Addressing the cynicism confronting the nation today requires more than dole outs and temporary solutions. It necessitates solving dehumanizing poverty and a prevailing sense of alienation from political institutions that are supposed to protect the welfare and the rights of all Filipinos. It compels stakeholders to pursue political reforms through active citizenship and inclusive mechanisms.

AKBAYAN commits itself to a platform crafted and designed by the broadest segments of the society. Approved during our 3rd Regular Congress last October 13-14, 2006, our platform is our promise: inside and outside Congress, in local and national government institutions, AKBAYAN will work for the passage of laws or policies and the implementation of programs that will put the lives of Filipinos within the realms of human dignity.

Our Employment Platform: Decent Work and sustainable livelihood

AKBAYAN places at the core of its development platform the goal of decent work and sustainable livelihood for all. By this we mean work that sustains life by satisfying human needs and provides leisure as well. It is work that presupposes the absence of any type of discrimination, and results in positive and creative contribution to society and to the development of the country.

To strengthen this program further, AKBAYAN has embarked on in-depth study of how current macro, monetary, fiscal, trade and other policies have hurt employment rather than helped it, to identify the policy shifts and reversals that are needed in order to have a coherent and comprehensive development framework centered on full employment.

AKBAYAN emphasizes several key components of its sustainable livelihood program: complete agrarian reform; the promotion of exports and local economies, regional integration; the development of market-labor regulations that strengthen labor standards rather than dismantle them; emphasis on social dialogue to develop effective responses to the challenges of globalization; the creation of counter-cyclical jobs.

(Download our platform on decent work and sustainable livelihood )

Our Platform on Education: Education for All

For AKBAYAN, education is a life-long progression towards the realization of full human development, the deepening of social consciousness and the generation of responsible, critical, and dynamic citizens, that should aim to provide for social and economic mobility towards promoting both individual and national development.


AKBAYAN thereby anchors its platform for education reform on three principles, namely: 1) Education is a basic human right; 2) Education is a social service; and 3) Education is a tool for national development.

(Download our Education platform )

Our Health Platform: Health is a Right

In the 2000 World Health Organization’s Health Development Report, the Philippines ranked 126th out of 191 countries in terms of over-all level of health. In an era of astonishing complex medical and technological advancement, and in a country known for its excellent nurses and doctors, its failure in terms of healthcare is a paradox that AKBAYAN believes is best explained by the dominance of a market-oriented framework in governance and human development.

AKBAYAN asserts that public health is not a question of market imperatives or trade, where profit dictates over human development and social equity. Our agenda is to put public health back in realm of basic rights and human dignity. The right to health, for AKBAYAN, is as inalienable as the right to life.

AKBAYAN’s thrust in healthcare will therefore focus on the following areas: overhauling the neoliberal framework in Philippine healthcare system and pushing for greater State responsibility; addressing flaws in the devolution of health service; and attending to a myriad of issues, such as labor migration policies, population growth and the well-being of mothers and children, access to essential medicines, prevention through effective community-based and primary health care, reproductive health, corruption and patronage in healthcare, and patient’s rights.

(Download our Health platform )


Other platforms:

Peace and security

Agrarian reform

Fighting corruption

Housing for all