent that people are diverted from political struggles to NGOs or are reduced to merely seeking marginal benefits amid an enduring inequitable state of affairs.

The crucial element appears to be the extent to which there are genuinely mass-based initiatives, efforts and struggles outside of the unavoidably conformist framework that NGOs are predisposed to – as ever, mass-based organizations are the fundamental dynamic creating the foundations and setting the pace and direction of the overall struggle for social transformation. The challenge is for such organizations to be stronger, have deeper roots among the people, and be more engaged in ideological, political and economic struggles than NGOs whose gains are inherently limited and which can at most have only a subsidiary role.

The global crisis of capitalism is the most important economic feature affecting the Philippine situation in the coming period and aggravates the chronic domestic crisis of backwardness and underdevelopment. These create the overall conditions for an accelerated resurgence of social and mass movements struggling against entrenched foreign-backed domestic elites. Long-standing poverty and inequality can only worsen which will further underscore the structural nature of the problem.

The country fortunately remains the site of a vigorous Leftist urban and rural mass movement and of armed revolutionary struggles with embryonic political power in areas removed from government control. Those forces are the most effective counters to any reactionary influence by NGOs and civil society and are the most important means for ensuring that impulses for social reform, such as find expression in NGOs, are directed towards struggles for revolutionary change.###

References Armed Forces of the Philippines. (2011), Internal Peace and Security Plan “Bayanihan”.

Quezon City, Philippines: General Headquarters.

Asian Development Bank. (2007, December). Civil Society Brief: Philippines [Brochure].

Manila, Philippines: ADB NGO and Civil Society Center.

Asian Development Bank. (2011a). ADB and Civil Society: Overview [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://beta.adb.org/site/ngos/overview Asian Development Bank. (2011b). The Bank's Experience with NGOs [Fact sheet]. Retrieved f r o m http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/Cooperation_with_NGOs/ngo_experience.a sp?p=coopngos Association of Foundations. (2001), Philippine NGOs: A Resource Book of Social Development NGOs. Manila, Philippines.

Caucus of Development NGO Networks. (2012). Members: Philippine Business for Social P r o g r e s s ( P B S P ) . R e t r i e v e d Fe b r u a r y 1 , 2 0 1 2 f r o m h ttp : / / c o de ngo.org/home/membership/pbsp.html CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Caucus of Development NGO Networks. (2011), Civil Society Index: Philippines – An Assessment of Philippine Civil Society. Quezon City, Philippines: Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO).

Council for Health and Development. (1998). 25 Years of Commitment and Service to the People – Onward with the Struggle for Social Change! Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

European Commission. (2002, November). Participation of Non-State Actors in EC Development Policy. Communication from the Commission to the Council, The European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee (COM(2002) 598 final). Brussels,

61

Belgium: Author.

Freedom House. (2007). Countries at the Crossroads 2007: Country Report-Philippines.

Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4738692964.html Human Development Network (2005), Philippine Human Development Report 2005: Peace, Human Security and Human Development in the Philippines, Second Edition. Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

IBON. (2011, January). Yearend 2010: Real Change, or More of the Same? [Briefing paper].

Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

IBON. (2011, July). Midyear 2011: Failing Economy, Growing Disenchantment [Briefing paper].

Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

IBON. (2011, June). The Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016: Social Contract With Whom? [Policy paper]. Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

IBON. (2011, November). Submission by IBON Foundation, a Philippine NGO, to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Philippines during the 13th UPR Session (21st May - 1st June 2012). Quezon City, Philippines: Author.

Liwanag, A. (1993, November). Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as Guide to the Philippine Revolution. Paper presented at the International Seminar on Mao Zedong Thought, Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Management Systems Advancement, Inc. (2000, January). The roles of Northern NGO activities directed at poverty reduction through service delivery and income generation. Paper presented at the Danida Seminar on �Civil Society in the South in the 21st Century: Governments and NGOs, Which Roles?�, Copenhagen, Denmark.

National Economic and Development Authority. (1999). Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, 1999-2004. Pasig City, Philippines: Author.

National Economic and Development Authority. (2004). Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, 2004-2010. Pasig City, Philippines: Author.

National Economic and Development Authority. (2011a). CY 2010 ODA Portfolio Review, 2011.

Pasig City, Philippines: Author.

National Economic and Development Authority. (2011b). Philippine Development Plan 20112016. Pasig City, Philippines: Author.

National Statistics Office. (2011). 2011 Labor Force Survey (LFS). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/datalfs.html Philippine Council for NGO Certification. (2011). Philippine Council for NGO Certification: B a c k g r o u n d a n d Ra t i o n a le . R e tr i e v e d D e c e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 1 f r o m http://www.pcnc.com.ph/bgandrationale.php Philippines. Office of the President. (1986). Memorandum Circular No. 4 - Directing the Formulation of the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 1987-1992, Manila, March 18, 1986. Manila, Philippines: Executive Secretary.

Philippines. Office of the President. (1997). Memorandum Circular No. 166 - Directing the Formulation of the Philippine National Development Plan for the 21st Century, Manila, August 21, 1997. Manila, Philippines: Executive Secretary.

Racelis, M. (2000). New Visions and Strong Actions: Civil Society in the Philippines. In Ottaway, M & Carothers, T (Eds.), Funding Virtue; Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion.

Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment.

Santos, S M, Santos, P V, Dinampo, O A, Kraft H J S, Paredes, A K R & Quilop, R J G. (2010). Primed And Purposeful: Armed Groups And Human Security Efforts in the Philippines. Quezon City, Philippines: South-South Network for Non-State Armed Group Engagement.

Santos, S M. (2005). Evolution of the Armed Conflict on the Communist Front. Background Paper for the Philippine Human Development Report 2005. Retrieved from http://hdn.org.ph/2005-philippine-human-development-report-peace-human-securityand-human-development/

62

Sicat, G. (1979). The Five- and Ten-Year Development Plan, 1978-82 and 1978-87. Manila, Philippines: Ministry of Labor.

Songco, D A. (2007). The Evolution of NGO Accountability Practices and their Implications on Philippine NGOs: A literature review and options paper for the Philippine Council for NGO Certification. Retrieved from www.hapinternational.org/pool/files/philippinesevolution-of-ngo-accountability-implications.pdf TuaĂąo, P. (2011). Philippine Non-government Organizations (NGOs): Contributions, Capacities, Challenges. In Yu Jose, L N (Ed.), Civil Society Organizations in the Philippines, A Mapping and Strategic Assessment. Quezon City, Philippines: Civil Society Resource Institute.

United Nations Children's Fund. (2007). Uncounted Lives: Children, Women and Armed Conflict in the Philippines. Quezon City, Philippines: UNICEF & IBON Foundation.

United States Agency for International Development. (2011). USAID in the Philippines: 50 Ye a r s o f P a r tn e r s h i p f o r P e a c e a n d D e v e lo p m e n t . R e tr i e v e d f r o m http://philippines.usaid.gov/newsroom/usaid-philippines-50-years-partnershippeace-and-development World Bank. (2005). Stocktaking of Social Accountability Initiatives in the Asia and Pacific Region, (The World Bank Institute – Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion L e a r n i n g P r o g r a m ) .

R e t r i e v e d f r o m http://siteresources.worldbank.org/WBI/Resources/Sirker_StocktakingAsiaPacific_FI NAL.pdf World Bank. (2009). World Bank-Civil Society Engagement: A Review of Years 2007-2009 ( Wo r ld B a n k C i v i l S o c i e t y Te a m ) . R e t r i e v e d f r o m http://siteresources.worldbank.org/CSO/Resources/CivilSocietyBook2009final.pdf World Bank. (2010). World Bank Country Assistance Strategy for the Philippines (FY 20102 0 1 2 ) .

R e t r i e v e d f r o m h ttp : / / w w w wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&the SitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&theSitePK=52367 9&entityID=000112742_20090519114325&searchMenuPK=64187283&theSitePK=5 23679 World Bank. (2011a). WB and Civil Society: Frequently Asked Questions [Fact sheet].

R e t r i e v e d D e c e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 1 f r o m http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:200932 24~menuPK:225318~pagePK:220503~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html World Bank. (2011b). Philippines data. Retrieved December 29, 2011 from http://data.worldbank.org/country/philippines World Bank. (2012). The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Development: the Experience of t h e Wo r ld B a n k . R e tr i e v e d Fe b r u a r y 1 , 2 0 1 2 f r o m http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT /EXTPCENG/0,,contentMDK:20507529~isCURL:Y~menuPK:1278313~pagePK:1489 56~piPK:216618~theSitePK:410306,00.html Wurfel, D. (2002, March). Civil Society and Democratization in the Philippines. Paper presented at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, United States.

63

Notes: This article was originally published by Zed Books in NGOization: Complicity, Contradictions and Prospects edited by Aziz Choudry and Dip Kapoor. Reprinted here with permission from the publisher.

1

See Asian Development Bank (2007), “Civil Society Brief: Philippines”, ADB NGO and Civil Society Center, December 2007 and World Bank (2005), “Stocktaking of Social Accountability Initiatives in the Asia and Pacific Region”, The World Bank Institute – Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion Learning Program (CESI).

2 These are the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PHILDHRRA), Philippine Support Services Agencies (PHILSSA), Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), National Council for Social Development (NCSD), National Confederation of Cooperatives in the Philippines (NATCCO) and the Association of Foundations (AF).

