I have never ceased to wonder each time I met with labor leader Ernesto Herrera on what keeps him going. Handicapped and bound to a wheelchair he continued to be as active as he possibly could for better labor relations in feudal Philippines. That is how I knew labor leader Ernesto Herrera.
He was a former senator of the Philippines and a legislator in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Congress. But he made his name in labor relations and as an advocate of law and order that radicals would not accept.
In meetings about the current political situation he would caution against extra-constitutional ways to change government. He believed in working within the present system to achieve the constitutional shift to parliamentary federal government in which marginal sectors could play a significant role.
His strategy for 2016 was to support a winnable presidential candidate who would be committed to a new Constitution for a new Philippines.
I know he has met with some of the presidential candidates seeking TUCP support but they would not commit themselves to constitutional change. To them after elections it would be business as usual. We would end up with the same presidential system in which labor and marginal sectors in the millions are excluded from politics and government.
When I founded BayanKo as a crowdsourcing movement using Iceland’s template, I asked him to be a member of the panel that would draw up a new Constitution. Even then we could not predict what Philippine crowdsourcing would lead to.
In time, as events unfolded, BayanKo partnered with TUCP which Herrera headed to form a political party – a modern day Katipunan – that would put together a coalition of federations with numbers to support the Constitution change we envisioned. Herrera agreed.
BayanKo and Katipunan became partners to seek a wide coalition of workers, farmers and fishermen and the informal sector that become a political force. He did not believe that the only way to strengthen unions is to be an adversary of industry. He believed that a large coalition of federations would strengthen labor’s bargaining position and secure social benefits for workers.
A formula for labor relations can be found that would make unions both partner and adversary of industry, business and politics as the case may be to solve the country’s political and economic problems.
We needed leaders who would dedicate themselves to these tasks with a vision. Herrera and TUCP partners understood it could not be done in the present presidential system sustained by money and political dynasties.
Such a herculean effort at nation building would need men and women ready to make personal sacrifices. It would mean facing challenges and making a lot of enemies.
Herrera had to fight a long battle with a faction within the TUCP and had just won it before he died. Without the distractions of that battle, he was now ready to help set up a political force for, by and of marginal sectors for millions of Filipinos.
Katipunan would work for a new system that could narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in our country. Economically it would help the government make ends meet without sacrificing the less able – our poor and helpless sectors. Katipunan would be a powerful political force to create a humane society for a progressive Philippines.
Herrera, as if racing with time, had worked hard to put the fundamentals of Katipunan in place before he died.
The coalition would be formed through the exchange of agreements with a single minded dedication to constitutional change for a parliamentary federal system. Herrera believed as did many of partners in the coalition that work would begin by holding seminars so the workers know why we had to restructure our politics and to succeed to become a better society.
We would go to provinces and regions where the TUCP had branches. At the end of this educational program, we expected the workers would know what the movement for constitutional change was all about and how it was the only way to change their lives.
But it was not to be in Herrera’s lifetime. He died in the midst of these efforts that were just beginning to bear fruit. As he said to me, when we visited a day before he died “I was in such a hurry to go to a meeting” when the accident happened. His wife is now ailing in a hospital in Cebu after a recent heart attack and he did not want her to know what had happened.
Herrera has many distinctions. I will cite only a few. He was responsible in EDCOM, landmark reforms in vocational education and training that led to Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
In 1992, Senator Herrera won his second Senate term, ranking second among the re-electionist senators, and fourth overall. In the 1998 elections, he won by an overwhelming majority over his opponent in the congressional race.
In the 10th Congress, he chaired the Committees on Finance and Public Services, two of the most powerful committees in the Senate. He is a member of the Executive-Legislative National Water Crisis Commission and continues to serve as chairman of the Commission on Appointments’ Committee on Constitutional Offices.
Senator Herrera’s legislative record is testimony to his dedication to labor, employment, fiscal, education, and law and order policies.
In a nutshell, he was committed to the cause of the working man but all this to be achieved through peaceful means and to preserve law and order. He believed in consistent and moderate public policies. In Congress he made 20 laws which was a record in the 8th and 9th Congresses.
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While in Seoul to form a media forum for the region, I told colleagues representing 36 political parties in the region about Katipunan. Those who know Philippine history said it was a political breakthrough.
The historical Katipunan fought a war of independence while the present one is fighting for constitutional change. The full name of the group is Katipunan ng mga Manggagawa at Magsasaka ng Pilipinas. The TUCP-led national political party is the broadest constituency-based political organization, composed of workers, farmers, fisherfolks, overseas Filipino workers, workers in the informal economy, those in precarious employment (contractuals), and other marginalized sectors of Philippine society.
At the end of the program, an initial trade union cadres or Katipuneros composed of some 50 union leaders, would be fanned out to different regions for constitutional change. The campaign will draw up rules and procedures that will lead to a society based on merit. That was Ernesto Herrera’s legacy. It touched our lives and we will continue the work he left behind. Hindi paalam... kundi sa muling pagkikita, kapatid na Ernesto.