For one, May 1 is an international event. An international gathering of workers in Paris on July 14, 1889 decided to declare May 1, 1890 as an international day of protest by workers for an eight-hour workday.

But that was not the first May Day protest action. The first May Day strike was staged by workers in Chicago to fight for an eight-hour workday. As an offshoot, the workers held another protest action at Haymarket Square on May 4 or the day after Chicago police brutally attacked striking workers of McCormick Reaper Works where six workers were killed and many wounded. The protest action was peaceful and was about to be concluded when the police again attacked the assembled workers. A bomb was thrown into the crowd and a police sergeant was killed. A battle ensued resulting in the death of seven policemen and four workers. Four labor leaders were charged with the bombing and were subsequently hanged even if there was no evidence linking them to the bomber. More workers were imprisoned.

From 1890 onwards, the May Day protest action of workers took on a political character with issues such as universal suffrage, freedom of assembly, colonial and neo-colonial oppression, freedom for political prisoners, government repression, wars of aggression, and recently globalization being raised. May Day has also been an occasion to call for and demonstrate workers’ solidarity.

Second, the May elections should supposedly address the plight of Filipino workers. But senatorial candidates seem to be silent on issues affecting workers. What is their position regarding the just demand of workers for a legislated wage increase? If elected, what will they do to protect job security and put a stop to the practice of hiring workers as “contractuals,” or under labor-only contracting, and sub-contracting? Will they work for the repeal of anti-labor laws such as the assumption of jurisdiction of strikes by the Department of Labor, the Herrera Law which extended the period of collective bargaining agreements from three to five years, among others?

Third, the issues being raised by workers during the latter part of the 19^th century such as the long working hours, attacks on the right of workers to unionize and strike, poor working conditions, and slave wages are very much relevant today as it was before, especially to workers of backward countries such as the Philippines.

Elections have been held regularly in the country since 1946, except during Martial Law. Different presidents, senators, representatives, and local officials had been elected and had assumed office. But the conditions of Filipino workers have only worsened. In fact, millions of workers and professionals alike had been forced to leave the country to seek gainful employment abroad. Workers, farmers, and low-paid professionals constitute the majority of the population of the country. If their conditions continue to turn for the worse year after year, the cause for celebrating May Day will continue to be to fight for workers’ rights and for a greater solidarity and empowerment of the toiling masses. Bulatlat

That was until Martial Law…

Then not only thieves prowled the night. The dreaded MISG (Metrocom Intelligence Security Group) and the CSG (Constabulary Security Group) operated during the night. Late evening and early dawn raids were commonplace to catch their targets asleep and off-guard. A lot of critics of the Marcos dictatorship, especially from the Left, were caught this way. The late evening raids also made political detainees then vulnerable to torture as their capture was done at night when the people are asleep and the probability of someone witnessing the abduction is low. The Marcos dictatorship thrived on fear and darkness to deprive people of their rights.

Supposedly, there is no Martial Law. But the Arroyo administration is thriving in furtiveness, treachery, fear, and darkness.

Early morning of March 19, 3 a.m. to be exact, Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna (People First) party was abruptly roused from his sleep to be taken to Hilongos, Leyte. He was bodily carried to a van by 5:00 a.m, taken to the airport, and flown by private plane to Leyte only to be taken back because of a court order remanding him to the custody of Local Government Undersec. Marius Corpus until after the Supreme Court hears his petitions for Temporary Restraining Order and certiorari. They tried to pre-empt the Supreme Court. Only the quick move of Ocampo’s lawyers who sent Neri Colmenares, general counsel and third nominee of Bayan Muna, to Leyte early morning of March 19 to file a petition to allow Ocampo to be detained in Manila until the Supreme Court hearing on March 23 frustrated the plan of the government. Why did they have to do this in the dead of the night when Ocampo is already in their custody? Is it to pre-empt any court decision and protest action questioning the planned move? This was not the first time that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration acted in the dead of the night.

