46 Philippine Conditions, 1946-1990
stood the pressures ~of both government control and communist infil-
tration. As democratic and moderate reformists, they struggled to
broaden workers' trade union and political rights, and advance social
reforms envisioned by the Catholic Church.
In the 1960s, the Christian Churches inspired other progressive el-
ements which were profoundly influential in shaping the character of
various sectoral groups: Christian Social Movement under Raul
Manglapus; Young Christian Workers (YFW); Khi Ro, mainly comprised
of Catholic student and youth activists under the guidance of Fr. de Ia
Torre; National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP); Student
Catholic Action (SCA); Lakasdiwa (Strength-Spirit); and Kapulungan ng
mga Sandigang Pilipino (KASAPI); and many others (KDSP 1972).
Concluding Observations
Economic underdevelopment-marked by massive unemployment,
widespread poverty, and intense labor repression-gave birth to and
shaped the development of Philippine trade unions. Trade-union ten-
dencies are of five distinct types: (1) the revolutionary, which abhors
capitalism and works for the establishment of socialism; (2) democratic
or political, which advances trade-union freedom and workers' partici-
pation in the affairs of the enterprise and society; (3) the econolnist
and traditional, engrossed in factory-focused and economic-issues; (4)
the moralist, whose religious values give unions a reformist posture; and
(5) the defensive and protective, which all labor groups express in vary-
ing degrees since they are concerned with the protection and defense
of workers against the ill-effects:· of the economic system and the abuses
of some employers and labor racketeers.
..
3
Emphasis and Perception
of Issues
T he TUCP, KMU, and FFW articulated four types of issues: the
work-related, those focused on the trade union, the sectoral,
and the national. Work-related. issues-wages, job security, and job
rights-are both economic and noneconomic (e.g., .workers' participa-
tion and industrial democracy). The trade unions discussed these is-
sues extensively during collective-bargaining negotiations, but also ar-
ticulated them in public in reaction to such national events as oil-pr~ce
hikes, widespread unemployment, and. the widening income gap.
Issues focused on the trade union are those related to the basic rights
of workers to. form, structure, and administer unions; bargain collec-
tively; and stage concerted activities. Sectoral issues affect sectors other
than labor, but are nonetheless raised by trade unions for varied rea,
Aons. The issues may concern students (e.g., tuition hike, academic
freedom), the urban poor (e.g., housing, resettlement), peasants and
farmers (e.g., land reform), and drivers or operators ofjeepneys, taxis,
and buses (e.g. oil-price hike).
Finally, national issues are those that affect all sectors of society, such
as foreign debt, foreign investments,.. U.S. military bases, dictatorship,
graft and. corruption, and ineffitient. delivery of basic social services.
The issues raised by the TUCP, KMU, and FFW were classified by year
based on Mark Perlman's five categories (cf. appendices A, B, C) and
used as the basis for comparing and analyzing trade•union behavior. A
principal finding of this study is that the three labor groups vary largely
in their emphasis and perception {)f the above issues. These difference$
are mai,lifested in a variety of ways.
TUCP: _Largely Economist I • .
/From its founding in 1975 to 19S3, rle TUCP emphasized economic-
oriented issues, particularly those rela~;d to wages and working condi-
tions (see appendix A). Its actions wete uricontroversial, in the sense
that they generally reflecte~ the basi~ demands of workers and other .
,,./·
 48 Issues Raised lry Trade Unions
trade unions. The TUCP also raised national economic issues during this
period, but did not discuss them very much in public. TUCP pronounce-
ments attacked the country's social structure as capitalistic and feudal
(1 977k, 39), and pressed for economic reforms that would strictly regu-
late private ownership (1 980, 32-33).
The TUCP also raised democratic and political issues largely reflect-
ing the government's views. From the very start, it defended the
government's restructuring policy, even when other labor groups de-
nounced it as restrictive of the workers' basic rights. Democrito
Mendoza (1978a, 29)justified the TUCP'sdecision: "IfPhilippine trade
unions opted not to protest against some of the seeming restrictions
that somehow contravene their fundamental rights relative to freedom
of association it is because they are convinced that the envisioned end
would give them more of these rights in the future."
By the mid-1980s, however, there was a systematic shift in the TUCP's
emphasis and perception of issues; the alliance began to articulate
democratic issues more aggressively by criticizing what it now described
as the restrictive provisions of the Labor Code. The TUCP also became
more vocal and aggressive about national and political issues: it attacked
the government for being autocra•ic, stifling individual initiative, pro-
moting social injustice and inequity, being graft-ridden and corrupt, all
of which it claimed fostered resentment among the workers and farm-
ers (1 984a, 2). Later, the TUCP attributed labor's problems to
government's inability to solve the country's economic crisis (TUCP
1985, 5, 12; Mendoza 1985a). It also started to express its concern over
the growing dominance of foreign powers in the country's internal
affairs; foreign domination, the TUCP said, obstructed the country's
development and caused the marginalization of the vast majority-the
poor (l984a, 1; 1985, 5, 12).
The TUCP continued to emphasize democratic issues, maintaining
its critical posture when President Corazon Aquino came to power in
1986. It even demanded "workers' participation in decision-making and
in program implementation at all levels" and the "immediate lifting of
the restrictions on the right to organization, collective bargaining, and
concerted action" (TUCP 1986a, 11). The TUCP had a chance to repeal
the restrictive provisions of the Labor Code when its secretary-general
Ernesto Herrera was elected to the Senate in 1987. To the consterna-
tion of many in the trade-union circles, however, the Herrera-sponsored
Senate Bill No. 530, which was consolidated with House Bill 11524 and
signed into law as Republic Act 6715 on 2 March 1989, did not eradi-
cate the offending provisions, particularly B.P. Nos. 130 and 227. With
the law's passage, the TUCP stopped criticizing the new Labor Code,
Issues Raised by Trade Unions 49
although it took critical stands against specific issues, such as policies
resu·icting public-sector unionism (TUCP 1990, 2).
- The TUCP also began to shift its emphasis back to economic issues;
its 1 May 1990 manifesto emphasized:wage increases, job security, wide-
spread unemployment, improving the social benefits of workers, and
rationalizing the taxation system (TUCP· .1990). At the same time, it
started to confront controversial national issues, such as the foreign
debt and U.S. military bases. The TUCP (1986g) stood for
equitable renegotiation of debt payments; recommending the limi-
tation of debt service payments to not more than 10 percent of
the country's merchandise exports. ~emoval of all foreign mili-
.tary bases, facilities, nuclear weapons, and troops from all co tin-
tries of the world. Honor the present Philippine-US mutual de-
fense treaty until its expiration i~ 1991. ~~anwhile, there should
be an immediate nationwide study and discussion of the issues
involved, the results ofwhich shall form a basis of Philippine policy
in 1991.
The TUCP, however, continued to belie~e in free enterprise and strict
regulation of property rights (1987b,- 5); within this framework, it was
willing to work with the government in instituting structural reforms.
The TUCP did not, therefore, advocate dismantling the economic and
political order, and its criticism of the government remained directed
only against specific anomalies or irregularities like graft and corrup-
tion (TUCP 1990, 2) .
• In the mid-1980s, as its emphasis and perception of issues gradually
I shifted, the TUCP underwent organizational adjustment. One faction,
identified with Mendoza and Herrera, both of the Associated Labor
Union (ALU), expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of the TUCP
assemblymen to pursue the interests of organized labor in the National
Assembly, and decided to stop supporting the ruling party. I
,.
The transformation of the TUCP may have been due to the follow-
ing: the TUCP's growing di~~tisfaction with the performance of the
Marcos administration; th';JlSSassination of former Senator Benigno
Aquino Jr. in 1983; and die challenge posed by the radical groups,
which were aggressively articulating their opposition to the repressive
regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Once the Marcos admin-
istration was toP.pled, however, the TUCP reverted to its orilrjl)-al pos-
ture of emphas~ing job-related and factory•oriented issues, and gen-
erally supporting government labor policies, .while re~aining critical
of government on specific issues, such as corruption and inefficient
delivery of basic services.
 50 Issues Raised fly Trade Unions
While the mid-1980s witnessed the TUCP's general transformation,
some affiliates chose to maintain the TUCP's original posture. This
conservative bloc consolidated its forces and organized in support of
Marcos's 1986 candidacy. While the center was moving in a new direc-
tion, therefore, the TUCP's organizational outlook was hardly uniform.
Some eneral characteristics of the TUCP deserve to be highlighted.
First~' if the TUCP was pre ominantly economist during 1975-83, it was
also defe~sive, protecting workers from sodal injustice and abuse by
some employers. From the mid-1980s, the TUCP began to shift from
economism to a greater concern for dem'ocracy and political issues,
especially those that would strengthen unions as democratic and po-
litical forces. It became vocal about broadening workers' participation
at the workplace, and started to criticize the government. Although
democratic and political issues were not completely absent from the
TUCP's unionism before the mid-1980s, they were much less prominent
than economic issues.
Under the Aquino administration, howiver; spedfi.cally after the
passage of the new Labor Code, the TUCP reverted to its original pos-
ture of emphasizing economic issues at the factory level. This time, it
gradually stressed workers' democratic rights at the workplace. The
TUCP also toned down its critidsm of the government's polides, espe-
cially those relating to union ri§hts and freedom.
While these general patterns were developing within the TUCP, an-
other range of behavior deviating from the overall posture emerged.
While the TUCP pursued a general direction, therefore, there were a
variety of tendencies within the organization.
t The concentration of the natural resources in the hands of a
Finally, the TUCP had a pra~atic and opportu_nist outlook, in the
sense that Perlman and Hoxie used the terms. The shift in emphasis
and the openly critical stance of the mid-1980s were significant because
they diverted the attention of the TUCP affiliates. to the more basic
concern of instituting political reform, and gradually enabled the TUCP
to give up its predominantly progovernment posture. The TUCP slowly
established a new image in the Philippine labor movement that allowed
it to survive the change of government, and even become the main
labor base of the new administration. .......- ¥11-i "'o/""' ~(
1
KMU: Highly Revolutionary
Its documents reveal that the KMU addressed the same issues as the
TUCP. The KMU, however, focused on, emphasized, and perceived is-
sues much differently (see appendix B.) It supported a number of
sectoral struggles: the students' protest against tuition-fee hikes, sup-
l:'
Issues Raised by Trade Unions 51
pression of academic freedom, and what the students described as the
corrupt system of education; the struggle of media people against what
they perceived as violation of press freedom; the jeepney drivers'
struggle against the plan to create a public-utility-vehicle monopoly
(198le, 5). .·
The KMU's perception of these. issues had fc;~ur essential features: ~
radical view of social reality; adh~rence to the revolutionary view on
eradicating social conflict; and alih'erence toJ.'farxist principles of class
struggle, nationalist industrialization; and ifie ultimate goal of estab-
lishing a socialist state. The KMU's views reflect a comprehensive, clearly
defined ideological orientation, as they possess social analysis, vision,
and program. Rather than discuss the ideology of the KMU, however, I
will show what issues the KMU raised; I will then argue that the trade-
union alliance projected Marxist and revolutionary beliefs;
The KMU used the radical approach as defined by G.o,ldthorpe
(1981): going to the root of the probler.l. It traced the origin of the
four main issues directly to the structures of so,ciety. It identified a
broader issue affecting all other union issues-foreign monopoly con-
trol over the country's resources, aggravated"by what the KMU perceived
as the connivance and collusion of the country's ruling elites; the big
domestic capitalists b" ers, government, military, and what the
KMU called th ellow leadershi in the labor movement (1981e, 1).
The KMU's percepuon o social reality is reflected in the handbook
it uses in its educational drive:
few is at present the basic problem of the workers in the Philip•
pines.
These resources are controlled by American monopoly capi-
talists. They are the principal owners of the biggest .and most
important businesses in the country. They are instrumental in the
export of raw materials and agricultural products and from the
beginning have opposed land reform. They are controlling the
goverpment so that it might serve their interests. For a great part
they form the view of the citizenry by their hold on education and
mass media. In short, American monopoly capitalism and its lo-
cal cronies are the root cause of the destitution and enslavement
of the Filipino workers and citizens (EILER 1988, 26-27).
The KMU strongly tended to express and perceive all other issues
within the context of foreign domination. For example, it atu·ibuted
low wages to the government's cheap-labor strategy to attract and pro-
mote foreign investments (1982b, 5), a policy the KMU claimed wa~
 52 Issues Raised l7y Trade Unions
dictated by multinational corporations through the International Mon-
etary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in their bid to extract huge
profits (KMU 1982b, 4). The KMU blamed union repression on the
subservience of both the union leadershi'p and government to the in-
terests of American monopoly capitalists (1981c, 1-2). According to the
KMU, the government used its powers to legislate laws favorable to the
interests of foreign investors, rather than to the welfare of the exploited
working class (CENTRUM 1983, 17). Government readily extended in-
centives in the form of low wages and suppression of trade-union rights
(KMU l982b, 4).
The KMU tended to perceive the workers' struggle as a conflict be-
tween the working and the capitalist classes. 2 According to the KMU,
the interests of the capitalist class were centered on amassing huge
profits, and pursued by exploiting the country's resources and bring-
ing wages down to the barest minimum. The KMU therefore linked the
trade-union struggle to what it claimed was the Filipino people's
struggle to rid the country of foreign capitalist domination. Its revolu-
tionary view explained the KMU's battle cry: "genuine freedom, democ-
racy, and nationalism."3
But the KMU's perception of the democratic struggle of workers was
different from that of the democratic and political school of thought.
It used the term "democratic struggle" to mean eradicating the struc-
tures of capitalist control (i.e., dictatorial, fascistic or militaristic re-
gimes) and the instruments of foreign domination (U.S. military bases
and multinational corporations).4
The KMU Founding Manifesto (1980) articulated the four major issues,
and demanded nationalist industrialization and Filipino ownership of
multinationals. At the time; the KMU alone raised national issues pub-
licly. Ten years later, it expressed other equally vital national issues even
more vocally. In preparation for the 1990 Labor Day celebration, it
asked its regional councils to make the following nontraditional union
demands:
1. Immediate dismantling of the U.S. military bases and all
foreign installations in the country;
2. Put an end to total war! Dismantle fascism!
3. Increase wages and lower prices of basic commodities;
4. Fight for the implementation of a genuine and comprehen-
sive land reform program;
5. Nationalize strategic and vital industries; advance the estab-
lishment of a nationalist type of industrialization; and
6. Put an end to the U.S.-Aquino regime and establish a "Na-
tionalist Democratic Coalition Government. "5
I
I
,I
i
Issues Raised by Trade Unions 53
While the general character of the KMU was revolutionary, some of
its affiliates preferred to focus on the economist, democratic, and po-
litical (as defined by Flanders), and saw trade unions mainly as 'defen-
sive or protective. The major affiliates that preferred this orientation
were National Union of Workers in the Hotels, Restaurants & Allied
1 Industries (NUWHRAIN), Union of Workers in the Garments, Textiles,
Cordage and Allied Industries (GATCORD), United Lumber and Gen-
eral Workers of the Philippines (ULGWP}, Southern Philippines Fed-
eration of Labor (SPFL), and National Federation of Labor (NFL).
Within these federations, however, there were individuals and groups
that followed the KMU's general direction. On the other hand, the
National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU), Pagkakaisa ng mga
Samahan ng Tsuper Nationwide (PISTON), Alliance of Nationalist.and
Genuine Labor Organizations (ANGLO/, Association of Democratic
Labor Organizations (ADLO), Organized Labor Association in Line
Industry and Agriculture (OLALlA), and other regional KMU councils
generally favored revolutionary unionism. The KMU'S overall organi-
zational spectrum, therefore, included varying shades of unionism,
ranging from the conservative to revolutionary.
FFW: Primarily Democratic and Political
The various issues raised by the FFW revealed some general patterns
~ (see appendix C). First, the FFW articulated economic, democratic, and
political issues, depending on external conditions. When it was founded
in 1950, for example, the FFW was more vocal about democratic issues.
In 1953, however, when the Industrial Peace Act assured labor of free-
dom and indefendence, the FFW shifted its focus to economic issues.
Second, the FFW's perception of the democratic and political char-
acter of unions was similar to that of Flanders. Democracy, for the FFW,
included free and ~ndependent unions. The FFW saw the political role
of unions as one of active involvement in the continuous struggle for
broadening the rights of workers in the workplace, industry, and
economy.
Third, the FFW tended to be radicaL It rejected capitalism as the
framework for development; however, it offered no clear alternative to
the system it rejected, and did not possess a comprehensive vision,
model, and program of sodety. When faced with specific issues, such
as land reform, foreign debt, multinationals, and U.S. bases, the· FF\V
tended to become incoherent and muddled. The FFW's views on union
involvement in politics were also ambivalent, unclear, and confusing to
its members, especially during national elections.
 54 Issues Raised lTy Trade Unions
On the whole, however, the FFW primarily exhibited a democratic
and political character, and secondarily, an economist and protective
posture. While its view of society was somewhat radical, it was never
revolutionary. On the contrary, the FFW exhibited the conservative and
traditional behavior of economist unions.
From the beginning, the FFW primarily focused on four major issues
confronting workers and the labor movement: widespread poverty,
which manifested itself in the form of inadequate housing, undernour-
ishment, and poor education; rampant racketeering by unscrupulous
labor leaders who took advantage of the weakness of the workers; grow-
ing dominance of communist-infiltrated unions over the labormove-
ment; and government attempts to control the entire labor movement. 6
The FFW was most vocal about trade-union freedom and indepen-
dence. During the Quirino administration (1946-53), it vehemently
attacked government officials who used the unions to further their own
political ambitions. David Wurfel noted that during the 1950s, the FFW
was the most outspoken critic of Labor Secretary Jose Figueras and his
attempt to dominate the labor movement (1959, 405) .. With the pas-
sage of the Industrial Peace Act in 1953, however, the issue of external
control subsided, and the FFW shifted its focus to economic issues. The
FFW organizers, however, ventilated these issues mainly at the factory
level during collective-bargaining negotiations; the FFW was not, there-
fore, active at the national level from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.
In the 1970s, however, the FFW had an opportunity to revive its
struggle against government interference when martial law was pro-
claimed. The new regime mandated the restructuring of the country's
labor movement along industrial lines, which the FFW saw as a viola-
tion of the right of workers to organize unions. The FFW publicly at-
tacked the government officials for using "the labor movement as their
political base in the country's political processes," and for trying to whip
the labor movement into line. 7 It also filed a case with the Supreme
Court to inhibit the government from restructuring the labor move-
ment.
Throughout the remaining years of the Marcos regime, the FFW be-
came more vocal in opposing laws·that restricted the free exercise of
union freedom. When the Aquino government, in spite of strong la-
bor representation in Congress, failed to repeal the Labor Code's re-
pressive provisions, the FFW publicly and vehemently objected in a pro-
nouncement addressed to Aquino {FFW 1989).
While the FFW was consistent on union matters, however, its positions
on broader issues, especially those requiring confrontation with the
government, were indecisive and confusing. For example, prior to the
7 April 1979 national elections, some the FFW affiliates urged partici-
Issues Raised lTy Trade Unions 55
pation in the political campaign for the opposition candidates, includ-
' ing· Benigno Aquino Jr. and Alex Boncayao, president of an FFW affili-
ate. Although the issue of democracy was at stake, the FFW Governing
Board vacillated, shelved the matter and left the affiliates to their own
devices. 8 The FFW's position on the 14 May 1984 elections was even
more muddled and incoherent. The FFW leaders officially and unani-
mously agreed at a conference that the ~ should "particip~_te, sup-
• port, and work for clean and honest elections" {FFW 1984a, 5). How-
ever, when the delegates were later asked to indicate their individual
opinion in a questionnaire, the majority (56.1 percent) were for abso-
lute boycott, and only 30.5 percent were for absolute participation; only
12.2 percent opted for conditional participation, and a negligible 1.2
percent were noncommittal. Although the results of the survey were
·announced before the conference, there was no attempt to reconcile
the divergent results (1984a, 4).
The FFW was careful in raising issues directed at the government.
..
When forced tq make pronouncements, it usually conformed with and
supported government programs. For instance, during the early years
of martial law, the FFW praised Marcos's "New Society," claiming that it
had "effectively begun the reorientation of political authority and in
many dramatic instances propelled a progressive development program"
{FFW 1975h, 6). A few days before the February 1986 People Power
Revolution, the FFW issued a statement on what it thought had marred
the presidential "snap" elections, but worded it so that it neither cat-
Ill
egorically supported Aquino nor attacked Marcos, in spite of public knowl-
edge that his administration had cheated massively in vote-counting.
It is high time that the FFW should now come out of its shell
and openly manifest its stand to the public .... That the issue is
not either to support Mr. Marcos or Mrs. Aquino, but what is
beneficial to the Filipino people .... ThatFFW condemns evil, not·
the evildoer {FFW 1986q, 2).
The FFW publicly released its statement a month after Aquinq took
over the reins of government and then published it in its official news-
paper in May that year (See FFW l986p, 2 for the full text). But the
FFW was never systematically critical· of the martial-law regime and
n
Marcos, or of the Aquino administration. The rare instances when the
FFW attacked the government occurred only after the administration
being addressed had been dislodged from power. The FFW waited un-
til Aquino became President, for example, to denounce the Marcos re-
gime as authoritarian and dictatorial (FFW 1986p,l; 1989d, 4).
During the early years of martial law, the FFW expressed its views on
l the economy at a series of government conferences discussing tlle find·
 56 Issues Raised by Trade Unions
ings of the International Labor Organization (ILO) study headed by
Gustav Ranis. The FFW was highly critical of the country's economic
structure, and rejected pure capitalism as the country's policymaking
framework because of its heavy reliance on the free and unregulated
interplay of the market forces, rather than the active and collective
intervention of labor, management, and the government (FFW 1975a,
2; I975c, I; I975e, I). Fr. Walter Hogan echoed this anticapitalist view:
Looking back, our possible weakness was that we thought we could
reform capitalism. I doubt this now. I think we need some kind
of collective ownership of major industries, some kind of economic
socialism. 9
During the Aquino administration, the FFW began to speak of the
need to change the highly capitalistic structures of the ·country:
The type and brand of economic and political structures we have
established in the past have become ineffective in solving, or even
minimizing, the basic problems confronting our people today. We
cannot continue to work and formulate plans for programs purely
within those discredited economic and political frameworks. We
can do much better if the present highly-capitalistic social struc-
tures are radically altered (Tan 1986a, 7).
The above pronouncement would make the FFW seem highly radi-
cal and even revolutionary; however, other statements on specific is-
sues-such as foreign investments and multinational corporations-are
inconsistent with the FFW's radical posture. Before the FFW's fourteenth
national convention in 1979, the preparatory committee proposed two
resolutions to the Governing Board: Filipinization of basic industries,
and phasing out of multinationals. The Board did not endorse the
resolutions, contending that no coherent stand against multinationals
could be adopted as there was no common perception of the problems
posed by multinationals in the country (FFW 1979d, 16). Instead, the
Board approved a resolution establishing a commission to monitor the
effects and performance of multinationals. The resolution was then
passed to the convention and later adopted by the delegates (Cristobal
1979). More than ten years later, no such commission had been formed,
and no study conducted to assess the impact of multinationals on the
lives of the workers.
When the FFW discussed the same issue a decade later, therefore, its
stand remained ambiguous and confused. After the People Power Revo-
lution, the FFW (1986e, 7) issued a position so general that it could
apply to all countries hosting multinationals, invoking the principle of
Issues Raised by Trade Unions 57
noninterference by multinationals in the internal affairs of any coun-
try. A year later,. the issue was again deliberated and, again, the delegates
1 could not decide if they should go along with .the government's policy
of attracting foreign investors, ban foreign investors and nationalize
industries owned and controlled by foreigners, or allow but strictly
I regulate multinational investment in the country (FFW 1987b, 7-8). The
I
issue was resolved only two years later when the FFW delegates adopted
the third view, and enjoined the government "to regulate the activities
of multinational corporations" (1989b, 10).
The FFW's position on the issue of U.S. military bases was just as
ambivalent. In 1987, the FFW followed the government in respecting
the R.P.-U.S. military bases agreement until 1991, but proposed ana-
tionwide educational campaign to prepare for a possible referendum
on the fate of the bases (FFW 1987a, 10; 1987b, 6; 1989c, 7). During
the FFW's seventeenth national convention in 1989, however, the del-
egates hotly debated the same issue, again arriving at no definite posi-
tion. One camp favored the dismantling of the foreign bases after 1991;
another camp defended the retention of the bases, but on better terms
• and conditions. Still another group argued that the issue should be
decided by referendum. The issue was not subjected to a vote and. re-
mained unresolved. The delegates compromised, however, and ag·reed
to elevate the issue ·to the Governing Board, which could then "study
and propose in more concrete details a definitive stand of the FFW"
(FFW 1989b, 13).· In 1990, the FFW leaders again passed a ·resolution
mandating the Governing Board "to come up with a position paper on
the U.S. bases" (FFW 1990b, 61).
On the whole, th.e FFW was unsure of how to translate its radical
economic posture into action. Its perception of national issues th~re­
fore, frequently hovered between outright conformism and total oppo-
sition or rejection, leading to ambivalence and incoherence. The FFW
also had a propensity for distancing itself from national and political
issues, and projecting an image of neutrality by favoring no one. As a
result of its conflicting behavior, the FFW suffered from undue delays
and obstruction of the decision-making process, almost total indiffer-
ence to broader issues, and an absence of definitive and timely politi-
cal positions when it did manage to shake off its lethargy;
Yet the FFW's democratic and political nature appears to be more
dominant than ·its economist and defensive character because of its
overall tendency to articulatt! issues that concern workers' political and
trade-union rights. Some of its affiliates tried to push the FFW in a more
radical direction; they were usually heavily influenced by the radical
Church, the many underground and shadowy revolutionary movements
that proliferated in the labor movement, and the democratic·sociaJist
 58 Issues Raised by Trade Unions

