The lifting of Presidential Proclamation 1017 (State of Emergency) is a victory for the Filipino people! It was not the will of GMA, but the will of a determined people, who had continuously fought and challenged the proclamation and held protest actions to oust her from office, that made such lifting possible.

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

March 3, 2006

PP 1017’s lifting will not solve the question of the legitimacy of GMA’s presidency, nor will it hide the truth of her continuing crimes of lying, cheating and plunder! Certainly, it won’t lessen GMA’s betrayal of the Filipino people. What she has done in these past years were completely opposite to the promises she had made in EDSA. In fact, she has far surpassed her predecessors in failing the hopes of the people in EDSA.

GMA’s Proclamation 1017 only unmasked her true intentions, since the reasons she cited in justifying the issuance of the proclamation were only figments of her imagination. What she really wanted to do was to bring back the rule of Martial Law so she could perpetuate herself in power. Suppression of the people’s civil and democratic rights and rendering democratic institutions like Congress and the media inutile became rampant, rabid and ruthless because of this!

However, the people are already hard up, and we cannot allow further sufferings and oppression with the creeping imposition of Martial Law. We cannot allow Gloria Arroyo to continue to trample on our fundamental rights to assemble, hold mass actions, and petition the government for redress of grievances. We cannot allow this government to continue its dictatorial rule and willful implementation of the economic programs of WTO and the IMF-WB that have worsened the economic crisis and entrenched us deeper into extreme poverty.

The lifting is not simply a ploy of the Arroyo government to appease the restiveness of the people seeking for her ouster. It is also a confirmation of the weakness of GMA’s claims and justification to perpetuate herself in power through unpopular means. Most of the people by now, realize too well her greedy desires. That unless she goes now, the majority poor will just continue to fight for social justice and struggle for her ouster from Malacañang. And they include those in the military, who have additional grievances that have not been resolved over the years.

The recall of PP 1017 only indicates that she can not destroy democratic institutions, rule completely over the divided military, and resolve the severe crisis of her political rule due to questions of legitimacy that continue to haunt her. With these indicators, the Filipino people will soon become more victorious and celebrate her downfall!

http://www.apl.org.ph/

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Philippines: Media crackdown and lawmakers' arrests are unmistakable signs of Martial Law

February 25, 2006

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) denounces the reported raid on the offices of the Daily Tribune and Malaya as a brazen attack on press freedom as in the days of Martial law.

"Not only is GMA staging a direct assault on the freedom of the press," said APL Secretary-General Josua Mata, "she is endangering the jobs of hundreds of workers in the mass media in her maniacal desire to muzzle the critical press."

"The arrest of labor leader Rep. Crispin Beltran on the basis of a rehashed Marcosian warrant and the subsequent attempt on Rep. Satur Ocampo also indicates that unionists and progressives are at the top of Malacañang's hitlist," added Mata.

He said APL had feared and predicted that Proclamation 1017 declaring a state of national emergency would only be used to crackdown on voices critical of the beleaguered President.

"We reiterate our position that the President is operating on an illegal doctrine," explained Mata. "A State of Emergency is a legal fiction and what we have is an undeclared Martial law circumventing the Constitutional safeguards such as Congressional concurrence."

"We expect more arrests and harassments to follow," added Mata, "because against this pathetic show of might is a deeply insecure President who knows her time is up."

To make matters worse, Gloria Arroyo issued today General Order No. 5. While it simply looks like a rehashed version of Proclamation 1017, it is now being invoked by Director General Arturo Lumibao to ban all rallies especially those that are not only criticizing the Gloria Arroyo but calling for her ouster from Malacañang.

Ironically, during the dark years of Martial Law, the Marcos dictatorship used General Order No. 5 to suppress workers’ rights to peaceful assembly and the right to strike.

“This only confirms what we have said before that what we have not a state of emergency but an undeclared Martial Law,