By Diego Morra
The Working People Against Corruption (WPAC) – a broad network of working peoples’ unions, associations, organizations, associations, and alliances – has reduced the incessant mudslinging and finger-pointing by the Marcos and Duterte camps to a war of mutual annihilation even as both of them attempt to divert public attention not only from rampant corruption they committed but from the unjust socio-political order that enriches them and their plutocratic cohorts.
Indeed, stressed Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) secretary-general Mary Ann Castillo, the Filipino people should advance a new order that champions the interest of overburdened taxpayers, exploited workers and peasants and abused government employees, all of whom subsidized grafters and corrupt bureaucrat capitalists as well as lawmakers. KMU said the Filipino workers and people do not have to choose between two competing thieves. “May alternatibo tayo – ang gobyernong ng mamamayan! Nakasalalay sa ating patuloy na pagkakaisa at pagkakapit-bisig natin matitiyak na hindi mapupunta sa kamay ng isa pang gahaman ang kapangyarihan,” Castillo argued.
WPAC spokesperson and Skycable Supervisory Union head Ed Kline scored the cover-up happening in our midst. “Pambabastos sa aming mga nagpapagal ang walang-hanggang turuan at takipang nagaganap. Nakakainsulto lalo na habang kami ay nagkukumahog na ipagkasya ang baryang sahod, nangangamba sa inaraw-araw na mawawalan kami ng trabaho ay hayahay lang ang mga pulitikong halos pumutok na ang bulsa sa pagkabusog sa kaban ng bayan. Tanggalin na ang mga magnanakaw, hindi ang manggagawa!” Kline insisted.
KMU and WPAC warned workers and the Filipino people of the political posturing and opportunism of the Marcos and Duterte factions. Bongbong Marcos with his empty rhetoric and cabinet resignations, and Sara Duterte with her grandstanding and feigned ignorance to regain credibility after her impeachment for the misuse of public funds. “Hindi kami maloloko ng mga magnanakaw. Ang korapsyon ay hindi battleground ng dalawang naghaharing grupo, ang korapsyon ay mamamayan laban sa mga kawatan! Napakasangsang na korapsyon, at tulad sa isda, ang ulo – sina Bongbong Marcos at Sara Duterte – ang pinakamasangsang!” declared Joann Saballegue, WPAC spokesperson and Samahan ng Manggagawa ng Kristyanong Pamayanan (SMKP) chairperson.
WPAC vowed to mobilize thousands of workers and employees for the Nov. 30, 2025 rally against corruption and the plunder of the people’s money, along with the Seniors Kontra sa Kurakot (SKK) and hundreds of organizations fed up with the lies being disseminated in various media outlets as well as social media accounts of the Marcos and Duterte troll armies. It stressed that in keeping with its etymology, these trolls, originally cave-dwelling dwarfs, have stretched the credulity of the Filipino people with their outright lies, disinformation and fabrications utilizing artificial intelligence (AI.)
What is to be done? Give both factions the rope with which to hang themselves. Both of them conspired to kill any decent wage increases, along with the two chambers of Congress that debated the propriety of the crumbs they were tossing to workers nationwide, washing their hands of their duty to promote, protect and defend the Filipino working class as embodied in the 1987 Constitution. The hands of the two factions drip with the blood of workers and peasants, with the Duterte regime unleashing a war against workers and farmers through the covert and overt operations of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and Memorandum Circular No. 70.
Filipino workers should not allow these two factions any breathing space or wiggle room to extract themselves from the chaos they had created. For the past nine years, the Marcos-Duterte combine caused trillions of pesos in tax money to line the pockets of congressmen like resigned Rep. Elizaldy Co and the scores of legislators doubling as contractors, the plundering Discaya couple and the high-living officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH.) The resignations of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and Palace legislative officer Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, the grandson of Lucas, only transformed the corruption crisis into a political catastrophe.
Some columnists aligned with the Dutertes have sounded the death knell for the Marcos regime because of these resignations but conspicuously kept their mouths shut on the culpability of the Dutertes in siphoning off P51-billion for Davao public works projects in three years, or the billions of confidential and intelligence funds wasted when Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio was Davao City mayor. They are depicting Co as the “victim” after his flight, his resignation to prevent his return to his “beloved” land, the land of his milk and honey. Both factions are as guilty as hell, and there is hell to pay. The tie that bound Team Unity was corruption.
