Reforms along with impeachment—Partido Manggagawa

The House of Representatives, by an overwhelming vote of 255, has impeached Vice President Sara Duterte. For the second time, the Senate is obligated to convene as an impeachment court and place the impeached official on trial. Walang lusot dito—sino mang liderato man ang maupo sa Senado.

But if the recent Senate coup was engineered precisely to delay or derail this process, including shielding political allies from accountability such as the ICC issue, then it only exposes a deeper institutional crisis. Lalabas na hindi lamang si Sara Duterte ang dapat sumailalim sa paglilitis—kailangan din ng Senado na maglinis ng sarili. An institution that evades accountability loses the moral authority to judge others.

The same challenge applies to the House of Representatives. Hindi dapat matapos sa impeachment ang usapin ng pananagutan. Kung seryoso ang Kamara sa “self-cleansing,” kailangan nitong ipasa ang Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, ang mga nakabinbing P200 wage hike bill, at ang abolition of provincial wage rates na matagal nang nagpapahirap sa manggagawa. At marami pang ibang mahalagang social legislation.

Sayang ang impeachment kung hindi matutuloy at kung walang kasabay na reporma.

Accountability without structural change risks becoming mere spectacle.

Ang tunay na paglilinis ng gobyerno ay hindi lang pagpapanagot sa indibidwal na opisyal kundi pagwawasto din sa mga problemang istruktural katulad ng dinastiya, katiwalian, at anti-poor policies.

MEDIA STATEMENT

Partido Manggagawa

Prices surge, but wages remain frozen

Partido Manggagawa (PM) criticized the government’s inaction on workers’ demand for a wage increase amid the spike in inflation to 7.2% this April from 4.1% in March.

 

“Prices of goods have been jumping sharply. But while BBM may have jumped to show he is physically fit, in reality the President is paralyzed when it comes to pushing for wage increases for workers,” said Renato Magtubo, PM Chairperson.

 

According to Magtubo, the surge in inflation this April will further worsen the erosion of the current minimum wage. The ₱695 minimum wage in the NCR has already lost ₱156 in value in the past month.

 

“Workers are already war-shocked by price hikes and bill shock. But even more shocking is the inaction of Malacañang and Congress on wage increases. There is a state of emergency, but the response is anything but urgent,” Magtubo added.

 

It can be recalled that workers gained no wage increase despite the widespread protests during the recent Labor Day.

 

PM reiterated its call for a ₱200 wage hike and for lowering prices by removing regressive taxes such as VAT on critical goods like oil and electricity.

-------------------------------

 

Hataw ang presyo pero sweldo walang galaw

 

Binatikos ng Partido Manggagawa (PM) ang kawalang aksyon ng pamahalaan sa kahilingan ng manggagawa sa dagdag-sweldo sa harap ng pagsirit ng inflation rate paakyat sa 7.2% ngayong Abril mula sa 4.1% noong Marso. 

 

“Naglundagan na paitaas ang presyo ng bilihin. Pero kung nakisabay lumundag si BBM para ipakitang healthy ang pangangatawan, sa realidad ay paralisado ang Pangulo sa pagtulak na dagdagan ang sweldo ng mga manggagawa,” pahayag ni Renato Magtubo, Tagapagulo ng PM. 

 

Ayon kay Magtubo, ang pagsirit ng implasyon ngayon Abril ay lalo lang magpapalaki sa wage erosion ng kasalukuyang minimum wage. Ang P695 na minimum wage dito sa NCR ay nabawasan na ng P156 sa nakaraang buwan. 

 

“Na-warshock na ang manggagawa ang price hikes at bill shock. Pero mas shocking ang kawalang aksyon ng Palasyo at Kongreso sa wage hike. May state of emergency pero hindi naman emergency ang kilos,” ani Magtubo.

 

Matatandaang walang napalang umento ang manggagawa sa kabila ng malawakang protesta sa nagdaang Mayo Uno. 

 

Muling iginiit ng PM ang panawagang P200 wage hike at pagpababa sa presyo sa pamamagitan ng pagtanggal ng regressive taxes tulad ng VAT sa kritikal na produkto tulad ng langis at kuryente.

PRESS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa

Workers are the ones subsidizing government and business—Partido Manggagawa

 

“Workers are the ones providing subsidies to both government and business, yet we are the last ones to receive benefits and services,” stated Partido Manggagawa (PM) on the eve of Labor Day, countering the prevailing narrative that it is the government that subsidizes the poor.

