LTTE: KPML on Ka Bel's death

LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR

May 21, 2008

KA BEL, WORKING CLASS THROUGH AND THROUGH

We may be in the other side of the workers and mass movement, but we are one in fighting the capitalists’ oppression of the working class.

We may differ in our call against the illegitimacy of the Arroyo administration, but we are one in calling for the ouster of the illegitimate President.

We may have different political biases, but we are one in dreaming and fighting for a new society where there is no exploitation.

We may be rivals at the battlefront of opinions and in the parliament of the streets, but we are one in working for the rights and welfare of the poor and the marginalized.

We in Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML), together with Sanlakas, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and our allied and member organizations and individuals, are paying our last respect to the working class congressman. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran’s demise is a loss to the working class.

We’re no longer surprised to hear many members of the parliament who after years from office has produced many houses, cars, lands, and other properties, because in Congress, they were surrounded by crooks who treat public service as a milking cow and public funds as their personal purse. But Ka Bel is different. Even if he became a congressman, he lived and died a poor man. Despite being immersed in a company of vultures, he never became one. Thus, he earned our respect.

Ka Bel, in his almost eight years in Congress, lived simply in an equally working class abode. In fact, he was acknowledged as the poorest congressman in today’s House of Representatives. Unlike other congressmen, who proclaim themselves “progressive representatives”, Ka Bel remained faithful to the tenets of the working class struggle and brought the voices of workers in the halls of Congress. He fought the capitalist class in favor of the workers. He is not corrupt. He did not bribe anyone nor profit for himself.

He is an example of a true leader of the working class.

KA PEDRING FADRIGON

National President

Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML)

‘Resign All’ sounded anew

‘Resign All’ sounded anew

Inquirer Letter-to-the-Editor section
First Posted 10:21pm (Mla time) 11/20/2007

We were not shocked. We knew from the very beginning that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would pardon former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada after his conviction for plunder. That pardon clearly showed the people that the two belong to the same ilk.

We ask: Can President Arroyo pardon political prisoners like Juanito Itaas and Orlando Bundalian who have been in prison much longer than Estrada was? Itaas and Bundalian have been languishing in jail, unlike Estrada who was happily “imprisoned” in a mansion.

Yes, Estrada and Ms Arroyo are “birds of the same feather.” Estrada sided with tycoon Lucio Tan against the workers of Philippine Airlines. He even reprimanded the workers, by asking them the question: “Nakakain ba ang CBA?” [“Can you eat a CBA?”] Estrada is pro-rich and his slogan “Erap para sa mahirap” [“Estrada for the poor”] is just a slogan.

Ms Arroyo, on the other hand, masterminded in putting our country under the clutches of globalization, the scheme of the capitalist class to prolong a dying system. Today, many workers are out of work. Regular workers are forced to resign and are replaced by contractual workers. A growing number of the urban poor are losing their homes in the name of progress whose measure is primarily infrastructure development, instead of human development.

In the run-up to EDSA People Power II, we didn’t join the Estrada Resign Movement. The Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML -- Urban Poor Congress of Unity), together with bigger groups such as Sanlakas and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP -- Union of Filipino Workers), built our own alliance calling for “Resign All” because we believed that Estrada and Ms Arroyo were the same. One of our posters said, “Patalsikin ang buwaya, papalit ang buwitre” [“Oust the crocodile, the vulture will take its place”].

We did not campaign for Estrada’s ouster just to put Ms Arroyo in Malacañang. That’s why immediately after EDSA II, we declared that “Estrada’s ouster is the people’s will but Gloria is not the people’s choice!”

There were also groups in the Estrada Resign Movement which had as their battle cry “Paglingkuran ang Masa.” But when the “masa,” the urban poor, stormed Malacañang during EDSA III, these groups stood against the “masa” [masses] in defense of Ms Arroyo.

Our call for “Resign All” has been proven right. Birds of the same feather. Ms Arroyo and Estrada are both bourgeois. They are not proletarians. Will we oust Ms Arroyo just to replace her with Noli de Castro? Will we oust a bourgeois to be replaced by another bourgeois? No way! Again we are issuing the call for “Resign All.” The workers and the urban poor demand: “Change the system!”

KA PEDRING FADRIGON, national president, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod, Block 31, Lot 82-83, Maya-Maya St., Phase 2, Area 2, Barangay NBBS, Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas, Metro Manila

Dalawang Tula sa Iskwater

Dalawang Tula sa Iskwater

BAKIT MAY ISKWATER?

ni Gregorio V. Bituin Jr.

