ang unyonistang kongresman!
write-up tungkol sa kakaupo pa lamang na kongresman ng Anakpawis partylist na si ka joel maglungsod. testamento sa prinsipyo ng mapagpalayang kilusang kanyang kiaaaniban, simpleng pamumuhay at puspusang pakikibaka. tulad na rin ng buhay at kamatayan ng nauna sa kanya ang kapwa nya lider obrerong si ka crispin beltran… ang kanilang mga buhay ang kanilang patunay….
Poor solon ‘marginalized’ at Batasan gate
MANILA, Philippines—Tough luck if you’re a common man, a member of the House of Representatives
, and go to the office on foot. Chances are the House guards would think you don’t belong.
Reporting for work this week, the carless, neophyte Anakpawis party-list Rep. Joel Maglunsod felt what it was to be marginalized, and right in his office’s driveway at that.
Maglunsod, among the newly proclaimed party-list members of Congress, was blocked by a guard at the gate when he tried to enter the Batasang Pambansa complex on foot on Monday.
The barong-clad Maglunsod had just visited a group of farmers encamped outside the complex and was about to enter the legislature through the gate reserved for employees around 9 a.m. when he was stopped.
The South Gate is where lawmakers enter. But when they pass through it, they are usually aboard their vehicles, which range from the simple to the simply luxurious.
“Di ako nakilala. Sabi, ‘dito ka muna sa tabi’ (I wasn’t recognized. I was told, ‘Just stay here on the side’),” the 52-year-old Davao City native told reporters the other night.
Maglunsod said it was only after he introduced himself and showed his House of Representatives pin—which he had kept in his pocket—that the guard waved him through, with an apology.
“Ay, sorry,” the guard said.
Maglunsod said he was not angry at the guard and did not want to make a fuss over the incident, noting that all new lawmakers had been previously briefed that they should wear their pins at the Batasan for identification purposes.
Taxi too costly
Maglunsod, a veteran of street protests as the former secretary general of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, was entering the Batasan gate on foot because he does not have any car.
He commutes via jeepney from his Quezon City house. On the first few days, he took a taxi but he said it had become too expensive for him, the average fare being P150.
Maglunsod had also tried to catch the House bus service that picks up passengers in front of the National Housing Authority, but since it was not yet in the area that morning, he took a jeepney.
He said he usually took a jeepney going home.
Since security precautions have to be taken, the Gabriela party-list group, an affiliate of Anakpawis, has provided Maglunsod with a bodyguard, who accompanies him when he takes public transport.
Office under a tarpaulin
Maglunsod said other affiliate groups were looking for ways to give him a vehicle he could use in going to his new job.
Like the other newly proclaimed party-list lawmakers, Maglunsod has no office of his own yet since the House is still looking for space for them. They have not been given funds for their expenses, as well.
Maglunsod has set up a temporary office under a tarpaulin outside the South Gate, equipped with a table provided him by his former street colleagues.
Farmers have been camping out at the South Gate since the session opened last month to push for the passage of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill while opposing Charter change moves.
Asked what he thought about his experience being blocked at the gate, Maglunsod said it seemed you get respect when you are identified as a lawmaker.
Barongs from Divisoria
But he wondered what would happen to ordinary citizens who try to go to the Batasan to seek help from their congressmen.
Maglunsod said he bought three barongs in Divisoria, Manila, when he learned he would become a lawmaker. He’s thinking of buying more, he said.
