Gloria's ouster should pave way for radical reforms towards workers' empowerment

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Noli De Castro should resign immediately or face the very real possibility of an ouster! They have long ago lost worker's already tenuous support for their anti-labor policies. But now, the very legitimacy of their regime is unraveling and corroding at a rate that only endangers what little stability keeps our fragile political and economic system afloat!

If it is not enough that the jueteng links have landed at the presidential family's door, the presence of evidence essentially linking the President to a direct hand in rigging the 2004 elections should be more than enough to force an incumbent out of office on principles of ethics and decency. It is shameless of her to uphold and protect pro- big business and elite interests, but to do so through downright evil means and an untenable mandate is despicable!

This crisis plaguing the Arroyo administration must be seen as the natural offshoot of unresolved bickering among various factions within the ruling elite and nothing more than their continued effort to protect narrow interests. GMA's efforts thus at preserving her government is not at all an act of keeping together the country, but only a matter of ensuring that the faction of the elite to which she belongs is able to keep its sway on the state.

The working people are disgusted, but not at all surprised, at the recent developments attending the President and her immediate family, nor is it at all impressed with the self-proclaimed oppositional elites and the opportunist left forces quick to harp on regime change.

The vast majority of working people, the poor and the marginalized are intelligent enough to see behind all these and know that if a transparent and accountable government were truly possible in this country it would do no good to simply oust a president and replace her with an equally questionable figure. GMA's ascent to the presidency after Estrada's curtain call only amplifies this lesson.

Since assuming power, GMA has done little to address the legitimate grievances of the working class. She stood by while the military was cracking down on striking workers in Hacienda Luisita and other less famous but no less bloody incidents. She did not lift a finger as trade union leaders and journalists were assassinated one after the other. Incompetent inefficient and anti-worker officials like Winston Garcia, Pat Sto. Tomas, Angelo Reyes and Mike Defensor continue to enjoy her confidence.

Rather than stem the growing fiscal crisis by reversing government's continued liberalization program and applying radical solutions to the country's debt crisis, GMA opted to impose more tax burdens to the working people. Rather than promote jobs as she promised, her government embarked on an attrition policy that would shed off at least 30% of public sector workers in the next 3 years. Rather than develop sustainable jobs in the country, she promoted a deregulated labor export market even as our OFWs were raped, kidnapped, beheaded and incarcerated in various parts of the world. Worse, those jobs that existed, her government threatened to destroy, with tax measures such as the VAT.

Her government could not effectively address the issue of IPPs, the single biggest source of NAPOCOR losses which government ultimately absorbed and passed onto consumers through taxes and skyrocketing electricity prices. She couldn't rein in the oil players who continue to jack up prices under the cloak of vague justifications.

In short GMA couldn't sort out all this mess because in the end, she couldn't go beyond the expediencies of self-interest and the need to pay back her political debts. Noli de Castro on the other hand, stood behind all of this awaiting his turn at the helm, which we believe will not and should not come. Where GMA goes, her lieutenant must go as well.

But simply getting rid of GMA and her government will not solve the problem. The working people know that GMA's exit will only pave the way for an equally bankrupt and incompetent faction among the elite to take over.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor maintains that the gains from one disgraced president exiting must be guarded by introducing the necessary radical reforms to tide back all the mess that she leaves. Vultures and thieves are lurking and maneuvering to fill the vacuum, and the working people cannot and will not take to the streets knowing that only some other opportunist elites will be put in her stead.

The APL is calling on all workers to close ranks and vigorously work, together with the broad progressive movement, to oust the Arroyo administration. The APL is also calling for the resignation of all COMELEC Commissioners and the sacking of all high ranking military and police officers who helped Gloria, Commissioner Garciliano and their cohorts to steal the 2004 elections.