Bakit ka iskwater sa sariling bayan

Gayong ikaw nama’y dito isinilang?

Bakit ba wala kang sariling tahanan

At sa barung-barong nakatira lamang?

Bakit ba iskwater ay dinedemolis

Ng mga demonyong nagngingising-aso?

Bakit sila’y pilit na pinapaalis

Kahit na ng mga nasasa gobyerno?

Bakit dayo itong may sariling lupa

Dahil ba sila’y may pambiling salapi?

Bakit sila’ng hari sa bayang kawawa

Dahil may pribado silang pag-aari?

Sadya bang mahirap ang maging iskwater?

Pagkat di tantanan ng mga Lucifer?

Sampaloc, Maynila

Mayo 7, 2008

SONETO SA ISKWATER

ni Gregorio V. Bituin Jr.

Bakit daw may iskwater sa sariling lupain?

Itong tanong sa akin ng kaibigang turing.

Akin itong sinagot ng may mga pasaring:

Bakit mga banyaga’y naghahari sa atin?

May iskwater sa bayan dahil sa kahirapan

Umalis sila doon sa lupang sinilangan

Upang dito sa lunsod makipagsapalaran

Nagbabakasakaling gutom nila’y maibsan.

Sa lunsod na makinang, marami ang napadpad

Dahil ito’y lupa raw ng tunay na pag-unlad

Sila’y nabigo pagkat bawat kilos, may bayad

Kaya dahil sa hirap, di pa rin makausad.

Dapat nating baguhin ang kalagayang ito

Pagbabago’y pamana sa bayan nati’t apo.

Sampaloc, Maynila

Mayo 7, 2008

PAANO BABAGUHIN ANG KALAGAYAN NG ISKWATER?

(Di pa natatapos ang tulang ito.)

Ambag ng Pagbabago - ni Malu Pontejos

AMBAG NG PAGBABAGO

Malu Pontejos

1

Kalayaan, ilandaang taon nang nais makamit

Pangarap ng lipunan o sinuman

Kalayaan ang tunay na ekspresyon ng pagkatao

Mailap at kailangan magtaya ng buhay

2

Kalayaan, lubos na hindei maramdaman

Batas at patakaran ginawa para sa kalayaan

Hindi direkta o direktang nagtatanggol

Masabi lamang may kalayaan!

3

Suriin maige kung may kalayaan

Sinuman magtatangka ng pagbabago

Lagot ka! isang araw

Bigla na lang mawawala o nakahandusay na!

4

Ambagan ng sakripisyo, nakaukit sa buhay

Isang karanasan hindi makakalimutan

Nagmarka sa tanikala ng pakikibaka

Buong sirkulo ng mundi ng pagbabago.

mula sa opisina ng KPML, Abril 21, 2008

Buhay ni Lenlen - ni Anthony Barnedo

buhay ni len len
ni anthony barnedo
March 25, 2008
sa opisina ng KPML

ang hirap maging mahirap
kung sa katulad ni len len nakaatang ang lahat sa buhay
kumakayod, umaasa sa kakarampot na kita
kakarampot na tumataguyod sa kanyang pamilya

pamilya, mula sa pamangkin hanggang sa kanyang lola
sa pamilya ng kasama, sa iba, sa masa
sa kuryente, tubig, upa sa bahay, saan hahanapin ang pera,
kung titilad tilarin sa malalaking bayarin ang kakarampot na kita

ang hirap maging mahirap
kung sa katulad ni len len ang mundo ay problema
naglalakad sa kalsada ng walang pera, sumisigaw
nakikipagbuno sa hampas ng kapalaran

kapalaran ba ang maging dukha
ang maging isang manggagawa, para sa iba
para ba sa bayan at kapitalista
wala nang natira,puro na lang sa kanila

ang hirap maging mahirap
kung sa katulad ni len len ay hirap ang pag-asa
sige lang ang taas ng ekonomiya, maunlad
ang lamesa`y walang laman,gutom

gutom na nilikha ng sistema
sistemang inabuso ng naghaharing uri, buwaya
buwayang iniluklok ng lagim na makinarya
makinarya na siyang nagiging sistema

mahirap maging mahirap
kung sa katulad ni len len na umiibig sa bayan
nakikibaka, nagsusulong, naghahangad
nang pagbabago ng sistema….

nang pagbabago ng sistema…