forces. 10 The new breed of young, aggressive leaders who often strongly Table 5. Comparative trade-union character as reflected in the
expressed radical, even revolutionary views, also wanted the FFW to take issues unions raised and their perception of these issues
clear stands on various national and political issues, II
The FFW's spectrum includes varying drientations, and its survival
hinges primarily on the leadership's ability to sustain a delicate and Elements
of TUCP FFW KMU
precarious balance between two polarized groups: the ultraconserva-
comparison
tives, and the radical and revolutionary groups.
--
Comparative Findings Issues Focuses on job- Emphasizes the Equal emphasis
Raised oriented issues with demo.cratic and given to the four
The TUCP, KMU, and FFW differ greatly in their emphasis and per- strong emphasis on political issues of types of isues: job-
ception of issues (see table 5). The TUCP is predominantly economist the economic aspect; unionism. Also related, union,
but also raises articulates job- sectoral and
with its focus on work-related issues; but it also projects a defensive democratic and related issues, national.
posture and, occasionally, a democratic and political outlook. It traces political. whether economic
labor problems to inappropriate government measures. To solve these or political.
problems, it is willing to cooperate with government within the frame-
work of a regulated free-enterprise economy. Perception Views issues as an Traces problems to Attributes the origin
The KMU equally emphasizes all types of issues; but its perception of offshoot of the capitalist of issues to
Problems unbridled capitalism structure of the worsening foreign .
of these issues is radical and revolutionary, as it advocates the disman-
aggravated by the economy. monopolies and
tling of capitalist structures and the establishment of socialism.
The FFW, on the other hand, has a predominantly democratic and 't" T
. , ..I
inability of
government to
capitalist domination
over the country's
political posture, with its strong concern for broadening workers' po- institute appropriate resources & internal
litical rights and trade-union freedom. At the same time, it is econo- and effective affairs, perpetrated
mist, defensive, and protective. Its positions on national and political economic policies. by the collusion of
issues are largely ambivalent and incoherent. The FFW is not critical of domestic elites.
the government; on the contrary, it strongly tends to support the
General Against laissez-faire Rejects free, perfect Rejects capitalism;
government's developmental programs. The FFW's supportive charac- Stand capitalism and competition; proposes an
ter, however, is concealed ·by its tendency to remain silent for long proposes more proposes an economy that is
periods of time, and project isolationism, neutrality, and i:odifference. aggressive welfare economy managed nationalist and
The TUCP favors foreign investments, but with tighter controls than reforms by the State; thru tripartite democratic within a
now exist. It left the responsibility of resolving the issue of U.S. mili- also favors free consultation. socialist perspective.
tary bases to the Filipino people. The KMU vehemently opposes foreign enterprise but with
strict re_gulations on
investments and demanded the immediate dismantling of U.S. bases in
the right to private
the country. The FFW's position on major national issues is similar to property.
that of the TUCP.
Trade unions, therefore, exhibit significant differences even as they In this context, it is Still unclear about
II>
operate within the same socioeconomic and political milieu. Yet while I willing to work and its political role in
I cooperate with society.
a group may generally tend toward a certain direction, it is possible, as
in the case of the TUCP, that it will swing in the opposite direction and government.
back. Furthermore, an affiliate may deviate from its labor federation
or center. Varying shades of outlook and persuasion may, therefore, Continued on next page
exist within a particular group.
Table 5 - Continued
4
Elemen!S
of TUCP FFW KMU
comparison Trade Union Action and
Foreign Favors foreign Recognizes the need Strongly rejects
Organizational Linkages
investments investments; but for foreign foreign investments;
proposes tighter investments; but proposes the
government proposes strict nationalization of
controls. regulations. industries owned by
multinationals.

u.s. Honors US-RP Respects US-RP Total and immediate

military
bases
military bases
agreement; proposes
a nationwide
military agreement;
proposes to submit
the issue to the
dismantling
(1985k,4; LACC,
1988b,l)
P hilippine trade unions espouse forms of action ranging from
·the most traditional and conservative to the confrontational
and combative. Traditional and conservative forms of action include
discussion to decide Filipino people in a collective bargaining, tripartism, and arbitration; sometimes they also
on the issue. national include strikes, pickets, mass leaves of absence, and mass-media and pro-
referendum. paganda campaigns. Cooperativism, mutual aid and assistance, as well
as parliamentary and electoral involvement are traditional and conser-
Character Predominantly Predom in an tly Revolutionary and
vative forms of action. Confrontational and combative pressure meth-
economist, but also democratic and conflictual.
projects a defensive political, but also ods, on the other hand, include nationwide strikes, demonstrations,
and democratic economist and rallies, advertisements in the media, and boycotts.
character. defensive. On occasion, and despite their divergent tendencies and choice of.
action, they also have linkages with other groups within and outside the
labor sector, which reinforce their views, although the extent to which
they have tapped the energy of other organizations differs.