 

“There are various forms of limited and patronage-based assistance, but the funds for these ultimately come from workers themselves. Even corporate profit, after taxes, is derived from labor. Everything comes from workers, yet BBM’s response to us this Labor Day is silence—we are being ghosted,” protested PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

 

Magtubo further explained that, as consumers, millions of workers pay regressive taxes such as excise taxes and value-added tax (VAT) multiple times on the goods and services they purchase. As metered customers of Meralco and other distribution utilities, they effectively subsidize the electricity bills of poorer households. As income earners, they pay personal income taxes once they exceed the exemption threshold. And as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), they remit billions of dollars to support their families’ consumption.

 

Labor groups are demanding a ₱200 wage increase and the enactment of a national minimum wage law. However, Malacañang and business groups continue to uphold a policy of wage restraint despite a ₱155 erosion in the real value of the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR).

 

PM, under the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, will join the National Wage Coalition in a unified WELGA march tomorrow morning, beginning at Welcome Rotonda and España Boulevard and proceeding to Mendiola. WELGA stands for: Wage Hike Now Toward a National Living Wage; Eliminate E-VAT and Review Income Tax; Impose Taxes on Excess Wealth and Profits; Make Prices Affordable; and Arrest All Corrupt Officials.

 

The Labor Day protests are nationwide. In Cebu, around 1,000 members of PM and SENTRO will assemble at 8:00 a.m. at Sto. Rosario Church before proceeding to Metro Gaisano on Colon Street. The group will then join other labor organizations for a joint program at Fuente Osmeña at approximately 10:00 a.m. In Bacolod, the PM chapter will hold an indoor assembly from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., followed by a march along San Juan Street corner Gonzaga Street, and then proceed to Bacolod Plaza for a joint program with other workers’ groups. In Iloilo, PM will join United Labor in a march starting from the flyover in front of UP Visayas at 3:00 p.m., proceeding to the Iloilo Provincial Capitol for a program lasting until 5:00 p.m.

 

PM is also advancing an anti-war position, asserting that the United States–Israel alliance must be held accountable for its war of aggression against Iran and its impact on the global economy. Meanwhile, on the issue of corruption, PM Secretary General Judy Miranda emphasized that the struggle for good governance remains integral to labor’s advocacy, alongside urgent economic concerns such as wages and employment.

 

“All corrupt officials must be jailed, whether from the Duterte camp or the Marcos camp. Sure, bring down Sara—but also bring down the prices of basic goods,” Miranda stated.

PRESS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa

May 1, 2026

MEPZ mass layoff spurs demand for improved TUPAD

 

From Cebu Toyo Corporation website

According to the group Partido Manggagawa (PM), some 230 workers of Cebu Toyo Corporation have been put on indefinite forced leave as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran. PM is calling for an improved public employment program to assist the laid off workers in transitioning to new and better jobs.

 

“Unfortunately, we fear that the indefinite forced leave is a step towards eventual retrenchment for the workers. Further, the mass layoff promises to be just the first wave of war-related terminations. Thus, the government needs to set up a job assistance program in dialogue with labor organizations,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the Cebu chapter of PM and also vice chair of the Regional 7 industrial tripartite peace council.

 

Cebu Toyo produces optical lenses for electronic products and is located in the Mactan Economic Zone 2 at Basak, Lapu-Lapu City. The indefinite forced leave was a response to supply chain disruptions due to the war in the Middle East, according to the management of Cebu Toyo.

 

PM is assisting the workers and is coordinating with the local office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for a dialogue with the affected workers. “This is a test case of the emergency powers granted to President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. With great power comes great responsibility. We demand an urgent response from the President’s alter ego in the DOLE,” Derige asserted.

 

PM has criticized the existing emergency employment program called TUPAD for being too limited and entangled in patronage politics. The group is calling for a new public employment program that is delinked from politicians and instead based on a national registry of legitimate beneficiaries. Moreover, it is calling for 100 days of paid work not the usual 10 days. Finally, PM wants to prioritize climate jobs instead of the street sweeping that TUPAD currently implements.

 

Derige also called on the regional wage board to fast track the P100 wage petition filed by unions. Derige argued that “The unprecedented emergency powers granted to President Marcos, Jr. is already enough evidence of a supervening event that necessitates an immediate decision by the wage board.”

 

With Labor Day just more than a month away, PM is calling for an expanded ayuda program and an independent foreign policy aside from a P200 legislated wage hike and improved public employment program. “The Philippines should add its voice to the call of the Pope and other global actors for an end to the war and a new rules-based international order based on respect for sovereignty and development,” Derige insisted.

Press Release

April 14, 2026

 

Workers are the ones subsidizing government and business—Partido Manggagawa

 

“Workers are the ones providing subsidies to both government and business, yet we are the last ones to receive benefits and services,” stated Partido Manggagawa (PM) on the eve of Labor Day, countering the prevailing narrative that it is the government that subsidizes the poor.