On December 29, 2006 at 11 p.m., Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith who was convicted of raping Nicole was transferred from the Makati City Jail to the U.S. embassy in the dead of the night. That was after Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Court rejected the petition of Smith’s counsels, the U.S. embassy, and the Macapagal-Arroyo administration for his transfer to the embassy. Smith was ordered to be detained in the city jail until after the government and U.S. embassy agree which Philippine jail facility he should be imprisoned.

These unjust acts of the Arroyo government are not merely concerns of Ocampo and Nicole. These concern all of us. If they can run roughshod on the rights of Rep. Satur Ocampo, a public figure and member of Congress, they can do more to people who are not as prominent. If the government has the temerity to defy a court order and spring a convicted rapist in a case which caught the public’s interest, it can easily deny justice to an ordinary Juan or Juana de la Cruz.

In Ocampo’s case, the Arroyo administration showed how easy it is for them to deny us of our rights and liberty. In Nicole’s case the government demonstrated that it has no qualms about denying us of our dignity and justice.

When the government arrested Ocampo and tried to deprive him of his rights, it did not do so in defense of democracy nor merely to implement the law, it did it to suppress dissent and to impose its will. When the government spirited away Smith and turned him over to the U.S. embassy, it did not do so in compliance to a lawful international agreement, it did it out of servility and to court the continued political and financial support of the U.S. government to its rule.

A thief will continue stealing for as long as it has not been caught and put behind bars. The Marcos dictatorship could have continued with its iron-fist rule if it was not ousted. The Arroyo administration would continue denying us of our rights, liberty, dignity, and justice if we allow it to do so.

The spate of political killings and forced disappearances which has victimized 836 and 194 persons, respectively, has not stopped not only because the Arroyo administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines continue to be in a state of denial. It continues because we have not yet shown what the Filipino people will and can do if it does not stop.

The Filipino people has ousted two presidents, in 1986 and 2001, and was able to stop two attempts at amending the 1987 Constitution for self-serving ends, the first in 1997 and again in 2006. It can put a stop to the unjust and anti-people acts of the Arroyo administration. Bulatlat

Such is the difficult journey of Nicole. For a year now, she had to live with and continue reliving what happened to her on Nov. 1, 2005. A vacation turned into a nightmare. More than that, she had to live with the repulsive comments, insults, stares and the insensitivities of those who know no better.

The worst of it came from the Department of Justice (DoJ), a government agency that is supposed to protect and give justice to the oppressed. Right from the start, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had already expressed disbelief over the rape of Nicole. He even said that the three others could have been charged with a lesser crime but he felt compelled to “bow to mob rule.” And toward the end of the case, Senior State Prosecutor Emilie de los Santos even called Nicole and her family as “ingrates” and “liars.”

This situation shows the kind of justice department we have. Perhaps the honorable justice secretary and his band of prosecutors let their slip show early on especially since the accused are not ordinary people. Lance Corporal Daniel Smith (the principal accused), Staff Sergeant Chad Brian Carpenter and Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis are representatives of the almighty America.

Right from the start, Nicole was faced with the biggest obstacle of all, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the U.S. and the Philippines. With the VFA, the accused did not have to be detained inside the country’s decrepit and overcrowded prison cells. Instead, they had air-conditioned accommodations at the U.S. Embassy. They do not have to be “detained” very long because the VFA has a one-year deadline for the hearings. After that, the accused U.S. soldiers can be shipped out of the country.

Top lawyers

Smith and company had top-caliber lawyers defending them and the U.S. embassy protecting them. They seemed so confident that the defense panel presented only five witnesses, the four accused and Dr. Teresita Sanchez, an obstetrician-gynecologist. The prosecution, on the other hand, presented 23 witnesses including Nicole.

Nobody can best describe the difficulties Nicole had to endure than Nicole herself. She issued this statement on November 1st, exactly one year after the incident.

