Bayan Muna
and the Challenge of New Politics
By Satur C. Ocampo
Party President, Bayan Muna
Speech delivered
at the Second National Convention of Bayan Muna, held 7 January 2001
at the Bahay ng Alumni, University of the Philippines-Diliman Quezon
City
With the establishment
of Bayan Muna as a progressive political party on September 25, 1999,
the movement for social change in our country took a timely and appropriate
step forward.
In making
that move, we took note of two elements in the current situation.
One was the organizational and leadership strength that has been attained
by progressive forces all over the country. In launching electoral
struggle, we could reach an even greater number of people through
alliance work with other political forces.
Second, the
electoral arena is virtually monopolized by reactionary politicians
and pseudo-progressives, which allows them to confuse, deceive and
exploit the people. From within the ruling system, we will be in a
better position to expose its rottenness. We can be more effective
in confronting it out in the open. And we will be gaining a platform
from which we can present an alternative program and system to the
people.
We are fully
confident that we can boldly expand our arena of struggle right up
to the very doorstep of the reactionary state and its dirty politics.
And we can do this while keeping our honor and integrity worthy of
the people’s trust.
Such confidence
is backed up by the level of maturity that has been demonstrated by
our mass leaders and activists. Their commitment, loyalty and skills
have been tested over and over again in various forms of struggle.
They are no strangers to hardship, danger and sacrifice. Successes
have followed defeats, and with each one they learned lessons, sharpened
their thinking, improved their style of work, and never wavered from
the pursuit of our goals.
Today, as
the Estrada regime’s corruption and grave crimes against the
people increasingly come to light, the establishment of Bayan Muna,
and its decision to participate in the party-list election on May
14, 2001, could not have come at a more opportune and appropriate
time.
The corruption
infecting government and the entire reactionary state has now been
laid bare for all to see. At the impeachment trial of President Joseph
Estrada, it is not only himself (and the presidency) who stand accused.
Congress is also on trial—especially the Senate in its role as impeachment
court—and the justice system as well. Sitting as collective judges
are the sovereign people, who avidly keep track of each day’s
events via television and other media.
Widespread
corruption and wrongdoing have brought about this crisis. Today not
one branch or agency of government is fully trusted by the people.
As an observer pointed out: "Our (political) institutions are weak
because they lack credibility. If the Senate and the justice system
enjoyed credibility the people would not be confused. They would trust
the Senate to do its duty (in the impeachment trial). But that is
not what we see..."
But it is
not government alone whose corruption and wrongdoing have been exposed.
This affair has revealed how a crooked President was aided by the
banks and the legal profession. As a result, these two supposedly
respectable institutions, both of them pillars of the capitalist system,
have lost credibility as the people realize the extent of the connivance
between politicians and big business.
It was Sen.
Miriam Defensor-Santiago herself who confirmed that millions of pesos
in campaign contributions from the business community usually wind
up in the pockets of big politicians. The more popular a politician,
the more money comes in especially when they appear to be the winners,
she said, indirectly alluding to Estrada among others.
No wonder
then that the Filipino nation and people are rising up in disgust
and condemnation. They are demanding an end to reactionary politics.
They are seeking significant, if not fundamental, change in our political
system. They are asking for an alternative.
Bayan Muna
is a response to this clamor for change. We are offering an alternative,
and we call it New Politics, the Politics of Change.
What is the
difference between New Politics and traditional, or reactionary, politics?
First, it
is the politics of the overwhelming majority of the Filipino people,
and not of the elite minority.
Bayan Muna
embodies and defends the rights and welfare of the country’s
workers, peasants, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, urban poor and
other oppressed sectors. It embodies and defends, as well, the rights
and welfare of women, the youth and students, professionals, and small
entrepreneurs.
New Politics,
therefore, is politics that is of, by and for the people.
The traditional
parties claim to represent the poor and the oppressed. How easy it
is for them to say anything, promise anything. We all know they are
lying. Words are so cheap!
But how will
Bayan Muna prove that indeed it is a party of, by and for the people?
By the mere fact that most of its members are workers, peasants, fisherfolk,
urban poor and indigenous folk. The women and youth who have joined
the party also belong to the oppressed classes. Furthermore, our membership
is mainly recruited from the ranks of activists (including those of
middle-class origin). These are people with a record of militant struggle
not only for the rights and welfare of their own class or sector,
but also for the rights and welfare of the Filipino people as a whole.
The second
difference between New Politics and the traditional, reactionary politics
is that Bayan Muna is a political party that focuses on issues of
principle and the public interest. To win votes, it does not rely
on the popularity of its individual candidates and its ability to
distribute patronage.
For us, principles
and issues are paramount. Among them are the following:
Defending
national sovereignty and safeguarding our patrimony. After the 1896
Revolution, national sovereignty should have been ours if U.S. imperialism
had not usurped our victory against Spanish colonialism. Instead,
we became a U.S. colony, and until now we remain a neocolony. Since
then, successive generations of revolutionary and progressive Filipinos
have fought in defense of our sovereignty and to save the national
patrimony from being totally plundered by foreign interests. Bayan
Muna is at the forefront of this struggle.