3 This is how Philippine civil society is characterized in: USAID (2011), USAID in the Philippines: 50 Years of Partnership for Peace and Development, 2011; World Bank (2010), World Bank Country Assistance Strategy for the Philippines (FY 2010-2012); and Freedom House (2007), Countries at the Crossroads 2007: Country Report-Philippines, 2007, 4 Songco, D A (2007), “The Evolution of NGO Accountability Practices and their Implications on Philippine NGOs: A literature review and options paper for the Philippine Council for NGO Certification”.

5 ADB (2007), op cit.

6 World Bank (2012), “The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Development: the Experience of t h e Wo r ld B a n k ”, h ttp : / / w e b . w o r ld b a n k . o r g / W B S I T E / E X T E R N A L / TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTPCENG/0,,contentMDK:20507529~isCURL:Y ~menuPK:1278313~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:410306,00.html, accessed February 1, 2012.

7 Philippine Council for NGO Certification (2011), “Philippine Council for NGO Certification: Background and Rationale”, http://www.pcnc.com.ph/bgandrationale.php, accessed December 29, 2011.

8 Tuaño, P (2011), “Philippine Non-government Organizations (NGOs): Contributions, Capacities, Challenges” in Yu Jose, L N (ed) (2011), Civil Society Organizations in the Philippines, A Mapping and Strategic Assessment, Civil Society Resource Institute (CSRI).

9 Ibid.

10 Estimate of NGO employment from Tuaño (2011), op cit and of public sector employment and total employment from the 2011 Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO).

11 Association of Foundations (2001), Philippine NGOs: A Resource Book of Social Development NGOs, 2001 and Tuaño (2011), op cit.

12 Association of Foundations (2001), op cit.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Caucus of Development NGO Networks (2011), Civil Society Index: Philippines – An Assessment of Philippine Civil Society.

16 Ibid.

17 CIVICUS (2011), op cit.

18 See for instance European Commission (2002), Participation of Non-State Actors in EC Development Policy.

19 CODE-NGO (2012), “Members: Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)”, http://codengo.org/home/membership/pbsp.html, accessed February 1, 2012.

20 Tuaño (2011), op cit.

64

21

United Nations Children's Fund (2007), Uncounted Lives: Children, Women and Armed Conflict in the Philippines and Human Development Network (2005), Philippine Human Development Report 2005: Peace, Human Security and Human Development in the Philippines.

22 Santos, S M, Santos, P V, Dinampo, O A, Kraft H J S, Paredes, A K R and Quilop, R J G (2010), Primed And Purposeful: Armed Groups And Human Security Efforts in the Philippines.

23 This discussion of strategy draws from Armando Liwanag, Chairman, Central Committee, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), “Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as Guide to the Philippine Revolution”, Contribution to the International Seminar on Mao Zedong Thought, November 6-7, 1993.

24 ADB (2007), op cit.

25 Management Systems Advancement, Inc. (2000), “The roles of Northern NGO activities directed at poverty reduction through service delivery and income generation”, Paper for the Danida Seminar on ”Civil Society in the South in the 21st Century: Governments and NGOs, Which Roles?”, January 2000.

26 Ibid.

27 Council for Health and Development (1998), “25 Years of Commitment and Service to the People Onward with the Struggle for Social Change!”.

28 See for instance Santos, S M (2005), “Evolution of the Armed Conflict on the Communist Front”, Background Paper for the Philippine Human Development Report 2005.

29 World Bank (2011a), “WB and Civil Society: Frequently Asked Questions”, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:200932 24~menuPK:225318~pagePK:220503~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html, accessed December 29, 2011.

30 World Bank (2009), World Bank-Civil Society Engagement: A Review of Years 2007-2009, World Bank (WB) Civil Society Team.

31 Asian Development Bank (2011a), “ADB and Civil Society: Overview”, http://beta.adb.org/site/ngos/overview, accessed December 29, 2011.

32 Asian Development Bank (2011b), “The Bank's Experience with NGOs”, http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/Cooperation_with_NGOs/ngo_experience.a sp?p=coopngos, accessed Dec 29, 2011.

33 See for instance ADB (2007), op cit, Racelis, M (2000), “New Visions and Strong Actions: Civil Society in the Philippines”, in Ottaway, M and Carothers, T (eds) (2000), Funding Virtue; Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion, 2000, and Wurfel, D (2002), “Civil Society and Democratization in the Philippines”, March 2002.

34 Some examples of prominent NGO personalities in government included Juan Flavier as health secretary during the Corazon Aquino government, PBSP's Ernesto Garilao as agrarian reform secretary during the Ramos government, PRRM's Horacio Morales as agrarian reform secretary during the Estrada government, CODE-NGO's Corazon Soliman as social welfare secretary, and long-time NGO activist Ronald Llamas as presidential adviser on political affairs in the Benigno Aquino, III government.

35 Management Systems Advancement, Inc. (2000), op cit.

36 Exemplified by the Akbayan Citizen's Action Party project of the so-called independent and democratic socialists and ex-popular democrats. Santos (2005), op cit.

37 Armed Forces of the Philippines (2011), Internal Peace and Security Plan.

38 Ibid.

39 National Economic and Development Authority (2011a), CY 2010 ODA Portfolio Review, 2011.

40 CIVICUS (2011), op cit and Tuaño, P (2011), op cit.

41 Sicat, G (1979), “The Five- and Ten-Year Development Plan, 1978-82 and 1978-87”, January 1979.

65

42

Philippines (1986), Memorandum Circular No. 4 - Directing the Formulation of the MediumTerm Philippine Development Plan for 1987-1992, Manila, March 18, 1986.

43 Philippines (1997), Memorandum Circular No. 166 - Directing the Formulation of the Philippine National Development Plan for the 21st Century, Manila, August 21, 1997.

44 National Economic and Development Authority (1999), Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, 1999-2004.

45 National Economic and Development Authority (2004), Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, 2004-2010.

46 National Economic and Development Authority (2004), Philippine Development Plan, 20112016.

47 IBON (2011, June), “The Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016: Social Contract With Whom?”, June 21, 2011.

48 World Bank (2011b). Data from http://data.worldbank.org/country/philippines, accessed December 29, 2011.

49 Country socioeconomic data in this paragraph and the next are from IBON (2011, January), “Yearend 2010: Real Change, or More of the Same?”, January 13, 2011 and IBON (2011, July) “Midyear 2011: Failing Economy, Growing Disenchantment”, July 14, 2011.

50 Agricultural data in this paragraph from IBON (2011, November), “Submission by IBON Foundation, a Philippine NGO, to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Philippines during the 13th UPR Session (21st May 1st June 2012)”, November 28, 2011.

51 National Economic and Development Authority (2011b), Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016.

52 For example PRRM's Horacio Morales campaigned for Pres. Estrada and became agrarian reform secretary, CODE-NGO supported Pres. Arroyo and took a number of Cabinet positions, Akbayan campaigned for Pres. Aquino and its NGO leaders are likewise in the Cabinet.

66

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Charity Di単o: Gurong Makabayan, Bilanggong Politikal [Panayam kay Charity Di単o na kasalukuyang nakapiit sa Batangas Provincial Jail] Rommel B. Rodriguez Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

INTERVIEWS

Charity Di単o: Gurong Makabayan, Bilanggong Politikal [Panayam kay Charity Di単o na kasalukuyang nakapiit sa Batangas Provincial Jail] Rommel B. Rodriguez rommelrdrgz@gmail.com

Sa huling bisita ko (kasama ang iba pang mga estudyante, guro at kawani ng UP Diliman) noong Oktubre 18, 2012 sa Batangas Provincial Jail para kumustahin ang mga bilanggong politikal na nakapiit doon, nagkaroon ako ng pagkakataong makapanayam si Charity, isang kapwa guro. Narito ang aking maikling panayam sa kanya sa pamamagitan nang palitan ng sulat.

Tanong (T) : Maaari ka bang magbigay ng ilang tala tungkol sa iyong buhay?

Sagot (S) : Ako po si Charity M. Dino , dalaga , 32 taong gulang at ipinanganak noong Hunyo 23 , 1980 sa bayan ng Calapan , Oriental Mindoro. Pangatlo ako sa apat na magkakapatid at mula ako sa pamilya ng mga maralita. Nakapagtapos ako ng kolehiyo sa paaralan ng Divine Word College of Calapan sa kursong Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, major in Social Science.

Estudyante pa lang ako ay nag-boboluntaryo na ako bilang katekista o religion teacher sa Leido Memorial High School sa gabay ng mga Don Bosco Sister. Naalala ko na sa aming baranggay sa ilang iskwater doon , tuwing Linggo ay nagtuturo ako sa mga bata hingil sa turo ng simbahan na ginagabayan din ng mga madre. Noong 2003, natanggap ako bilang isang pampublikong guro sa Asico Primary School sa ilalim ng programa ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Oriental Mindoro na Programang Pang edukasyon sa Kalibliban o PaPasaKa. Nagturo ako sa isang integrated classes ng Grade III at IV. Huling kwarto ng taong 2004 ay nagpasya akong maglingkod sa mga magsasaka bilang boluntaryong organisador sa ilalim ng Samahan ng mga Magbubukid ng Batangas, sa probinsya ng Batangas .

T : Bakit ang propesyon ng pagtuturo ang iyong kinuha?

S : Sa una ay pagtupad sa hiling ng aking magulang, subalit minahal ko ang propesyon na ito sapagkat alam kong may malaking impluwensya para maghubog ng isang indibidwal, maghubog ng isang kaisipang magsusulong ng isang makatarungang lipunan. Ikalawa , mataas ang respeto ko sa bawat guro.

67

T : Mayroon bang nag-impluwensya sa iyo upang maging guro ?

S : Mayroon, ang aking ina. Pangarap niya na magkaroon ng anak na isang guro. Napakataas ng pagpapahalaga at paggalang ng aking magulang sa mga guro.