“It wasn’t easy for me to file a complaint against my rapists. And neither was the (legal) system kind to me after I decided to pursue the case. Instead of taking my side in my fight, our government took steps to make my situation much harder. I have not received a single message of support from our woman President, while the secretary of justice has even repeatedly defended my rapists.“During the almost daily trials at the Makati Regional Trial Court, I experienced the reality that the rape victim is raped repeatedly inside and outside the courtroom while the case is being tried. In the face of all the insults and recrimination that I have gone through in the past year, only my belief in truth and justice and the support of my family and of women have been my sole source of strength and resolve not to surrender. My decision to pursue the case should be proof of my conviction that Daniel Smith, Chad Carpentier, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis deserve to be in prison.

“They should be made to suffer for the indignities they forced me to go through. They should be put behind bars. Their rightful punishment should serve as an example to the whole world and to American military personnel.“On this day, I am crying out for justice!”

November 27 will be the day of reckoning for Nicole. Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court is expected to hand down his decision on the Subic rape case.

But Nicole’s case is not just a rape case. It is also a case against the presence of U.S. troops in the country, a violation of our sovereignty. It is not only Nicole’s dignity which was violated. The Filipino people’s dignity is also trampled upon whenever U.S. soldiers conduct military exercises in our country; participate in combat operations with the AFP; and have the gall to rape a Filipina.

It was not only the bias of the justice department that was exposed by the Subic rape case, but also the Arroyo administration’s and the VFA’s. In fact, the Subic rape case is an indictment of the four U.S. soldiers and the VFA.

Indeed, the struggle for justice should not only be Nicole’s, but also the entire people’s as well. Bulatlat

These incidents and the persistent question on the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration compel the latter to conduct regular loyalty checks on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The Arroyo administration is insecure regarding the loyalties of soldiers and police officers in spite repeated assurances from AFP chief of staff Gen. Generoso Senga and PNP chief Dir. Gen. Arturo Lomibao that the AFP and PNP are fully in support of the administration.

To ensure her hold on the military, Macapagal-Arroyo appointed two controversial generals whose loyalty to her is unquestionable: Rear Admiral Tirso Danga, military’s intelligence chief during the period the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) was accused of wiretapping the opposition, and Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, who was mentioned in the “Hello Garci” tapes. The two were appointed commanding officers of the Southern and Western Commands of the AFP, respectively. But moves such as these, say military analysts, contribute to the growing restlessness within the AFP, which is already smarting from accusations of corruption and assisting Arroyo to cheat in the elections.

The Arroyo administration is calling on the AFP and PNP members to act like “professional soldiers” by not interfering in politics and defending the Constitution and democracy against the “enemies of the state”. The administration blames the so-called politicization of the AFP for the constant threats of coup d’etat.

Political and military analysts believe it was former President Marcos who politicized the AFP and PNP. But they were political even before Marcos. They were trained to protect the status quo. They suppress the rights of workers for the benefit of capitalists. They attack the struggling peasants to preserve the ownership of big landlords, agri-businesses and multinational corporations. They repress dissent in the name of anti-subversion and anti-communism.

What Marcos can be blamed for is that he unleashed the AFP and PNP and gave them power by declaring martial law. During the dark days of martial law, the AFP and PNP acted with impunity, without fear of being investigated and made to account for their acts. It was former President Fidel Ramos, on the other hand, who started appointing retired military and police officials to civilian positions.

The problem with the AFP and PNP is not its politicization. The problem is that it is being used for the wrong ends. And soldiers and police officers follow orders without question.

The good thing about a crisis, as what the country is experiencing now, is that it awakens people from complacency.

Confusion has seeped in even within the ranks of soldiers and police officers. Issues of corruption and usurpation of power have reached intolerable levels. The ventilation and exposé of issues in public make every citizen, including men and women in uniform, think and question. The polarization is forcing everyone to take side.

The chain-of-command is no longer sacrosanct even to the ordinary soldier. Doubts are raised over orders, which before were followed without question.

Members of the military and police must discern who among the contending forces represent tyranny and who represent democracy; who are fighting for selfish interests and who are fighting for the common good.

For in the final analysis, the soldier’s loyalty should be to the Filipino people and not to any usurper of power. (Bulatlat)