Abaya is incompetent and PNoy’s PPP is committing the same sin – Partido Manggagawa

Photo Credit: Politiko/Pinoy Movie Blogger

The Aquino administration cannot hide the incompetence of DOTC Sec. Joseph Emilio Abaya by conveniently referring to the original sins of the Ramos administration, the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

 

The group said that while it completely agrees with the ‘original sin’ line of the Liberal Party (LP) in identifying the main problem besetting the MRT system, the administration is likewise guilty of repeating the same mistake by lining all the rehabilitation, maintenance, and expansion programs for MRT/LRT systems under PPP (Public-Private Partnership), which is but another name for the Ramos-era BOT (Build-Operate Transfer) scheme.

 

“LP should not point an accusing finger to other sinners when what it can only offer to our people is the same menu placed in separate tables,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

 

Fortaleza said LP stalwart Edgar Erice was right in describing the MRT-3 contract as ‘highway robbery’ yet he avoided to explain why the ‘tuwid na daan’ failed to apprehend the robbers.

 

“Erice is also correct in considering the option of expropriation to finally eliminate the resistance of the MRTC consortium, yet his DOTC secretary wasted six years on cherry-picking who among his choice concessionaires would replace the Sobrepenas and the former supply and maintenance provider,” said Fortaleza.

 

Fortaleza added that for the last six years, the Aquino administration pursued not the track of expropriation but of privatization, first by gradually removing the subsidy through fare increase, and second, by lining all MRT/LRT maintenance and expansion projects to PPP concessions. 

 

“This PPP scheme, which is no different from BOT, caused the delay of the much needed rehabilitation of the MRT system, the expansion of LRT 1 to Cavite and the construction of MRT 7 from North QC to Fairview and Bulacan.  Abaya even failed to connect LRT 1 and MRT 3 simply because the Ayala and Henry Sy fight over the common station,” lamented Fortaleza.

 

As to Abaya who faces other pressing problems in the transport and communications industry, the labor group said that with no action coming from PNoy, they can leave his fate to Heneral Luna since the problem with our current mass transport system is larger than the secretary’s head.

 

PM partylist is calling for quality public services in its electoral platform, and its components include the development of safe, clean and affordable mass transport system.  And to be able to do it, the program needs huge amount of public investment and subsidy, not the abdication of state responsibility.

08 January 2016

Workers’ march at Ayala calls on pols to address wages & jobs

Press Release

October 7, 2015

Several hundred workers from labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa are marching this afternoon along Ayala Ave. to dramatize the call for job security and a living wage as their way of commemorating World Decent Work Day. The marchers will assemble at the Makati Fire Station at 3:00 pm and then will march by 4:00 pm around the country’s premier business district.

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is challenging politicians to spell out platforms addressing voters’ urgent concerns on the erosion of wages due to inflation and the generation of regular jobs.

“Everyday we see candidates declaring their intent to run but we hardly hear their platform for workers and the poor. Para lumawak ang tuwid na daan, manggagawa naman! Para walang maiiwan, manggagawa naman! Ang Makati, hindi lang dapat paraiso sa mga negosyante, manggagawa naman! We dare the national candidates to state what concrete steps they will do to resolve the problem of wages and jobs,” averred Rene Magtubo, PM chairperson.

 “Concretely, we are asking candidates to make a stand on the security of tenure bill meant to regulate the abusive practice of contractualization. And also their commitment to achieving a living wage through a combination of wage hikes, basic goods discounts, tax exemptions and social security subsidies,” Magtubo clarified.

For this year, the World Decent Work Day has a theme of “End Corporate Greed.” The call for decent work is given a local flavor by a recent survey that reveals the most pressing issues of Filipino voters are inflation, wages and employment.

“What is the use of economic growth if wages are frozen, and jobs are not enough and contractual in status? Para sa totoong pag-unlad, manggagawa naman! Handa ba ang mga kandidato na salubungin ang Apat na Dapat?,” Magtubo argued.

He listed the Apat na Dapat as “1. Mababang presyo, 2. Sapat na sweldo, 3. Regular na trabaho,  at 4. Matinong serbisyo publiko.”

“In PAL, more than 5,500 workers have been retrenched in a series of mass layoffs since 1998 and they were all replaced by agency contractuals in a brutal outsourcing scheme meant to bust unions. Yesterday contractuals, called talents, in GMA-7 won their regularization case. This followed a similar move in 2010 by ABS-CBN talents for recognition as regular workers. From malls to factories to offices, contractuals are supplanting regulars. So we ask the candidates, ok ba silang endo pa more?,” Magtubo ended.

Labor group challenges business sector to speak on Kentex tragedy

Press Release

May 21, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today challenged the business sector to speak on the fire at Kentex Manufacturing Corp. that killed at least 72 people, almost all of whom were factory workers and many of whom were women.

“Compared to the prominent role of employers in support of the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law, they are noticeably absent in the calls for justice and reform in the wake of the tragic Kentex fire. Would Jaime Zobel de Ayala and Manny Pangilinan link up arms with labor leaders to call for jailing the immoral owners of Kentx and the criminalization of workplace safety violations?,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

Yesterday, PM together with labor groups affiliated to the coalition Nagkaisa! trooped to the Kentex factory to hold a site inspection and spray paint the gutted factory and nearby establishment with the message “Sweatshop ito: NAKAMAMATAY!” The action was part of PM’s campaign to seek justice for the Kentex workers and demand labor reforms.

