Missing Labor in the Makabayan slate

The progressive Makabayan coalition has only one senatorial candidate.

Neri Colmenares, while still way off the wining circle of 2019 bets, is respected across political parties. Many supporters of the Liberal Party-led coalition are including him on their ballots. Even some DDS friends are saying they will vote for Neri. Simply put, Neri is the choice of voters who take issues seriously – unless one disagrees violently with Makabayan’s position on issues.

The ground-breaking Labor Win coalition, composed of once feuding labor federations, has bannered the name, Neri Colmenares. After all, militant labor within the Bayan/Makabayan sphere of influence is part of the coalition.

It was labor, living up to its historical role as socio-political vanguards, that first transcended the political chasms that ruptured the progressive forces in the 1990’s. The first time I saw all those flags marching together in last year’s historic Mayo Uno protest, it took much effort to hold back tears of pride. And they have marched together in the different “United” and broad protest events since then.

Of course, Makabayan – the coalition of progressive party-list groups – is a different entity from the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, the alliance of progressive mass organisations, whether based in sectors or geographical regions.

We know that. But it is pretty clear to anyone with eyes, ears and half a brain that Makabayan’s core votes come from the Bayan forces. They campaign together on issues. They have a symbiotic relationship; each being of crucial importance to the other.

So it was a jar to learn that Makabayan’s event today was absent of any Labor Win candidate – other than Neri Colmenares.

No Ka Leody de Guzman. No Sonny Matula. No Ernesto Arellano. No Allan Montano.

These are representatives of what Neri described in a February 16 Facebook post as “the largest alliance of workers and workers’ organisations.”

Friends of Makabayan expected the endorsement of Chel Diokno, Erin Tanada, Samira Gutoc and Florin Hilbay. No problem there.

It was heart-wrenching not to see the labor candidates – who probably have more in common with Makabayan’s stand on issues than other parties.

(Hilbay, for example, was former President Benigno Aquino’s solicitor-general. Even before his appointment he was the government’s chief lawyer on the other side of the pork divide, though he has also some positions close to what the militant Left espouses.)

It was SHOCKING to see who stood on that stage in lieu of Ka Leody and company: incumbent senators Grace Poe, Nancy Binay and Bam Aquino.

You can read Makabayan’s explanation for endorsing the nine candidates here https://m.facebook.com/notes/bayan-muna-partylist/statement-of-the-makabayan-coalition-endorsing-nine-candidates-for-an-independen/2757514780933091/

It mentions, among other things, the repeal of the onerous TRAIN Law. Poe and Binay backed that law.

I am not a politician but understand that campaigns are never about single issues. Still, even a review of the legislative records and behaviours of the past three years won’t convince me that these incumbents deserve better than the Labor Win bets.

I asked Makabayan about the glaring hole in their line-up. This was the reply:

“The nine condidates endorsed by Makabayan today is the consensus that has been achieved so far among the parties, organizations and candidates involved. The process is still ongoing as far as other candidates are concerned, including those in the Labor Win Coalition. The needs of the electoral campaign dictate that we already announce the names of the initial nine endorsees even as we continue considering other candidates. Hope this clears things up.”

Actually, it doesn’t.

I know issues alone don’t define political alliances. There is history of engagement – Poe was Makabayan’s bet in the last presidential elections; Chel, Erin, Samira especially have long working relations with Makabayan and Bayan; Florin in the last three years.

I am not a political strategist, not a political tactician. I do not lead mass organisations. I am just a citizen who believes in many of the causes espoused by Makabayan/Bayan, a citizen who often marches with them in pursuit or defense of these causes.

I may not have full appreciation of the “needs of an electoral campaign” but know this much: the process seems backwards.

It may be Quixotic to say Labor Win should have been prioritised, given the still tenuous prospects of all five, Neri included.

But in the age of Duterte, after three years of seeing wholesale trampling of values and ideals by this regime, we want to reclaim and defend what this tyranny has sought to kill in the hearts and minds of Filipinos.

Neri will always be at the top of my ballot. But, dear Makabayan, I expected more.

I expected, at the least, that those who fight for the very same things that are getting are our friends killed and hounded and thrown into jail would get first dibs over people who voted for TRAIN – a law that has added to the oppression of our people, as your own representatives have said again and again.

I am probably not speaking alone in saying, ENDORSE KA LEODY, SAMMY and the rest of Labor Win.

Frankly, I don’t even care if the numbers now top 12. Maybe one will volunteer to be out of the circle. Or not. From where I sit, computations don’t matter as much as the notion of justice.