People power
and democratic rights. Because Philippine society continues to be
dominated by imperialism with the connivance of the local ruling classes,
the masses of the people cannot truly be empowered. Democracy is a
meaningless word as long as the old ruling classes and their subalterns
continue to monopolize key government positions. In theory, the masses
indeed have the right to vote. However, they are prevented from electing
officials who will genuinely represent them, since their choices are
limited to the tickets drawn up by the traditional elite parties.
Progressive individuals
venturing into politics are forced to join these parties if they want
to have a chance to win the elections. But eventually they become
either corrupt—in which case they stay—or frustrated—in which case
they drop out of the system.
Bayan Muna offers
an opportunity for the people to elect better officials at the same
time that it welcomes progressive politicians either as members or
allies.
The people’s
fundamental rights and freedoms. Enshrined in the Constitution and
international agreements entered into by the Philippines, these rights
and freedoms nevertheless continue to be violated by the government
itself, especially the armed forces and police. Promoting and defending
human rights thus remain major concerns of the militant mass movement
and religious institutions. In solidarity with them, Bayan Muna upholds
and fights for the people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.
Social justice
and equity. This basic principle cannot become a reality within the
context of existing economic, political and social inequalities, which
arise from the elite rule of a few over the overwhelming majority
of the people. Bayan Muna is committed to change this inequitable
national condition.
Economic development
and self-reliance, people’s livelihood and welfare. These goals
can be substantially if not fully attained after foreign domination
and control over the economy shall have been effectively ended by
a government acting in the people’s true interests. Bayan Muna
is working towards this end.
Environmental
conservation and sustainable development. Bayan Muna promotes these
principles while contending that the democratization of political
power is a necessary condition for them to be fully implemented as
national policies.
A just and principled
peace. This is the final objective, the fruit of the people’s
struggle to win democratic political power and to demolish the structures
of exploitation and oppression in our country.
The third difference
between Bayan Muna and the traditional parties of the elite lies in
its accountability to the people. It will neither be driven by selfish
interests, nor engage in the division of spoils derived from public
office.
A central issue
in President Estrada’s impeachment trial and the popular movement
to oust him from the presidency has been the utter absence, on his
part and that of his political cronies, of any sense of responsibility
to the public. To them, apparently, delicadeza is a dirty word. Uninhibitedly
they satisfy their own wants and needs. Wantonly they grab the material
advantages of being in power. No wonder the people are disgusted.
In contrast, Bayan
Muna’s leaders have a long record of strict adherence to this
principle: In performing their duties, they are accountable to the
Party, its membership and the people. They lead simple and industrious
lives, open to the scrutiny of anyone. They are committed to place
the people’s interests above their own.
These are the
same ethical standards to which we will hold our Party’s candidates
after they win elective positions in government. The established discipline
and organizational processes of Bayan Muna and the mass organizations
to which such candidates also belong will ensure that these high standards
are met.
The fourth difference
from the traditional elite parties is that Bayan Muna intends to place
real power in the hands of the people.
As proof of our
Party’s seriousness of purpose in reaching, motivating, organizing
and mobilizing ever greater numbers of our fellow citizens, day by
day it works hard to expand and consolidate itself organizationally
and politically.
We do not recruit
merely because "politics is addition." Instead, we engage the hearts
and minds of those joining us, teaching them to know, to cherish and
to fight for their rights, their demands and their welfare. This will
be the solid basis of their own empowerment.
Unlike the
traditional elite parties—existing in isolation from the people, coming
to life only at election time—Bayan Muna actively participates in
the people’s democratic movement. In fact, this involvement is
more important to us than the electoral struggle or working within
government.
Side by side
with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the sectoral organizations, Bayan
Muna has been in the thick of major mass struggles and political mobilizations
such as the anti-globalization, human rights and peace campaigns and
the current campaign to oust Estrada.
Aside from
launching mass struggles, Bayan Muna helps promote the expansion of
sectoral and other mass organizations from the national level to the
regional and down to the local level. Party members may be recruited
to join these organizations, just as most of their present members
have joined Bayan Muna.
Through such
mutual assistance in organizing, we ensure the training of a steady
stream of new Party leaders who are comprehensively grounded not only
in New Politics but also in mass struggle and political struggle.
While carrying out their tasks in the various mass organizations,
they can also be groomed for candidacy in future elections.
Comrades and
friends, the points that I have outlined before you this morning spell
out the challenge that Bayan Muna has chosen to meet head-on. For
its part, our Party is issuing its own challenge to the traditional
parties of reactionary politics—and its battlecry is New Politics
—People Politics, the Politics of Change!
Before I conclude,
I would like to draw your attention to a striking formulation drawn
up by our Mountain Province chapter on the occasion of their launching
last December 16. Written on their streamer were these words: "Bayan
Muna—Our Party, Our Call". The message is simple, but the meaning
is profound. I think that with those words, our comrades in the Mountain
Province captured the essence of what it is that unites us all, and
that is the commitment to serve the people with all our hearts. This,
in effect, is our Party’s appeal to all patriotic Filipinos:
if you love our country, support Bayan Muna!
And so, comrades
and friends, let the entire Philippines resound with our voices as
we declare: "Serve the people! Now and always, the people! Ang bayan
muna!"