TUCP: Traditional

From its founding to the mid-1980s, the TUCP favored traditional

methods of action, preferring collective bargaining, tripartism, and the
occasional strike and picket line (Mendoza 1978b, 3 7; TUCP 1975;
1978s, 29; 1986b, 7). The rare mass action was usually in celebration
of festivities, such as Labor Day and founding anniversaries. Resolutions,
position papers, and press releases sometimes found their way into the
mass media, usually on the occasion of national conventions, tripartite
gatherings, Labor Day celebrations, and oil-price hikes. By the mid-
1980s, however, as the TUCP became more vocal about non-union
matters, it used mass media more frequently and aggressively.
Under the Aquino regime, the TUCP became more confrontational,
threatening to wage welga ng bayan (nationwide strikes) against the oil-
price hike and for wage increases. The TUCP's announcements attracted
 62 Organizational Linkages
media attention, encouraging it to be more aggressive in threatening
mass actions. It is too early to say whether such aggressiveness will even-
tually become a dominant pattern; the threats to go nationwide strike
are relatively recent and seldom acted out. Perhaps the TUCP was only
responding to the challenge of militant labor groups like the KMU.
Nonetheless, the TUCP demonstrated the potential to change from a
traditional organization to one that is confrontational and combative.
From the start, the TUCP participated in government labor programs.
It cooperated in restructuring and developing a labor-relations system
that would offer substitute mechanisms for strikes (ibid.). Closely asso-
ciated with government, the TUCP aggressively lobbied for government
positions and participated in electoral politics; the labor center was
highly visible in the legislative and executive branches of government.
During the martial-law years, it endorsed the Marcos party, the Kilusang
Bagong Lipunan (KBL), under which many TUCP officers ran for of-
fice (1978s, 15; 1978q, 7). The other TUCP leaders who did not join
the electoral competition were appointed by Marcos as labor represen-
tatives in tripartite agencies. The TUCP did notbelong to any nonlabor
group besides KBL, although it was affiliated with the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) ..
In the mid-1980s, the TUCP distanced itself from the government
when the Associated Labor Union (ALU), the dominant group.in the
TUCP, started to question the center's ability to pursue workers' inter-
ests in the National Assembly and worried about the deterioration of
basic services. This reassessment was influenced by the democratic-so-
cialist forces, radical Church, various new underground forces, and stu-
dent activist groups-which were all involved in the TUCP and which
pushed the TUCP into an·aggressive and confrontational posture. Fur-
thermore, with the appointment of the TUCP secretary-general Ernesto
Herrera to the Agrava Commission (which investigated the assassina-
tion of former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.) and his siding with three
other commission members in contradicting the government position,
and the commission chair's official report, the TUCP signa!led its dis-
sociation from the government.
In 1985, the TUCP tried to refurbish its image as a government creation.
For the first time, it did not invite Marcos to speak at its Labor Day cel-
ebration.! It denounced B.P. Nos. 130 and 227, and joined the National
Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), a private organization that in-
tended to ensure peaceful, clean, and honest elections.2 Participating in
this nationwide political exercise through the pro-Aquino body, the TUCP
clearly showed its dissatisfaction with the Marcos government.
While the TUCP as a whole headed toward the use of nontraditional
methods and allied with prodemocratic forces, some of its affiliates
,. -·
~ ~---··-~--~----~=~=b~-~~- ----
Organizational Linkages 63
continued to collaborate with the Marcos regime. The pro-Marcos
group, led by the TUCP vice-presidents Israel Bocobo and Andres
Dinglasan, organized the National Labor Coalition (NLC) a few.days
before the 6 February 1986 presidential "snap" elections to support
Marcos's candidacy.!! The NLC founding meeting was attended by,
among others, the General Maritime Stevedores' Union of the Philip-
pines (GMSU), National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of
the Philippines (NACUSIP), Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions
(PAFLU), National Harbor Labor Federation (NHLF), and National
Labor Union (NLU). The group criticized the TUCP's affiliation with
NAMFREL, which Jacinto Tamayo called an opposition party. 4 The pres-
ence of divergent tendencies shows that while a trade-union center may
change drastically, some of its affiliates may stray in other directions.
KMU: Confrontational and Combative
The KMU, on the other hand, has always been highly critical. of tra-
ditional methods. During the Marcos years, k refrained from attend·
ing tripartite gatherings, and while it acknowledged the value of col-
lective bargaining, it.maintained that the method could not solve
broader problems (KMU 1981, 3; 1982f, 19). The KMU also resisted
arbitration, believing the government to be biased toward foreign and
domestic capitalists. The KMU preferred confrontational and combat•
ive extraparliamentary methods.
The KMU radicalized strikes and picket lines by broadening their
scope, staging them outside factory grounds, and ventilating nonfactory
and nontrade~union issues. It picketed the Supreme Court, Department
of Labor, US Embassy, Malacaiiang Palace, as well as police headquar-
ters and military camps. Streamers denouncing US imperialism, fascism,
the US-Marcos dictatorship, feudalism, military atrocities, and other po•
litical and national issues that other labor groups would not touch were
familiar features in the KMU strike areas and picket lines (RP 1985, 87).
The KMU waged sti:ikes against groups of companies by area (1984b,
6). In June 1982, for example, the KMU led a zone-wide strike at the
Bataan Export Processing Zone protesting the arrest of leaders who had
led the workers in a strike a month. earlier. Workers from different
unions stopped working for four days and denounced exploitation,
repression of unions, as well as imperialis.n and military brutalities. 5
The KMU drew into its strikes and picket lines workers from· various
industries and individuals from other organizations, who were not di-
rectly affected by issues raised at the striking firm. The "outsiders" made
the KMU strikes more aggressive since they presented other equally
pressing issues not necessarily related to the cause of the strike. At the
 64 Organizational Linkages
same time, they brought factory-focused issues into the public eye.
Despite the potency of its strikes and picket lines, however, the KMU
considered these methods ineffective to realize workers demands (KMU
1982c, 8). It preferred mass actions where political and national issues
could be raised more freely. 6 Even in its earlier days, the KMU orga-
nized protest marches against "the fake lifting of martial law" and boy-
cotted the "bogus presidential elections" (1981e, 4); these protest ac-
tions allowed the KMU to expose Marcos's "dictatorial and fascistic rule"
(1984j, 1), US imperialism (1984a, 12), military atrocities (1984a, 10),
poverty, and unemployment (1985a, 13-4).
The KMU waged aggressive, confrontational, and agitational propa-
ganda campaigns. It expertly attracted the mass media's attention,
harnessing it to project the KMU positions. In addition, the KMU main-
tains numerous publications with international circulation.
Meanwhile, the KMU forged alliances with other organizations within
or outside the labor movement. 7 It is not a member of ~y international
organization, but is more interested in linking up with revolutionary
forces nationwide. In 1985, it reported a total of eighteen regional
alliances. 8 By 1990, the number had more than doubled. While the
number of their members is uncertain, there is no doubt that the alli-
ances do marshal workers and other groups all over the country. The
alliances-which government said were loose and informal and not
registered with the Labor Department-engaged primarily in mass ac-
tions, and were more militant and critical of government policies than
the traditional unions.9 Amelita King (1985) wrote that the alliances
could afford to be highly militant as they had no legal personality, did
not operate within the parameters of labor laws, and were not bound
by the possibility of legal ·sanctions.
The KMU has links with organizations believed to be communist
fronts or communist-dominated.l 0 At the 1986 Labor Day rally held
jointly with the TUCP and FFW, KMU displayed on the stage a red ban-
ner sporting a hammer and sickle; when the official ceremony was
closed, the KMU members sang "Internationale." CPP founder Jose Ma.
Sison and former NPA chief Dante Buscayno were present. At the KMU's
Third National Congress on 20--21.December 1986, Antonio Zumel read
a message from the Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions (RCTU),
the NDF workers' arm (KMU 1986r, 11).
During the Marcos years, the KMU never allied with traditional po-
litical parties or participated in any of the elections. Under Aquino,
however, the KMU changed its strategy: in the 1987 congressional elec-
tions, it fielded candidates under the newly organized Alliance for New
Politics (ANP), a political group whose goals media observed to be
congruent with those of the CPP. 11 During the 18January 1.988 local
Organizational Linkages 65
elections, the KMU supported the Partido ng Bayan (PnB), which was
controlled by the revolutionary groups. PnB formed a tactical ailiance with
the Liberal Party and fielded several candidates nationwide (1988i, 4).12
While the KMU engaged in confrontational and combative action,
some ofits affiliates adopted traditional methods. These affiliates in-
cluded NUWHRAIN, GATCORD, ULGWP, and PANALO (which later broke
away from the KMU), and "nonrevolutionary" factions ofmM, SPFL, NFL,
NAFLU, ANGLO, and ADLO. The KMU has a wide spectrum of unions
espousing methods other than those advanced by the main group..
FFW: Traditional
The FFW. relied greatly on collective ·bargaining and tripartism, ex-
pressing its views primarily in resolutions and position papers, usually
only during conventions held every three years. The FFW never succ;ess-
fully used the mass media despite its numerous attempts to make its
views public.
Although the FFW freely used the strike. method-in 1982, it had the
largest number of strikes (RP 1983a, 20)-unlike the KMU, it expressed
only work-related and .trade-union demands. The more politically ori-
ented affiliates of the FFW, such as the. Aranzamendez and the Auxil-
iary Leaders and Action Brigade (ALAB) factions, often joined the KMU-
led strikes, such as the BEPZ. work stoppage in 1982. Participation of
these local union affiliates, however, was spontaneous and not organized
within the formal structures of the FFW (Macaraya 1988).
Rarely, the FFW adopted more open and confrontational methods of
action, and then only to ventilate national issues that directly affected.
the economic condition of the workers. In 1970, for .example, it dem-
onstrated once in front of Congress for a higher minimum wage; such
activity was never repeated during .the entire Marcos regime. Labor Day
events were celebrated as indoor luncheon meetings. In 1986, the FFW
occasionally conducted mass actions either on its own or jointly. with
other labor groups in the Labor Advisory and Consultative Council
(LACC)-usually on the instigation ofthe more militant labor groups.
Some of the more radical factions of the FFW, like the PDSP,influ"
enced groups, joined other cause-oriented groups in protest demon-
strations. For example, during the 1979 Batasang Pambansa elections, ·
when Senigno Aquino Jr. and .Alex Boncayao ran in the opposition, the
radicals within the FFW joined the massive political campaign, guarded
the polls, and later marched against what it considered a fraudulent··
exercise. The protest. march was intercepted by the military and many
FFW members were among the 500 arrested and jailed. The marchers,
however, had joined outside. the formal structures of the FFW.
 66 Organizational Linkages
Shortly after the mass arrest, the other FFW members at the march
went into hiding and became the target of a massive manhunt by the
military; many were eventually arrested and jailed. The radicals' mili-
tancy continued in the 1980s. Today, they have grown in number and
become stronger and more organized because of their close links with
the radical Church, PDSP, and other multisectoral groups.
The FFW recognized the vital role of organizational linkages in pur-
suing issues in public. &ut it established links primarily With Church-
based or Christian-democratic groups. Thus, during the 1960s, it linked
up with the Christian Social Movement (CSM) of Raul Manglapus, where
the FFW president juan Tan was an executive-board member. Through
CSM, the FFW once more struggled to build a Christian society. When
CSM became inactive, in 1985, the FFW joined BANDILA, a multisectoral
movement of liberal, social, and Christian democrats. The FFW also
maintained close links with the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference
(BBC), which conducts regular discussions on national issues. At the
international level, the FFW is affiliated with the European World Con-
federation of Labour (WCL).
Although the FFW criticized control of trade unions by politicians,
political parties, and government, it was vacillating and inconsistent in
its dealings with political parties and the government. The FFW first
became active in politics in the 1953 national elections, when it sup-
ported the candidacy of Ramon Magsaysay. When Magsaysay won, the
FFW, like many other labor groups during this period, helped formu-
late and lobby for the passage of the Industrial Peace Act or Magna
Carta of Labor (Salazar 1990; Fabros 1983, 151). At the time, the FFW
also joined the pro-Magsaysay NAMFREL (Wurfel1988, 104-5).
However, the FFW could not sustain the aggressiveness of the early
1950s and kept away from politics. Under the martial-law regime, the
FFW cooperated with government efforts to restructure the Philippine
labor movement; but sensing that the process was undemocratic, it
withdrew its support and thereafter remained passive, although it con-
tinued to attend tripartite gatherings and its president sat on the ex-
ecutive board of the National Manpower and Youth Council. In the
Aquino administration, FFW officials were appointed as labor represen-
tatives to the legislative and executive branches of government.
The FFW attempted to link up with other labor groups. For example,
prior to the formation of the government-initiated PLCC, on 9 May
197 4, the FFW led the formation of the Council for a United Labor
Movement of the Philippine (CULMPHIL) which brought together big
federations, such as the Philippine Confederation of Trade Unions
(PHILCONTU), Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawang Pilipino (PMP), National
Labor Union (NLU), and the Union de Obreros Estivadores de Filipinas
Organizational Linkages 67
(UOEF). CULMPHIL was intended primarily to unify the labor movement
based on the principles of freedom and democracy; but it was short- ·
lived since .it was taken over by the. Philippine Labor Coordinating
Center (PLCC), hastily formed on 30 April1975 to lead the restructur-
ing of the labor movement. The FFW sent representatives to the go_v-
ernment-dominated PLCC, withdrew a few days before the latter was trans-
~:,J.•
formed into the TUCP, and lost interest in union alliances for a time ..
Under the Aquino administration, however, the FFW revived its links
with other labor groups when it joined the government-initiated but
KMU-dominated Labor Advisory Consultative Council (LACC), under
which it has become more confrontational.
Attempts at Trade U~ion Unity
The three labor groups attempted several times to act together on
issues directly affecting workers. They sometimes formed a united front,
sometimes took a common stand or undertook joint actions. Unity,
however, was fleeting. When the new Labor Code was promulgated in
1974, for example, the government brought together major labor fed-
erations to form the PLCC; in December that year, the FFW and NAFLU
withdrew because of conflicts in principles and interests. On 16 Octo-
ber 1983, the Labor Party of the Philippines (LPP) was launched by
prominent labor leaders: Cipriano Malonzo of the KMU; Ramon Jabar
of the FFW; and Antonio Diaz of the former TUCP affiliate, the Philip-
pine Social Security Labor Union (PSSLU). Although they acted in their
personal capacities, they brought into LPP a co'ffiplex variety of ideo• .·
logical positions; members were united on .the issu'e.s of national s ver·
eignty, national patrimony, "Philippines for the ·Filipinos," and "Fi pino
First Policy." 18 As LPP was put up primarily to\field candidates n the
1984 national elections, it died quickly after it failed to par~· pate in
the electoral process. · -'"·--/'
In 1986, the Labor Department initiated the formation of LACC. 14
LACC united, if only for a while, the·TUCP, KMU, and FFW. the TUCP
withdrew because of differences on the issue of representation. In 1988,
the KMU attempted to unite the labor movement under the All Philip-
pines Labor Assembly (KMU 1988c, 4) but failed.
Not all attempts at unity resulted in the formation of organizations.
Sometimes the labor groups took common stands on specific problems,
such as the 1989 wage-priee issue. LACC and the TUCP proposed ad~
justments to the minimum wage to offset high inflation; the TUCP ral~
lied the workers to support a 25-peso increase, while the KMU and FFW
wanted a 36-peso wage hike. 15 When the Labor Department offered a
wage increase of 15 pesos a day in Metro Manila and 6 pesos in the
 68 Organizational Linkages Organizational Linkages 69

provinces, and while Congress toyed up with the idea of offering a 20-
peso increase nationwide, the TUCP, KMU, and FFW refused· the offers
and demanded a 30-peso daily increase. 16 When their proposal was
rejected, they threatened a nationwide strike, which was averted when
the government granted a 25-peso wage hike.l 7 Then labor unity dis-
integrated as quickly as it was formed.
All these events indicate that despite divergent tendencies, unity is
possible on issues directly related to workers and their trade unions.
Comparative Findings
Table 6 presents comparative union tendencies insofar as forms and
methods of action are concerned. Generally, the TUCP and FFW are tradi-
tional and conservative, while the KMU is revolutionary and combative.
Yet .while the groups prefer particular methods, their affiliates, for
varied reasons, have strayed in other directions. Thus, when ALU steered
the TUCP towarda confrontation with the Marcos government,:some
affiliates resisted and continued supporting the government. While
some KMU affiliates-NAFLU, .PISTON, OLALlA, ANGLO, PISTON, ADLO,
and the many shadowy, but revolutionary groups-were radical and
combative, others-NFL, SPFL, PANALO, ULGWP, NUWHRAIN, and
GATCORD-were more traditional. The more militant affiliates of the FFW,
especially those influenced by PDSP, (such as the MALAYA faction), and
those under the new breed of young and idealistic leaders, (such as ALAB
and the Aranzamendez wing), were open to confrontational methods.
Union behavior can therefore vary widely even under exactly the
same conditions of economic underdevelopment and political repres-

Table 6. Comparative forms of trade-union action

Elements FFW TUCP KMU

Methods Extensive use of dialogue and Extensive use of dialogue and Heavy reliance on mass and political
negotiations. negotiations. actions.

Dominant Strategies Collective bargaining, cooperativism, Collective bargaining, cooperativism, and Open, confrontational and combative.
tripartism. tripartism.

Limited use of parliamentary politics. Heavy involvement in parliamentary Occasional use of parliamentary politics;
politics. heavy use of extraparliamentary methods.

Form of Trade Union Great reliance on the traditional forms of Great reliance on the traditional forms of Suspicious and critical of the use of
actions. actions. traditional forms of actions.

Strikes are mainly staged'at the factory Strikes are mainly used at the factory- Strikes and picketing are used even
level. level. outside factory confines and used to
ventilate non-industrial issues.

Mass actions are occasional and mainly to Mass actions are rare and mainly to Heavy reliance· and extensive use of
pursue economic interests o(members. celebrate annual labor festivities. protest marches and demonstrations.

Links with non-labor groups known to Allying with political parties. Links with national democratic forces.
espouse Christian democracy.

Behavior Marked tendency to be conciliatory; Highly traditional, conservative and ·Highly aggressive, coercive,· adversarial as
more willing to compromise than go on conformist; tendency to be collaborative well as combative.
strikes or engage in more open and and compromising. ,
confrontational forms of mass action.
 70 Organizational Linkages

sion. Unions that concentrate more on economic and factory-oriented

issues tend to adopt traditional methods of trade-union action, as did
the predominantly economist TUCP and the democratically inclined 5
FFW. On the other hand, unions that view labor problems as rooted in
the social structures tend to be more combative and confrontational,
as was the revolutionary KMU. Early Beginnings and Ideological
Orientations

W hy do trade unions that operate under the same conditions

emphasize different issues? Why are' some organizations
revolutionary an~ combative? Why are others reformist and conciliatory?
Four internal vanables may explain. divergeJ1t
. trade-union behavior:
r '
I. Origin and background;
2. Ideological orientation;
3. Leadership background, association, beliefs, and styles of decision-
making; and
4. Membership composition, structure, and degree of participation in
oii trade-union activities.

