(Photo taken near the intersection of Makati Avenue and Buendia Avenue, 1 May 2010)Labour Day, or International Workers' Day, is celebrated every 1st of May in the Philippines, as in more than 80 countries around the world. As has always been the case for the past years, militant workers marched and converged to protest anti-labour practices by the government. This year, the rallyists burned the effigy depicting the incumbent president (Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) inside the detention cell.
What made this year's observance of Labour Day here in the Philippines a little different are as follows:
1. This is the last Labour Day celebration of the present president of the republic.
2. This celebration was marked by the unveiling of the bas-relief of the late Crispin Beltran. Mr. Beltran, leader of the left-wing workers organization called Kilusang Mayo Uno who passed away last 2008 due to head injuries which he sustained from a fall, is regarded as the icon of the Philippine labour movement.3. This year's Labour Day precedes the National (Presidential) elections which will be held on May 10.
I was walking along Ayala Avenue (located in Makati, the financial capital of the Philippines), another popular converging zone for rallies, yesterday, May 1. It was a quiet sunny Saturday afternoon, not too many people, and very few vehicles (wow!) plied the streets. Hopefully, this is not an ominous sign, the "calm before the storm", so to speak. The Philippine elections is often marred by incidences of vote-buying, ballot-snatching, cases of killings and acts of violence, among other instances of ciolence.
And much as I want to avoid discussing politics-related topics on this blog, it cannot be helped. The elections is a reality, the problem of the labour sector is a harsh reality of Manila and Philippine life.
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If you plan to vote on May 10 (granting that you are a Filipino citizen), it would be very good to know what each candidate has to say about individual issues.
This article (click the link here) may serve as a primer to the platforms (of the lack of it for some) of the presidential candidates on how to generate jobs. Read on.
(Photo of Ka Bel Beltran from this site.)
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