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Stop Israel’s bombardment of Gaza-Palestine! Stop the massacre of civilians!

Cut off all diplomatic relations with Israel!

Bring the OFWs home and provide them with jobs!

Over 100 members of the Partido Lakas ng Masa-PLM held a candlelight vigil and protest outside the Israeli embassy to condemn Israel’s air and sea bombardment of Gaza which is resulting in the killing of mainly civilians, including women and children.  Israeli troops have also amassed on the border threatening a ground invasion. Latest death tolls in Gaza are reported to be 130, with around 27 children murdered, with more than 1000 injured by the recent Israeli attacks.

“We also think the argument that Israel is only retaliating to attacks by Hamas, false and misleading. Israel has one of the best armed and sophisticated military machines in the world and its military might is no match for the Palestinian people: it’s a David and Goliath situation, with Israeli bombardment resulting in the massacre of civilians” said Sonny Melencio, Chairperson of PLM.

Israel is an occupation force and an occupying power.  The Israeli state is a Zionist state – a racist state -- founded on the mass expulsion of the Palestinian peoples. We consider the Palestinian resistance a legitimate struggle for self-determination against the Israeli occupation. The bombardment of Gaza is a pre-planned and genocidal act to crush the Palestinian resistance.

The Zionist regime of Israel has attempted numerous times to destroy Hamas, the organisation that leads the struggle of the Palestinian people against oppression by Israel, since Hamas won the Palestinian election in January 2006. Such savage attempts include blockade of the Gaza Strip from 2007 until 2011 which turned Gaza into the largest concentration camp in the world imprisoning 1.5 million Palestinians who live in dire conditions. The massacre by Israeli armed force in December 2008 to January 2009 killed more than 1400 people and wounded over 5300 people in a period of 3 weeks.

Israel’s actions are pushing the region closer to a major regional war with serious international ramifications. We know that Israel has been campaigning for and pressuring its allies, especially the United States, towards a war with Iran. It’s also no co-incidence that the airstrikes on Gaza have been initiated by the Israeli government prior to the national elections in January. These events, among others, demonstrate that it is in the interest of the Israeli regime to be on a permanent war footing. Utmost international pressure must be exerted on Israel to stop the bombing of Gaza and desist from this course.

The US and other western imperialist powers - are equally responsible for the ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian people. The US government has supplied Israel with the world's most modern weaponry.  The current re-elected US President Barack Obama has stated that the US will continue to support Israel’s “right to defend itself”, at the cost of lives of Palestinians in Gaza who are mainly refugees being denied their right to return to their homes of origin and continuously brutalised by the Israeli army.    The US government has provided USD 3 billion annually to “aid” Israel in equipping itself with murderous weapons to commit its genocidal crime.

“The Philippines has recognized the State of Palestine and has had an official diplomatic office for the Palestinian state based here. This is despite pressure from Christian fundamentalist lobby groups against Palestine”, Melencio added.

“We call on President Noynoy and his government to be consistent with this position of recognizing Palestinian statehood and to condemn Israel’s genocidal act  on the Palestinian people living in the Gaza strip. The government should cut off all diplomatic relations with the racist- Zionist Israeli state and close down the embassy here in Manila. The OFWs in Israel should be brought home and provided with decent jobs and a living wage” Melencio said.

The rally was also joined in by members of Anak Mindanao (AMIN).

November 21, 2012.

Partido Lakas ng Masa-PLM Statement

Stop Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza-Palestine and the killing of children and civilians!

The Noynoy government must condemn Israel’s actions and support build-up of international pressure to stop Israeli aggression!

The Partido Lakas ng Masa-PLM condemns Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza which is resulting in the killing of civilians, including children. We consider Israel to be an occupation force and an occupying power and we consider the Palestinian resistance a legitimate struggle for self-determination against the Israeli occupation. Therefore, we also condemn the political assassination by the Israeli occupation forces, of a leader of the Palestinian liberation struggle, Ahmed al-Jabari, commander of Hamas -- the legitimately elected government in Gaza.

Furthermore, we also think the argument that Israel is only retaliating to attacks by Hamas, false and misleading. Israel has one of the best armed and sophisticated military machines in the world and its military might is no match for the Palestinian people: it’s a David and Goliath situation, with Israeli airstrikes resulting in the mass murder of civilians.

Israel’s actions are pushing the region closer to a major regional war with serious international ramifications. We know that Israel has been campaigning for and pressuring its allies, especially the United States, towards a war with Iran. It’s also no co-incidence that the airstrikes on Gaza have been initiated by the Israeli government prior to the national elections in January. These events, among others, demonstrate that it is in the interest of the Israeli regime to be on a permanent war footing. We think that utmost international pressure must be exerted on Israel to stop the bombing of Gaza and desist from this course.