 

“There are various forms of limited and patronage-based assistance, but the funds for these ultimately come from workers themselves. Even corporate profit, after taxes, is derived from labor. Everything comes from workers, yet BBM’s response to us this Labor Day is silence—we are being ghosted,” protested PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

 

Magtubo further explained that, as consumers, millions of workers pay regressive taxes such as excise taxes and value-added tax (VAT) multiple times on the goods and services they purchase. As metered customers of Meralco and other distribution utilities, they effectively subsidize the electricity bills of poorer households. As income earners, they pay personal income taxes once they exceed the exemption threshold. And as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), they remit billions of dollars to support their families’ consumption.

 

Labor groups are demanding a ₱200 wage increase and the enactment of a national minimum wage law. However, Malacañang and business groups continue to uphold a policy of wage restraint despite a ₱155 erosion in the real value of the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR).

 

PM, under the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, will join the National Wage Coalition in a unified WELGA march tomorrow morning, beginning at Welcome Rotonda and España Boulevard and proceeding to Mendiola. WELGA stands for: Wage Hike Now Toward a National Living Wage; Eliminate E-VAT and Review Income Tax; Impose Taxes on Excess Wealth and Profits; Make Prices Affordable; and Arrest All Corrupt Officials.

 

The Labor Day protests are nationwide. In Cebu, around 1,000 members of PM and SENTRO will assemble at 8:00 a.m. at Sto. Rosario Church before proceeding to Metro Gaisano on Colon Street. The group will then join other labor organizations for a joint program at Fuente Osmeña at approximately 10:00 a.m. In Bacolod, the PM chapter will hold an indoor assembly from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., followed by a march along San Juan Street corner Gonzaga Street, and then proceed to Bacolod Plaza for a joint program with other workers’ groups. In Iloilo, PM will join United Labor in a march starting from the flyover in front of UP Visayas at 3:00 p.m., proceeding to the Iloilo Provincial Capitol for a program lasting until 5:00 p.m.

 

PM is also advancing an anti-war position, asserting that the United States–Israel alliance must be held accountable for its war of aggression against Iran and its impact on the global economy. Meanwhile, on the issue of corruption, PM Secretary General Judy Miranda emphasized that the struggle for good governance remains integral to labor’s advocacy, alongside urgent economic concerns such as wages and employment.

 

“All corrupt officials must be jailed, whether from the Duterte camp or the Marcos camp. Remove Sara from office—but also bring down the prices of basic goods,” Miranda stated. 

 

PRESS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa

May 1, 2026

KORAPSYON AT DINASTIYA AY IISA: BAGUHIN ANG SISTEMA!

Ang korapsyon ay hindi lang isyung moral (kasakiman), o seasonal (panapanahon), kundi systemic. May sistemang nagsilang nito na nagresulta sa pamamayagpag ng political dynasty at normalisasyon ng patronage politics.

Mula imprastruktura hanggang ayuda, fingerprint ng mga korap na dinastiya ang makikita. Mula nasyunal hanggang lokal, makapangyarihang mga dinastiya ang naghahati sa kapangyarihan. Patunay ito na hindi pa nakakamit ng mga Pilipino ang tunay na demokrasya at kalayaang pinagbuwisan ng buhay nina Gat Andres Bonifacio at mga bayaning Katipunero.

May luma at bagong paraan ng pandarambong. Mula kolonyalismo, diktadura, at hilaw na demokrasya - ang kapangyarihan at yaman ng mga ilustrado, diktador, at modernong dinastiya – ay pareho lamang nakaw mula sa manggagawa at mamamayan.

Kung nagagawa ng mga korap na dinastiya na magnakaw ng trilyones sa kabang bayan, ito ay dahil pakiramdam nila, tulad din sila ng mga Kastila na kayang maghari ng 300 taon sa Pilipinas dahil pinapasa lang ang poder at kayamanan sa mga angkan, kapanalig, at kasabwat. Sa kulungan hind sa gobyerno ang tama nilang lugar.

Ang resulta: Korapsyon ang naging regular, habang manggagawa ay kontraktwal. Dagdag sahod ang pinigilan, habang pondo ng bayan ay bumaha sa bulsa ng mga korap.

Sapat na raw ang P500 para mairaos ng manggagawa ang noche Buena. Habang sa pamilya ng mga korap ay mansion, luxury cars, air assets, mamahaling alahas, ari-arian sa abroad, at male-maletang pera na pambili ng karangyaan at boto para mahalal at muling mahalal.

Ang sistemang ito ay dapat repormahin! Manggagawa ang gawing regular, hindi ang korapsyon! Legislated wage hike sa manggagawa, hindi legislated kickback sa mga korap!

