The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) condoles with victims of the blast at the Glorietta 2 mall and warns the official investigators against a cover up of the suspected bombing incident. PM does not advocate terrorism as a form of protest for as the Glorietta blast illustrates many of the dead and wounded were mall employees doing their job and office workers taking their lunch.
The circumstances and timing of the Glorietta blast makes us suspect that it is politically motivated with allies rather than enemies of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime probably involved. On the day of the blast, three vocal Catholic bishops called for the resignation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo while the Makati Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded an inquiry into allegations of bribery by Malacanang. Also on Monday, House of Representatives Speaker Joe de Venecia is expected to appeal for the government to “shape up or ship out.”
The Glorietta blast falls into a “wag the dog” scenario and is meant to deflect attention from fresh scandals rocking the regime and steal the thunder from new calls for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation. There is no lack of partisans of the administration who are rogue enough for such a brutal terror action as the Glorietta blast. With Norberto Gonzales as national security adviser, nobody is secure.
We call on the workers and people not to surrender to masterminds of the apparent bombing and to resist any attempts to further restrict civil liberties in its wake. In the coming days, PM will push through with protests by the urban poor against the rash of demolitions and by workers against contractualization and other ravages of globalization. ###
October 20, 2007
Renato Magtubo
Chairperson
Partido ng Manggagawa [Labor Party-Philippines]