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Primer Regarding BP 880

1 - Background of BP 880  Batas Pambansa 880, known as the Public Assembly Act of 1985, was passed by the rubber-stamp Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly) during the Marcos era in order to regulate the rising tide of protests against the US-Marcos regime. Although its legality has been challenged for being against the Constitutionally-guaranteed right of freedom of speech, the Supreme Court, in the case of Bayan et al. v. Ermita (2006), upheld BP 880’s validity.  2 - Types of Rallies or Public Assemblies  The law sets forth two types of rallies or assemblies: (1) those with permits or those which do not require permits, and (2) those without a permit where a permit is required. The former category is composed of (1) rallies with permits and (2) rallies in freedom parks, where no permit is needed. An enumeration can thus be constructed as follows:  Permitted:  With permit  No permit needed (Freedom park)  No permit where a permit is needed  2.1 -...
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Simple and Expanded Reproduction (Ben Fine Diagram)

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An example:  Department 1 produces the means of production. In this case, spatulas. It is owned by Capitalist 1, who owns a kitchenware factory.  Department 2 produces the means of consumption. In this case, burgers. It is owned by Capitalist 2, the proprietor of a restaurant.  In case of simple reproduction, let's assume that these two businesses exclusively buy and sell each other's products and no surplus is left over. This is for the sake of simplicity.  First, we'll talk about Department 1.  F is Capitalist 1's money-capital (let's assume that he borrowed money from the bank). Using this money, he buys constant capital 1.  A (constant capital 1) is Capitalist 1's commodity-capital. This refers to the means of production (MP) and labor-power (LP) which the capitalist owns. In the former, the metal, rubber (for handles), machines used to make the spatulas, and in the latter, the labor-power of his employee, who assembles these.  B isthe process by w...
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Wage, Price, and Profit in the Philippines

  “Higher wages for the workers slow the growth of the economy,” according to many employers. These words are not new- in fact, these words have been spoken by both anti-union bosses and even Socialists alike. In this essay, Marx responds to a member of the latter, John Weston, and exposes this false notion.  According to this argument, called the “wage fund theory,” an increase in the worker’s wages results in an increase in necessary commodities, like meat, soap, gas, and others, thus increasing the cost for everyone. Thus, wages determine prices - a change in the amount of wages results in a change in the market value of commodities.  In a limited sense, Weston is right. When the demand for necessities goes up, it is only natural that the price goes up as well, since there are more buyers and the quantity of necessities being produced remains the same, supposing that no change has happened in a factory’s machinery, or the number of workers employed, or in inflation or ...
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