T : Sinu-sino ang hinahangaan mong guro?

S : Itinuturing kong guro ang mga pesante na sa nagkakailang taon ay nakasama ko sa kanayunan.

Sila ang nagturo sa akin hinggil sa kalagayan ng ating lipunan at mamamayan. Mga praktikang panlipunan sa labas sa munting silid o paaralan. Humahanga ako sa kanilang lakas at pagkakaisa upang baguhin ang kasalukuyang sistema ng lipunan. Samantalang lubos ko ding hinangaan ang aking kaibigan na isa na ngayong martir. Ang pangalan niya ay si Leyma Fortu , isang guro , at naging kalihim ng organisasyon ng KARAPATAN . Taong 2004 ay pinaslang siya ng mga paramilitary dahil sa pagtatanggol niya sa karapatang pantao. Inspirasyon ko ang kanyang maalab na paglilingkod sa bayan , kahit pa buhay niya ang naging kapalit.

T : Ano ang masasabi mo tungkol sa kalagayan ng edukasyon sa Pilipinas?

S : Nananatiling atrasado ang kalagayan ng edukasyon sa ating bansa. Masasalamin ito sa napakalaking bilang ng mga kabataang hindi makapag-aral , sa laki o bilang ng mga kakulangan ng mga classroom at paaralan. Ang mga gamit sa pagtuturo ay mano-mano pa din at kung may gumagamit ng mga modernong teknolohiya ay pailan-ilan. Habang kailangan pa nating dagdagan ang bilang ng mga guro ay kapos pa din naman ang pagtitiyak sa kanilang kalagayan para sa isang maayos at mataas na pasahod.

Naging tila negosyo o pribilehiyo na ang edukayon at di- na ito isang karapatan. Na kung wala kang pera, wala kang de-kalidad na edukasyon. Kahit na may K12 program ang gobyerno, hindi naging angkop na solusyong ito sa problema natin sa edukasyon, naging pabigat at pasanin pa ng mga kabataan at magulang na nais makapagtapos at makatapos ng pag-aaral.

T : Sa iyong palagay, bakit kailangang makisangkot ng guro sa mga usaping panlipunan?

S : Mahalaga at nararapat lamang na makisangkot ang mga guro sa mga usaping panlipunan sapagkat bahagi tayo ng isang lipunang mala-kolonyal at mala-pyudal. Ibig sabihin , kabilang tayo sa uring napagsasamantalahan at lubos na dinadanas natin sa araw-araw ang matinding kahirapan. Ang pakikisangkot natin ay ang paggamit ng ating mga talino at kakayahan upang isulong ang interes ng ating hanay at interes ng sambayanang Pilipino.

T : Anu-ano ang maiaambag ng guro ng pagbabago sa lipunan?

S : Malaki ang maiambag ng guro para sa pagbabago ng ating lipunan. Una ay mahalaga na gampanan natin ang ating responsibilidad bilang tagahubog ng tamang kaisipan na nagsusulong ng isang malaya, makatarungan at may pagkakakpantay-pantay na lipunan. Ikalawa , maging kritikal at huwag na hayaang gamitin ang edukasyon upang masakop ang ating kaisipan at pagsilbihin ito para sa mapagsamantalang uri. Tulad sa nangyari sa ating kasaysayan, ginamit ng imperyalitang Estado Unidos upang sakupin ang mamamayang Pilipino. Dapat magsilbi ang kasalukuyang edukasyon upang paunlarin ang ating bayan. Ikatlo , lumahok sa mga usaping panlipunan. Mahalaga ang aktibong partisipasyon at paninindigan sa loob at labas ng eskuwelahan.

T : Ano ang kalagayan ng mga bilanggong politikal dito sa Batangas Provincial Jail?

S : Walang pagkakakaiba ang kalagayan ng lahat ng bilanggong politikal ang kalagyan ng Batangas 8 (bilang ng bilanggong politikal sa Batangas Provincial Jail). Matindi ang pampulitikang panunupil at hindi kinikilala ang mga katayuan at karapatan bilang mga bilanggong pulitikal, mas tinatrato bilang mga

68

high risk na kriminal. Ramdam at kitang-kita ito sa pananatili ng detachment ng 740th ng Philippine Airforce sa loob mismo ng Batangas Provincial Jail, sa construction na isinagawa upang higpitan ang seguridad tulad ng paglalagay ng mga barbwire , sa itaas ng bakod na pader , sa mga catwalk sa buong paligid at CCTV na umiral lamang sa halos tatlong taon naming pagkakabilanggo. Hinahadlangan din ang aming pampulitikang pagkilos upang ipaglaban ang aming karapatan bilang bilanggo at bilang bilanggong politikal. Samantalang usad pagong ang pag-andar ng aming mga hinaharap na kaso.

T : Anu-ano ang balakid na iyong nararanasan dito?

S : Ang bilangguan ay instrumento ng reaksyunaryong estado upang hadlangan ang kalayaan at ang aming mga karapatang pantao. Sa loob ng BPJ, sinusupil nito na maisapraktika namin ang aming karapatan lalo na sa aspekto ng pampulitikang gawain at pagkilos. Litaw dito na kapag nagsagawa kami ng mga protesta upang ipanawagan ang kalayaan ng Batangas 8 at mga lokal na isyu tulad ng pagkain ,conjugal rights , komunikasyon , maayos na pagtrato, at paglaban sa kultura ng karahasan sa aming mga bilanggo ay may mga hakbangin ang pamunuan ng piitan upang ipakita ang kanilang pagtutol at pagkondena.

T : Sa paanong paraan ninyo hinaharap ang mga balakid na ito?

S : Mahigpit na nakipag-ugnayan kami sa mga masang inmate dito. Pinasigla naming ang mga pampulitikang talakayan at pag-aaral lalo na sa usapin ng karapatang pantao. Unti-unti ay naging bukambibig ng mga inmate ang salitang karapatan at paglaban. Mula dito naramdaman na namin ang maalab na suporta ng masang inmate. Kaya ang mga balakid ay hinarap naming sa pamamagitan ng iba't ibang anyo ng kilos-protesta tulad ng pagkakabit ng mga poster, pagsusuot ng mga itim na damit, pagpapakalbo ,pagta-tatu at pagsulat kay Pnoy upang ipanawagan ang kalayaan ng Batangas 8.

Samantalang sa mga isyu sa loob ng bilangguan nagsagawa kami ng pagkilos tulad ng ipinapad-lock namin ang aming mga sarili sa loob ng selda , pinatitigil naming ang operasyon ng kooperatiba , di kami naglilinis ng paligid na tumutungo sa negosayon sa mga nasa pamunuan ng kulungan. Umaabot ito sa paglahok ng daan-daang inmate. Pinasigla din namin ang aming komunikasyon at ugnayan sa mga kaibigang nakikilala( mula sa mga taong simbahan at iba't ibang organisasyon ).

T : Paano naapektuhan o binago ng bilangguan ang iyong pananaw sa lipunan?

S : Pinatatag ng bilangguang ito ang aking sarili at ang aking determinasyon na magsulong ng pagbabago. Ang bilangguan ay larawan ng isang maruming lipunan. Punong puno ng kahirapan at pagsasamantala. Umugat na ang kultura ng karahasan kaya't mapagpasya ang bawat desisyon na patuloy na magsilbi sa aping mamamayan. Hindi na kailangan pa na magpatumpik-tumpik o magalinlangan. Dahil ang patuloy na pananahimik ay magpapasahol lang ng mapang- aping kalagayan.

T : Anong mensahe mo sa iyong kapwa guro?

S : Una ay nagpapasalamat ako na sa halos tatlong taon ko sa loob ng bilangguan ay naramdaman ko ang maalab na suporta at pagmamalasakit sa aking mga kapwa-guro. Nagpasigla ito ng aking diwa at naging inspirayon para patuloy na maging matatag at lumaban. Araw-araw sa loob ng piitan ay nakita ko ang pangangailangang baguhin ang lipunan at palayain ang mamamayan sa kahirapan. Tayong mga guro ay may malaking impluwensya sa paghubog ng lipunan, narararapat lamang tayong kumilos at manindigan. Wag tayong manatili sa isang silid o paaralan, marami pa tayong magagawa. Mahalaga ang ating pakikisangkot sa mga usaping panlipunan. Wag taong matakot, bagkus humakbang tungo sa paninindigan para sa bayan.

69

Ikalawa, patuloy sana nating ipanawagan at palawakin ang kampanya para sa pagpapalaya ng lahat ng mga bilanggong pulitikal ng ating bansa sa pamamagitan ng general , unconditional at omnibus amnesty.

T : Mayroon ka bang mensahe na nais ipaabot sa mga kapwa bilanggong politikal?

S : Sa lahat ng kapwa ko bilanggong pulitikal isang militanteng pakikiisa ang aking ipinapaabot sa ating laban upang isulong ang ating kagyat na kalayaan. Patuloy tayong manindigan at maging matatag.

Huwag nating hayaang igupo at huwag isuko ang malayang diwa ng paglaban at prinsipyo para sa bayan. Sa loob ng bilangguan, patuloy tayong mag-organisa , magmulat at magpakilos ng kapwa natin bilanggo. Gawin nating makabuluhan at magsulong ng interes ng uring anakpawis kahit pa tayo ay nakapiit. Hindi hindi tayo pahahadlang sa mapanupil na reaksyunaryong gubyerno. Tiyak ako na lalaya tayo, nasa atin ang suporta ng malawak na masa at ang ating determinasyong putulin ang tanikala ng pagsasamantala.