Repormahin ang sistemang pampulitika. Dinastiya ang dapat ma-endo, hindi ang manggagawa! Isabatas ang totohanang anti-dynasty bill!

Totoong kalayaan at demokrasya, hindi dynasty forever! ###

 

Workers Demand Wage Hike and Push Labor Agenda for Labor Day

 

Amid economic hardship, workers demand higher wages, job security, and public services on Labor Day as political elites vie for power

 

·       Manila: Groups comprising National Wage Coalition will assemble along various points in España then march at 7:00 am to Mendiola for a joint program. PM and allied groups will assemble at Petron Blumentritt at 6:30 am

·       Cebu: Various labor groups will converge at Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City at 9:00 am for a joint program

·       Iloilo: The coalition United Labor will assemble in the morning in front of UP Visayas then march to the Provincial Capitol for a joint program

·       Iligan: Unions will hold a rally in the morning at the plaza with the city’s tripartite industrial peace council

 

As the nation approaches Labor Day, Filipino workers are amplifying their demands for higher wages, regular employment, and accessible public services amid worsening economic conditions. Recent surveys reveal the deepening crisis: over one in four Filipino families experience involuntary hunger—the highest rate since the pandemic—while more than half consider themselves poor, the worst in 21 years. 

 

These findings contradict the government’s rosy economic claims of low inflation and unemployment. The reality is stark: minimum wages remain below the poverty threshold, contractualization (endo) is rampant, and public services like PhilHealth are being gutted to fund political patronage. 

 

Workers’ Demands

 

Workers demand a legislated wage increase and reject the regional wage board system that keeps provincial rates pitifully low. The Senate has approved a ₱100 hike, while the House passed ₱200. President BBM must immediately endorse a legislated salary increase.

·       Nationwide wage hike, not provincial rates

·       Regular jobs, not precarious endo contracts

·       Fully funded public services as a right, not subject to patronage

·       Respect for labor rights, including unionization and collective bargaining

 

Labor Day must spotlight the independent voice of the working class, whose agenda—higher pay, job security, affordable prices, and public services—are initial steps towards a lasting solution to mass suffering. 

 

Political Hypocrisy vs. Workers’ Unity

 

While political dynasties like the Marcoses and Dutertes battle for power and loot public coffers, workers face hunger and exploitation.

 

Enough of elite theatrics—Labor Day must unite workers across factions, regions, and generations behind a shared platform. 

 

On Labor Day, labor groups will be rallying together despite electoral divides, prioritizing workers’ demands over partisan loyalties. 

 

PM urges workers in key cities nationwide to join the Labor Day mobilizations to press for P200 wage hike, regular jobs, quality public services, and affordable prices for basic goods and services.

Partido Manggagawa

April 27, 2025

2024 in Review: Philippine workers caught between economic difficulties and political intramurals [EXPANDED VERSION]

Last year, workers in Philippines faced severe challenges in their wages, benefits and working conditions as they were caught in the vise of economic difficulties brought about by the cost-of-living crisis and escalating intramurals between the two leading political dynasties[1] in the country.

 

Demands for wage adjustment

 

While the average inflation of 3.2% in 2024 was almost half compared to 2023, it continued to erode the purchasing power of wages. Relatively higher food prices also disproportionately hurt minimum wage earners and informal workers with 4.3% inflation for the bottom 30% of the income households. Thus, the demand for another round of minimum wage increases in 2024 was a recurring theme for organized labor. The campaign for a wage hike was two-pronged with wage bills for a PhP 150 (USD 2.58) increase filed in parliament and at the regional wage boards[2].

 

The Senate[3] approved a P100 (USD 1.72) increase in the minimum wage in February 2024. This advance was a result of organized labor successfully leveraging the rift between the upper and lower houses of parliament over the latest move to amend the Constitution. The Senate stood pat against charter change and instead enacted the salary increase. However, the reverse was the case in the House of Representatives[4]. Despite conducting hearings on pending wage hike bills, the House Labor Committee sat on the proposal and basically killed it. In contrast with this inaction on the workers’ demand for a wage adjustment, the House of Representatives was fast and furious with parliamentary hearings on the drug war and extra-judicial killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and the investigation on the controversial budget of the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte and the Department of Education during her tenure.

 

The year ended with no legislated wage hike but with wage orders for several regions. Notwithstanding the wage orders, minimum wages in all the regions—including those which increased—remained below the official poverty line. Even though the threshold was assailed for being too low—as the controversy over the official daily food budget revealed. With the wage boards perpetuating a system of poverty wages, calls for the abolition of the regionalized wage mechanism became popular.

