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Amidst the noise and circus of the on-going campaign for elections to various national and local positions come May 10, the plight of the Filipino working class tends to be forgotten. While some candidates vying for national positions give passing attention to the workers’ plight- more to get their votes than anything else – there is really very little of substance one can hang on to for some hope for a better tomorrow.

But why pin one’s hope on the very same people who are responsible for the difficult lives of the working class in the first place? No one really expect an hacendero candidate like Sen. Noynoy Aquino to work for the interests of the thousands of sugarland workers like those found in Hacienda Luisita. He can make all the right campaign promises to draw in the votes, but nothing really serious is expected to come out of it if and when he is in Malacanang.

NP presidential bet, Sen. Manny Villar, has built his entire media projection as being a rags to riches story with whom the poor can identify themselves with and dream about their own salvation, but we all know that such is not the would-be fate of millions of our countrymen. Nothing really wrong in dreaming about a better life for one and one’s family, but economic and political realities in our society limits that possibility to but a few lucky souls. How many Manny Villar’s can our society really produce?

But conditions in our economic and political life can be created to facilitate the realization of such dreams for members of the working class from whom most of the poor come from. The implementation of a genuine and thorough-going land reform is one such step. Millions of tenants and their families will benefit from this kind of land reform and not the fake ones being purveyed by several administrations now.

Then there is the pressing need for national industrialization so our people coming of working age can find employment right here at home. No country has really developed without undertaking some measures of industrialization designed to serve the national economy first.

These and similar items on the platform of candidates should have been the focus of debate and discussions, if the candidates are serious at addressing the problems of the Filipino working class. Instead, we are being treated to a mud-slinging show which does not enlighten us on the plans and programs of the candidates and their parties in solving the perennial problems of our working class.
At the end, we are again reminded by that age-old adage that in seeking their salvation from oppression and exploitation the working class has to rely on no else but themselves. They have to understand the roots and origins of their problems, strengthen their ranks and build-up a strong working class movement that will genuinely work for their interests.

Though easier said than done, there are more than enough lessons and experiences in this kind of endeavour throughout the world and even among the Filipino workers themselves. Much remains to be done and the challenges that lie ahead are formidable. But the Filipino working class has time and again proven it can rise to the occasion and take their destiny into their own hands. Elections has its uses, but it is of little real value to the working class when only one illusion after another are being peddled. # nordis.net