70

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

Tanikala at Talinhaga: Ang Rebolusyonaryo Bilang Artista at Bilanggong Pulitikal [Panayam kay Alan Jazmines] Kerima Tariman at Rommel Rodriguez Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

Tanikala at Talinhaga: Ang Rebolusyonaryo Bilang Artista at Bilanggong Pulitikal [Panayam kay Alan Jazmines] nina Kerima Tariman at Rommel Rodriguez rommelrdrgz@gmail.com

Sa kasaysayan, sina Jose Rizal, Aurelio Tolentino, at Amado V. Hernandez ay ilan lang sa mga makabayang manunulat na ibinilanggo dahil sa kanilang pampulitikang paninindigan.

Si Alan Jazmines, 68, isang makata at rebolusyonaryo, ay dalawang beses ibinilanggo noong panahon ng Batas Militar ng diktadurang Marcos. Isa siya ngayon sa mga pangunahing konsultant ng National Democratic Front (NDF) sa usapang pangkapayapaan (peace talks). Nasa andergrawnd na si Jazmines nang ilathala ng Kalikasan Press ang “Moon's Face,” koleksyon ng kanyang mga tula sa piitan, noong 1991. Sinuong ni Jazmines ang rebolusyonaryong landas mula sa panahon ng Batas Militar at hanggang sa kasalukuyan.

Muling inaresto ng militar si Jazmines sa Baliuag, Bulacan, Pebrero 14 nitong nakaraang taon (2011). Ilang oras na lamang ito bago muling magsimula ang mga usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng pamahalaan (GPH) at NDF sa Oslo, Norway. Sa piitan, patuloy na lumikha si Jazmines ng mga likhangsining, tula at sanaysay hinggil sa pampulitikang panunupil at mga usapin sa usapang pangkapayapaan. Mula sa PNP Custodial Center sa Camp Crame, Quezon City, inilipat si Jazmines sa Camp Bagong Diwa sa Taguig kamakailan. Dito rin sa mga lugar na ito una siyang ipiniit noong panahon ng Batas Militar.

Ang sining at pakikibaka ni Alan Jazmines ay isa sa mga tampok na salaysay sa “Tanikala at Talinghaga,” pag-aaral at dokumentaryo hinggil sa mga artista at bilanggong pulitikal sa kasaysayan ng bansa. Narito ang unang bahagi ng panayam ni Prop. Rodriguez kay Alan Jazmines: Tanong (T) : Ano ang inyong pananaw sa sining? Ano ang moda ng inyong artistikong paglikha bago kayo masangkot sa rebolusyonaryong kilusan? Mayroon po ba kayong nalikha o nalathala sa panahong ito?

Alan Jazmines (AJ) : Unang natuto ako sa arte at sining – sa partikular, sa pagdodrowing at pagpipinta mula sa lolo ko sa ina, sa panahong sila pa ng lola ko ay nag-aaruga sa akin hanggang bago ako magsimulang pumasok sa paaralan. Matiyaga niya akong tinuruan noon, pangunahin na ng mga prinsipyo at teknika nito. Nagpatuloy ito sa panahon ng bakasyon noong nag-aaral pa ako hanggang sa pumanaw ang lolo ko sa mga unang taon ko sa kolehiyo.

Bagamat may ilang bahagyang pagpapraktis na ginagawa ko noon, wala pa akong likhang sining na aktwal na nabuo sa panahong iyon.

Noong hayskul ako, naging kasapi ako ng Poster Club. Sa paggawa ng mga poster na pinapaskil sa pader ng mga koridor sa eskwelahan, naipraktis ko nang bahagya ang ilang prinsipyo at teknikang iyon.

Noong nasa kolehiyo na ako mas nagtuon naman ako sa pagsusulat ng mga tula at sanaysay para sa panliteraturang magasin naming sa kolehiyo, at ng mga artikulo para sa diyaryo naming (Guidon ng Ateneo de Manila University).

71

Wala pa ako noong sistematisadong pananaw sa sining o kultura, bagamat mas pinipili kong magtuon tungkol sa mahihirap.

Noong nasa rebolusyonaryong kilusan na ako mas bumwelo sa panliteraturang pagsusulat at sa pagdodrowing at pagpipinta at noon na nagkaroon ng rebolusyonaryong tema ang aking mga gawang sining.

T : Maaari ba kayong magsalaysay hinggil sa pagkakabilanggo ninyo noong panahon ng Batas Militar?

AJ : Dalawang ulit akong nabilanggo sa ilalim ng Batas Militar. Una, noong 1974-1977, at kasunod noong 1982, hanggang sa pagpapalaya sa lahat ng mga bilanggong pulitikal sa pagtatagumpay ng People Power sa EDSA noong Pebrero 1986.

Sa unang pagdakip sa akin ay nagtuturo pa ako ng Masters of Business Management sa Asian Institute of Management. Pagkadakip sa akin ay itinago ako sa isang safehouse ng National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) kung saan madalas, matindi at malupit akong tinortyur. Nang inilabas na ako'y dinala ako sa NCR HQ ng Constabulary Security Unit (5th CSU), na ngayo'y tinatawag nang PNP Intelligence Group (PNP IG) sa Camp Crame, kung saan patuloy ang malupit na pagtrato sa mga bilanggong pulitikal.

Sa pamamagitan ng dalawang magkasunod na pag-aayuno (hunger strike), nakamit naming mga bilanggong pulitikal doon ang ilang inisyal na kaluwagan, hanggang sa pagpapalipat sa amin sa ibang relatibong mas maluwag na kulungan sa Camp Crame, at sa kalaunan sa relatibong higit na maluwag pang kulungan sa Camp Bagong Diwa na sadyang nakalaan para sa maramihang bilanggong pulitikal.

Sa Camp Bagong Diwa, ibayong naglunsad pa ang halos daan-daang bilanggong pulitikal doon ng sunud-sunod na mga pag-aayuno at iba pang pakikibaka para sa pagpapalaya, kabilang na ng mga nanay na may pinasususo pang mga sanggol .

Masigla ang iba't ibang aktibidad ng mga bilanggong pulitikal doon, kabilang na ang mga pag-aaral pampulitika, pag-aaral ng mga lengguwahe, paggawa ng mga card at wall dĂŠcor, pagdaraos ng mga pangkulturang pagtatanghal, at marami pang iba. Karamihan ng mga ito'y may tema ng pakikibaka at paglaya.

Mula sa iba't ibang piitan, ang mga bilanggong pulitikal ay nagpadala sa Amnesty International ng mga testimonya at nagsampa rin sa korte ng mga kaso tungkol sa dinanas nilang mga tortyur at iba pang kalupitan sa kamay ng mga pasistang pwersa ng nagpadakip at nagkulong sa kanila.

Malaki ang naitulong ng mga pakikibakang ito sa pagpapalaya ng maraming bilanggong pulitikal mula noong mapresyur ang diktadura na magpakita ng “normalisasyon� mula 1977. Sa gayon ako napalaya.

Marami-rami rin ang napalaya sa pamamagitan ng pagtakas.

Sa ikalawang pagkakadakip sa akin, nakalubog ako noon sa isang komunidad ng mga manggagawa sa paligid ng mga pabrikang inoorganisa namin. Kasama kong mga pinagdadakip ang mahigit dosena pang mga organisador ng mga unyon ng manggagawa ay mga lider-manggagawa noon. Dinala muna kami sa himpilan sa NCR ng Military Intelligence Group (MIG15), kung saan gusto sana kaming tuluytuloy na idetine. Naglunsad kami ng pag-aayuno. kaya't inilipat na rin kami sa Camp Bagong Diwa.

72

Katulad ng naranasan ko sa unang pagkakulong, masigla ang diwa, organisasyon at paglaban ng mga bilanggong pulitikal doon.

Mas sa panahong ito ako nakapagtuon sa pagdodrowing at pagpipinta at sa pagsusulat ng mga tula. Nakasama ako sa pagdaraos ng eksibit ng mga likhang-sining ng mga bilanggong pulitikal sa Sining Kamalig noong 1985 (Muling nag-eksibit sa bagong Sining Kamalig Gallery sa Gateway, Cubao si Jazmines nitong 2011).

T : Paano po nalikha ang inyong koleksyong “Moon's Face”?

AJ : Sa pangalawang pagkakakulong ko sa Camp Bagong Diwa noong 1982-1986 ako nakapagsulat ng marami-raming mga tula at nailabas sa iba't ibang pahayagan at magasin. Makaraan ang ilang panahon, pagkalaya ko'y inilathala ang mga iyon sa librong “Moon's Face.”

Malaking bahagi nito'y kaugnay ng kaapihan at kahirapan ng mamamayan, pasistang diktadura, piitan, mga pakikibaka sa mga ito at ang tinatanaw na tagumpay at maaliwalas na hinaharap.

Noong nakakulong pa ako, binabalak na sanang ilatlhala iyon ng isang pandaigdigang organisasyong nagtataguyod sa mga nakapiit na alagad ng sining. Kaya lamang ay di na natuloy dahil nakalaya na ako. Itinuloy na lamang ng Kalikasan Press ang paglalathala.

Si Alfrredo Salanga ang nagmungkahi ng pamagat (batay sa isa sa mga tula sa koleksyon) at siya rin sana ang gagawa ng introduksyon, pero pumanaw siya bago niya iyon natapos, at si Elmer Ordonez ang siya nang gumawa. Nasa andergrawnd na ako nang mailathala ang librong iyon at may mga tumatawid na lamang sa pagitan ko at mga umaasikaso at tumutulong sa publikasyon ng libro.