 

Fight over public health insurance

 

On another front, organized labor and civil society allies fought a defensive war to keep the funds of Philhealth—the public health insurance system—devoted to improving benefits services to members and providing services for indigents as mandated by the Universal Health Care law. PhP 60 billion (USD 1.03 billion) of Philhealth’s funds were transferred by President Bong Bong Marcos Jr. to fund unprogrammed items in the national budget before the Supreme Court in October stopped the last tranche of PhP 29.9 billion (USD 0.51 billion). The Nagkaisa (United) labor coalition was an intervenor in the Supreme Court case to oppose the transfer of PhP 90 billion (USD 1.55 billion) of Philhealth funds to the National Treasury.

 

Another battle erupted in December when the Congressional bicameral conference committee removed the subsidy for Philhealth along with cuts in other social services. The labor coalition Nagkaisa led protests in key cities, including a major rally in the capital, to call for the restoration of the Philhealth subsidy and social services budget. But President Marcos Jr. did not heed the popular clamor as he signed the national budget by year end with the much-assailed budget insertions for political patronage funds kept intact. Among these was PhP 26 billion (USD 0.45 billion) in unprogrammed budget items which has been criticized as funding for electoral patronage and tagged as the brainchild of House Speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez. This means that formal and informal workers will now have to beg politicians for assistance for medical and other emergencies instead of getting health insurance as a right. As if on cue, the election commission allowed the distribution of patronage projects even during the midterm elections this year—breaking with the long-established rule of prohibiting the disbursement of public money during the campaign period since such is easily exploited as a means for vote buying.

 

Prospects for the year

 

The start of the year greets workers with a higher social security contribution of 5% to be deducted from their wages. This will result in lower take-home pay for private sector laborers. To keep the social security system afloat while easing the burden on workers, the government should subsidize the employee share. This is a tough ask as the Marcos Jr. administration would rather have workers and the poor solicit patronage from politicians. This promises to be another plank of organized labor’s demand for quality public services and universal social protection.

 

Even as demands for higher pay, lower prices, more jobs and decent work remain very popular issues during the election period, prospects are bleak that the polls will result in positive outcomes for workers given that political dynasties—which are evolving from fat to obese[5]—dominate the landscape. Workers have no allies either in the two main political dynasties—the Marcoses and the Dutertes—which will be fighting for supremacy in the coming May 2025 polls.

 

Continuing recent trends, many labor-based groups have been eased out of the party list system[6] as it has been swamped by electoral vehicles for politicians who cannot compete in district polls. The party list system has warped into just another pathway for members of obese dynasties to enter the House of Representatives through the backdoor.

 

Nonetheless, groups such as Partido Manggagawa (PM) are engaging with local candidates for the establishment of public laundromats and whole day childcare centers to ease the care burdens of employed and unemployed women. Along with such low-hanging fruits, PM also is campaigning for the passage of the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy bill in response to the crisis level of teenage mothers. Against the tide of sleek TV and FB ads of national candidates, PM is conducting information dissemination in working-class communities during the elections for what it calls “Apat na Dapat” (Four Demands): wage hike, regular jobs, social services and national sovereignty.

  

Workers will have to endure worse economic difficulties as political infighting heightens in 2025 and the remaining years of the Marcos Jr. administration. Nonetheless, this situation also motivates organized labor to engage with public outrage over wanton government corruption and dynastic political dominance. A big multi-sectoral rally this month promises to jumpstart a robust movement for good governance, in which workers’ demands should be embedded and integral.

 

By Judy Ann Miranda, Secretary General of Partido Manggagawa and a labor feminist.

---

[1] Political dynasties refer to influential families dominating elected positions of power

[2] Appointed bodies with the mandate to decide on minimum wage increases

[3] Upper house of parliament

[4] Lower house of parliament

[5] Social scientists have used the terms thin and fat as a typology for political dynasties

[6] Party list was an innovation in the Constitution to facilitate the election of underrepresented groups, like labor, to the House of Representatives

Duterte must be held accountable for drug war and labor-related killings

  

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that former President Rodrigo Duterte must be held accountable for the widespread killings that transpired under his administration. “Duterte must face the music for all the killings during his bloody regime, from drug war killings to the murder of labor leaders and activists,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina City councilor.

 

He added that “For all intents and purposes, Duterte admitted to his culpability for the drug war deaths in his testimony yesterday at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing. But we must also remember that the drug war extended into a war against human rights defenders. His violent rhetoric not just against drug addicts but also against human rights activists enabled the security forces and vested interests who consider labor and environmental rights defenders as enemies or terrorists. Justice must be served to the 68 victims of labor-related killings under Duterte.”

 

Labor groups put the number of labor leaders and activists killed at 68 from 2016 to the end of Duterte’s term. For 2024, the Philippines slipped in the Labour Rights Index compared to its 2022 score because of the lack of protection for freedom to unionize and bargain collectively. The Labour Rights Index is maintained by the WageIndicator Foundation and the Center for Labor Research based in Amsterdam.