TUCP: Government Brainchild and Social Democrat

/ The TUCP was shaped by three features. First, it was a brainchild of

the government, which wanted th~ active support oflabor for the
martial-law regime. Second, it was also beholden to the US, whieh sup-
ported it through the American-Asian Free Labor Institute (AAFLI).
Third, it started out as economist, then, from the mid-1980s on, turned
democratic and political, concerned with broadening workers'job and
trade-union rights, and establishing a society based on social justice,
r freedom, and democracy.
The Philippine Labor Coordinating Center (PLCC) prepared· the
government's labor-restructuring policy (TUCP 1977b, 30; PLCC 1975a).
At the first meeting of PLCC, the members acknowledged the Secretary
of Labor as "the moving spirit in the unification of the Philippine trade
j union movement" (PLCC 1975b, 2). Thus, when the TUCP was officially
established on 15 December 1975, it immediately worked with the gov•
 72 Ideological Orientation
ernment in unifying the Philippine labor movement along industry
lines. A manifesto passed during its founding convention mandated the
TUCP to restructure the labor movement in accordance with the La-
bor Code of the Philippines and in close coordination with the Depart-
ment of Labor (Gonzales 1975). The government donated land and a
building to the federation.
The American-Asian Free Labor Institute (AAFLI), on the other hand,
proposed that the TUCP establish a research and education arm. The
TUCP immediately agreed and has regularly received US funds ever
since (PLCC 1975h, 1-2). In 1986, the TUCP was reported to have re-
ceived huge assistance not only from AAFLI, but also from the National
Endowment for Democracy which is believed to be backed by the US
Central Intelligence Agency. 1
From the very start, the TUCP's orientation was highly economist.
The goals of its founding constitution were the promotion of social
justice through mutual assistance and collective bargaining:
(c) To promote activities designed to effect mutual assistance
among its affiliates, beneficial to all workers in general and to its
members in particular; (d) To help achieve a stable economy for
the country through the medium of peaceful and profitable la-
bor and capital relations; ... (f) To promote industry-wide col-
lective bargaining with employers' association and to assist its
members in bargaining for better terms and conditions of employ-
ment; ... (h) To foster the role of development unionism in all
aspects of overall national economic growth to ensure the continued
implementation of development and justice (TUCP 1975, 1-2).
By the mid-1980s, however, the TUCP (1984a, 2-3) began to stress
the democratic and political role of trade unions. The shift occurred
when the TUCP adopted its "working-class ideology," which the TUCP
(1984a, 1) called the "basis for the struggle to make workers' organi-
zations purposeful agents of national development and to strengthen
the country's democratic institutions." TUCP (1984a, 5) documents
called for freedom and democracy through direct participation in tri-
partite government agencies. One document (1984a, 6) expressed the
new orientation:
/ Vlorkcrs and peasants must be represented and participate in the ]
decision-making processes from the plant or enterprise level to the
national ... done through ... representation in the tripartite gov-
ernment agencies, as well as in the highest policy-making and co-
ordinating bodies of the land.
Ideological Orientation 73
1
The statement came when the country as embroiled in political
turmoil brought about by the assassinati of former Senator Benigno
Aquino Jr., the worsening economic cr· is, and the peoples' intensify-
ing attacks against the Marcos a · · · he TUCP leadership was
also deeply involved with the rava Commissio and the activities of
the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL). More impor-
tantly, the TUCP welcomed the involvement of former democratic-so-
cialist and even. revolutionary youth and student activists· who once
aggressively defied the Marcos regime. One of these was Nilo Tayag,
now pro-Marcos, a former leader of Kabataang Makabayan (National-
ist Youth, KM), organized by Jose Ma. Sison in the late 1960s. Some
TUCP leaders suggested that Tayag and the socialist groups of ALU
formulated TUCP's "working-class ideology." -
These external factors and militant groups' orientation,ntributed
to the federation's radical, even revolution . he TUCP
(19 a, began to em an ~dismantling of politicallordism an'd
present semi-feudal and tlnJ;lr,rled capitalist system which have cor-
rupted free enterprise." It also advocated political action as "there are
desirable things which cannot be obtained through collective bargain-
ing, but can be pushed by broader organizid action on industry,
sectoral and national levels" (ibid., 5). However, the TUCP accepted the
free-enterprise system while maintaining that socialju~tice was impera-
tive to regulate the right of property (1987d, 6). The TUCP believed
that labor and capital are partners in production, stating that "labor
and capital are partners towards a common goal" and "labor-manage-
ment relations in the Philippines are better pursued in the Filipino
value-system of consultation, consensus and compromise, rather than
the ad\'ersarial and confrontational orientation" (TUCP 1986c, 1).
This is not to say that the TUCP's orientation did not contain demo-
cratic and political elements from 1975 to 1983; the TUCP's founding
constitution aimed to assist "the maintenance of free, responsible and
democratic trade unions." But the group's association with the Marcos fE)
admtmstration-an association that pushed the TUCP to focus on less
controversial issues, like wages-hampered its attempts to realize this Jt;.v.v
objective. With the adoption of its new orientation·document, however,
the TUCP departed from econom'ism and emphasized the democratic
side of unionism. However, it. viewed the democratic and political
oJJ struggle as a means of improving the economic conditions of society,
'/ and not ofachievipg reyp!ntjpparyrhane· The goal of its 1986 consti-
"1. tution was "to .;dlieve a dynamic economy ... througli' full participa-J ~.
tion of workers in all aspects of the country's economic and political ~
life" (TUCP 1986d, Art. Jl, Sec. 1-d, 3). · · 2..
 74 Ideological Orientation
/The TUCP owed its existence to the martial-law regime, which ex-
plains its generally progovernment stance. Some labor federations
maintained that the TUCP was merely an adjunct of the government
bureaucracy, while others regarded it as the government's "company
union. "2 The TUCP's close ties with AAFLI partly explain why it favored
the continued presence of US military installations and multinational
corporations in the country.
While the TUCP exhibited a predominantly economist orientation,
it occasionally projected a democratic and political outlook. While it
expressed some radical and revolutionary views, it essentially believed
in free enterprise founded on social justice, freedom, and democracy.
/
KMU: Socialist and National Democrat
The KMU emerged in its early days after several attempts by revolu-
tionary groups to establish a national-democratic united front in the
labor sector. Its goals, social beliefs, perception of social reality, social
programs, and methods all reflected a distinctly Marxist and revolution-
ary ideology. · ·
I he KMU was born of the efforts of national-democratic forces to
forge a core group within the trade-union movement. On 1 May 1975,
the national democrats formed Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino
(Solidarity of Filipino Workers, BMP} whose aggressive defiance of the
martial-law regime attracted huge membership in Metro Manila. The
highly militant group was declared illegal in 1977. 3 Then, on 1 May
1978, the national democrats formed another nationalist trade union,
Kapatirang Anakpawis ng Pilipinas (Brotherhood of Filipino Working-
men, KAP}, which brought together eighteen local union leaders from
Metro Manila, Cavite, and Laguna. The group vowed to fight for "the
creation of a true worker's organization that shall not only fight un-
compromisingly for the interest of labor but also for the advancement
of the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation and social eman-
cipation" (Yu 1987, 167-68). KAP and other militant mass organizations
became deeply involved in the 1979 national elections. KAP leaders were
arrested by the military as the government cracked down on militant
unionism, and the organization died.
The national democrats finally established a revolutionary labor fed-
eration-KMU-on 1 May 1980, under the leadership of Felixberto
Olalia Sr. Like its short-lived predecessors, the KMU believed in the
revolutionary potential of the workers as reflected in the preamble of
its founding constitution:
Ideological Orientation 75
We believe that the labor force is decisive in the basic trans-
formation and development of society....
We also believe that the labor force can only develop and
perform its role in changing and developing society if it is totally
free from exploitation.
We further believe that the liberation of the labor force from
poverty and exploitation could be attained through the unity not
only of Filipino workers but also of all workers of the world (KMU
1980a, 1; 1986k, 49; and 1986z, 1).
As a labor center, the KMU carries a political belief which is ori-
ented towards effecting radical change in the socioeconomic and/
political structures of society. Because of this political orientation,
it is the long-range program of the K.MU to mold the class .con-
sciousness of all the Filipino workers and to unite them under one
trade union center so that they can effectively exercise their revo-
lutionary role. of drastically dismantling the colonial structures of
society. 5
The KMU saw its anti-imperialist struggle as part of a "national demo-
cratic" program, whieh is summarized in a seven-point program of
government. The program contains both· destructive and constructive
components. Foreign control of the country is to be dismantled and
replaced with nationalist industrialization and genuine agrarian reform.
Economic reconstruction is to be overseen by a national-democratic'
coalition government and defended by a nationalist and dem.ocratic
army. The new society will. give rise to a nationalist and democratic
culture and education. Beltran spelled out the seven-point alternative
program as follows:
(1) Opposition to all forms of external control and domina-
tion, especially US imperialism, over the country's economic,
political and social affairs;
 76 Ideological Orientation
(2) Dismantling of all the military instruments of US imperi-
alism in the country as well as abrogation of the US-Philippine
Military Defense Pact;
(3) Adoption of a comprehensive agrarian reform program;
( 4) Implementation of a genuine, comprehensive and nation-
alist industrialization; · Leninism-Mao-Tse-tung thought and other revolutionary ideologies, a5
(5) Advancement of the political struggle to establish a form
of government that is genuine, nationalist and democratic in form
and content and the formation of a 'National Democratic Coali-
tion Government' vested with the power to implement the entire
program of national democracy;
(6) Radical transformation of the Armed Forces of the Philip-
pines so that it truly serves the genuine interests of the Filipino
people, while at the same time projecting a nationalist and demo-
cratic character; and
(7) Promotion and advancement of a culture and education
that is scientific, mass-based, nationalist and democratic.
These points expanded on the KMU's 1980 program, although there
is no single document that contains all the points. Beltran publicly
presented the program ori 1 May 1986 at a Labor Day rally also attended
by the FFW and TUCP. Thereafter, the KMU more often and openly
articulated its program at, for instance, regional meetings, meetings
with other labor organizations; seminars, and other public gatherings.
However, the program said nothing about how to achieve the program's
objectives.
The KMU emphasized that national democracy is not the ultimate
goal, but merely part of a s·trategy to free the country from imperialist
control, and a precondition for socialism. As Beltran put it:
The national democratic agenda is necessary in view of imperial-
ist control and exploitation of the Filipino people ... but (it) is
only an interim arrangement prior to the ·establishment of social-
ism in the country.6
I attempted to uncover detailed d~finitions of the KMU's jargon and
terminology (e.g., national democracy, socialism, nationalist industri-
alization, State ownership, people's control), and find .out how the
federation hopes to achieve its broad goals (e.g., establishing a national
democratic coalition government, a national democratic army, genu-
ine land reform). However, the KMU documents were of little help and
discussions with the leaders and members fruitless. The KMU leaders
were masters of generalities, but showed little interest in details or
Ideological Orientation 77
substance. The fleshing out of many concepts and principles-as well
as· program details-were left to the ordinary workers, who adapted
them to their respective localities' conditions. As a result, I found it
difficult to analyze the K.MU's orientation.
It is safe to say; however, that the KMU is influenced by Marxism-
can be seen in the following beliefs: (1) that socialism is State owner-
ship and control of economic power and full control by the people Qf
State power; (2) that workers and capitalists have inherently conflict-
ing and mutually antagonistic interests; (3) that industry should be
nationalized; (4) that the political and revolutionary role of trade
unions is to eradicate the structures of imperialist domination, and
establish socialism; (5) that trade unions should emphasize non-factory
issues; (6) that trade unions should be revolutionary, conflictual, and
combative; and (7) that trade unions should organize towards
movementism. 7
Leaders expressed some of these beliefs, while the KMU's constitu-
tion stipulated others:
(1) That the natural wealth of the Philippines is owned by the.
Filipino masses and the use and development of such wealth is the
sole right of the Filipino masses for their own benefit;
(2) That in developing such wealth, capital in the form of
modern machinery,· factory or whatever other form it takes, and
modern technology are but tools of labor in creating goods
needed by society and not as a means to exploit the labor force
and enrich a few;
(3) That as creators of surplus value, workers ... should-be
given enough strength in order to see to it that what they produce
is equally distributed among the Filipino masses in order to
achieve genuine equality, freedom and democracy;
( 4) That the KMU stands against any form of exploitation by
man against man or by one country against another (KMU 1980a,
2; 1986z, 1-2).
The KMU's programs closely resemble those espoused by the national-
democrati.c forces and other revolutionary groups. (See table 7 for a
.comparison of programs.) They share the following: ·
1. Hatred of "fascist dictatorial regimes," a mission to dismantle the US-
backed Marcos and Aquino governments, and the desire to establish
a "nationalist and democratic" government;
2. A bias against foreign domination and control; a commitment to
dismantle all .structures of "U.S. imperiali~m," including U.~. mili·
Table 7. Comparative views: BAYAN, PnB, NDF, KMU

Elements BAYAN PnB .NDF KMU

Nature Multi-sectoral ma~s/people's

Political party Umbrella organization Trade-union
movement of various groups organization

Beliefs/Principles National liberation and National democracy National democracy

Nationalist and democratic
democracy (1986a, 1). (1973; 1985). (1980a, 3; 198le, 6;
principles.
1984a, 9; 1987b, 6).

Objectives To advance the struggle To complete and win To promote a genuine,

To push forward the people's
for national freedom the total victory in the democratic and
struggle to attain the full
and democracy in revolutionary struggle nationalistic unionism by
realization of national freedom and
politics, in the economy, for national liberation representing both the
democracy (1986a, 28).
in culture and in and genuine democracy economic and political
international relations (1985, 4). aspirations of the working
(1986a, 1). class ( 1980a; 1982a, 2).

To wage all forms of To build a broad unity To organize and

Strategy To unite with all democratic
legal struggle, including of patriotic and mobilize workers
political forces struggling for
electoral (1986a, 1). progressive classes, together with other
national freedom democracy on the
groups, and individuals sectors in the mass
basis of specific issues such as anti-
for the purpose of struggle for national
imperialism, antifascism, and
overthrowing US independence and
an tifeudalism ( 1986a, 29).
imperialism and fascist democracy (1981e, 6;
dictatonhip of the 1987f, 3).
Mar.cos regime (1973, 1).
To strengthen ties and
relations w/ all other
oppressed sectors in
society (1982a, 3).

Establish a nationalist Establish a democratic Push forward the

Program (Government)
Establish a nationalist and popular and democratic coalition government political struggle to
democratic government and a people's establish a form of
government (1986b, 2).
representative of the people. democratic republic to government that is
Struggle for a nationalist and genuine, nationalist and
On the basis of allow the free interplay
democratic constitution. Expose of national and democratic in content.
nationalist and pro-
and oppose continued US people army, police and · democratic f01:ces.
domination and intervention in the citizens' armed Formation of a
Philippines. Removal of the US · Integrate the "National Democratic
organizations, establish
military bases and other military a system of national revolutionary armed Coalition Government~
installations; abrogation of all forces into a single to implement the
defense that will ensure
unequal treaties.
:·: .
1
...
~
.. ,,
:~:l.
.~:·''.
effective sovereignty. national revolutionary
army under the
program of national
democracy.

Continued on next page

I'
·t·· .
; '
} "t

Table 7 - Continued
Elements BAYAN
Program (Government)
(Economy) Development of a self-reliant
economy thru national
industrialization and modern
agriculture. Genuine land reform.
(Education, science, culture) That which promotes nationalist
and democratic aspirations of the
people democratic.
/
:t::
.:li
~ .
PnB NDF KMU ·
Remove all US military democratic coalition Radical transformation
bases and facilities; government to safeguard of the armed forces to
abrogate all one-sided national soveriegnty and establish a genuine
treaties with foreign territorial integrity. Armed Forces of the
~ Philippines that t~ly
entities.
Unite the Filipino serves the interests of
people to overthrow the the Filipino people
tyrannical rule of US while projecting a
imperialism and the nationalist and
local reactionaries democratic character.
(1985).
Opposition to all forms
Terminate all unequal of external control
relations with the US especially US
and other foreign imperialism.
entities.
Dismantle all military
... instruments of US
imperialism and
abrogation of the
Philippine-US Military
Defense Pact.
Develop a self-reliant Carry out national Implementation of
; economy based on industrialization as the genuine, comprehensi\'e,
national industrialization leading faCtor in and nationalist
by placing all strategic economic development. industrialization
and monopolistic program.
enterprises under state Complete the process of
ownership and control. genuine land reform, Adoption of a
raise cooperation and comprehensive and
Carry out a genuine and modernize agriculture. genuine agrarian reform
comprehensive agrarian program.
reform.
Promote and instill a Promote a patriotic, Promotion of a culture
truly national and scientific,· and popular and education that are
popular culture. culture, and ensure free scientific, mass-based,
public education. nationalist, and
democratic (1986a, 17).
 82 Ideological Orientation
tary installations, to abrogate all unequal treaties between the Phil-
ippines and the US, and implement nationalist industrialization and
genuine agrarian reform; and
3. A belief that they should organize individuals, groups, and social
classes into a broad alliance or movement that will wage parliamen-
tary/legal or extraparliamentary struggle for national democracy.
I concluded the following about the KMU's beginnings and orienta-
tion: (1) the KMU emerged as a result of the national-democratic forces'
efforts to establish a labor arm; (2) the KMU's social beliefs are Marx-
ist and revolutionary; and (3) the KMU's ideological orientation is simi-
lar to the orientation of the national-democratic forces. These features
lend credence to military accusations that the KMU is the legal labor
front of the CPP, which also advances the national-democratic orienta-
tion that the KMU espouses. 8 In 1988, the military revealed video tapes
of the lectures delivered by former CPP chairman jose Maria Sison and
his wife Juliet, who admitted the linkages between the CPP and the KMU,
as well as with other cause-oriented groups such as Partido ng Bayan
(People's Party, PnB), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Nationalist
Alliance, BAYAN), General Assembly Binding Women (GABRIELA),
Kilusan ng Magsasakang Pilipino (Movement of Filipino Fanners, KMP),
Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), League of Filipino Students
(LFS), and. the Kabataan Para sa Demokrasya at Nasyonalismo (Youth
for Democracy and Nationalism, KADENA). The Sisons reportedly
claimed that the CPP "shares common objectives and approaches with
these existing organizations which are part ... of the 'national demo-
cratic movement'." 9
The TUCP also accused the KMU of being communist-dominated or
having a communist agenda. For example, Herrera accused the KMU
of being a CPP front and planning to destabilize the Aquino govern-
ment; the timing of the attack, however, suggested that the TUCP was
trying to gain the government's favor and influence the country's la-
bor movement. 10
On the _,o'ther hand, former affiliates also attacked the KMU. For
example, {eonardo Agting, president of PANALO, one of the KMU's
founding members, decided to leave the KMU on 6 September 1982,
because he believed communist elements were infiltrating his labor
federation, "deceiving and utilizing legitimate labor groups to advance
their cause of sowing violence and unrest. "11
NUWHRAIN, another KMU founding member, agreed. Leonardo
/Desierto, its president, while acknowledging the KMU's militancy, re-
vealed that the KMU imposed several conditions on NUWHRAIN:
Ideological Orientation 83
We joined the KMU because of its militancy in raising and pursu-
ing the demands of the. workers· ·even if this meant confronting
the government and military authorities. At the same time, how-
ever, we made it clear that our sympathy was only insofar as worker-
related and trade union issues were concerned ..And for this, I, in
consultation with the executive board (of NUWHRAIN), was even
willing to speak on these issues during rallies and demonstrations.
However, for all other issues like. U.S. imperialism, U.S. military
bases, and other political issues, we made it very clear that we have
our reservations and that we could .not commit the organization
(NUWHRAIN) to abide by the organizational views .and stand of
the KMU on these matters. 12
According to Desierto, NUWHRAIN left the KMU in 1985 wh_en'"\ve
felt we were being gradually directed to other issues and act}Yitl;s which
no longer directly affect the workers and their trade un(ons" (ibid.).
Finally, in 1988, Godofredo Paceno, leader of ULG\.YP, also split from
the KMU because of the federation's "increasing political nianeuverings"
and "hidden. objectives." He explained that ULGWP's "principles and ob-
jectives have become incompatible with the KMU's political agenda. "13
Then intelligence reports indicated that the CPP received regular
funding partly through the aid received by the KMU from Europe:
Between 1982 and 1989, the KMU reportedly received funding from the
lnte,rnational Church Coordination Commission for Development
Projects (ICCO), a Protestant-Catholic aid group that dispenses a large
amount of the Dutch government aid grants to the Third World. At least
20 pe~cent, or around 47.4 million pesos, ofaid from the Dutch gov-
ernment and Holland-based groups meant for Philippine labor unions
was diverted to tl1e CPP-NPA for arms purchases through the NDF and
local "legal left" groups like the the KMU (Lawson 1990, 4). An earlier
report stated that ICCO financial suppo~·t for the IO.:IU since 1982 to-
taled 3.5 million guilders, or 42.52 million pesos in current value.l 4
Villar replied, none too convincingly, to the accusations:
From the very start, the KMU had already been branded as a legal
front of the Comt1iunist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Maybe this
is due to the similarity of the .IO.:IU's alternative.program with that
oftheCPP. For example, among otllers, the KMU strongly pursues··
the establishment and implementation of a genuine and compre-
hensive· land reform program and works for the immediate dis-
mantling of US military bases in the country. These political vie,Y.s
are. very close to that of CPP's.
 84 Ideological Orientation
In addition, historically, the CPP which was then operating as
a legal organization was founded by militant labor leaders and
during the war it organized an arm component which fought
against the Japanese. This pattern is repeated today.
But we cannot just abandon our political position on agrarian
reform, U.S. military bases, etc., much less remain silent on these
vital issues, just so we may not be branded as communists. This
would be undemocratic.... The colonial and feudal structures
are responsible for the problems of society today. It is thus our
firm conviction that the workers and their trade unions have the
duty and responsibility to fight against all forms of imperialism
and to fight for the adoption of a genuine land reform program,
and more importantly, work for the radical transformation of the
feudal and colonial structures at work in Philippine society today. 15
In summary, our discussion thus far indicates the following:
1. The attempts of the national-democratic forces to establish a formal
unity within the labor movement found their expression in the KMU;
2. The KMU espoused Marxist and revolutionary social beliefs that are
closely parallel to those espoused by the national-democratic forces; and
3. This revolutionary orientation of the KMU was the primary reason
why some of its affiliates withdrew their membership.
FFW: Church-inspired and Christian Democrat
The FFW was born of the Jesuits' concern for building a just social
order based on the social teachings of the Church. In 1946, American
Jesuit Fr. Walter B. Hogan and his former student, Juan Tan, joined the
labor movement and crusaded "to reduce ti1e papal social encyclicals
to practice." Their work started with discussions witll workers at facto-
ries, picket lines, and even courtrooms. The Jesuits then founded the
Institute of Social Order (ISO) on 30 July 1946 to apply the Church's
doctrines to Philippine conditions.l 6 At first, ISO offered lectures, semi-
nars, and night classes to both workers and management.
According to Hogan, the only genuine, responsible, and honest la-
bor organization at the time was the communist-influenced CLO. Hogan
and Tan soon realized that they had to organize a labor federation that
would guide the labor movement along the lines of Christian social
doctrine (Fa bros 1988, 37-38). That federation was the FF\\1, born on
15June 1950.
The FFW's founding constitution states that "the earth is a storehouse
given by God for the use of all men." 17 It speaks of the brotherhood of
Ideological Orientation 85
men, the moral imperative to show concern for the less privileged,
social justice, and the dignity of labor:
Finally, the Free Workers acknowledge God as the Fatller of all
men and each man as their brother. In each man, whether worker
or owner, employer or employee, they see not poverty or wealth
but the dignity, tlle sacredness .and the eternal destiny of the
human person. Work is man's privilege as well as his duty. And
tlley see in all work, manual as well as mental, a great dignity and
nobility. The worker finds special comfort and inspiration in tllis:
THAT HE SHARES HIS TOIL WITH CHRIST, THE CARPENTER.
The FFW's concept of social justice included tlle right of tlle worker
to receive in exchange for his labor at least the following:
(a) decent food, decent clothing, and a good home for himself
and his family; (b) means to secure proper education for his chil·
dren; (c) wholesome family recreation; (d) a fund for sickness,
emergency and old age; and (e) a pool of savings which will en-
able him to become an owner of property (ibid.).
Shortly before tlle FFW's founding, a US mission headed by Daniel
Bell studied tlle country's economic conditions as well as the labor
movement. The mission recommended measures tllat would free trade
unions from the control of communists, .employers, a~d politicians, as
well as train trade-union leaders. The mission suggested "instituting a
labor-relations system patterned after that of the US and sending of US
labor leaders to train Filipino trade unionists in tlle pril)ciples and me-
chanics. of free and democratic unionism (Bell Mission Report, May 1950).
This mission significantly influenced not only tlle country's labor
movement, but the FFW's orientation. The FFW's goal, for example, was
to build a new kind of unionism, a new form of labor movement, and
a new type of industrial-relatio.ns system. The union's vision was ex-
pressed in its founding slogan: "Free from racketeers, free from com-
munist influence, free from company domination, free from politics and
politicians, free from government control." It was remarkably similar
to tlle Bell Mission's recommendation to·establish trade unionism that
would be ''free from Communist influence, domination by tlle Govern-
ment, interference by management, and racketeering by labor le!lders"
(Bell Mission Report 1950, 71). · .
The FFW started out as predominantly democratic and political, as
its constitution (Al·t. Ill) shows:

