Organizational Brief
The Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) is an alliance of progressive groups and individuals in the Philippines that adhere to national democracy as a political line. It believes that it is imperative to arouse, organize and mobilize the masses of the people against imperialism in order to effect genuine change in the backward, agrarian, pre-industrial economy through nationalist industrialization.
KPD’s leaders in the national level and in the various provinces it operates, are mostly representatives of its grassroots membership, particularly from the workers, peasants, indigenous peoples and urban poor both in the rural and urban areas, the youth and students and those that are commonly referred to as the middle forces – the intellectuals in their many fields of professional discipline.
While KPD’s core task is mass organizing, it also engages in advocacy work through mass campaigns particularly on current issues that cuts across economic class and sectors. Since its organization in 1998, KPD has launched various campaigns in pursuance of its national-democratic principles.
Its organizational breakthroughs include the following:
1. Re-activation of trade unions and workers’ organizations in economic zones, notably the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) that sits in the former US Airforce Base in the Central Luzon region, despite strict government ban;
2. Organizing the semi-proletariat as a special phenomenon of the Philippine working class with the onset of imperialist globalization as most Filipino workers are not found in the industrial sector anymore, but in the various odd economic activities;
3. Organizing the urban squatters as part of the section of semi-proletariat, as they continue to struggle for humane ‘in-city’ relocation sites;
4. Re-activation of a militant teachers’ movement on the basis of their struggle for their economic and democratic rights in the face of the General Agreement on Trade in Services of GATT-WTO, now the single biggest threat to their sector;
5. Development of a nationwide women’s movement with a strong grassroots among peasants, workers and urban poor;
On the mass struggles front, KPD counts the following among its most important campaigns:
1. Campaign against the Retail Trade Liberalization Law - 1998-1999
2. Campaign against the Estrada government’s Charter-Change - 1999-2000
3. Campaign against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) – 1998-1999
4. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s support of the US war of Aggression in Iraq – 2004-2005 (continuing)
Currently, its most urgent political struggles are:
5. Anti-Globalization Campaign –
6. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s own version of Charter Change
7. Campaign against extra-judicial killings
Below is a brief description of each of these campaigns:
1. Campaign Against Retail Trade Liberalization Law
In pursuit of the implementation of GATT-WTO, the Philippine Senate has passed Senate Bill 153 otherwise known as “Retail Trade Liberalization Law” on October 5, 1999, repealing Republic Act 1180 or the Retail Trade Nationalization Act. The Bill granted 100% equity to foreign investors engaged in the retail business for a minimum capitalization of PHP 10 million.
Not without mass protests though. KPD, with nationalist business groups was on the forefront of the people’s protests that included big mobilizations of the small and medium entrepreneurs in the Senate and Malacanang.
SB 153 opened up the last remaining Filipino-controlled sector of Philippine economy and affected around 3 million people employed in tens of thousands of retail stores all over the country. It was the reason why giant retailers of North America and Europe are now in the Philippines, capturing the domestic market.
The Campaign against Retail Trade Liberalization scored a victory not in the Philippine Senate, but in the mass movement, as it brought the small and middle business sector to close ranks with the rest of the people in their struggle against the relentless implementation of the neo-liberal economic policies.
2. Campaign against Charter Change
Changing the 1987 “People Power” Constitution has been the intention of Presidents Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo. Different their regimes maybe on some minor counts, the underlying reasons for their push to chacha remains essentially the same - removal of the remaining legal barrier to an all-out implementation of imperialist globalization. Chacha aims to eliminate all patriotic and nationalist provisions that protect the people’s civil and political rights and the national economy.
KPD was at the core of the broad Reject Chacha Movement against then President Estrada that included prominent leaders of the Catholic and Protestant churches, legal luminaries, intellectuals, academicians, and nationalist business people and parliamentarians, with Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, Arch Diocese of Cebu, as lead convenor. The protests soon became a nationwide outcry and long before its ouster, forced the Estrada regime to shelve the project.
3. Campaign against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
VFA is a new military accord between the governments of the Republic of the Philippines and the United States signed in 1999. Like the Military Bases Agreement that was terminated by the Philippine Senate in 1991, VFA is a lopsided agreement that the people overwhelmingly rejected.
The people’s campaign that preceded the signing saw many groups forming broad\alliances in order to foil the agreement. KPD was at the core of one of these formations called Kilusan laban sa VFA (Movement against the VFA) or Kill VFA.
Kill VFA included amongst its convenors church, civic and political leaders united along the principle of anti-militarism and national freedom and sovereignty.
4. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s support of the US war of Aggressio in Iraq
The Arroyo regime was the first government in the South-East Asian region that gave an official all-out support to the US war of aggression in Iraq in 2004, sending its own small contingent and convincing neighbors to do the same.
Protests immediately followed. KPD, on its own and as part of a broader anti-war formation, held mobilizations calling on the Arroyo government to stop such support and send the troops home. The kidnapping of Angelo dela Cruz, a Filipino truck driver in Iraq, caused a national outcry that forced the government to eventually withdraw its forces ahead of schedule as a condition for his release, a decision that angered Bush.