 

“The Philippines got a zero score for Freedom of Association which is to be expected given the unsolved labor-related killings. The Human Rights Watch counted four more union leaders and activists killed under the current administration bringing the total to 72. Moreover, the recommendations of the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Mission in 2023 remain remain pending due to the government’s lack of social dialogue with workers’ groups,” Magtubo explained.

 

The High-Level Mission was the result of outrage at the brutal daylight murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña just a couple of days before the International Labour Conference of 2019. Sequeña’s killing remains unsolved despite a finding by the AO 35 national task force that it is labor-related. “Justice for Dennis Sequeña will partly be achieved if Duterte is punished for the thousands extra-judicial and labor-related killings under his administration,” Magtubo concluded.

October 29, 2024

“Gutom Na Pilipino” (GNP) persists despite economic growth

Photo from UCA News

“The phenomenon of Filipinos going hungry persists despite 30 years of economic growth. Sa mga komunidad, madami ang gutom na Pilipino o GNP. This is the GNP that we see is increasing,” according to Judy Miranda, secretary general of the group Partido Manggagawa (PM). This was PM ‘s reaction to the statement yesterday of Finance Undersecretary Domini Velasquez that poverty will be reduced to single digits by 2028.

 

Miranda asserted that “The government is able to brag about a low poverty incidence because it uses a depressed poverty threshold. Even Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan finds it difficult to defend the low poverty line that he promises a review of the unrealistic basket of goods used.”

 

“We ask Undersecretary Velasquez, what are the planned government interventions so that poverty is reduced to below 10% by the end of President Bongbong Marcos, Jr.’s administration? If this forecast is merely based on continued economic growth, this prediction is misguided as it assumes that everyone benefits from a rise in gross national product. GNP increases just means more gutom na Pilipino. Trickle-down economics is a scam. Di na magpapabudol ang manggagawa sa trickle-down.” Miranda explained.

 

She added that “Workers have certainly not benefited from the robust economic growth or GNP increases. Data provided by former Finance Undersecretary Karl Chua already revealed that the economy doubled from 2001 to 2016 and labor productivity increased by half yet real wages remained flat. Meaning, the size of the economic pie expanded but the slice taken by workers stayed the same. The capital-labor share of incomes is skewed against the working class.”

 

PM avers that Filipinos will not feel the predicted poverty reduction unless that are asset redistribution programs, targeted income transfers, and expansion of public services. “We reiterate our demand for a P150 legislated across-the-board salary increase, maternity benefits for informal women equivalent to 44 days of minimum wage, and provision of public laundromats in poor communities. These are concrete examples of actions that can reduce poverty, especially for women,” Miranda concluded.

August 18, 2024

May Day 2024 is “Coldest Labor Day” – Partido Manggagawa

 

Despite the scorching heat, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) labeled as “coldest Labor Day” this year's May Day celebration due to the government's icy reception to labor’s demand for a wage hike.

 

PM is part of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, which marched along España Boulevard in Manila alongside the National Wage Coalition, advocating for “Dagdag Sahod Isabatas, P150 Pataas” or the enactment of the proposed across-the-board wage hike of not less than P150.

 

Pending before the Lower House are the proposed P150 wage hike bill authored by TUCP Partylist Rep. and Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza, and the P750 bill filed by Makabayan block. Also filed was the P33,000/month entry level wage for public sector workers.

 

Despite the urgency of these demands, the Palace's response to workers' clamor for substantial wage hike has been cold, limited to repetitive job fairs, Kadiwa rollout, and disbursement of aid like TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers) programs.

 

Moreover, there has been a notable absence of dialogue between labor groups and the President to address workers' concerns.

 

"President Marcos has navigated nearly the entire globe, met with business, trade representatives and military attachés of allied nations for trade and war preparations, yet he has not engaged with worker representatives to discuss labor concerns two years in office," remarked PM Chairman Renato Magtubo.

 

However, Magtubo also noted that despite the lack of dialogue, essential actions could still be undertaken, such as certifying proposed wage increase bills currently pending in the Lower House.

 

Magtubo cautioned that the continuing absence and inaction on the part of the Executive will only worsen the plight of workers in the coming months due to the compounded effects of the ongoing climate crisis and the escalating prices of essential goods and services like food, electricity and water, exacerbated by flawed privatization and liberalization policies.

PRESS RELEASE

01 May 2024

Comelec's Suspension of PI Proceedings: Merely a Truce in an Escalating Power Struggle

 

In the midst of an intensifying power struggle between the competing dynasties of the UniTeam coalition, the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition views the recent suspension of the people's initiative (PI) proceedings by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as nothing more than a temporary truce.

