The Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP), also known as Labor Party Philippines, Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (lit. Workers' and Farmers' Party; PMM) and the Lapiang Manggagawa (lit.'Workers' Party'; LM), is a political party in the Philippines.
History
Post-war politics in the Philippines was dominated by the Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party, leaving the labour movement unrepresented in the political sphere. The end of WWII also saw the dissolution of the Congress of Labor Organizations, leading to one if its leaders, Cipriano Cid, founding the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions (PAFLU) in 1952. The following year saw the formation of another trade union federation, the Philippine Trade Union Council (PTUC). In 1957 the Katipunan ng Manggagawang Pilipino (KMP, lit. Confederation of Filipino Workers) was formed by former Federation of Free Workers vice president Ignacio Lacsina. One labor consultant at the US embassy in Manila is quoted as seeing the formation of the KMP as an attempt at turning the "Philippine trade union movement into a labor party, into a political movement". Lacsina was made secretary-general and Roberto Oca, head of the Manila port workers union, president.:231 In June 1959 the confederation was attacked when the Philippine government convicted two of its leaders, both with established ties to the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP), of rebellion. Seizing the moment, multiple member unions demanded the expulsion of communist elements in the KMP leadership. After Oca and Lacsina refused to comply many members left the organisation leaving its strength "dramatically reduced".:231
The early 60s saw rising unemployment and underemployment. Inflation surged after president Macapagal'sdecontrol of the peso in early 1962.:228 The KMP, along with the majority of labor organizations at the time, had supported the campaign of former president Carlos P. Garcia.:231 His defeat spurred on the efforts to transform the labor movement into its own political party. The internal founding congresses of the Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP) were held from January to March 1962. By April its leadership had drafted a constitution and was set to present it publicly on May 1, but this was pushed back due to government repression.:232–233 Over the following months the PKP pushed the WPP into collaboration with Mascapagal's Liberal Party. Due to his alignment with the López brothers, strong political adversaries of Mascapagal, Roberto Oca's removal from the WPP was one of the conditions for the proposed party merger. But in October 1962 the WPP announced that after the unexpected death of Manila mayor Arsenio Lacson, Oca would be its mayoral candidate.:233–235
On February 3, 1963 the WPP was officially founded, combining a majority of the country's trade union federations into an independent political party. Cipriano Cid was made president, Lascino general secretary, Oca and Jose Hernandez vice presidents and Joma Sison was elected as vice president for propaganda handling the party's research, education and press.:237
Manila Port Strike of 1963
In the fall of 1962, the port workers' union (Philippine Transportation and General Workers Organization, PTGWO) under Roberto Oca staged multiple short strikes as part of their contract negotiation with the government-run Manila Port Service responsible for the South Harbor. Macapagal, who intended to use the strikes as pretext to crush the union and displace its leadership, tried to outlaw the union and publicly denounced Oca, who in turn threatened a general strike, which would have been the first in the country's history. Through a last minute bargain the open conflict could be avoided but the rift between Oca and Macapagal widened.:235–236 After using the threat of a general strike planned for May 1963 as leverage, Lascino and Sison procured the long-sought merger of the WPP with the Liberal Party. Oca, whose bid for mayor of Manila was opposed by the Liberal Party, found out about these negotiations and shortly after was replaced as vice president of the WPP by PKP member Felixberto Olalia.:239–240
Amid changing legal status and a leadership struggle the port workers started picketing on May 7. By July 10 the strike had turned bloody when scabs threw makeshift bombs over the picketing line injuring 37 and severely wounding two. The following day Oca announced that the picket line would be lifted for 15 days, later extending it until August 2nd after failing to convince the striking workers to accept a compromise settlement offered by the Macapagal government.:242 On August 6, the WPP officially merged with the Liberal Party, further enraging the striking workers who were picketing against the latter.:243 Oca, in a move seen by some workers as repeated sabotage of the strike, once again lifted the picket line from August 9 to 12.:244 On August 12th, the strikebreakers with the help of government-backed paramilitary forces, assaulted the picketing workers, breaking the line and murdering two workers. The day after, Oca officially became the mayoral candidate for the Nacionalista Party, dropping all prior claims to represent the WPP and using the killed workers' wakes as political rallies for his newfound party.:245–246 By mid-August the strike was estimated to be the most expensive strike in the country's history and it was declared a "national crisis" by Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez.:227
After August 23, the strike intermittently resumed and paused multiple times all throughout the next month. Oca was ordering the strikers to stop but the government was not yet allowing the workers to return to their old jobs.:248–249 By September many of the port workers were reportedly on the verge of starvation, receiving no strike pay.:247 On September 25, Oca struck a deal with the newly appointed customs secretary, returning 75% of workers back to their old jobs, effectively ending the PTGWO strike the next day on September 26. Though it wasn't until October 12th that work on the port resumed due to a short-lived strike by the former strikebreakers for not receiving more of the PTGWO's jobs.:249
Breakaways
When Macapagal sought to strengthen his ties with the USA in 1964, the WPP, now integrated in the Liberal Party but still under the direction of Lascino and Sison, arranged its realignment with the former enemy, the Nacionalista Party and its candidate for the upcoming elections, Ferdinand Marcos.:250–251 It failed and the organization effectively dissipated. Lascina later tried to resurrect some elements of the party in 1967 under the name of the Socialist Party of the Philippines.:251
For the 2016 presidential election, the party nominated former ambassador and House representative for OFW Family Club Roy Señeres. Señeres was in the initial list of official candidates. However, he withdrew on February 5, 2016. Seneres eventually died of a heart attack three days later. Despite his withdrawal and death, he still remained on the ballot. The party presented Apolonia Soguilon as his substitute, but was rejected because she had a different surname. Ultimately, Señeres still received around 22,000 votes in the election.
The party fielded candidates for the 2019 senatorial election. PMM's ticket consisted of Shariff Albani, Gerald Arcega, Marcelino Arias, Melchor Chavez, Sonny Matula, and Luther Meniano.
The party supported Bongbong Marcos during the 2022 presidential election as cited by its unified national convention with the Partido Lakas ng Manggagawang Pilipino (PLMP) in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.