86 Ideological Orientation
Section 3. It is the natural right of all men to enter into asso-
ciations of their own choosing for good purposes· and f1·eely to
elect their officers to represent them. It is immoral for employers
or the State to interfere with or attempt to 'control legitimate
association of workers;
Section 4. Mutually profitable relations between workers and
employers are best achieved through agreements freely entered
into after free collective bargaining;
Section 5. In a democracy, free men must be free to strike for
a just cause. For ultimately, it is the right t<;>' strike which gives the
workers equality with the employer in collective bargaining.
The FFW crusaded. for trade-union freedom and independence. It
lobbied for the passage of the 1953 Magna Carta of Labor, whose in-
troduction and passage were well-known to be supported by the US
government. The FFW was thus Catholic-inspired and US-influenced,
less because Hogan helped found it than because the federation col-
laborated with the US plan in the early 1950s to free the labor move-
ment of communism, racketeering, and politics. This collaboration
continued into the 1960s through the FFW's regional federation, BATU,
of which Mr. Tan is also president. An observer noted:
The AFL-CIO is also influential with the Brotherhood of' Asian
Trade Unionists (BATU), of Catholic.inspiration, an affiliate ofthe
World Labour Confederation, which, like the AAFLI, is based in
the Philippines and has some small but active liaison groups in
Thailand and Hongkong (Cox 1972, 35).
The US association presumably continued in the 1970s and 1980s;
the US labor attache was sometimes present at major FFW gatherings.
This is not to say that the FFW neglected the economic aspect of
unionism during the 1950s. Its constitution focused on the living wage
and its battle cry, "the living wage for the Filipino workers," established
the FHV as "a powerful federation that would actively champion th'e cause
of social justice for the workers." 18 The economist as well as protectionist
objectives of the FHV are pronounced in the constitution (Art. II):
Section 2. To unite the working men and women of the Phil"
ippines into an organization for effective common action for their
mutual aid and protection;
Section 3. Through collective bargaining, to secure the family
living wage for all heads of families, whether actual or potential;
,.!J'_:_:-
;;;
.''
'
I'
:~
Ideological Orientation 87
T Section 4. To secure for all ·workers, agricultural and urban,
opportunities to own property;
Section 5. To secure legislation which will promote and safe-
guard the economic security and social welfare of the workers of
the Philippines and to use all other reasonable means to protect
• and extend our democratic institutions and civil rights and liberties,
and thus perpetuate the cherished traditions of true democracy.
Nevertheless, the FFW of the 1950s was mainly democratic and po-
litical as it was most concerned with trade-union freedom and democ-
racy. Once the Magna Carta of Labor was passed, assuring workers of
their freedom and independence, the FFW shifted to the economic side
of unionism, especially as the new law encouraged collective bargain-
ing, grievance handling, and arbitration.
In the 1970s, however, martial law revived the FFW's democratic
concerns. Tll.e unio~ now stood for industrial and economic democ-
racy, workers' participation in production decision-making, distribution
... of goods, and economic planning (FFW 1976a, 1-6). Its 1988 Constitu-
tion mentioned political democracy (FFW 1988, Art. VII, Sec. 17).
The FFW's character was thus largely influenced by the following: (1)
'/i
the Jesuits' concern' to apply the papal social encyclicals to Philippine
society; (2) the Christian democratic orientation which eventually
emerged and developed within the consciousness of the federation; (3)
the desire of the US to free trade unions from communist influence,
~ management interference, government domination, and labor rack-
eteering; and ( 4) the passage of the Magna Car.ta of Labor, which
pressed trade-union orientation into an e.::onomist and defensive mold.
The FFW was only set:ondarily economist and defensive.
Comparative Findings
The events that led to the founding of the three labor groups, as well
as the groups' social beliefs, partly explain why the trade unions em-
phasize certain issues over others; and why their perceptions differ. (See
table 8 for a comparative presentation.) The TUCP's beginnings and its
AAFLI connection largely account for its generally progovernment and
.pro-American stance, while its highly economist orientation accounts
for its strong interest in factory-oriented issues and its preference for
traditional methods of conflict resolution. The TUCP's defensive char-
acter can also be explained by its commiunent to protect and promote
workers' economic rights. In the mid-1980s, one of its missions was to
 Table 8. Comparative ideological orientation of Philippine trade unions
Social beliefs
TUCP
Beginnings Government-initiated and supp9rted.
Strong support from the American
ICITU and AFFLI.
Ideological orientation Social democracy
Human nature Stresses the free exercise of civil
liberties and equality of opportunities
to ensure total human development.
Democracy Viewed as workers' /peasants'
participation in the formulation,
decision-making, and implementation
of plans at all levels of society; also as
pluralism in society achieved through
majority rule and respect for the
rights of the minority.
Socialism Viewed as social justice or that which
assures everyone of a just and
equitable share of society's income
and of a progressive rise in standard
of living.
Nationalism Viewed as patriotism and love of
country; also as nationalist-oriented
industrialization where indigenous
resources are heavily utilized and
whose objective is serving the needs of
the domestic market.
Trade union To strive for the establishment and
promotion of a humanist, social-
democratic society.
'T
KMU
Closely associated with the national-
democratic forces.
National democracy with a socialist
perspective.
Stresses that social equality will be
achieved if society's wealth is equally
shared by all.
Viewed as nationalization of the
industries now controlled by foreign
capitalists; state control of the
economy, and control by the people of
state power.
Understood· as state ownership and
control of the factors and means of
production and services, especially in
basic and vital industries.
Viewed as total dismantling of the
structures of foreign control and
exploitation-US military bases, US
MNCs; total control by the Filipino
people of economic and political
power.
To establish and defend national
democracy within the perspective of
socialism by struggling against foreign
monopoly capitalism and its domestic
allies.
FFW
Church-initiated but exhibiting
parallel interests with the US
government and labor movement.
Christian democracy
Stresses the spiritual and material
content of human development.
Viewed as workers' and peoples'
participation in determining economic
and political systems and processes.
Supreme authority resides in the
people, subject to the principle of
majority rule.
Expressed as social justice which is
viewed as equality of opportunities,
social, and responsible ownership,
distribution, and use of the means and
fruits of production and exchange.
Expressed in the principle of n.ational
sovereignty and defined as the Filipino
peoples' exclusive right to shape·and
structure their future and destiny.
To liberate the workers and the
people from economic exploitation
and free the labor movement from
external control, within the context of
a Christian democratic outlook.
 90 Ideological Orientation
broaden the democratic rights of.workers within and outside the fac-
tory, explaining its involvement with government and in political affairs.
Still, it is difficult to explain why during both the early Marcos re-
gime and the Aquino government the TUCP was indifferent to the is-
sue of trade-union freedom. Although the mid-1 ~80s witnessed a more
critical TUCP, the federation reverted to acquiescence under the Aquino
administration. Perhaps it was part of the TUCP's strategy to maintain
its influence over the legislative and executive branches of the govern-
ment; and, soon enough, the TUCP once more became the govern-
ment's bastion of labor. But its failure to repeal the restrictive Labor
Code and criticize the government put in doubt the TUCP's ability to
pursue the democratic and trade-union rights of workers.
The KMU's character, on the other hand, can be explained by the
revolutionary federation's links with national-democratic forces and its
belief that workers and their trade unions must dismantle the structures
of foreign domination and control. The conflictual and combative
character of the KMU was also influenced by Marxist tenets: the primacy
of labor over capital; the inherently antagonistic interests of labor and
capital; nationalist industrialization, and the like. The KMU therefore
aligned with other socialist forces in preparation for the seizure of
political power and the establishment of a Marxist socialist State.
Yet while it was mainly revolutionary and combative, the KMU was
also economist, democratic, and protective, and aggressively pursued
workers' economic and democratic interests.
Finally, the FFW's Church-inspired and US-influenced beginnings
partly explain its moral and ethical stance, as well as its democratic and
political character. Its avowed mission was to institute moral reforms
based on the papal social encyclicals, while the US labor movement
provided the FFW a model for its democratic and political orientation.
On the other hand, the FFW fought for a living wage. The
federation's economist orientation was strengthened by the passage of
the Magna Carta of Labor, which encouraged unions to adopt collec-
tive bargaining and arbitration as primary means for pursuing their
interests. The FFW was protective as it defended and promoted both
the economic and trade-union rights of the workers.
The TUCP, KMU, and.FFW differed in their social beliefs. While they
often raised the same issues, their perceptions of the issues varied.
Although no major differences exist between the TUCP and FFW-save
for their concepts of man and the role of trade unions-the two fed-
erations are significantly different from the KMU.
6
Leadership Profile
L eadership significantly shaped the trade unions' views and
emphasis of issues. But the impact and direction of leader-
ship traits-career background, links with other organizations, social
beliefs, and styles of decision-making-vary widely.
TUCP: Largely Economist
In the early days, key positions in the TUCP's Executive Council were
held by lawyers working as government b.ureaucrats or politicians be-
fore the TUCP was founded. 1 Some officers were still in government
when the TUCP was born; others captured government positions by
virtue of their TUCP connection (TUCP 1977b, 13; 1978a, 11-13). As
of this writing, many TUCP leaders were in the executive and legisla-
tive branches of government .
. From the start, the TUCP leadership aggressively espoused its belief
that unions should promote growth and development within the frame-
work of free enterprise. Democrito Mendoza (1978c, 17) said, "Labor,
in order to become a relevant force in society, must play a role, a re-
sponsible role, in national development" (italics mine). Within the con-
text·of 'responsible unionism,' Mendoza ascribed to leadership a role
similar ;to that described by Michael Shanks: to discourage union mem-
bers•from demanding high wages and persuade them to increase pro-
ductivity for the sake of national development.
,.,
Trade unions cannot be one-sided. They have certain obligations
to fulfill the national goal. They must not only have in view the
advantage. of their own group but also of the general public. In
such accase, they have to considerthe investment and growth (of)
the whole economy. By demanding too high a share of employ-
 92 Leadership Profile
ers' profits or of the national product, they might in fact eventually
destroy any possible general growth. They may even further offer to
raise the productivity standards of the workers by persuading and
encouraging the workers to produce more (Mendoza 1978c, 21).2
For Roberto Oca, the TUCP's founding president, the role of "respon-
sible unionism" was to attain "a considerable degree of sophistication
and professionalism" in order to produce well-educated, competent
labor executives and highly motivated, productive, and docile workers
(TUCP 1977, 30-1). "Responsible" labor leaders would pursue labor's
interests through collective negotiation and by "motivating the mem-
bership to increase their capacity to produce."
Mendoza (1978c, 17, 21) saw trade unions as workers' defenders
against the abuses of some employers. He said, "The employers whose
preoccupation is profit, are likely to be distant and deaf to the needs
of the workers." He also thought of trade unions as instruments for
ensuring a maximum e~oyment of the benefits of capitalism or help-
ing "ameliorate the social standards of the workers" (ibid.). The TUCP
leadership, in keeping with its economist view, preferred collective
bargaining; but Oca tried to transcend collective bargaining by engag-
ing in cooperativism and various types of mutual services. Cooperative
movements, he said, represented a "chance to establish for ourselves
the needed economic foundations for our people-especially for those
who are residing in the rural areas (Oca 1977, 31). Ernesto Herrera,
also a TUCP leader, advocated other forms of mutual assistance, such
as "family planning, health clinics, free legal counseling to unorganized
workers and the community and basic livelihood projects." 3
Herrera, however, emphasized both the economic and political roles
of trade unions, which could be achieved "by engaging in direct ser-
vicing with their members, and by actively participating in society's
political processes" (ibid.). Herrera elaborated:
In the field of politics, trade unions being democratic institutions
have the role of promoting the interests of the workers by lobby-
ing for the passage of favorable policies, laws, and legislations.
Thus, trade unions must actively participate in the activities of
both the executive and legislative branches of government. The
active presence and participation of trade unions in these govern-
mental functions likewise makes credible the operation of demo-
cratic processes in the country. In this respect, TUCP as an insti-
tution which operates within the present constitutional framework
is indeed aggressive in lobbying for governmental positions and
even in participating in electoral competition .
. "'! "~-~·~ ·~-~.-·~~-~---·--·_,-~=-==--=-=~=~~~.~~··-----~---·---------
Leadership Profile 93
Mendoza reaffirmed the political function of unions when he said
that the "TUCP is willing to work together with any administration so
that through its intervention the interests of the workingman are .prop-
erly protected. ,4
The TUCP's views partly explain why the TUCP supported the early
Marcos government, and why it endorsed the KBL, Marcos's political
party (Mendoza 1978c, 17). The TUCP cooperated with the Aquino
government and supported Aquino's political party for the same rea-
son. In elections during both administrations, the TUCP fielded candi-
dates under the ruling party.
The TUCP leadership aggressively spoke out on national issues di·
rectly·affecting workers' economic interests, such as wages. The lead-_
ership normally initiated discussions ·in the Executive Board, a policy-
making body .that decided by a consensus or simple majority vote and
met every month; The board's decision was automatically adopted as
the TUCP's official position and handed down to affiliates for compli-
ance. In case the general membership dissented, the issue was brought
back to the board for further deliberation, although Mendoza claimed
that "there had been no cases in the past that the decision of the Ex-
ecutive Board was questioned, much less overruled by the general
membership."5 .
On national issues that were not purely economic, such as land re-
form and the US military bases, the leadership used the TUCP~s vari-
ous consultative structures to gather the membership's views. The lead-
ership met with local union leaders through the National Consulta.tive
Meeting (NCM) at least once a year. National conventions were held
every three years. NCM decisions were then adopted as the organiza-
tional position of the TUCP.
The top leadership, therefore, merely handed down organizational
positions onjob-related economic issues. On other n~tional issues,
however, the leadership solicited the participation of local leaders to
arrive at a consensus.
I observed that individuals from the TUCP's lower echelons shaped
some organizational positions, especially in the mid-1980s. They were
former student activists influenced by the radical Church and demo-
cratic-socialist forces. While their influence has not been sustained, their
radical views found thei:o;- way into the TUCP's orientation.
In summary, the TUCP is characterized by the following:. (1) the
dominance of professionals, notably lawyers, who simultaneously .held
government positions as labor representatives; (2) a strong belief in
capitalism; (3) a tendency to concentrate on e.conomic issues and adopt
factory-focused ·methods; ( 4) a preference for cooperation with the
government through participation in tripartite agencies, support for a
 94 Leadership Profile
political party, and even participation in electoral politics; (5) aggres-
siveness in deciding on national economic issues, but the tendency to
consult membership and build consensus on sensitive political issues;
and (6) the presence of "outsiders" who introduced radical ideas.
The dominance of professionals in the TUCP leadership suggests a
high degree of organizational bureaucracy, in the sense that Weber and
Michels defined it: complex differentiation of functions which, in the
Philippines, was brought about by the growing demand for more spe-
cialized technical skills and roles in unions as well as an increasingly
industrialized society. 6 The TUCP is highly centralized on issues relat-
ing to wages and prices. 7 It is decentralized, however, with respect to
non-economic issues, particularly land reform and US military bases,
encouraging the general membership to discuss them.
The leadership plays the role of what Flanders and Shanks called a
police force "to keep the chaps in order and the wheels of industry
turning," stopping members from demanding higher wages or engag-
ing in strikes and other "antisocial" behavior. The leadership instead
tries to create a skilled, highly motivated, productive, and responsible
membership.
Finally, the TUCP leadership aggressively pursues what Crouch called
the substantive or money goals of unionism. The leadership also tries to
capture political power to ensure trade-union participation in legislation
affecting workers. The TUCP leadership seeins to think that the best strat-
egy for pursuing the workers' interests is to cooperate with the' government,
support a political party, and run in elections. The leadership's penchant
for working with the government, however, makes the TUCP look like just
another government agency to the other trade unions.
KMU: Highly Revolutionary
When it was founded, the KMU had only two lawyers. Unlike the
TUCP, the KMU leadership refrained from associating with government
and politicians. Its aloofness was not, however, a coherent position of
the leadership, whose policy on parliamentary methods continues to
be indeterminate. During the Marcos years, the KMU never allied with
any political party. For the 1987 national elections, however, the KMU
joined the electoral struggle under the PnB. Crispin Beltran ran for
senator, but lost even in areas where the KMU and the national-demo-
cratic forces were strong.
The majority of leaders have close links with revolutionary or nation-
alist groups. Founding president, Felixberto Olalia Sr.'s involvement in
the labor movement, for example, began in the 1930s when he orga-
• 1 .u~~-=~~t·=~~-·'-~---~.-----~oo=~==---=~o..-=~•""=~-~~-~-----~-·-·----
/'' Lea-~ership Profile 95
I '
,,.
'I
nized the Union de Chineleros y Sapb6s, from which the CPP drew
some of its members. 8 Olalia was also an organizer of the communist-
dominated CLO in 1945, SPP in 1963, MASAKA in 1964, and many other
national-democratic groups during his short term with the KMU (Muang
1970, 14-16; Trinidad 1970, 18-19). He admitted to being "a Marxian
socialist basically fighting against the exploitation of man by man. ,g
Mter his death in 1983, his son Rolando, a lawyer, took his place.
He was brutally murdered in 1986. Beltran; who succeeded him, was a
member of the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN),
a nationalist group founded by Jose Ma. Sison in 1966 and said to be a
precursor of today's NDF (Abaya 1991, 4). Beltran's views were revolu-