 

The labor group stated this view while holding another picket outside the Senate Building on Tuesday, coinciding with the scheduled committee hearing on alleged irregularities in the PI process.

 

The Senate action was also part of Nagkaisa’s continuing campaign to press for the enactment of the P150 across-the-board wage hike, end to endo, and other economic measures to address the rising cost-of-living crisis, which for them requires immediate action from Congress and the Executive rather than to revising the Constitution at this point in time.

 

“Chicha hindi chacha ang kailangan ng mga manggagawa, lalong hindi ang pumili sa pagitan ng polvoron o fentanyl,” asserted Partido Manggagawa (PM) Secretary General Judy Miranda, as she dismissed claims about the benefits arising from constitutional amendments.

 

Josua Mata, Secretary General of Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), observed that the recent counter-rally in Davao on January 28 has further intensified the conflict between former allies within the UniTeam, and it looks like the war of dynasties has reached the point of no return.

 

“Hindi pa patay ang PI,” Mata insists, noting that the Comelec’s suspension of PI proceedings might only be a tactical move to buy more time for both sides to strategize.

 

Both Miranda and Mata emphasized the importance of exposing the political and economic motives behind the House-led push for charter change through PI, at the same time cautioning against allowing the anti-charter change narrative to be co-opted by the Duterte dynasty for their own political gain.

 

Addressing President Duterte's shifting stance on charter change, they remarked, "Duterte may attempt to rebrand himself as an opponent of charter change, but his track record speaks volumes about his true intentions."

 

They reminded the Senate that it was Duterte who vetoed the Security of Tenure bill passed by Congress, failed to fulfill his promise of abolishing the provincial rate system in wage setting, and destroyed unions through red tagging during his term, “therefore making him a sham ambassador of the anti-chacha campaign that he wants to elevate into a war against Bongbong Marcos and Martin Romualdez.”

 

In conclusion Nagkaisa! urged the Senate to prioritize pressing issues such as the proposed P150 wage hike and highlights the importance of distinguishing authentic agenda to improve the lives of workers from the personal and partisan political interests of the warring political dynasties.

PRESS RELEASE

Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition

30 January 2024

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/pfbid02dqzW4Fnf2aN9Fw5K2XA1vdr3ZD82TkLX2tCSU3vYSULEMscQU5WYVxfsoYNVXC7zl

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Urges Gov't to Take Bold Steps to Address Workers' Issues

Photo from PhilStar

The largest labor coalition in the country is calling on the Marcos administration to take concrete actions to address the issues and concerns of workers, as the country is among the 24 shortlisted countries for examination during the upcoming International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva in June. This comes as the Philippines marks its 75th year of membership in the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition highlights that the Philippines is included in the long list of ILO Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) due to 69 reported killings of trade union leaders and organizers, and about 400 other violations of Convention 87.

Nagkaisa holds that the lack of representation from workers and employers in the current Executive Order 23 (EO23) signed by President Bongbong Marcos also contributed to the Philippines' inclusion in the list.

While it is a positive step forward, the current EO23 fails to address the significant problem that workers face in exercising their freedom to form unions or associations. To address this issue, the coalition proposes its amendments to transform it into a tripartite commission, consisting of representatives from the government and representatives from workers’ and employers’ groups in accordance with the principle of "tripartism and social dialogue" of ILO Convention 144 and the principles of "shared responsibility" and "participation in decision-making' under the Constitution and the Labor Code. This body would serve as the primary mechanism for addressing worker issues and seeking justice for the countless victims of violations of Freedom of Association (FOA) and Trade Union (TU) rights.

Trade unions heard Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma on his call to proposed solutions or positive actions. Thus, Nagkaisa urges him to schedule a meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for trade union leaders to present personally the proposed amendments to the EO and other suggestions in order to improve the situation of workers and hold those accountable for violations of FOA and TU rights.

The coalition emphasizes that unless the government takes substantial steps to demonstrate its intention to heed the recommendations of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) beyond the issuance of  EO23, the country will undoubtedly face scrutiny by the ILO.

It is time for the government to act and demonstrate its dedication to upholding the principles of decent work and social justice for all. 

PRESS RELEASE
May 7, 2023
Nagkaisa

Laguesma wants the accused to be the judge

Photo from Pag-ibig

 

                                                                                                             

The militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma’s rationale for excluding workers’ representatives in the newly created Inter-Agency Committee for the Protection of the Freedom of Association and Right to Organize of Workers.