KPD considers the campaign a success in many collective ways.
Current Campaigns
5. Anti-Globalization Campaign
The anti-globalization movement is an on-going KPD-anchored broad campaign. It is a general critique of imperialist globalizations that takes on specific forms and meaning when implemented by different classes and sectors. As such, it is done in a coordinated but decentralized manner, as all chapters and affiliates are free to implement it according to their specific circumstances.
It lead convenor in the is His Imminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, with representatives of the social movement and business as con-convenors.
Particularly, the Anti-Globalization Movement was very successful in linking up with / reaching out to any academic and church networks who are traditionally non-political but otherwise supportive of any mass organizations who suffer heavily under the government’s globalization program.
6. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s own version of Charter Change
Changing the Philippine Constitution became a matter of life and death for the Arroyo regime. Not only does it obey the US’ imperialist agenda, it also tactically solves her crisis of governance by providing her a transition period by which she can reorganize state machinery without letting go of the reigns of power.
As far as the US-Arroyo regime is concerned, chacha is a done deal this time. But KPD and the ranks of progressives believe otherwise. And they are successful in stirring a public debate on the issue. As more and more people question the wisdom of chacha at this time, government’s efforts to ram it down people’s throat is becoming more difficult by the day.
Chacha’s main agenda remains – elimination of the patriotic and nationalist provisions of the 1987 Constitution for the unbridled implementation of imperialist globalization on the domestic economy and patrimony.
KPD intends to remain on the forefont of the people’s struggle against chacha, engaging in local debates, issuing manifestos and statements, putting up posters and joining protests in the streets.
7. Campaign against extra-judicial killings
Extra-judicial killings of political activists continue to threaten legitimate dissent in the Philippines.
Extra judicial killings in the Philippines happen with impunity. KPD’s analysis point to an overt military campaign that primarily targets leaders of legal progressive organizations in order to sow terror and crush dissent.
Despite threats to its leaders, KPD stands firm at the forefront of the campaign against extra-judicial killings. Among others, in partnership with broad human rights network, it enters unfamiliar and hostile territories to do fact-finding missions in order to document the cases and establish the identities of the perpetrators of the crime.
KPD current national officers are:
1. Pete Pinlac Chairperson
2. Professor Amable Tuibeo Vice-Chairperson
3. Millet Morante Secretary General
4. Fr. Jose Bagadiong Deputy Secretary General
5. Aurora Broquil Treasurer
6. Councilor Ruben Gaduang Auditor
7. Mitzi Chan Director, Popular Struggles Commission
KPD Briefer
Prepared: May 2006
The Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) is an alliance of progressive groups and individuals in the Philippines that adhere to national democracy as a political line. It believes that it is imperative to arouse, organize and mobilize the masses of the people against imperialism in order to effect genuine change in the backward, agrarian, pre-industrial economy through nationalist industrialization.
KPD’s leaders in the national level and in the various provinces it operates, are mostly representatives of its grassroots membership, particularly from the workers, peasants, indigenous peoples and urban poor both in the rural and urban areas, the youth and students and those that are commonly referred to as the middle forces – the intellectuals in their many fields of professional discipline.
While KPD’s core task is mass organizing, it also engages in advocacy work through mass campaigns particularly on current issues that cuts across economic class and sectors. Since its organization in 1998, KPD has launched various campaigns in pursuance of its national-democratic principles.
Its organizational breakthroughs include the following:
1. Re-activation of trade unions and workers’ organizations in economic zones, notably the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) that sits in the former US Airforce Base in the Central Luzon region, despite strict government ban;
2. Organizing the semi-proletariat as a special phenomenon of the Philippine working class with the onset of imperialist globalization as most Filipino workers are not found in the industrial sector anymore, but in the various odd economic activities;
3. Organizing the urban squatters as part of the section of semi-proletariat, as they continue to struggle for humane ‘in-city’ relocation sites;
4. Re-activation of a militant teachers’ movement on the basis of their struggle for their economic and democratic rights in the face of the General Agreement on Trade in Services of GATT-WTO, now the single biggest threat to their sector;
5. Development of a nationwide women’s movement with a strong grassroots among peasants, workers and urban poor;
On the mass struggles front, KPD counts the following among its most important campaigns:
1. Campaign against the Retail Trade Liberalization Law - 1998-1999
2. Campaign against the Estrada government’s Charter-Change - 1999-2000
3. Campaign against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) – 1998-1999
4. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s support of the US war of Aggression in Iraq – 2004-2005 (continuing)
Currently, its most urgent political struggles are:
5. Anti-Globalization Campaign –
6. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s own version of Charter Change
7. Campaign against extra-judicial killings
Below is a brief description of each of these campaigns:
1. Campaign Against Retail Trade Liberalization Law
In pursuit of the implementation of GATT-WTO, the Philippine Senate has passed Senate Bill 153 otherwise known as “Retail Trade Liberalization Law” on October 5, 1999, repealing Republic Act 1180 or the Retail Trade Nationalization Act. The Bill granted 100% equity to foreign investors engaged in the retail business for a minimum capitalization of PHP 10 million.