tionary and socialist. (See chapter six.) On the other hand, Cipriano
Malonzo, the KMU's first national vice-chairman and president of NFL,
was also an avowed socialist; he reportedly joined Pedro Abad Santos
who organized in 1929 the Socialist Party of the Philippines (Abad
1983). In 1989, however, President Aquino appointed him commissioner
of the Social Security System {SSS).
The KMU leadership became closely associated with such groups as
BAYAN, NDF, PnB, and even with some personalities of the CPP and NPA.
The younger Olalia had earlier served as the national vice-president of
BAYAN, a multisectoral movement for national democracy organized in May
1985 (KMU 1986v, 31) and chaired PnB in 1986, while Beltran was national
executive vice-president. 10 KMU leaders were often seen in the company
of such personalities as Sison and former NPA chief, Bernabe Buscayno. 11
There were also "shadowy" individuals in the KMU leadership hold-
ing no official position and not representing any union; nonetheless,
they exercised tremendous influence in shaping and advancing KMU
positions. Those who know them claimed that during the Marcos years,
these individuals were working "underground" and deeply involved in
extraparliamentary struggles. I observed that they also exercised con-
siderable power and influence not only in formulating and advocating
issues, but also in running the organization.
During the Marcos years, the KMU leadership maintained no formal
organizational ties with the conservative blocs in the labor movement,
such as the TUCP and HW, because the latter groups refused to join
the revolutionary activities of the KMU. Under the Aquino administra-
lilf:,,
tion, however, the Labor Department, then headed by Augusto Sanchez,
a famous human-rights lawyer and a vocal critic of the Marcos r"egime,
initiated a move for unity of the .labor movement, which led to the
formation of the Labor Advisory Consultative Committee {LACC). Since
then, the leadership of the KMU became more visible, while manyof
the "shadowy" individuals began to surface and engage in "above-
ground" activities. ·
--
 96 Leadership Profile
The KMU leaders aggressively took positions on a wide range of is-
sues. They deliberated the issues at the National Council level. Upon
arriving at a position, the leadership presented it to the· general mem-
bership through the Regional Councils or National Congress. If a thor-
ough discussion failed to persuade dissenters to appreciate the merits
of a set position, membership voted on the issue (Beltran 1990). In most
cases, the leadership's decision prevailed.
The KMU's December 1986 National Congress illustrates the group's
decision-making process. 12 The issue was whether to vote in favor or
against the ratification of the proposed Constitution of the Philippines.
Before the congress, the leadership had decided to reject the Consti-
tution for several reasons: (1) the Constitution's inability to reflect the
basic interests of the people; (2) its tendency to preserve the existing
unjust order; and (3) its inability to eradicate widespread poverty, po-
litical repression, and social injustice. A committee prepared a resolu-
tion for adoption in the National Congress. Leto Villar sponsored the
resolution before the floor.
The early interventions tried to clarify certain points or regarded
tactics. One delegate asked about possible scenarios should the Con-
stitution be rejected by the Filipino people. Another feared that the
KMU would blunder the way it did when it boycotted the February 1986
presidential elections; he proposed that the KMU vote "yes" and later
work for constitutional amendments. One delegate thought the KMU
should postpone its rejection of the Constitution as the federation was
demanding the reinstatement of the recently relieved Sanchez. Another
delegate suggested that it was more vital for the KMU to press for po-
litical settlements with the government, as had been done by the NDF.
A representative from Negros, however, declared that the majority
of his union's members took the "critical yes" position. He requested
the national officers to send a delegation to Negros to persuade his
union to reject the Constitution. A large number of unionists veered
toward support for the government, citing two major arguments: con-
stitutional amendments could be made later, and dictatorship could be
revived should the constitution be rejected.
After over two hours of deliberation, the issue was thrown to the body
for a decision. Since less than ten delegates opposed rejection, the body
adopted the original resolution.I3
The above account demonstrates the extent to which the leadership
influences the KMU; I observed similar procedures at other meetings.
The aggressiveness with which the KMU leadership pursued its goals
allowed it to dominate LACC discussions and activities.
The KMU leadership is characterized by the following features: the
dominance of individuals directly linked with revolutionary and na-
Leadership Profile ''97
tional-democratic forces; the presence of highly influential individuals
without positions in the organization; adherence to revolutionary and
socialist beliefs; aggressiveness in initiating and advancing organiza-
tional positions; and aggressiveness in using organizational structures
to mold its members' consciousness.
The presence of non-members behind the KMU scene brings to mind
the. concept of "outsiders" advanced by Lenin, Blanqui, and Galenson.l 4
Lenin referred to them as "an elite party of professional revolutionar-
ies"; Blanqui described them as "a highly conspiratorial clique" who
push the revolution "on behalf of the ignorant and impotent masses";
Galensonidentified them as "middle-class professionals and intellectu-
als (who) have gone into the labor movement out ofpolitical idealism,
seeking to bring about a radical transformation of society through. the
mass organizations of workers.".
The KMU leadership's socialist and revolutionary beliefs and links
with national-democratic and revolution~ry forces show that the KMU
views the trade-union str~ggle as part of the broader struggle for na-
tional democracy and, eventually, socialism.
Even as the KMU leadership militantly advocates organizational po-
sitions, it also aggressively tries to create a revolutionary working-class
consciousness.
FFW: Predominantly Democratic and Political
Several people oversaw the birth of the FFW, most of them Jesuits
bent on applying the social doctrines of the Church to Philippine soci-
ety. Jesuit superior Fr. Leo Cullum instructed Fr. Hogan to put the papal
encyclicals into practice. Superior-General Fr.Joannes B.Janssens in-
structed Philippine Vice-Provincial Fr. Vincent Kennally to e_stablish a
social action center. This instruction might have been taken lightly had
Fr. Horacio de Ia Costa not stressed the urgency of establishing such
an institution. IS All these men's efforts led to the formation of the ISO
from which the FFW eventually emerged.
But it was Fr. Hogan's pioneering work that inspired students, em-
ployers, and workers to work for society's less fortunate. Among the
many idealistic students was Juan Tan. The commitment of Fr. Hogan and
the Ateneo de Manila students molded the FFW. As Meliton Salazar said:
FFW was our expression of activism. Its orientation attracted a lot
of students from Ateneo and sensitized many of us, who were also
.quite known. Many students, being high-profiled, were constantly
in touch with the right people who were prominent individuals·
 ~I
98 Leadership Profile
and national leaders. With the students' presence, FfW became
known in the higher strata of society which at that time was not
really interested in labor issues. What we do and say gets into the
newspapers .... All these factors contributed to the dynamism and
fame of FFW during that period. 16
Most of the early FFW leaders were Christian idealists and student
activists· from the Jesuit-run and elitist Ateneo de Manila.I7 They en-
gaged in union organizing, administration, and labor-dispute settle-
ment. Later, Tan accepted the Americans' invitation to take a workers'
training course in the US, which George Meany of the AFL-CIO also
attended. This and subsequent labor training gave the FFW its organi-
zational expertise.
Fr. Hogan and the Ateneo students, possessing only their militancy
and knowledge of Christian social doctrines, sought to wrest the labor
movement from the control of the government, which maintained its
own labor federation, NACTU. According to Tan, government denied
registration certificates to unions that refused to affiliate with NACTU.
Labor Department representatives conducted background checks on
unions-a process greatly abused, as it was done on the premise of
suspicion.
For Tan (1966, 53), the democratic and political goals of unionism
were viewed in the context of improving the working and living condi-
tions of workers:
It would be superfluous to underline and emphasize the neces-
sity of freedom for the workers, that is, in the pursuit of the ob-
jectives of trade unionism, the workers must be free to form, join
or assist labor organizations of their own choosing as provided for
in Section Three of our labor law. For certainly, if the organiza-
tion is not controlled and run by the workers themselves but
dominated by outside influences or pressures, the purpose for
which the labor union was organized-to improve the living and
working conditions of the workers-cannot materialize and can-
not be fulfilled.
The FFW leadership thus supported the Magna Carta .of Labor, which
aimed to establish an industrial-relations system that would promote the
free exercise of trade-union organization, collective bargaining, and
voluntary arbitration, as well as free trade unions from government and
communist controL The leadership also supported Ramon Magsaysay
for President, believing that he was committed to democracy and against
communism. 18 It was the last time the FFW joined the electoral fray.
Leadership Profile 99
From then on, the leadership stayed out of politics and kept away from
politicians and political parties.
Shortly thereafter, the Catholic hierarchy, which argued that· Fr..
Hogan's work created intense conflicts and friction among Catholics,
forbade the priest to speak publicly on social questions (Fabros 1988,
74). Fr. Hogan continued to advise the FFW, but his involvement with
the union slowed down and completely stopped when he left the coun-
try in 1961. Most Ateneo students also eventually left the FFW; Tan
remained, but the absence of Fr. Hogan and the other students created
a temporary lull in the activities of the FFW.
In the 1970s, the FFW saw the involvement of another youngJesuit
priest, Fr. Romeo Intengan, and a new batch of Ateneo students espous-
ing a democratic socialism. They founded the Philippine Democratic
Socialist Party (PDSP). While no .one from the group became a mem-
ber of the Executive. Board of the FFW, the democratic socialists con-
siderably influenced the FFW. They reactivated the Young Free Work-
ers {YFW) and formed trade federations, lectured at 'FFW seminars,
introduced democratic socialism, and even. prepared the messages and
speeches of the FFW president. Some joi~ed as staff of either. the. FFW
or BATU. Today, they are largely responsible for sustaining the FFW's
democratic and political struggle.
In the 1970s, the .FFW was led by an entirely new crop of leaders
mostly from the ranks of FFW affiliates. Of the original Ateneo batch,
only Salazar continued to be involved with the FFW, as an occasional
lecturer at FFW and BATU leadership seminars. When martial law was
imposed in 1972, the new leadership was greatly divided on the issue
of political participation.
Under martial law, there were three national elections, the last of
which occasioned the People Power Revolution of February 1986. The·
leadership was consistently divided on Jhe issue of partisan politics
despite the clamor by its membership to participate in the elections and
campaign for the opposition.
For example, during the national elections of 7 April1979, the fac-
tion led by Efren Aranzamendez, composed mostly of unions influenced
by the democratic-socialist bloc and young Executive Board members,
recommended that the FFW actively participate in the national elections
and openly cap1paign for the opposition. 19 But the top leadership
thought otherwise, arguing that the FFW's moral conviction to dissoci-
ate p.olitics from the trade~union. movement would be compromised.
The top leadership of the FFW from 1970 to 1986 was composed of the
president (Tan) and the executive vice-president (alternately Raman
Jabar or Aranzamendez). I observed, however, that the president·ulti-
mately decided on national and political i~~ues.
 100 Leadership Profile
Jabar contended that Tan was playing safe in case the FFW's party or
candidates lost. Members thus simply followed their consciences and many
union officers campaigned in local elections or even ran (and won) as
councilmen or barangay chairs. But they participated in the elections as
individuals and made no mention of the FFW during their campaigns.
The FFW leadership also expressed no public position .that would
favor any political party or politician. When compelled to take a stand,
however, as it was shortly after the February 1986 presidential "snap
elections," the FFW remained highly ambivalent and non-committal.
Unlike the KMU or TUCP, when the FFW fails to reach a consensus,
the leadership does not take charge, despite a Constitutional provision
that allows a decision to be made through a simple-majority vote. In-
stead, board meetings were a cacophony of inconclusive discussions with
the president unable to bring the deliberations to a successful conclu-
sion. Then, according to Jabar, individual members and their local
unions resolved matters on their own while the leadership remained
silent or was insensitive to members' decisions. Aranzamendez noted:
I have yet to recall during my entire stay with FFW that the Gov-
erning Board arrived at definite positions on national and politi-
cal issues. While it is true that democratic structures and processes
are established to facilitate decision making, these structures ...
are utilized precisely in order not to arrive at definitive positions
or to avoid organizational positions since in most cases delibera-
tions never reached any consensus. 2°
Issues were endlessly tabled for future discussion. Unanimous deci-
sions were reached only after years, even decades. The FFW's democratic
structures did not function as a forum for consensus-shaping and deci-
sion-making. Jabar admitted that "there is no clear-cut position of FFW
insofar as national issues are concerned. "2 1
Not all the FFW officers, however, eschewed politics. For example,
in 1983, Jabar joined the Labor Party of the Philippines (LPP) which
fielded candidates in the 1984 national elections; his participation,
however, was not officially endorsed by the president.Jabar justified his
political involvement, saying that trade unions, while maintaining their
independence, should actively participate in the political affairs of
society. "FFW," he said, "should be visible in the electoral processes and
be involved in the political affairs of society as long as it is not being
used by any political party or politician." In 1984, over the strong ob-
jections of Tan, Aranzamendez became a member of the executive
board of NAMFREL. 22
Yet while the FFW's leadership shied away from politics and political
parties, it did not stop members from accepting government posts.
.T .. . ....
-~·-«~··~ ·-~-- ..-~ ·=------._.,~·==-===-=·~-==·~·=-~-~----·---~~------------
Leadership Profile 101
During Marcos regime, Tan accepted an appointment as labor repre-
sentative, a position he still holds. In 1987, Jabar was appointed labor
representative in Congress (with Tan's grudging support), while another
official was appointed labor representative in a government agency,
The FFW's leadership is characterized by the following: (1) the strong
influence of the Jesuits through .Fr. Hogan in the 1950s, and of the
democratic-socialist groups through Fr. lntengan from the 1970s to the
present, which nurtured the FFW's ethico-moral and democratic-politi-
cal character; (2) a strong belief in the democratic and political role
of independent trade unions; (3) adherence to political methods sup-
portive of government programs, while independently participating in
governmc:nt tripartite bodies or taking political positions without nec-
essarily supporting political parties or candidates or even participating
in electoral politics; (4) the inability to adopt a coherent political stand,
even on matters as important as democracy; and (5) the president's
disproportion~tely great control over decision-making.
Comparative Assessment
While leadership significantly shaped the three labor groups, their
influence varied according to background, beliefs, and styles of deci-
sion-making. (See table 9 for a comparison of trade union leadership.)
"Outsiders" were common to all groups. In the TUCP, they came from
both the revolutionary and democratic-socialist groups in the mid~l980s.
In the KMU, they were. the professional revolutionaries of Lenin,
Blanqui, and Galenson. In the FFW, they were democratic socialists.
"Outsiders" in the TUCP and the FFW drew the groups' attention to
structural problems and advocated peaceful change; in the KMU, they
kept the organization on the revolutionary path.
All these groups have government links. The TUCP's are very strong:
the· federation supports government programs, accepts membership in
tripartite agencies and posts in Congress, supports the ruling political party,
and joins elections. The FFW's links are strong, as the group also supports
government programs and accepts membership in tripartite agencies of
government and posts in Congress. But it does not publicly support any
political party or candidate, much less participette in electoral politics.
,,! T)le KMU leadership, on the other hand, lets its officers; such as
Malonzo, take government positions, although it does not lobby for
government posts. The KMU joins in electoral competition only for
tactical purposes, when the group believes the candidate will win; but
it has never viewed electoral participation as the best strategy to insti-
tute revolutionary change.
-
Table 9. Comparison of trade-union leadership
Profiles TUCP
Composition Professionals, notably lawyers
Association Strongly associated with government
and politics
Relations w/ government Many are holders of government
positions; a few officials are holding
elective or appointive posts in Congress
Political stand Favors supporting a political party and
candidates; participates in electoral
competition
Active and direct participation in
parliamentary politics
Stand on non-economic issues Tendency to support and follow
government positions
Character Aggressive and decisive; active in
shaping and initiating organizational
positions
Styles High degree of centralization on non-
purely economic issues, with
tendencies to decentralize on political
issues
The majority of the KMU leaders have close links with several national-
democratic and socialist groups whose political lines the KMU also espouses.
Thus, the KMU is also anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist and prefers con-
frontational, combative mass action to factory-focused methods.
The TUCP leaders believe in the principles of capitalism and that
trade unions must achieve maximum benefits from the capitalist sys-
tem. The FFW leadership shares these beliefs, although it emphasizes
KMU FFW
Tra'de unionists Professionals
Strongly associated with the national- Strong association with the Catholic
democratic forces Church, notably with the Jesuits
Strong association with government
Only one official holding a Top key officers hold appointive posts
government post in government and .Congress
Alliance with revolutionary political Refrains from officially supporting a
parties and national-democratic political party or candidate, but does
movements not prohibit its officers from running
for office or campaigning
Tactical and dependent on objective
conditions Non-partisan; iilsue-oriented
Marked tendency to toe the line of Ambivalent, incoherent, confusing
the national-democratic forces
Aggressive and decisive; active in Passive and indecisive
r initiating organizational positions.
High degree of centralization but High degree of centralization but with
utilizes the structure for consensus- strong monarchic tendencies
making with strong oligarchic
tendencies
:[{··
.~f
~ li: the democratic and political role of trade unions in winning higher
wages and better working and living conditions. The KMU leadership
,.';·
i~V is clearly Marxist socialist. ·
,:!IV,;: Finally, the TUCP leadership is highly centralized when it decides on
]~Til.
national economic issues, but decentralized when dealing with lion-
.1:. ' economic issues like US bases and agrarian reform. In the KMU, deci-
sions regarding all types of issues are centralized and dictated largely
j,
 104 Leadership Profile

