KMU on tactless candidate’s threat: ‘We won’t cower’

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

WORKERS organized under the trade union center of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) here would rather go to the boondocks to fight for the rights and interests of the Filipino working class than cower under the threats hurled by a presidential candidate, a veteran trade union leader said yesterday.

Wildon Barros, KMU-Northern Mindanao secretary general, said this in response to presidential candidate Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that he would “kill” organized workers who would pose threat if he wins in the May elections.

“Kung tagaan niya (Duterte) ang mga mamumuo (og) panahon unya sa iyang administrasyon og desenteng suholan ug mga benepisyo wala man siguro (rason) nga dauton pa iyang administrasyon,” Barros said.

In a video posted at the Philippine Star’s website, Duterte said he would “kill” labor unions that would threaten his administration should he win.

“Wag ninyong gawin ’yan kasi sisirain ninyo ang administrasyon. Pag ginawa ninyo ’yan patayin ko kayong lahat,” Duterte said in the video. “Tigilan muna ninyo ’yang labor unions… ang solusyon dito, patayan na. Eh, pag-usapan mo, ayaw.”

Barros responded: “Kun iyang pamatyon, dili pud mahurot dayon (ang) KMU. May panahon pa para mosaka na lang sa bukid aron modepensa ug mopadayon sa pagpangayo sa ilang batakang katungod… Kun gubaton niya (ang) taga KMU nga nag ilaid sa kalisud, mosukol ang KMU ug mapugos (nga) dili moila sa iyang mga balaod ug palisiya.”

The KMU has issued a strongly worded statement on Duterte’s faux pas. The trade union center said they were appalled at Duterte’s statement calling on workers to “lessen actions in defense of their rights right in the birthplace of working-class hero Gat Andres Bonifacio.”

“He (Duterte) claimed he shares KMU’s ideology yet threatened to kill KMU members in the same breath. He showed no respect for workers, who belong to the majority of Filipinos, in the name of an abstract ‘Philippines,’ which can only mean big foreign and local capitalists,” the statement reads in part.

Yesterday, however, News Desk, a Davao-based news web portal, reported that Duterte’s media bureau head Peter Lavina claimed the mayor was taken “out of context,” and that “the mayor was merely asking for the labor group to give him a chance to invite capital and help develop economic zones that will eventually create jobs.”