T : Maaari po ba ninyong isalaysay ang sirkumstansya ng pagkakadakip sa inyo nitong Pebrero 2011?

AJ : Mga alas-sais ng gabi noong Pebrero 14, 2011, ilang oras na lang bago magsimula ang pagbabalik ng pormal na usapan sa pagitan ng NDF at GPH na ilang taon nang nabahura, gumawa pa ng mapanlait na sampal ang GPH sa NDF at sa usapang pangkapayapaan. Biglaan akong inaresto. Nailagay ako sa surbeylans ng mga pwersang intelidyens ng GPH habang nakikipag-ugnayan sa mga kasamahaan ko sa NDF peace panel sa pinaka-bisperas ng usapang pangkapayapaan.

Biglaang pinasok ng magkasanib na pwersa ng Philippine Army (PA) at ng PNP ang bahay na kinaroroonan at pinagtatrabahuhan ko noon. Tinutukan ng mataas na kalibre ng baril ang lahat ng naroroon. Pagkakita sa akin ay agad akong pinosasan at inilabas sa bahay.

Naghahanap ang mga may-ari ng bahay ng warrant of arrest, pero walang ipinakita ang mga nagreyd kundi isang di mabasang malabong dokumento raw ng korte na ipinagkunwari ng mga kumuha sa akin na siyang warrant.

Kahit wala silang search warrant, hinalughog ang kwarto kung saan ako kinuha at sinamsam ang mga naroroong kompyuter, hard disk, cellphone, relo, ilang salapi, at tinatrabaho ko noong mga papeles, kabilang na ang maraming kaugnay sa muling sinisimulang usapang pangkapayapaan.

Nagmamadaling dinala ako sa PNP Regional HQ sa Camp Olivas, Pampanga, mga isang oras lamang pagkapatupad ng reyd, upang magawan agad ako ng arrest papers at maunahan ang muling pagsisimula ng peace talks na magaganap na sa loob ng lamang ng ilang oras noon.

73

Iniangal ko na hindi nila dapat ako inaresto dahil protektado ng Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees o JASIG ang mga katulad kong NDF peace consultant. Hiningi ko ring makausap ang mga abugado ko bilang karapatan ko sa ilalim ng Miranda doctrine.

Umalis ang arresting officer at pagkabalik makaraan ang mahigit dalawang oras ay sinabing ang “utos mula sa itaas� ay ituloy ang pag-aresto at pagkulong sa akin, kahit inaangkin ko ang proteksyon ng JASIG at iginigiit kong kailangan ako sa gaganaping usapang pangkapayapaan. Ang Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) at ang GPH Peace Panel na lamang daw ang bahala sa mga binabanggit kong problema.

Sampal ang ginawa ng GPH at mga pamunuang militar at pulis nito sa NDF peace panel at sa prosesong pangkapayapaan. Tuwiran at malinaw kong nasaksihan kung paano nila maliitin, bastusin at labagin di lamang ang sariling mga prosesong legal ng GPH, kundi pati at laluna ang mga kasunduan sa usapang pangkapayapaan.

Ilang minuto pa lamang pagka-aresto sa akin, agad na ipinagmalaki ito ng hepe ng PA na si Gen. Arturo Ortiz, na siyang nagsilbing pangkalahatang kumand sa operasyong pag-aresto. Nasagap agad ito ng mga taong-midya na agad ring nagtimbre sa mga organisasyong pangkarapatang-tao at sa pamilya ko, kaya nagmadaling tumungo sa Camp Olivas.

Bandang 7:30 ng gabi, nakarating sila sa Camp Olivas pero itinanggi ng mga awtoridad na tauhan doon na naroroon ako. Inabot sila ng hanggang alas-10 ng gabi sa kakahanap sa akin doon. Naroroon lang ako sa buong panahon na hinahanap nila ako roon.

Nang madala na ako sa kulungan ng PNP sa Camp Alejo Santos sa Malolos, Bulacan, pasado alas-10 ng gabi, saka na lamang ipinakita sa akin ang ikinukunwaring warrant of arrest na di mabasang mga dokumento. Binanggit na lamang sa akin na tungkol sa 13 kaso sa korte ang mga iyon na may petsang 1992 kaugnay ng mga napatay na mga pwersang militar sa mga operasyon ng New People's Army (NPA) sa iba't ibang lugar sa Timog Katagalugan.

Mga alas-11 na ng umaga nang matagpuan ako ng mga kamag-anak ko at mga organisasyong pangkarapatang-tao. Pinayagan silang mabisita ako. ###

74

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

TEACHING AGAINST THE IMPERIALIST PEDAGOGICAL MACHINE Statement of CONTEND for the International Teachers Day 5 October 2012 Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

STATEMENTS

TEACHING AGAINST THE IMPERIALIST PEDAGOGICAL MACHINE Statement of CONTEND for the International Teachers Day 5 October 2012

Peter McLaren, a leading proponent and practitioner of 'revolutionary critical pedagogy' states, “We [teachers] need to learn not only how to educate, but how to be educated in terms of ripening class antagonisms. Teachers disqualify themselves from historical struggle when they fail to locate their own formation as educators within the degenerative process of contemporary capitalist society and the enduring and intractable class-driven social arrangements: to wit, within the agonistic arena of class struggle.” Hence, as we celebrate the International Day of Teachers, let's oppose the state-sponsored celebration of teachers' heroism that lavishly romanticizes the condition of teachers while trivializing their oppression. Such lip service glorification of teachers as unsung “heroes” (My Teacher, My Hero) reduces the image of teachers as docile and self-sacrificing emotional workers sanitized from the exploitative, repressive, and alienating effects of neoliberal reforms in education, nationally and globally.

After seventeen years since October 5th was declared as international day of recognition for teachers by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Filipino teachers, who are supposed to liberate the young minds of the future generation and prepare them to engage in social transformation, still wallow in most despicable working condition and are subjected to a pedagogical system that fetters their critical minds.

The P309-billion budget of the education sector for 2012, which accounts for 17% of the total national budget of P1.816 trillion, remains inadequate to cover the annual shortages in classrooms, desks and teachers. There are a total of 104,000 additional teachers needed, according to the Philippine Development Plan, but the 2012 budget can only fund P2.9 billion for the hiring of 13,000 teachers.

This means teachers will absorb the brunt of teaching large classes. Such capitalist-driven austerity measure translates to longer but unpaid teaching hours, more preparation, and unspeakable physical labor. To address teacher shortage, an additional education budget of P650 million is needed that would include the creation of 38,593 permanent teacher items at the basic level and 8,000 new teaching items at the tertiary level, according to ACT Partylist (Alliance of Concerned Teachers). But the government pushes for K+12 that spreads the already thin budget to programs that will surely increase teachers' burdens as well as exacerbating the already squeezed expenditures of parents.

In Metro Manila, the latest family living wage or the amount needed for a family of six members to live decently has been pegged at P998 or P21,956 per month. But the salary for entry-level position of Teacher 1 remains at P15,649, pending deductions. Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano even suggested that public school teachers belong to the country's “poor sector” because their monthly salary falls below the poverty threshold defined by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). In his

75

estimation, a public school teacher earns an average of P10,933 monthly, but with the mandatory deductions such as GSIS and Pag-Ibig, a teacher takes home only about P8,000. Overworked and superexploited, thousands of Filipino teachers are compelled to borrow from loan sharks or pawn their ATM cards, if not totally forced to go abroad to find employment.

But employment abroad also subjects Filipino teachers to the violence and racist character of imperialist out-sourcing of their educational woes. Thus, the hundreds of Filipino teachers who were debarred from Maryland and Louisiana public schools prompted a Los Angeles federal judge to rule that the conditions that Filipino teachers were subjected to when brought to Louisiana qualify their case to be heard under the federal human trafficking law. The US Labor Department slapped the Prince George's County Public School system (PGCPS) last year with a two-year debarment and $1.7 million fine for illegally collecting placement fees from international teachers, most of them from the Philippines.

Neoliberal reforms worldwide have drastically redefined the role of teachers and educational workers. Teachers' unions are being busted, contractualization of teaching profession has become the norm for hiring, tuition fees and other school fees are skyrocketing due to privatization and deregulation, school culture is becoming commercialized and corporatized through corporate funded research, and academic values transformed to market-defined curricula and courses tailored to the needs of the international division of labor. Such education produces self-learning learner that follows the lifelong learning philosophy of World Bank. The World Bank ideology of lifelong learning that celebrates the neoliberal values of multiculturalism, multitasking, hybridization, and interdisciplinarity – supply the transnational corporations with the skills necessary for accumulation of capital on a worldwide scale.

Yet amidst this horrendous turmoil under neoliberal reforms in education, the most advanced section of teachers and other educational workers and administrators through their unions, with the support of militant section of the working class and other progressive sectors of Philippine society, are militantly and patiently struggling to dismantle the weakening imperialist grip on our educational system. Last year, the united protest actions of teachers, students, and other progressive groups forced Aquino's semi-colonial state bureaucracy to reckon with the dwindling budget for public education.

But teachers have to wage a two-pronged struggle. On the one hand, they have to unite with all legal movement of patriotic and progressive forces of Philippine society to eliminate imperialism, feudalism, and capitalism – the fundamental causes of our educational crisis and backwardness. On the other, they have to practice 'revolutionary critical pedagogy' in order to neutralize and win over the reactionary faction of teachers who serve the interests of the imperialist machine. Teachers have to fight against the ideology of apolitical education, dismantle neutrality that breeds 'culture of silence,' and stop the auction of knowledge to the highest corporate bidders. As the state abandons its obligation to public education and forfeits its mandate to promote education as a public good, teachers are exposed to the most rapacious and exploitative menace of capitalism. Only in engaging in these two-pronged struggles that teachers will have the chance to win the world!