“Employer groups have been deafeningly silent on Kentex in contrast to their noisy opposition to wage hike demands. We dare them to denounce Kentex for its violations of workplace safety and labor standards. We call on them to support calls for criminalization of breach of occupational safety and health,” Miranda argued.

She noted that the recent statement by Employer Confederation of the Philippines that it does not condone labor law violations and it supports penalizing Kentex if found guilty is “too little, too late given the concrete facts that have been uncovered about the sweatshop conditions at the factory.”

PM is demanding that business groups spell out detailed mechanisms for self-regulation among it employer members to ensure compliance with labor rights and standards.

Miranda explained that “Even big companies and multinational corporations, which are generally compliant with the minimum standards set by law, benefit from sweatshop labor because small companies are subcontractors in their supply chains. For example, global garment brands even employ homeworkers toiling under the exploitative piece rate system not as direct employees but as laborers in layers upon layers of subcontracting arrangements. No wonder the business sector is quiet and absent in the outrage over Kentex since the capitalist class benefit as a whole from sweatshop labor.”

Bacoor urban poor rally against demolition threat

Press Release

April 8, 2015

Some 100 members of four urban poor groups based in Brgy. Longos, Bacoor, Cavite held a protest rally yesterday against the threat of demolitions due to private and public projects in their communities. The militant Partido Manggagawa is supporting the urban poor fight for decent housing and livelihood.

Tonette Fajanilan, an urban poor leader and a Partido Manggagawa coordinator in Bacoor, said that “Inclusive growth should mean the right to affordable housing and the provision of social cost into the project cost of public development plans. We hope for a negotiated settlement to the threat of demolition so that there is no mis-encounter moreso a bloody war. We do not oppose social progress but we demand that social justice be integral to development.”

The urban poor marched from a nearby assembly point to the Bacoor municipal trial court (MTC). They picketed while an MTC hearing was held on the eviction case against 23 families living in a lot claimed by a brother of Bacoor Mayor Strike Revilla. The lot is near the proposed LRT depot and station in Bacoor.

The 23 families in the rally were joined by other Bacoor residents who are affected by the LRT project and the clean up of the Manila Bay that was ordered by the Supreme Court in a writ of mandamus. The Supreme Court on December 18, 2008, issued a writ of continuing mandamus directing 13 government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and eventually preserve Manila Bay within 10 years. Meanwhile the LRT extension line from Baclaran, Paranaque to Bacoor, Cavite has been awarded to an Ayala consortium.

“This is not just a fight for housing but also for livelihood. In our communities, we have not just built our simple homes but also our informal jobs. The problem of informal settlers is intertwined with the question of lack of jobs,” explained Fajanilan.

She added that “Our appeal for affordable housing and decent jobs is not much specially in comparison to the multibillion costs of development projects like the LRT extension and Manila Bay cleanup. We believe our fight is in line with the challenge of Pope Francis to reform the structures that perpetuate poverty and exclusion of the poor.”

Power crisis real, strategic but gov’t doing mere quick fix – labor coalition

NEWS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

28 November 2014

  

The emerging power crisis is a cruel outcome of a bad policy under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that cannot be resolved by the proposed emergency power President Aquino is seeking from Congress, the labor coalition Nagkaisa said in a statement.

The group said it is not common for ordinary workers to comment on techno-economic aspects of the power industry, but for this coming celebration of Bonifacio Day on November 30, labor will come out loud on this along with other big issues because the high cost of power in the country is making the lives of ordinary workers more miserable.

According to Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson for Partido Manggagawa (PM) and one of the convenors of Nagkaisa,  “this quick-fix solution via an emergency power to address a decade-old problems of escalating rates and diminishing supply reignited labor’s apprehension that once again, a power crisis is being transformed into business opportunity for the private sector.”

Fortaleza was referring to the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) and power contracting being pursued through a joint resolution in Congress that would grant the President emergency powers to address the expected power shortage in 2015. 

He said the ILP can be pursued by the Department of Energy (DoE) even without the President exercising emergency powers because it is merely a demand-side management issue and not production of additional generating capacity as required under Section 71 of EPIRA.  

"Likewise, the foreign and privately-operated National Grid Corporation must first be made to account for its primary responsibility to secure reliable supply, including sufficient reserve capacities,"argued Fortaleza.

The group explained that the ILP is a mode for utilizing standby power or embedded generating capacity available in several establishments such as malls and commercial buildings. During shortage, their utilization means an x amount of freed megawatt capacity that can be supplied by Meralco to other users. 

Fortaleza, however, said that for this alone an emergency power is not needed.  So why is Malacanang asking for it?  The group can only think of the following scenarios:

    §  Under the ILP enrollment is voluntary but enrollees will be compensated to incentivize their             participation

    §  But because there is no system currently in place to exactly determine the price  of compensation,             imposing a universal levy – an x amount per kWh to be charged to consumers take-or-pay  – is             the most likely scheme.

    §  Retail electricity suppliers (RES) who already posses contracted capacities under the open access             (but which they cannot supply to their contestable market because most of them are also ILP             players) will also be compensated.

     

     These, in effect, will result to rate increases.   But Fortaleza insists that a take-or-pay levy cannot be charged to consumers under ILP since embedded generation sets were designed or were practically built by industry players to address expected and non-expected outages.

“So why do we have to pay them for that temporary sacrifice?  And why will Henry Sy, John Gokongwei and Jaime Ayala charge an x amount per kWh from everyone, including non-mall users?”

The group argued further that the only valid excuse for utilizing emergency powers is when the government  goes back to generation, stop industry fraud, and makes a decisive shift to renewable energy and energy democracy.