by the group's revolutionary beliefs and radical analyses. The

leadership's position is handed down to the membership, although 7
consultation and discussion sometimes take place in the regional coun-
cils. The FFW leadership is so highly centralized that the president
decides all political issues. If the TUCP and KMU have oligarchic incli- Membership Profile
nations, the FFW has strong monarchic tendencies. Moreover, the FFW
is vacillating, incoherent, and at times confusing; its ambivalence and
indifference is sometimes interpreted as independence, isolationism,
and non-partisanship.

D o the trade unions have significantly different memberships?

Do members mold their trade unions? If so, how? These
questions guided my study of the labor movement:, J.Jnfortunately, how-
ever, there is little data on union membership. There is nothing at all
on the number of white-collar and blue-collar trade-union members.
No one h~s yet classified unionized workers according to income
bracket. I cannot, therefore, infer with any degree of accuracy the in-
fluence of workers' income status on the behavior of trade unions.
There are data, however, on the industrial and regional distribution of
membership, as well as on organizational structures and processes.
Scanty as the information is, it gives a good idea as to how trade-union
members make their views known to their leaders.
Table 10 presents 1983 Labor Department statistics on TUCP, KMU,
and FFW membership. The three groups represent close to 90 percent
of the country's total unionized labor force. The total employed labor
force that year was around 18.474 million; unionized wQrkers, includ-
ing organized farmers, comprised 25.6 percencof the employed. labor
force, while industrial workers. accounted for 11.5 percent. TUCP is the
biggest of the three groups.
However, the Labor Department based its figures on unverified .re-
ports submitted by labor unions. FFW, for example, reported a total of
400,000 members and 230 affiliates, or an average membership per local
union of around 2,00(). The figures make no sense, however, since most
members are in the marginal and non-labor-intensive enterprises em-
ploying less than 500 workers. TUCP and KMU figures are.just as fraught.
with discrepancies;
Then there is the problem of defining union membership. Does. it
refer to dues-pafing members only? Or only those who enjoy the ben-
efits of collective bargaining? Does it include non-industrial workers-,-
th~, u.rban poor, the non-working youth, women, 3tudenu, the ~elf··
 106 Membership Profile MembershipProfile 107

Table 10. Comparative trade-union membership: TUCP, KMU, ~~mi~istration. The TUCP started to employ the mass leave, although
FFW (1983)
tlle,scanty data make it imJ1ossible to measure membership participa-
tion. FFW led one march to Liwasang Bonifacio and another to the
Senate to press for higher wages; but the marchers did not exc.eed 1,000.
Center /Federation Mfiliates Membership
--- The three labor groups, however, held regular meetings that allowed,
m~mbers to take part in decision-making. While there is no data about
A. Center
hpw many members attended meetings, an analysis of the organizational
1. TUCP 22 !1,687,294 structures and my own observations allow insights on member partici-
2. KMU 8 270,000 pation in· discussions and decision-making.

B. Federation TUCP: Low Degree of Membership Participation

1. FFW 400,000
C. Total
4,207,294
D. Total industrial
unions 4,7!10,000
E. C/D 0.89
BASIC SOURCES: DOLE, Trade Union Directory of the Philippines, 198!1, Vol.
II; some are also cited in Business Day, 7 March 1986, p. !l.
NOTE: The TUCP includes the 2.6 million National Congress of
Farmers' Organization (NCFO).
employed, small landowners, tenants, peasants-who, for one reason or
another, joined labor groups? Does it include the workers' family mem-
bers? The trade unions themselves are unsure.
Despite the obvious inaccuracies, the Labor Department figures are
official and can indicate trends in trade-union membership. I measured
membership participation by observing how members' direct involve-
ment in union activities influence organizational positions. Members'
involvement may be in the form of.direct participation in mass actions
and meetings. Only the KMU aggressively conducted mass actions dur-
ing both the Marcos and Aquino administrations. The KMU recorded
its activities and estimates of the number of participants (see table 13).
On the other hand, the FFW and TUCP refrained from demonstrat-
ing during the Marcos years. A typical FFW mass action then was a Labor
Day or annual founding-anniversary banquet. Meanwhile, the TUCP in-
vited Marcos (but only until the mid-1980s) to speak at Labor Day cel-
ebrations. The FFW and TUCP changed their styles during the Aquino
Two big federations dominate the TUCP: the peasant-based FFF and
industrial- and Cebu-based Associated Labor Union, or ALU (appendix
D lists affiliates of TUCP). The FFF was organized on 25 .October 1953,
an offshoot of the Jesuits' social activism (Fabros 1988, 44-50).. Its
founders included Jeremias Montemayor, a graduate of the Ateneo d¢
Manila Law School and lecturer then at the ISO, and Fr. Hogan. But
ISO assigned Fr. Hector Mauri to be full-time chaplain ofFFF. In 1982,
FFF and seven other Central Luzon peasant organizations formed the
National Congress of Farmers' Organizations (NCFO), which reported
a total membership of 2.6 million in 1983 (table 10) or 70.5 percent
of TUCP's total membership. The FFF-led NCFO still shapes TUCP's views
on agrarian issues; FFF has formulated TUCP's position on land reform
and other peasant issues (TUCP 1975k, 39; 1984a, 5; 1987a).
, AI,U, organized on 2July 1954, and headed by Democrito Mendoza,
dominates TUCP with its reported membership of 300,000 (RP 1983a).
ALU ,won four of the National Executive Board seats at TUCP's found-
ing meeting; in 1977, when R,oberto Oca died, Democrito Mendoza took
his place as TUCP president. In 1983, Mendoza was reelected president
while ALU officer Ernesto Herrera was elected secretary-general, giv-
ing ALU control over the two highest positions of tUCP. As one trade
unionist remarked: "The TUCP is the ALU. "1
The ALU and non-ALU factions had a showdown at the 1983 TUCP
elections. The non-ALU group, mainly the faction of Roberto Ocajr.,
PTGWO members who were representatives to the Batasang Pambansa,
FFF, and one faction of PAFLU all supported Oca's bid for executive vice-
president and Ruben de Ocampo of the Federation of Filipino Civil-
ian Employees Associations in U.S .. Facilities in the Philippines (FFCEA)
for secretary-general. ALU prevailed, however, and the power balan~e
within TUCP shifted.
ALU will probably continue to dominate since FFF has left the TUCP.
Moreover, the ALU bas a total of thirteen industrial federations, now
 108 Membership Profile
emerging as a powerful bloc. ALU is also rich: in 1983, it reportedly
collected 8 million pesos in annual dues and another 3 million pesos
from its hospital, radio station, and cooperatives.2 It receives funding
from AAFLI. Only ALU can pay TUCP membership dues months in ad-
vance.
Two other labor groups, whose memberships are negligible com-
pared to ALU or FFF, influenced TUCP to push for the retention of the
US military bases in the country: the National Trade Union of Workers
in the US Bases of the Philippines (NTUWUSBAP) and FFCEA. Their
combined membership, which accounted for around half the Filipino
base workers, was well-organized, and they articulated wage and job-se-
curity issues.
FFF, ALU, NTUWUSBAP, and FFCEA strongly influenced TUCP's views.
FFF shaped TUCP's positions on land reform, as did ALU, which wielded
its considerable financial and political power to control TUCP;
NTUWUSBAP and FFCEA won the sympathy of other affiliates on the
issue of US bases.
TUCP's membership can be classified by industry, region, occupation,
even conglomerate line. The distinctions are superficial, however, since
the membership-except for ALU's industrial affiliates-cuts across
these boundaries. Nonetheless, the restructuring efforts TUCP began
in the 1970s may yet achieve industrial unionism. Table 11 gives an idea
of how enthusiastically TUCP pursued organizing along industry lines.
General unionism decreased by more than half and industrial union-
ism increased by more than 50 percent over the past few years. Still,
participation continues to be determined by membership to ALU, FFF,
NTUWUSBAP, and FFCEA.
Theoretically, member.ship participation in the center's national
activities is coursed through the organizational structures: the Conven-
Table 11. TUCP federation affiliates by type of membership
Type General Industrial Total %Inc.
(Dec.)
1974 15 8 23
1982 19 16 35 34.3
1990 8 33 41 14.6
BASIC SOURCES: TUCP (1978n; 1978o, 3-4; 1978s, 19-20; 1983a, 18; 1986f, 1); RP
(1983a); interview with C. Bagtas, 1990.
Membership Profile 109
tion, which acts as the supreme authority and meets every three years;
and the General Council, which meets every three months; and the
Executive Board, which meets every month (TUCP 1986d, Arts. VI, VII,
VIII). Below these three echelons are the Federation Affiliates, the
respective Local Unions and the General Membership. Since 1986,
there has been an intermediary body between the National Convention
and the National Council-the National Consultative Meeting (NCM).
Although not a constitutional body, the national leadership consults
local union leaders through it in order to decide on national issues. 3
The NCM, however, convenes only once a year. In between meetings,
the rank and file express their views to the Executive Board, which
meets every month and is composed only of federation presidents who
are either elected or appointed by the president (TUCP 1986d, Art. VIII,
Sec. 2). Ordinary members must, therefore, go through the various
levels of bureaucracy before reaching the Executive Board. I observed,
however, that members seldom use these channels due to several fac-
tors: (1) the complexity of government or bureaucracy; (2) frequency
of meetings; (3) type of issues; and ( 4) degree of autonomy and self-
reliance enjoyed by the national federation or local union.
·Ordinarily, rank-and-file members' first level of contact is the shop
steward who serves as the "little president" at the shop-floor level. In-
dividual members express their views directly to the shop steward, who
then brings the matter to the executive officers of the local union. From
the local .level, the issues are then elevated to the federations where
the executive officers or Governing Board members act on them, be-
fore. the matter is finally endorsed to the center level. If followed to
the letter, the process can take up tremeqdous time, effort, and re-
sources. Most locals schedule membership meetings every three -months
and board meetings monthly. Federations schedule board meetings
quarterly, while local presidents meet once a year. The long months
between meetings dampen the enthusiasm of the general membership. 4
The type of issues affects membership involvement in national-cen-
ter activities. Members are gen·erally most interested in economic issues,
which affiliates can address; the local can. get by on assistance from its
mother federation without having to ask for the services of TUCP. Al-
though TUCP was formed in 197 4, many of its affiliates were founded
as early as the 1950s and have long histories of autonomy and self-re-
liance; few depend on TUCP for their survival. All TUCP had to do was
bring all these small, but financially stable unions under one industrial
umbrella.
The affiliates function well on their own: they maintain pools of
lawyers and paralegal aides, and their education and research depart-
ments train members in collective bargaining. Mo~t important, they
 110 Membership Profile Membership Profile 111

have a secure income as their collective-bargaining contracts stipulate Table 12. KMU affiliates by type of membership: 1980, 1985,
a system of remitting dues both to the local and national federation. 1990
TUCP membership is characterized by the followin_g: (1) the presence
of both industrial workers and peasants; (2) ALU dominance over the
running and management of the national center; (3) strong FFF and Type 1980 1985 1990
NTUWUSBAP/FFCEA influence over TUCP's positions on .land reform
and US bases, respectively; and ( 4) a low degree of participation in the General 4 11 10
activities of the national center.
Industrial 4 5 6
Regional/Area
KMU: Very High Degree of Membership Participation alliances 2 17 !14
Luzon 8 25
There are four dominant organizations under KMU: NAFLU, the Visayas 2 2
National Federation of Labor (NFL, formerly the Mindanao Federation Mindanao 7 7
of Labor), ULGWP, and SPFL, of which NAFLU and NFL are considered Conglomerate 2 2
the most militant because of their leadership's socialist and revolution-
Totals 10 !15 52
ary leanings (see appendix E). SPFL, ULGWP, and NFL seldom partici-
pate in KMU's national activities as most of their members are in %increase 176;9 48.6
Mindanao. They do, however, articulate issues and lead mass actions (decrease)
where they are based, as does the Negros-based NFSW. In Metro Ma-
nila, KMU mass actions are fueled largely by the leading jeepney driv-
ers' association, PISTON, and the national-democratic ADLO and
ANGLO. They provide the main base ofjeepney strikes against oil-price members, were given by KMU leaders and are probably inaccurate.
increases. NUWHRAIN, GATCORD, and NSU-the conservative and Nevertheless, even assuming that 50 percent of the estimates are true,
economist bloc within KMU-left KMU in the mid-1980s. Leonardo KMU's member participation was much greater than other labor
Desierto of NUWHRAIN, admitted, however, that many of his union's groups . Membership participation in KMU mass actions is phenomenal
members chose to remain with KMU under the Genuine Labor Orga- in the history of the Philippine labor movement.
nization of Workers in Hotel, Restaurants and Allied Industries Some factors explain the high degree of membership participation:
(GLOWHRAIN). 5 (1) the level of government and degree of bureaucracy; (2) the pres-
Although tiny when it started in 1980, KMU had more than doubled ence of regional associations and alliances; (3) the militancy of both
its membership by 1985 (see table 12). KMU organized along geographi- the.national and regional leadership in molding, instigating, and sus-
cal lines, apparently uninterested in the industrial side of unionism. taining the revolutionary class consciousness of members, and in mo-
Regional organizing generated active membership participation; it al- bilizing them; and ( 4) financial resources.
lowed closer contact, easier communication, and members' direct in- Unlike TUCP, the structure ofKMU is straightforward. The Congress,
volvement in national activities without having to go to Manila. the highest governing body, meets every three years. Under it are the
KMU organized several regional associations nationwide. The asso- National Council, which meets every three 'months, and the Executive
ciations are loosely organized, and include non-unionized workers and Board, which meets every month. Below these structures are the vari-
members of other unions. Non,workers who are actively involved in ou~ National Federations and Regional· Councils, their respective Lo-
trade-union activities may be members. Other sectoral groups, such as cal Union affiliates, and the General Membership. The Regional Coun-
those of the urban poor, students, and women, are involved in regional cils take over the leadership and functions of the Executive Board in
KMU activities. The exact number of members cannot, therefore, be their respective areas of jurisdiction with the resources, autonomy; arid
ascertained. power to respond to their members' needs. Although the executive
It is possible, however,·to estimate KMU membership participation officers are based in Manila, the regional officers ensure general
in mass actions (see table 13). The figures, which include non-KMU membership's continuous participation.
Table 13. Mass actions launched or participated in by KMU: 1980-87 t. Table 13 -Continued

Date/Year Mass action Participation Source(s)

[
.' ·:.:: Date/Year Mass action Participation Source(s)

1980
May Demonstration 25,000 l981e, !I;
' ;ii. : 9 Feb
3
.~
·~·,,·
14
(Araneta Col.) 1982f, 18 17 Protest rallies at
Liwasang Bonifacio 1984a, 11
1981
17 Jan Protest rally 1981e, 3 1 May Demonstration !10,000 1984a, 12
1 Feb Protest rally 1981f, 1
1!1 Feb Protest rally 1982f, 19 12 Aug Picket in front of
19 Feb Protest rally the Labor Ministry 1984a, 12
1 May Demonstration 40,000 1981e, !I;
(Araneta Col.) 1982f, 19 11 Nov Protest rally 1984a, 12
31 May Demonstration 12,000 1981e, 4;
(Liwasang 1982f, 19 27 Nov Demonstration 1984a, 12
Bonifacio)
June
12July
Demonstration
Protest-rally
20,000
19,000 1982f, 19 L Burial march of
Felixberto Olalia, Sr. 1984a, IS

11 Dec Picket in front 2,000 1982f, 20 1984

of Camp Aguinaldo f jan Nationwide boycott

~
1982 5 Feb March-rally at
1 May Demonstration 20,000 1982c; Liwasang Bonifacio 15,000 1984a, 15-14
at the Araneta 1982d
Coliseum 1-7 Mar People's March 1984j

Women's march-rally
June Four-day Zone-wide
· strike
13,000 1982f
I 8 Mar
at Mendiola Bridge
.•. 1984£

22 Aug March-rally 2,000 1984a, 3 1 May Demonstration 280,000 1985a,4

31 Aug Picket at the !10 Nov March-rally in

Supreme Court !1,000 1984a, !I front of the
US Embassy 1985a,4
21 Sep March-rally 1984a, 10
1985
21 Oct March-rally at
Ermita
1984a, 10
t 1 May

1986
Demonstration

Barricade ·at
50,000 1986g, 2

1983 Feb
24Jan March-rally at 1984a, 11 ·l Mendiola bridge 1986g, !I
Makati

') .~...
Continued on next page

' ...: . Continued on next page

 Membership Profile 115.