So today, 5 October, the International Day of Teachers, CONTEND registers its most strident revolutionary refusal to surrender education to the highest bidders through public private partnership, corporatization, and profligate commercialization. We strongly condemn all violence perpetrated by the state police and all its repressive apparatuses against teachers, students, and other educational workers who are struggling against all forms of exploitation and oppression.

We therefore join the resounding chorus of all progressive forces of our society who are calling for NATIONALIST, SCIENTIFIC, and MASS-ORIENTED EDUCATION. All militant and nationalist teachers should fight for education that serves the end of national sovereignty, industrial modernization, and economic redistribution. Teachers must espouse and cultivate a culture that is critical, one that which

76

combat dogmas and discourses that legitimate social injustices and all forms of exploitation. A just and humane social order entails the elimination of mass ignorance through 'revolutionary critical pedagogy.' Thus, teachers are duty-bound to fight for democratized access to and practice of education.

FOR A NATIONALIST, SCIENTIFIC, AND MASS-ORIENTED EDUCATION! FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL! TEACHERS UNITE AGAINST EDUCATIONAL IMPERIALISM! OPPOSE AND EXPOSE ALL FORMS OF IMPERIALIST, ANTI-PEOPLE EDUCATIONAL REFORMS! FOR GREATER STATE-SUBSIDY AND BUDGET FOR STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES! HIGHER AND BETTER BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS NOW! APPROVE HOUSE BILL 2142, AN “ACT UPGRADING THE MINIMUM SALARY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM SALARY GRADE 11 TO 15 NOW!

Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy

77

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

SALUTE THE PEOPLE'S RESISTANCE TO FASCIST RULE! The struggle for national freedom and democracy continues th

ACT Statement on the 40 year of the imposition of martial law Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

SALUTE THE PEOPLE'S RESISTANCE TO FASCIST RULE! The struggle for national freedom and democracy continues th

ACT Statement on the 40 year of the imposition of martial law

It was in the 23rd of September 1972 and not the 21st when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law.

Marcos supposedly signed the declaration on the 21st, but it was the staged assassination attempt on then Defence Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile on the 22nd that was used as justification for the declaration.

Thus on the night of the same day, opposition Senators Benigno Aguino, Jr. and Jose W. Diokno were arrested; offices of critical media outlets such as the Manila Times and television stations owned by the Lopezes were padlocked. The public would only have an inkling of actual martial law – the declaration of which has for a long time been rumored about – when on the morning of the 23rd, television and radio programs that used to accompany breakfast went silent. Indeed, Press Secretary Francisco Tatad appeared on television in the afternoon reading Proclamation 1081. Later in the evening, Marcos himself announced the imposition of martial rule to “save the republic and build a new society.”1 But merely correcting the date of the declaration of martial law does not and cannot erase the brutality of the repression that martial law engendered, let alone, the admirable and courageous resistance of the people against the dictatorship.

Martial law as repression on behalf of US imperialism and the ruling class Martial rule was imposed by Marcos to ensure his continued stay in power and attempt to destroy the strong anti-imperialist and nationalist mass movement in the urban centers and decimate the antifeudal, anti-imperialist armed movement in the countryside. To the Filipino people, it meant the widescale arrests and detention of those perceived to be opposing the Marcos dictatorship. Around 70,000 were imprisoned for political reasons without formal charges; and in rare instances wherein cases were brought to court, victims were usually charged with common crimes like murder or illegal possession of firearms. The torture of political prisoners were systematic, involving electrocution, water cure, Russian roulette, and, for women, sexual abuse including gang rape.2 “Salvaging” meant extra-judicial killing and around 700 were recorded to have disappeared. Among which include Jessica Sales, an instructor of Political Science and Sociology at the University of the Philippines in Manila and in Los Baños. Together with six others, Jessica disappeared in 31 July 1977.3 In Mindanao, some 100,000 Muslim Filipinos were killed during martial law.

Marcos and his cronies benefitted from the imposition of terror. Estimates of Marcos ill-gotten wealth range from $5 billion to $35 billion. Some even suggest that the true amount could go well over a hundred billion dollars. The value of Imelda Marcos's jewellery confiscated after the 25 February 1986 ouster of Marcos from Malacanang is estimated at $20 million.

Marcos's cronies such as Rodolfo Cuenca, Herminio Disini, Roberto Benedicto, and Eduardo Cojuangco amassed wealth through government contracts, ownership of confiscated media conglomerates (including ABS-CBN), or through shameless use of the coconut levy and other government funds.4

79

But it was US imperialism which profited the most from the imposition of martial law: The Nixon administration – speaking through the American Chamber of Commerce in Manila – hailed the proclamation of martial law and, in particular, expected the growth of foreign investment in the country. The very first act of Marcos after issuing martial law decrees was to reverse the Supreme Court decision on the Quasha case to the cheers of his foreign corporate patrons as martial law's chief beneficiaries. And as an US Congress report admitted, the martial law period was a time for extending imperialist privileges for foreign investment even further.5 With Marcos and his cronies brokering deals with American and other foreign contractors, the country's foreign debt increased at a tremendous rate: When Marcos assumed presidency in 1966, the foreign debt of the Philippines stood below $1 billion. When he fled Malacañang in February 1986 during the first People Power, the country had a foreign debt of $28 billion. Following our loan schedule, Filipino taxpayers will pay for the foreign debts of Marcos until 2025 - 59 years after he assumed office and 39 years after he was kicked out.

The single largest foreign debt (and most expensive white elephant) of the country was also contracted by Marcos – the $2.3 billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). This lone project comprised 9 percent of the total foreign debt of the country when it was completed in 1984. Subsequent investigations showed that the BNPP was overpriced by $600 million, and that Marcos and his crony Herminio Desini, who facilitated the project, were bribed with $80 million by the project contractor US-based Westinghouse Corporation.6 Martial law as resistance Wherever there is repression, there is resistance. Marcos's martial rule was met with resistance.

Thousands of activists, including students, professors, teachers, workers, and even church people went underground. Many joined the armed resistance in the countryside led by the New People's Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines. Our Muslim compatriots established the Moro National Liberation Front in Mindanao and asserted their right to secession from a country ruled by a tyrannical regime.

In the urban centers, underground networks organized workers, the urban poor, and the middle class and broke the information monopoly and media censorship of the Marcos regime through underground press. By 1975, workers of La Tondeña successfully launched a strike in spite of the martial law strike prohibition. The indigenous peoples of Bontoc and Kalinga in the Cordillera successfully prevented the construction of the World Bank-funded Chico River Dam through massive protest actions which attracted international support. Militancy among students which was curtailed in the initial years of martial law grew in strength to demand the return of their student councils and their campus newspapers. Urban poor communities resisted demolition of their homes in the guise of “beautification” projects by Imelda. Workers in the Bataan Export Processing Zone held several general strikes to demand higher wages as well as to oppose the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Women organized to demand the end of martial law. Various forms of resistances escalated especially after the brazen assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr. on 21 August 1983.

Released by Marcos under U.S. pressure, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Marcos's chief rival in the feudal oligarchy, flew back to the Philippines in 1983, in a bid, as he himself described it, to help contain the revolutionary upsurge. His assassination in the hands of the Marcos regime only fuelled the fires of protest from all quarters – including sections of the U.S. imperialist establishment. While U.S. President Reagan and the Pentagon opted to hang on to Marcos as

80

long as possible, the U.S. State Department decided much earlier to cast their lot with a more marketable puppet in the person of a feudal hacienda owner, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, the widow of Marcos's rival.7 Salute to our teacher martyrs and heroes ACT salutes our teacher martyr and heroes who sacrificed their lives to overthrow the US-Marcos dictatorship and to achieve national freedom and democracy. Among them are: Jessica Sales, instructor of sociology and political science in UP Manila and UP Los Banos.

Disappeared in 1997, together with seven others. <http://www.bantayog.org/node/191> Carlos del Rosario, instructor of political science at the Philippine College of Commerce (now Polytechnic University of the Philippines) and founding member of the Kabataan Makabayan and a staunch nationalist. Disappeared on 19 March 1971. <http://www.bantayog.org/node/90> Santiago Arce, teacher and principal of the Little Flower High School in PeĂąarrubia, Abra and supported the farmers' struggle for land in Abra. Killed while in the custody of the military, September 1974. <http://www.bantayog.org/node/46> Countless other teachers, professors and education workers joined the anti-dictatorship struggle and helped in exposing bankruptcy, corruption, and repression which characterized the Marcos regime. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers was established in 1982 and became the center of militant struggles of education workers for their democratic rights and welfare and for acting in solidarity with other people's organizations.

Continue the struggle for national freedom and democracy Indeed, martial law was never again declared in the country. But despite success of the people's resistance in arresting the savagery that represents the Marcos dictatorship, the most fundamental characteristics of Philippine society remain. Widespread poverty, injustice, and oppression that pretty much summarize the state of the country during the Marcos years remain.

The various administrations that occupied Malacanang since 1986 have pursued the same economic and political policies as that of the Marcos regime: a development thrust subservient to foreign interests and to the local elite. Genuine land reform for the millions of farmers remains a dream especially with deceptive programs like the CARP and the CARPER. In addition to the lackluster approach to finding real and life-long solutions to unemployment, all administrations, since Marcos, has focused on various anti-worker policies like labor contractualization and the peddling of cheap labor to multinational companies, let alone, force Filipinos to work overseas. Demolition of urban poor communities to give way to big business projects is a regular occurrence. Education, health, and other social services are becoming less and less accessible as rates of users' fees and the implementation of public private partnership schemes are being heightened.