Not without mass protests though. KPD, with nationalist business groups was on the forefront of the people’s protests that included big mobilizations of the small and medium entrepreneurs in the Senate and Malacanang.
SB 153 opened up the last remaining Filipino-controlled sector of Philippine economy and affected around 3 million people employed in tens of thousands of retail stores all over the country. It was the reason why giant retailers of North America and Europe are now in the Philippines, capturing the domestic market.
The Campaign against Retail Trade Liberalization scored a victory not in the Philippine Senate, but in the mass movement, as it brought the small and middle business sector to close ranks with the rest of the people in their struggle against the relentless implementation of the neo-liberal economic policies.
2. Campaign against Charter Change
Changing the 1987 “People Power” Constitution has been the intention of Presidents Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo. Different their regimes maybe on some minor counts, the underlying reasons for their push to chacha remains essentially the same - removal of the remaining legal barrier to an all-out implementation of imperialist globalization. Chacha aims to eliminate all patriotic and nationalist provisions that protect the people’s civil and political rights and the national economy.
KPD was at the core of the broad Reject Chacha Movement against then President Estrada that included prominent leaders of the Catholic and Protestant churches, legal luminaries, intellectuals, academicians, and nationalist business people and parliamentarians, with Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, Arch Diocese of Cebu, as lead convenor. The protests soon became a nationwide outcry and long before its ouster, forced the Estrada regime to shelve the project.
3. Campaign against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
VFA is a new military accord between the governments of the Republic of the Philippines and the United States signed in 1999. Like the Military Bases Agreement that was terminated by the Philippine Senate in 1991, VFA is a lopsided agreement that the people overwhelmingly rejected.
The people’s campaign that preceded the signing saw many groups forming broad\alliances in order to foil the agreement. KPD was at the core of one of these formations called Kilusan laban sa VFA (Movement against the VFA) or Kill VFA.
Kill VFA included amongst its convenors church, civic and political leaders united along the principle of anti-militarism and national freedom and sovereignty.
4. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s support of the US war of Aggressio in Iraq
The Arroyo regime was the first government in the South-East Asian region that gave an official all-out support to the US war of aggression in Iraq in 2004, sending its own small contingent and convincing neighbors to do the same.
Protests immediately followed. KPD, on its own and as part of a broader anti-war formation, held mobilizations calling on the Arroyo government to stop such support and send the troops home. The kidnapping of Angelo dela Cruz, a Filipino truck driver in Iraq, caused a national outcry that forced the government to eventually withdraw its forces ahead of schedule as a condition for his release, a decision that angered Bush.
KPD considers the campaign a success in many collective ways.
Current Campaigns
5. Anti-Globalization Campaign
The anti-globalization movement is an on-going KPD-anchored broad campaign. It is a general critique of imperialist globalizations that takes on specific forms and meaning when implemented by different classes and sectors. As such, it is done in a coordinated but decentralized manner, as all chapters and affiliates are free to implement it according to their specific circumstances.
It lead convenor in the is His Imminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, with representatives of the social movement and business as con-convenors.
Particularly, the Anti-Globalization Movement was very successful in linking up with / reaching out to any academic and church networks who are traditionally non-political but otherwise supportive of any mass organizations who suffer heavily under the government’s globalization program.
6. Campaign against the Arroyo government’s own version of Charter Change
Changing the Philippine Constitution became a matter of life and death for the Arroyo regime. Not only does it obey the US’ imperialist agenda, it also tactically solves her crisis of governance by providing her a transition period by which she can reorganize state machinery without letting go of the reigns of power.
As far as the US-Arroyo regime is concerned, chacha is a done deal this time. But KPD and the ranks of progressives believe otherwise. And they are successful in stirring a public debate on the issue. As more and more people question the wisdom of chacha at this time, government’s efforts to ram it down people’s throat is becoming more difficult by the day.
Chacha’s main agenda remains – elimination of the patriotic and nationalist provisions of the 1987 Constitution for the unbridled implementation of imperialist globalization on the domestic economy and patrimony.
KPD intends to remain on the forefont of the people’s struggle against chacha, engaging in local debates, issuing manifestos and statements, putting up posters and joining protests in the streets.
7. Campaign against extra-judicial killings
Extra-judicial killings of political activists continue to threaten legitimate dissent in the Philippines.
Extra judicial killings in the Philippines happen with impunity. KPD’s analysis point to an overt military campaign that primarily targets leaders of legal progressive organizations in order to sow terror and crush dissent.
Despite threats to its leaders, KPD stands firm at the forefront of the campaign against extra-judicial killings. Among others, in partnership with broad human rights network, it enters unfamiliar and hostile territories to do fact-finding missions in order to document the cases and establish the identities of the perpetrators of the crime.
KPD current national officers are:
1. Pete Pinlac Chairperson
2. Professor Amable Tuibeo Vice-Chairperson
3. Millet Morante Secretary General
4. Fr. Jose Bagadiong Deputy Secretary General
5. Aurora Broquil Treasurer
6. Councilor Ruben Gaduang Auditor
7. Mitzi Chan Director, Popular Struggles Commission
KPD Briefer
Prepared: May 2006