The Philippines has recognized the State of Palestine and has had an official diplomatic office for the Palestinian state based here. This is despite pressure from Christian fundamentalist lobby groups against Palestine.

We call on President Noynoy and his government to be consistent with this position of recognizing Palestinian statehood and to condemn Israel’s murderous airstrikes on the Palestinian people living in the Gaza strip.

November 16, 2012.

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Dinastiya, tama na! Bagong politika, NOW NA!

Youth members of the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), a newly-accredited national political party, staged a mass action today at the Commission on Election (Comelec) national office in Intramuros, Manila to urge the poll body to declare candidates coming from political dynasties as nuisance.

With its rallying call “Dinastiya, Tama na! Bagong politika, NOW NA!” the group, comprised mostly of first-time voters, slammed the strengthening hold of political dynasties, which is solidly cemented with the candidacy of at least 14 scions of political clans in the 2013 senatorial election.

“These politicians coming from the dynasties are ridiculously circumventing the term limits of their incumbent relatives by running as their heir apparents,” said PLM chair Sonny Melencio. “This is what the constitutional provision banning political dynasties seek to address, but the trapos in Congress and Senate who come from this dynasties will not pass an enabling law for it will dismantle their clout.”

“Our challenge to Comelec is to use its moto propio powers and declare the candidates as nuisance for they just use their surnames as their main selling point, instead of specific platform,” he added.

In the rally, some youth members of PLM impersonated and mocked political dynasties, presenting the Trapo Family, a mock political dynasty wherein all members of said family are shown running at all available elected positions of government. The Trapo Family even showed its pet dog, Bogart, as running for town councilor.

“Ito ang nakakatawa ngunit nakalulungkot na hinaharap para sa aming mga kabataang first-time voters,” commented youth leader Chris Cabrera. “Pinaglalaruan na lang ng mga elitistang pamilyang ito ang kinabukasan namin sa pamamagitan ng pagpapasahan ng kapangyarihan sa kanilang magkakamag-anak lang.”

Virgin Rarang, another youth leader, urged the Comelec to give chance to new politicians who represent the interest of the youth and the masses, instead of selfish family and clan interests.

“Kailangan na talaga silang i-disqualify ng Comelec kasi ang tendensiya kapag magkakamag-anak lang ang nasa pwesto ay yung kanilang sariling kapakanan lamang bilang magkakapamilya ang iniintindi. Paano naman kaming mga mahihirap na nawawalan ng tsansa para pamunuan ang aming sarili,” she stressed.

Aside from the impersonation, hip-hop group BOS Thugz of Navotas performed their original compositions, which are written to criticize and slam the rule of traditional politicians in the country. ###

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Not Another Regressive Tax

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) opposes the proposed sin tax reform bill not for its health provisions, but for being another form of regressive tax imposed against consumers, similar to the VAT or Value-Added Tax.  When the government imposed the expanded VAT in 2006, the argument was that it was needed to offset the country’s national budget deficit.  Since then, the 12% VAT continues especially on basic products, such as gas, electricity and water which magnify the problem of high prices shouldered by the poor.

Early this year, when gasoline prices soared to astronomic level, transport and consumer groups demanded a cut on the 12% VAT, but the government refused by saying that the collected taxes are needed for various “social programs.” Today, the government excuse is that the sin tax would generate around P60 billion yearly which could be used to fund the government’s “universal health program.”

The problem with this is that there is no such thing as universal health program under the present administration.  What we have is the PhilHealth insurance system which is funded by members’ contributions and which offered limited health coverage, sans medicines, for patients. The universal health care system as practiced in welfare state societies in Europe, Cuba, Venezuela, and Malaysia provide almost free health care, hospitalization and medicines for all citizens in these countries. This explains the term “universal” in health care.

The Aquino government is also implementing a Public-Private Partnership scheme which will privatize several public hospitals in the country, including the Philippine General Hospital and the National Orthopedic Hospital. Hence, there is reason to suspect that the government’s intent on imposing high consumption tax on cigarettes and alcohol is not based on any comprehensive health program for the poor. The computation on the expected tax revenues alone proves that the additional tax is aimed not at cutting consumption, but at keeping it to a high level to ensure revenue target.

While we agree that the consumption of sin products should be curtailed, we do not believe that this could be done by inflicting more burden on the consumer. It can best be done by raising corporate taxes and undertaking massive information campaign against the evils of smoking and excessive drinking.

On this score, the government should investigate the failure of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to settle the tax evasion cases amounting to P1.2 trillion filed against tobacco and beer taipan Lucio Tan. A portion of this amount would be enough to fund the targeted 5 million new enrollees at PhilHealth without any one of them paying a single centavo.

Lastly, if the government is really intent on merely penalizing the users of cigarettes and alcohol, we still can offer another compromise that is beneficial to all: go ahead with the sin tax, but scrap the VAT first.

Sonny Melencio

Chairperson, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)

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