Human rights violations remain to be a grim reality. Under the present Aquino dispensation, 100 extra-judicial killings, nine enforced disappearances, and 94 political prisoners have been recorded.

The Oplan Saggitarius of the martial law period and the Oplan Bantay Laya of the Arroyo regime is the Oplan Bayanihan of Aquino, an anti-people program that shamelessly interpose â&#x20AC;&#x153;development projectsâ&#x20AC;? with military operations. Activist and pro-people organizations such as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers are being labelled as enemies of the state. Harassment and surveillance of human rights advocates such as Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera or Mrs. Edith Burgos are not isolated.

81

But as in during martial law when the people, including teachers and other education personnel, have shown, repression breeds resistance. The people will not be cowed. Let us mark the 40th year of the imposition of martial law in the Philippines by once more declaring: Never again to martial law!

Junk Oplan Bayanihan and all repressive programs and projects!

End impunity! Justice for all victims of human rights violations from the Marcos regime to the Aquino regime!

Advance the people's rights and welfare!

Persist in our struggle for national freedom and democracy!

Notes: 1

http://www.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/ http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=456024 3 http://www.bantayog.org/node/191 4 See for example, Ricardo Manapat. Some are Smarter Than Others: The History of Marcos' Crony Capitalism. New York: Aletheia Publications. 1991.

5 http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-32/3-32-retrospect.html 6 http://www.bulatlat.com/news/4-33/4-33-marcosdebt.html 7 http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-32/3-32-retrospect.html 2

82

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

REDEEMING THE SUFFERINGS FROM THE TERROR OF MARTIAL LAW

BY INTENSIFYING PEOPLE’S ANTIIMPERIALIST AND DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLES CONTEND Statement on the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law 21 September 2012 Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

REDEEMING THE SUFFERINGS FROM THE TERROR OF MARTIAL LAW

BY INTENSIFYING PEOPLE’S ANTIIMPERIALIST AND DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLES CONTEND Statement on the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law 21 September 2012

Lenin famously said that “fascism is capitalism in decay.” Terry Eagleton, a leading Marxist literary scholar, concurs by saying that “fascism is essentially the attempt to ensure the rule of monopoly capitalism in its purest, most untrammelled, most invulnerable form.” How true indeed for Martial Law (ML)! In early 1970, the Philippines was in deep economic crisis due to President Ferdinand Marcos's overspending in his reelection bid. Unable to meet payments on its $2.3 billion international debt, Marcos negotiated a $27.5 million standby credit that strapped Philippine economic policy to the imperialist dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Marcos claimed that ML was the last defense against the rising disorder caused by increasingly violent student demonstrations, the alleged threats of communist insurgency by the new Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the Muslim separatist movement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). But ML was the pernicious alibi of the fascist dictator to forestall the looming economic crisis and to quash the mounting discontent of the people.

So on 21 September 1972, Marcos signed Proclamation 1081 that extended his rule beyond the constitutional two-term limit and put the entire nation under martial law. It marked the plunging of our nation into historic catastrophe distinguished by unprecedented political repression, economic plunder by the dictator and his family and his comprador and landlord cronies, brutal militarization, cultural miseducation and propaganda on a massive scale, and all-out war against all oppositions and Muslim separatist movements. In the name of creating “new society,” Marcos got the support of the business community, both Filipino and foreign, of Washington, and, of the de facto multilateral institutions. To sustain its economic interests and contain Communism in Southeast Asia, American imperialism injected massive capital to the fascist dictatorship. Philippine external debt rose from $360 million in 1962 to $28.3 billion in 1986. Meanwhile the clerico-fascist faction within the Catholic Church took the opportunity to use ML to protect its own reactionary and feudal ideology. Now, all that was needed is to silence the opposition.

Between 1972 and 1976, Marcos increased the size of the Philippine military from 65,000 to 270,000 personnel. The size of the army is also increased, with numbers swelling from about 58,000 in 1971 to 142,000 in 1983. It is estimated that more than 60,000 people were arrested between 1972 and 1977. Political prisoners were routinely tortured by the military. "Disappearances" and murders of suspected political activists were common, with over 500 cases being recorded for the period 1975 to 1980.

According to Transparency International, Marcos is alleged to have embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion from the Philippines. Other estimates of his ill-gotten gains range from $3 billion to $35 billion. Some suggest that the true amount is over $100 billion, perhaps even trillions of dollars.

Fascism, according to the Thirteenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, is the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most

83

imperialist elements of finance capital. Taking off from this definition, Marcos fascist dictatorship could only be sustained by the combined effects of the objective contradictions of semi-colonial and semifeudal society and the subjective factor, Marcos's grand ambition to remain in power. Marcos's “Bagong Lipunan” (New Society) relied on the collaboration of the big compradors and landlords who became Marcos cronies. Meanwhile, the compradors and landlords, outside Marcos's circle, who were equally reactionary, either collaborated or were imprisoned if not forced to voluntarily go into exile if only to save their class status. Later on, like the Phoenix, they would rise from the ashes of repression to continue on with their superexploitation of the masses – only this time without the protective blanket of martial law.

Today, well-entrenched in the government and businesses, they are shouting the slogans of pseudodemocracy and sham freedom to advance their anti-nationalist interests.

To win over the masses, Marcos and the military demagogically appealed to their most urgent needs and demands. Marcos's brand of fascism not only inflamed prejudices that were deeply ingrained in the Filipino people, but also played on the better sentiments of the masses, on their sense of justice and even on their nationalist sentiments. The fascist dictatorship methodically aimed at the most unbridled exploitation of the masses by taking advantage of the deep hatred of the people against the plundering compradors, the banks, trusts and financial magnates, and advancing those slogans that pointed to the threat of Communism as the greatest menace to the so-called Bagong Lipunan. Martial law delivered up the people to be devoured by the most corrupt and venal plunder, while promising them an honest and incorruptible government. Playing on the profound disillusionment of the masses in a semi-feudal political system, Marcos and his cronies hypocritically denounced corruption.

The massive suffering that was inflicted on the people by fascist rampage was not unopposed. The broad mass of Filipino people, especially the New People's Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) waged the new democratic revolution through people´s war against the US-directed Marcos regime. Other legal movement of patriotic and progressive forces of society also waged war against the collusion of Marcos and his kleptocratic allies.

But the brunt of the Marcos fascist dictatorship fell on the workers, peasants, student activists, progressive church people, and urban poor who resisted militarization and blatant human rights violations. Amidst this repression, the NDF and all other progressive sectors of society managed to mobilize the people with the call of the Catholic Church to end the Marcos dictatorship after the “snap election” fiasco. US imperialism, terrified by the growing strength of the Left and the increasing number of NPA cadres, did not merely allow peaceful and graceful exit for the Marcoses. It ensured that the Aquino administration would not be swayed by the Left.

Subsequently, Edsa People Power became the international icon for the supposed peaceful uprising against dictatorship. Yet the big compradors and landlords did not lose time to take back the opportunity to exploit the masses as soon as things went “business as usual.” With the backing of the military, the same system remained in place. The people power movement did not overthrow the ruling class but preserved the contradictions of the semi-feudal and semi-colonial structure of Philippine society. No wonder the Marcoses are back in politics – Imelda Marcos as second richest Congresswoman, Bongbong Marcos as Senator, and Imee Marcos as Governor of Ilocos Norte. The post-ML democratization only differed from the Marcos fascist dictatorship by the method it used. Indeed, without the formal declaration of ML, disappearances, tortures, and extra-judicial killings still abound.

Today, as the Philippine economy is dragged down more and more into the pit of a decaying world capitalist system , the old polices of the ML society are being resurrected through state-sponsored neoliberal policies such as reliance on foreign borrowing to sustain its anti-people development program, addiction to foreign investment, assault on indigenous and ethnic groups especially the Muslims, continued subservience to US imperialist foreign policy, and implementation of antiinsurgency program notoriously known as Oplan Bayanihan. From Marcos's Oplan Katatagan, post-ML

84

counter-insurgency evolved into the Oplan Lambat Bitag under Aquino and Ramos, Estrada's Oplan Makabayan and Oplan Balangai, Arroyo's Bantay Laya, and now Benigno Aquino III's Oplan Bayanihan.

Data from various human rights groups place the number of victims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos's twenty-year rule at 1,500. Data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) show 759 involuntarily disappearances during ML. American historian Alfred McCoy claims there were 35,000 torture victims all in all during the Marcos years. Under Oplan Bayanihan, from July 2010 to October 2011, Karapatan documented 343 illegal arrests, 51 detainees tortured, 4,376 victims of forced evacuation, and 6,108 persons becoming homeless in demolitions of urban poor communities. The group also documented 27 cases of frustrated killings, 135 illegal arrests and detention, 11,593 cases of threat/harassment/intimidation, 5,052 cases of indiscriminate firing, and 10,577 cases of military use of schools and medical, religious and other public places. Ironically, President Aquino, who loves to brag of his father's heroism and his family's opposition to ML, has already a record of 100 victims of extrajudicial killings and 9 victims of enforced disappearance under his watch.

