A former ranking official of militant labor group, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), on Monday claimed that the organization was responsible for the closure of at least 500 factories nationwide that resulted in the displacement of half a million workers over the past several years. Crispin Tandog Jr., a former national executive council member of KMU, revealed that the organization was responsible for massive loss of jobs following the infiltration by underground operatives of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). “For decades, KMU has instigated and infiltrated labor unions and organizations to stage strikes that led to the closure of more than 500 factories across the country. Half a million workers lost their jobs because of them,” he saidd during the “Tagged Reloaded: Debunking Lies by Telling the Truth,” the online weekly press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Tandog admitted that he joined the underground movement after he became a student activist in 1986. He was a member of another communist terrorist group (CTG) front organization, League of Filipino Students, and was recruited in the underground youth organization, Kabataang Makabayan. Later, he was deployed as a cadre in the labor sector, ending up as an official of KMU and various leftist labor groups in Central Luzon. “I formed labor organizations, agitated them to hate capitalists and organized strikes to cripple the operations in their work places. I have some comrades who died during bloody confrontations in those strikes,” Tandog added. Tandog said the CPP-NPA-NDF orchestrated the infiltration of labor organizations through the KMU by drumbeating issues on wages, job security and workers’ rights. Following his return to the folds of the law, Tandog helped organize “Hugpong Obrero” which he described as an ‘alternative labor center’ that espouses “industrial peace.” “We no longer believe in strikes and we are promoting a harmonious relationship between management and labor. We are batting for makatuwirang sahod (just salaries) and promote responsible unionism,” he said. “You can increase productivity by making the government, the investors, and industrial workers work harmoniously to achieve industrial peace. No worker wants to lose his job,’ Tandog added. At the same time, Tandog warned workers in the business processes outsourcing (BPO) industry to beware of CPP-NPA-NDF operators who are ‘inching their way to BPOs, targeting them through social media.” Meanwhile, Jose A. Descallar, Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD) Specialist, reported that the NTF-ELCAC’s Poverty Reduction and Livelihood Cluster (PRLEC) has conducted intervention programs on labor and livelihood issues. In addressing the problems besetting marginalized sectors in geographically isolated or “conflict-vulnerable barangays”, Descallar said the labor department, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture provided “assessment, developments and interventions” for barangays already cleared of CPP-NPA-NDF control or influence. In terms of jobs and livelihood, he said the DOLE’s “Tupad Program” has disbursed PHP553 million to 123,336 jobs in the 683 priority barangays. And its Integrated Livelihood Program totaled PHP157 million awarded to 12,138 beneficiaries. “Dati, hindi natin nagagawa dahil kontrolado ang kanilang area ng CTGs (Before, we cannot do that as their areas were controlled by the CTGs),” Descallar, who was guest in the same forum, explained. To date, Descallar said identification of priority projects in barangays previously controlled by CTGs is already being done by “the locals themselves through their Sangguniang Barangay, their LGUs and even their municipal and provincial leaderships.”

Source: Philippines News Agency