It has been said that the conditions of women and children reflect the extent of poverty in a country because they are the most vulnerable to it. But as the history of March 8, as well as that of other people’s struggles in history show, women could also be the face of the struggle. By [...]
MANILA – On the occasion of the 148th birthday of Filipino revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio, workers and peasants donned the Katipunero getup and marched to Mendiola (now Chino Roces) brandishing bolos that were hand-painted with long-time peoples’ demands. These include the demand for land, decent jobs and wage hikes, housing and livelihood for the urban poor.
“Andres Bonifacio was born from a working class family. He himself worked hard for a living, fought for land and for genuine sovereignty,“ said Elmer “Bong” Labog, national chairman of KMU, at the opening of their program at Mendiola.
‘Filipinos need more Andres Bonifacios’
“Today as we pay tribute to a great revolutionary, a great Filipino, an anakpawis (toiling masses), we relive his revolutionary spirit against oppression and exploitation,” said Joel Maglunsod, Anakpawis executive vice president. Because the “basic problems and demands of the Filipino masses” that pushed Bonifacio and the Katipuneros to revolt in the 19th century remain operative until today, the protesters called on Filipinos to be like modern-day Andres Bonifacios.
“Andres Bonifacio would not be pleased with the kind of government leaders the Philippines has,” most leaders concluded in their speech at Mendiola. They criticized the Aquino government for pushing “an even bigger sell-out” of Philippine sovereignty and patrimony through the current charter change proposals and new treaties with the “Imperialist US.” While even government leaders are commemorating heroes like Bonifacio, they are allowing greater foreign control over the country’s resources, the protesters said.
The protesters pointed to the Hacienda Luisita as a prime example of why “the country needs more Andres Bonifacios.”
“We don’t believe in ‘just’ compensation,” said Labog, referring to the recent Supreme Court decision concerning the decades-long land dispute at the Cojuangco-controlled hacienda in Tarlac. The said hacienda has bred two national presidents to date, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and the current president, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino. But the fierce land struggle there had also been one of the biggest reasons for at least two massacres that victimized mostly peasants. One of which happened under the presidency of Cory Cojuangco-Aquino. The other happened during a labor dispute at the premises itself of the Hacienda Luisita, with the security aides of then Rep. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino tagged by witnesses as some of the gunmen.
“‘Just’ compensation is unacceptable, considering the Cojuangcos have benefited for a long time from the farmers’ hard work at Hacienda Luisita,” said Labog. Peasant and labor groups are one in questioning the Supreme Court’s decision that would require farm workers to spend almost P5 billion ($116 million) to reclaim lands that had been “grabbed” from them by the Cojuangcos.
Much like how Andres Bonifacio had rejected the foreign colonizers in his day, the Filipino public, said Marbella, should also reject Noynoy and his government’s anti-people policies. 
Text by MARYA SALAMAT / Photos by RONALYN OLEA
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