Where do we stand today in relation to Martial Law? According to Walter Benjamin's materialist reading of history, it is the mission of the “historical materialist” not just to remember the past but to turn the unredeemed sufferings of the past into “moment of danger” in order to wrestle away from the spin doctors of imperialism the power to define the past. As we remember the “darkest” moment of our national history, let us not allow the sufferings and deaths of many of our comrades who sacrificed their lives for the just and humane future be muffled and wasted by the pseudo-democratic slogans and proimperialist policies of the current administration. As comrade Mao once said, “Wherever there is struggle there is sacrifice, and death is a common occurrence. But we have the interests of the people and the sufferings of the great majority at heart, and when we die for the people it is a worthy death.”

The best way therefore to honor the victims and survivors of Martial Law is to summon their “dangerous memory” to fight all reactionary forces and defeat imperialist forces until we achieve the final victory of our people. As Mao once said, “The people will achieve the most extensive victory only through long and sustained efforts, when the remaining forces of fascism, the anti-democratic forces and all the imperialist forces are overcome. To be sure, that day will not come very quickly or easily, but come it surely will.” ONWARD THE PEOPLE'S ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE. NEVER AGAIN TO MARTIAL LAW! END IMPUNITY! MAKE THE MARCOSES AND THEIR CRONIES PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND THE FILIPINO PEOPLE! UNITE WITH THE WORKERS, PEASANTS, AND OTHER NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS TO COMBAT IMPERIALISM AND FASCISM WORLDWIDE! JUNK VFA NOW! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS! JUNK OPLAN BAYANIHAN NOW!

Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy

85

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

PADRINO NG INDEPENDENSIYA NG PILIPINAS Pahayag ng Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) at Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Philippines (ACT Philippines) sa paggunita ng ika-114 Araw ng Kalayaan Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

PADRINO NG INDEPENDENSIYA NG PILIPINAS Pahayag ng Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) at Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Philippines (ACT Philippines) sa paggunita ng ika-114 Araw ng Kalayaan

Ipagdiriwang ng estado ang ika-114 taong paggunita ng independensiya sa 12 Hunyo 2012.

Isasagawa ang mga programa sa simbahan ng Barasoian sa Malolos, Bulacan; sa bahay ni Emilio Aquinaldo sa Kawit, Cavite; monumento ni Jose Rizal sa Luneta, Maynila; at sa iba't iba pang bahagi ng bansa. Tiyak na muling ibabandila ang mga natamo ng republika sa bagong administrasyon.

Iwawagayway ang mga pangako ng pambansang pag-unlad. Muling maririnig ang mga retorika ng pagbabago sa pamamagitan ng tuwid na daan.

Subalit ilang araw bago ang Hunyo 12, mula United Kingdom, lumipad tungong Washington DC si Benigno S. Aquino III kasama ang ilang miyembro ng kaniyang gabinete upang personal na makausap ang pinuno ng Amerika na si Barack Obama. Batay sa mga ulat, humingi si Aquino ng suportang militar para sa Pilipinas sa pagbabantay sa karagatan na bunsod ng naganap na standoff sa pagitan ng Pilipinas at Tsina. Nagmamayabang ang pamahalaan ng Pilipinas sa pagkakaroon ng padrino upang maprotektahan ang pag-aangkin ng teritoryong Panatag (Scarborough) shoal. Mapapansin ang direktang pakikialam ng Amerika, hindi lamang sa Pilipinas kundi sa buong rehiyon ng Asya-Pasipiko.

Nais ng Amerika na paigtingin ang presensiya ng kaniyang ahensiyang militar. Nangangambang magbalik ang napatalsik ng mga base militar sa Subic at Clark, sa pamamagitan ng muling pagpapatibay ng Mutual Defense Treaty sa pagitan ng dalawang bansa.

Nangangahulugan ito ng pagpapalakas ng ugnayan ng Pilipinas sa Amerikano. Subalit ang ugnayan na ito'y hindi pantay. Isa itong pyudal na ugnayang naglalaan ng pribilehiyo at higit na pagkilala sa Amerika. Hindi nito bibitawan ang Pilipinas sapagkat hanggang sa ngayon, nananatiling pangunahing pinagkukunan ng hilaw ng materyales, mineral, at lakas paggawa ang ating bansa.

Walang magaganap na pambansang industriyalisasyon habang patuloy ang Amerika sa pagpapatupad ng mga adyendang imperyalista nito sa Pilipinas sa tulong ng papet na estado at ng mga lokal na naghaharing-uri.

Nitong 17 Mayo 2012, biglaang sumulpot ang isang US submarine, ang USS North Carolina (SSN777) na may armas nukleyar sa karagatan ng Zambales. Isa itong tahasang paglabas sa probisyong nuclear-free ng bansa sa Konstitusyon. Habang ipinapakita ng Amerika ang abante nitong mga kagamitang pandigma, lalong nadarama ang pagyukod ng pamahalaan ng Pilipinas sa among Amerikano. Kasabay ng huwad na intensiyon ng pagsagip ang pagdating ng lalong mabigat na trahedya.

Sa bawat pagpapatingkad ng disinsana'y relatibong tahimik na agawan ng teritoryo sa pagitan ng Tsina at ng Pilipinas, nalelehitima ang presensiya ng Amerika at namamaksima nito ang taktika ng paghati at paghari. Nagiging ganap ang ang pananakop sa Pilipinas ng Amerika.

Hangad ng pamahalaan na tuluyang malagas ang mga rebolusyonaryo at armadong grupo sa Bondoc Peninsula na matatagpuan sa Timog Katagalugan, sa probinsiya ng Quezon ngayong taong 2012. Sa pamamagitan ng Oplan Bayanihan, iwinawasiwas ng pamahalaan ang isang uri ng terorismong higit pa sa ibinabansag nito sa sinumang hadlang sa ganap na pananaig nito.

87

Ipinagmamayabang ang inaakalang mga tagumpay dahil umano sa pagliit ng bilang ng mga nakikiisa sa armadong digmaan. Subalit hindi mawawala ang henerasyong sumasabak sa digmaan hanggang nananatili ang kahirapan at pagsasamantala. Patunay rito ang matagumpay na mga engkuwentro ng mga rebeldeng New People's Army (NPA) sa Agusan del Sur, Sorsogon, at Catanduanes laban sa mga sundalong militar. Nitong nakaraang araw, ibinalita ang matagumpay na atake ng mga NPA sa isang kompanya ng minahan sa Compostela Valley sa Davao.

Paanong masasabing independiyente ang bansa kung nagaganap ang malawakang paglabag sa karapatang pantao? Sa tala ng Karapatan, mayroon ngayong 369 mga bilanggong politikal na nakapiit sa iba't ibang kulungan sa bansa. Malaya ba ang bansang ikinukulong ang mga estudyante, kasama na ang mag-aaral ng UP na si Maricon Montajes at alumnus na si Ericson Acosta? Sinampahan sila ng mga gawagawang kaso sapagkat walang ebidensiya ng paglabag sa batas. Sunod-sunod din ang mga demolisyon ng tirahan sa Maynila dahil may umaangkin sa mga lupang kinatitirikan. Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, hawak ng malalaking kompanya ang presyo ng langis. Sa sistemang deregulasyon, hindi ang kapakanan ng taumbayan ang una sa listahan, kundi ang pagkamal ng tubo ng mga kompanyang tila hawak sa leeg ang pamahalaang inutil kung hindi man kasabwat ng kartel. Laganap pa rin sa bansa ang kontraktuwalisasyon. Pinapalaganap ang kulturang elite habang pinapanatiling eksklusibo sa iilan ang yaman ng bansa.

Ngayong panahon ng pasukan sa klase, maraming kabataan ang patuloy na hindi makararanas ng de-kalidad at makabuluhang edukasyon, laluna ngayong ipinatutupad na ang programang K-12 ng administrasyong Aquino. Wala pa ring sapat na katugunan sa kakulangan ng guro, klasrum, pasilidad, at kampus. Mas pinapahalagahan ng naturang administrasyon ang budget para sa gastusin ng militar at para sa bayad-utang. Habang nananatiling iilan ang nakakaabot sa tersiyaryong antas, tinitiyak lamang ng programang K-12 ang pananatili ng bansang gampanan ang mga pangangailangan sa loob ng imperiyalistang kaayusang pinangungunahan ng US at iba pang mauunlad na bansa.

Binabansagan tayong isang malayang republika habang karamihan sa mamamayan nama'y mistulang bilanggo ng mga huwad na pangako ng pag-unlad. Malinaw na ang pagdiriwang ng araw ng kalayaan ay ang kalayaan ng mga burgis at ng mga lokal na naghaharing-uring kumakandili sa neoliberal na polisiya ng Amerika. Binubulag nila ang taumbayan upang paniwalain na isang pambansang rituwal ang marapat maganap bilang paggunita sa pakikipaglaban sa kalayaan sa mga kolonyalista. Subalit sa huli, magaganap lamang ang tunay na paglaya ng bayan kapag nawakasan na ang pananatili sa poder ng kapangyarihan sa iilan lamang. Hindi na ang bandilang inangkin ng mga imperyalista ang iwawagayway sa araw na ito, sa halip mababanaag ang dagsa-dagsang kamao ng sambayanang nagkakaisa tungo sa panlipunan at pambansang pagbabago.

Tanggalin na ang maskara ng matuwid na daan ni Noynoy, ilantad ang makaAmerikano't imperyalistang mukha ng administrasyong Aquino.

Tutulan ang hindi makamamamayang polisiya at kalakaran.

Dagdagan ang budget sa edukasyon.

88

Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education

DOCUMENTS Pingkian 1, No. 2 (2013)

DOCUMENTS

Road Map to Public Higher Education Reform 2011-2016 Commission on Higher Education

CHED Memorandum Order Number 09 Series of 2012 Guidelines on the Grant and Allocation of the Disbursement Allocation Fund Commission on Higher Education

89