Table 13 - Continued I attended ALF meetings.in the .first quarter of 1990. The KMU .lead-
ership was enthusiastic about two national issues: gen·uine agrarian
reform and US military bases. Beltran spoke at length about KMU's
Date/Year Mass action Participation Source(s) seven-point alternative program of government and six basic demands.
The meetings awakened and heightened the revolutionary class con-
1 May Participated in the sciousness and combativeness of KMU members. The nationwide simul-
demonstration at taneous regional meetings were conducted on weekends or after work
Luneta 1986g, 3-4 and although workers derived no benefits from attending these meet-
14 Nov March-rally at Camp 1986u, 24; ings-meals, allowances, lost time pay, etc., which are freely offered by
Aguinaldo 2,000 1986r, 13 other labor groups-membership participation was high.
Support from other national-democratic groups partly accounts for
17-20 Nov Nationwide strike 2,000 1986g, 7; the KMU membership's enthusiasm, as do the organization's consider-
(death of Rolando 12,000 1986v, 30; able resources. KMU's activities are numerous, public, and nationwide,
Olalia) 600,000 1986r, 13 requiring huge financial outlays. As the KMU collects a mere. twenty-
1987 five to fifty centavos monthly per member, and not even very strictly, I
3-4Jan Protest-rally 1,500 do not believe that KMU finances its activities on its own. .
1987h, 2
at the Labor 10,000 The very high degree of participation by members in mass.actions
Ministry then and regional meetings of KMU can be accounted for by the following:
to Mendiola (1) the aggressiveness of the leadership in instilling and sustaining a
bridge revolutionary class consciousness among members, in leading ·mass
actions and other regional activities, and in inspiring its members to
22 Jan March-rally at participate directly in these activities; (2) the presence of dynamic rec
Mendiola bridge 1986c, 1
gional structures which mobilize members, arid_translate their collec-
1 May Demonstration tive strength into coordinated and sustained mass actions; and (S) the
availability of financial resources.
17 Aug Jeepney strike at
Metro Manila with
BAYAN 1986c, 2 FFW: Very Low Degree of Membership Participation
26 Aug Nationwide strike 1986c, 2 Unlike TUCP and KMU, FFW is a national federation, and its. ~ffili­
12-l60ct Refusal to go to work, ates are composed of local unions. (See table 14 for the industrial dis-
general/industry tribution of FFW affiliates.) Over. 22 percent of FFW members are con-
strike 1988c, 3 centrated in the metals/ electricityI equipments industries. The service
sector, including hospitals and schools, employs the next largest group
of FFW members. In the 1970s, FFW had a sizable following. in the la-
bor-intensive textile/garment and fo,od/ tobacco industries.,Most of its
KMU also maintains All Leaders' Forums (ALF), non-constitutional affilia_~es in the seCtor, however, broke\ away over the years, as didtl_lOse

bodies composed of local presidents within a given area. For example,
regional, federation, and local leaders in the National Capital Region
(NCR) make up ALF-NCR. ALF is especially active before Labor Day and
KMU's "summer offensives." ALF are intervening bodies between the
National Council and the Congress and, while they do not meet regu-
larly, on the average they do meet at least once a month.
iri mining and quarrying.
On the other hand, there was .a dramatic rise in membership from
the commercial sector-department stores, supermarkets, drug stores,
banks, insurance companies, and other enterprises engaged in the trad-
ing of goods or services. There was also a big leap in membership in the
chemicals/petroleum/gas and forestry/logging/pulp/paper sectors.
 Membership Profile 117
Table 14. Membership of FFW, by industry: 1974, 1989 Attempts to formally federate local unions by industry started in the
early 1970s. As of today, however, only two industrial federations are
Industry formally organized: the petroleum/ chemicals/ drugs industry group and
1974 1989
No. the commercial sector. These two trade federations are slowly becom-
% No. % ing self-reliant. They can perform basic trade-union functions without
depending on the national federation. The rest of the affiliates, how-
01 -Agriculture 4 2.8 3 1.7 ever, remain unorganized, indicating th;;lt FFW's structure is still pre-
dominantly patterned along non-industrial lines.
02- Mining/Quarrying 2 1.4 Table 15 gives the regional distribution of FFW's affiliates: they are
03- Food/Beverage/ concentrated in Luzon, particularly in Metro Manila, and thinly distrib-
Tobacco 19 13.4 12 6.9 uted in Visayas and Mindanao. The Visayan affiliates are sparsely spread
04- Textile/Footwear/ across Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Iloilo. A full-time staff member in
Wearing Apparel/ Cebu coordinates activities. In Mindanao, members ar'e concentrated
Leather /Rubber in Cagayan, lligan, Surigao, and Davao, but FFW maintains offices only
Products/Plastics 25 17.6 15 8.6 in Davao and Cagayan, and aJull-time staff in Iligan. However, only one
full-time lawyer based in Cagayan takes care of the legal needs of the
05 -Chemicals/ affiliates in Cagayan, lligan, Surigao, Davao, and even Cebu.
Petroleum/Gas 4 2.8 21 12.0
Table 15. Regional distribution of FFW membership
06 - Metals/Electricity
Equipments 32 22.5 39 22.3
07- Forestry/Logging Year Luzon Visayas Mindanao Total
Lumber /Construction
Wood/Pulp/Paper 11 7.7 24 13.7 1978 199 18 37 254
1985 189 6 18 203
08 - Commercial 12 8.5 33 18.9 1989 150 8 31 175

09 - Transport/Storage BASIC SOURCES: FFW (1978; 1985b; 1989e).

Communication 14 9.9 9 5.1
The regional branches are not self-sustaining. Union dues from the
10 - Services 19 13.4 31 17.7 locals are remitted directly to the national headquarters; then the
branches receive monthly financial assistance from the national office.
Totals 142 100.0 175 100.0 Some affiliates have tried to minimize their dependence on the
national office: Iligan and· Davao organized a council of leaders; in
BASIC SOURCES: LCC (1974); FFW (1973); FFW (1989e). Manila, several area alliances emerged in the mid-1980s on the initia~
tive of the democratic socialists. The national leadership was less than
NOTE: In 1983, FFW had a total of 230 local union affiliates as reported by DOLE, supportive and even viewed the moves with suspicion, especially dur-
(1983), Vol. II. FFW's membership list for this
Trade Union Directory of the Philippines ing elections of national officers. In Manila, the conservative bloc mis-
period has a different industry classification. trusts local unions identified with the democratic socialists. Thus, in-
stead of promoting unity, regional efforts to become self-reliant were a
source of conflict and rivalry, straining national-regional relationships.
Compared with TUCP and KMU, the structure of FFW is simple. The
highest goveniing body is the National Convention, which meets every
three years, followed by the Governing Board, which meeu every quar·
 118 Membership Profile
ter (FFW 1988c: Art. VIII, Sec. 31). Below these two echelons are sev-
eral consultative bodies: the trade federations; the local-presidents
meeting, which meets at least once a year; and the various commissions,
which meet every two months (FFW 1988c, Art. XII, Sec. 31). Below
these are the local affiliates and the general membership. However, the
flow of authority and relationships among these bodies are vague and
confusing. Sometimes all the local presidents may be called to a meet-
ing; sometimes trade-federation officers convene separately or with the
local presidents; or the various commissions may work on certain issues.
In all these cases, the order of authority aild flow of communications
are unclear.
Further complicating matters, national or regional conferences are
sometimes conducted in order to consult the views of provincial affili-
ates. On the whole, consultation and decision-making can become
highly confusing. The results of the multiple discussions are then for"
warded to the Governing Board which, according to the constitution,
decides on the issue through a majority vote. But Governing Board
meetings are more often than not indecisive, since there are_ no clear-
cut policies to guide decisions on national and political issues. 6 Meet-
ings degenerate into a confusion of unresolved issues and endless dis-
cussions. The structures and processes of decentralization are ineffec-
tive as consensus-builders.
If consultation begins from the rank and file, it is even more tedious.
The views of individual members are normally channeled through the
local officers or regional branches and the various constitutional bod-
ies. While the hierarchical order may be clear, a member can only hope
that his views will eventually reach the top. This strenuous process is
further aggravated by the equally complex and intricate bureaucracies
and red tape that have become deeply entrenched over the years.
Thus, the various structures have not promoted active participation
by the rank-and-file members, much less facilitated the democratic
operation of FFW. Several local affiliates confirmed my observations
from long exposure to and participation in meetings and conferences:
relations are extremely strained between the national leadership and
locals. Meetings of local presidents, trade-federation officers, and com-
missions only serve to heighten factional rivalries, with the president
precariously walking the tightrope between opposing groups and care-
ful not to take sides.
In addition, while the locals are highly autonomous in administer-
ing themselves, they are also dependent on the national federation for
basic union functions and services. This is especially true of the finan-
cially weak unions and those on remote-islands. Many cannot even af-
ford to hire lawyers and are inexperienced in research, negotiation, and
':
Jij.
~
Membership Profile 119
r education. This dependency is cemented by the highly paternalistic
leadership, which demands unwavering loyalty and unshakable obedi-
ence, and fosters a passive, indifferent, and clientelist membership.
Closer coordination and direct contact between the national leader-
ship .and the locals are relatively difficult and at times impossible, es-
l pecially for the far-flung unions. For some time, the Davao locals re-
1:1_1,__
.
fused to remit their dues unless the national office provided them with
;)! a full-time organizer and lawyer.
l
These bureaucratic and. dependent tendencies are deeply rooted in
the historical development of FFW's structure. Unlike TUCP and KMU,
FFW started as a small organization with less than 10 locals, which had
no history of self-government or autonomy. Slowly, new structures, of-
ficers and subordinate officials, staff, and unionsjoined FFW, but with
responsibilities and au~orities already defined and dictated by the
highest echelons and pow~r-holders. As the organization grew, struc-
tures and responsibilities became more complex, requiring a greater
degree of specialization; officers and staff had to develop new exper-
tise and skills.
Tan guided all these developments as co-founder and president of
J
the union. Under his leadership, new unions came into the federation;
he personally inducted their officers and backed new officials. Formerly
weak and small, FFW became strong and stable, but also highly central-
li ized, bureaucratic, paternalistic, even authoritarian.
iji Smaller than TUCP and KMU, FFW has less than 200 dues-paying
~ locals. Another major breakaway, such as the 1986 split-when sev:eral
officers representing sixty-four locals, led by Aranzamendez, stormed
out of the National Convention-could spell disaster (FFW 1986q).
Yet many unions join or continue to stay with FFW because of the
numerous amenities it offers: seminars, travel abroad, scholarships, etc.,
which are awarded every now and then to loyal officers and members.
More important, FFW dues are not exorbitant. These same attractions,
~- .
however, continue to nourish the ~mion's paternalism, 'since these ben-.
efits are doled out for personal reasons rather than merit.
Financially, FFW can barely maintain its three-storey building. Many
of its locals pay monthly dues of 2 pesos per member, although its
constitution stipulates one-half percent of an individual's gross income.
~--
Moreover, because there are no checks and balances, union affiliates
can lie about their membership. It is difficult to imagine how FFW:can
finance its operations or pay its regular staff. As with TUCP and KMU,
l'i
t
however, external funding keeps FFW going.
Yet while outside funding has helped FFW affiliates, it has also dam-
aged the unity of the leadership. As Salazar pointed out:
.,..,
)'
 120 Membership Profile Membership Profile 121

The external funding which partly explained the dynamism of FFW
during the 1950s has also become the source of gripes and quar-
rels. Partly because of the presence of the young students, exter-
nal assistance began to pour in. But there was also financial assis-
tance which came in more because of Tan himself than because
of the Federation. Because he was personally instrumental in get-
ting most of the assistance, to a large extent, he was the best natu-
ral leader as he was also willing to devote his full time in the la-
bor movement. But other people don't agree; they also want to
become president. 7
Aranzamendez claimed that only the president knew where the
money came from and where it was going. Even the Governing Board
seldom discussed finances except to complain about non-payment of
dues. Some alleged that the president has been personally subsidizing
the needs of the federation, including the salaries of its staf£.8
FFW exhibits the following features: (1) a general type of member-
ship; and (2) a low degree of membership participation due to four
factors: (a) the presence of several committees whose authorities and
responsibilities are not clear; (b) the national leadership's lack of in-
terest in local initiatives; (c) a high degree of centralism and paternal-
ism; and (d) highly dependent locals.
Comparative Assessment
Table 16 compares the structures and memberships of TUCP, KMU,
and FFW. TUCP's multilevel structures have created a passive member-
ship indifferent to the national center. Meetings of the NCM are held
annually, while the National Convention meets only every three years.
oi Moreover, the structures' ability to draw out the rank-and-file is mini-
mal. Meetings are so infrequent that members leave most decisions to
the national leadership and are satisfied. with periodic reports. The
majority of affiliates were autonomous and self-reliant long before TUCP
emerged, which explains why rank-and-file members do not feel com-
pelled to express their views through organizational structures.
KMU's militancy was primarily shaped by the organization's regional
structures, the aggressiveness with which the leadership uses these struc-
tures and mobilizes the members for mass actions, and the ability of
the organization to finance mass actions. The regional structures al-
lowed direct contact among members, igniting and sustaining their
revolutionary class consciousness and combativeness.
+ The ability to finance large and frequent mass actions both at the
national and regional levels coupled with the leadership's aggressive-
ness in consolidating the rank and file's collective strength and politi-
.. .
cal will created an aggressive and adversarial membership .

Table 16. Comparative trade-union membership: TUCP, KMU, FFW

Profiles TUCP ~u Frn

Composition Wage-earners and agrarian/peasant Wage- and non-wage-earners in the Purely comprised. of wage-earners.
workers. services sector; presence of individuals
belonging to other sectoral groups.

Structure Marked tendency toward industrial

r Marked tendency towards regional Marked tendency towards the general
type of unionism. type as well as towards movementism. type of unionism.

Membership is sparsely distributed in Membership is evenly distributed in Membership is largely concentrated in

all the industries all over the many key cities and islands of the Metro Manila.
archipelago. archipelago.

Membership Membership link to the national
participation center proceeds along three stages
starting from the local union level
then to the national federation and
finally to TUCP level.
Membership link to the national Membership link to the fe.deration is
!~:
!'
!
center is coursed through the regional· through the local union presiden't and
alliances and then directly to the the regional offices of the
national center. organization.

Continued on next page

 122 Membership Profile

Table 16 - Continued
Profiles TUCP KMU FFW

Low degree of participation by the Very high degree of membership Very low degree of participation by'
rank and file members to the activities participation to /the activities of the the members to the activities of the
of the center. center. federation.

Degree of automony High degree of autonomy enjoyed by
federation affiliates because of
capability to program and finance
their own activities even without any
support from the national center.
High degree of bureaucracy and
tendency towards oligarchy and ,
centralism.
High degree of autonomy enjoyed by
federation affiliates, but autonomy is
exercised within the framework of the
plan prepared by the national center.
Absence of bureaucracy but possessing
some degree of cc;ntralism.
High degree of local autonomy
relative to internal management, but
also high degree of dependence by
the weak unions relative to basic
services as ·lawyering, research,
negotiation, education.
High degree of bureaucracy,
centralism, and tendenty towards
·oligarchy.

Character Highly submissive and supportive. Highly aggressive, assertive and Passive and indifferent to federation
militant; willing to undertake and join activities.
non-traditional trade-union action
even if they are confrontational and
conflictive. ·;,.

Stability Marked by periodic disaffiliations. Marked by occasional disaffiJiations. Marked by occasional factional
disaffiliations.

Leader-member Business-like, client-patron Largely based on ideological Largely based on personal loyalties
relationship relationship. considerations; professional. and personal convenience. as well as
familial and paternalistic.

The FFW's relatively simple structure, on the other hand, failed to
inspire membership participation in the affairs of the federation. In-
stead, it created a highly dependent, clientelist, and indifferent mem-
bership. Members have no concern for the activities of the national
federation, depend on the national leadership for their basic needs, and
disregard their basic responsibilities, especially payment of union dues,
attending meetings, and participating in mass actions.
Conclusions
Union membership plays a minor role in molding the views of trade
unions. More important are three internal factors that influence the
character of trade-unions: type of structures; how leadership uses these
structures; and the ability of the organization to finance its activities.
The KMU's structure, which allows close contact, communication, and
easy mobilization, encourages an active general membership. Rein-
forced by the leadership and the union's capacity to fund activities, such
a structure helps develop the class consciousness of members. The
membership character that ultimately prevail,s, however, is highly de-
pendent on the leadership.
On the other hand, industrial and general unionism-and their in-
herently limiting physical and geographical conditions~are less en-
couraging to active involvement and direct participation by the general
membership. In addition, existing industrial-relations structures favor
unions' regional and national participation: tripartite bargaining over
wages and other employment terms is done on the national rather than
industrial level; the regional tripartite economic councils require trade-
union representation along regional rather than industrial lines; re-
g.ionallabor-management consultative councils (LMCCs) are the emerg·
ing trend; and government, labor, and business ·sectors are promoting
regional minimum wages.