 

“Secretary Laguesma wants the accused to be the judge in labor rights cases. If we follow Laguesma’s faulty logic that complainants cannot be the judge then more so the accused. Laguesma’s logic betrays his class war framework that pays lip service to social dialogue principles. The demand that workers’ representatives sit in the Inter-Agency Committee is aligned with the normative tenet of tripartism in resolving labor cases and disputes,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

On the eve of Labor Day, an Executive Order signed by President Bongbong Marcos created the Inter-Agency Committee with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin as chair, Laguesma as vice chair and includes other government agencies but excludes trade unions and employers’ groups. The security sector, specifically the Department of National Defense, National Security Council and the Philippine National Police, sits in the Inter-Agency Committee.

 

“Security forces are the usual respondents, along with several employers, in the 380 cases involving killings, abductions, arrests, harassments and red-tagging of unionists detailed in the report of the workers to the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Tripartite Mission (ILO HLTM) last January,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He added that “Laguesma’s slip is showing. What can workers expect from a Labor Secretary that makes lame excuses for banning trade unions? This behavior may be expected of the government’s security forces but cannot be the attitude of a Labor Secretary.”

 

The creation of the Inter-Agency Committee was the government response to the ILO HLTM recommendations. The annual ILO conference next month will consider if the Philippine government had adequately responded to the recommendations.

 

Magtubo insisted that “We ask the government to heed fully the ILO HLTM recommendations, especially for a Presidential Commission that includes workers’ representatives. The clock is ticking as the ILO annual conference is due to open in a month’s time.”

 

Some 10,000 workers in last Monday’s huge Labor Day rally in Manila and similar labor unity protests in other cities called for respect for the right to unionize along with demands for a wage hike and an end to contractualization. 

Press Release

May 4, 2023

“Chi-cha not cha-cha” top nationwide Labor Day calls

Kababaihang manggagawa nanguna sa hiling na P100 dagdag-sahod 

 

Demands for a salary hike and ayuda for the poor instead of changing the Constitution were among the workers’ issues highlighted in the nationwide protests today. “We endured the heat of marching under the sun because the burning issue of low wages and high prices is a priority concern. Chi-cha not cha-cha,” declared Rene Magtubo, national chair of the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and a city councilor in Marikina, in reference to an urgent response to the economic crisis instead of politicians tinkering with charter change.

 

PM also lambasted a newly drafted Executive Order (EO) creating an inter-agency committee on labor rights. The group argued that the EO falls short of the recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) high-level tripartite mission (HLTM) for the President to personally direct the committee and was crafted without dialogue with workers and employers. “Where is the President? The fact that President Bongbong Marcos is abroad today mirrors his absence in the inter-agency committee and reveals his utter disregard for improving the rights and welfare of workers,” Magtubo stated.

 

PM members assembled at 7:00 am at the Petron Blumentritt along Espana in Manila before marching towards Mendiola. The main Labor Day mobilization in Manila was led by the coalition All Philippine Trade Unions which brings together the groups Nagkaisa, Trade Union Center of the Philippines, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). Similar rallies were held in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iligan, General Santos, Cotabato and Tagum.

 

“Sahod, Trabaho, Karapatan” was the theme of the nationwide protests. “We call for a P100 minimum wage hike to recover the lost purchasing power of workers. Also, we demand an end to endo and the return of regular employment as the norm. Finally, we ask the government to heed the ILO HLTM proposals on protecting labor rights in the country,” Magtubo explained.

 

In Metro Cebu, PM assembled at the Plaza Independencia at 8:00 am before marching to Metro Gaisano in Colon for the joint rally of the coalition Sugbuanong Mamumuo Nagkahiusa Alang sa Living Wage (SANA AL). Some 1,000 workers marched for the demand for wage hike and regular jobs. The highlight of the protest was the destruction of a makeshift statue of Sen. Robin Padilla by a giant hammer (maso) to symbolize the workers’ fight against cha-cha.

 

In Iloilo City, the coalition United Labor led the march of some 1,500 workers at 2:30 pm to the Capitol grounds. The unions at Pepsi, Coke, URC and Iloilo Doctors were among the participants together with a contingent from the Iloilo Grab Riders Union (IGRU). The IGRU is the first union established among Grab riders in the country.

 

In Bacolod, some 3,000 workers joined the United Labor of Negros rally at the city Public Plaza. Sugar workers trooped to Bacolod City for the Labor Day protest of the groups PM, KMU, NACUSIP, BMP, CAILO, BUNYOG and BACOD. Unrest is brewing among sugar workers due to the early onset of tiempo muerto (dead season) as a result of the sugar crisis.

 

In Iligan, the Federation of Democratic Labor Organizations (FDLO) led the Labor Day march around the city which ended at the city plaza. PM, Mindanow, and other civil society organizations joined the FDLO rally. 

Press Release

May 1, 2023