Bato hit for indifference to 11K ABS-CBN workers

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today slammed Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa for his indifference to the predicament of some 11,000 workers of ABS-CBN who will be affected by a shutdown of the network.

“Wag pagmatigasan ni Bato ang mga manggagawa ng ABS-CBN. If Senator Bato is does not care about 11,000 ABS-CBN workers losing their jobs then he also does not care about the Filipino people. The plight of 11,000 ABS-CBN workers are a microcosm of the the conditions of some 26 million wage and salary workers in the country who together with their families definitely comprise a majority of the Filipino people,” argued Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

On Monday, PM and other groups like Kalipunan and I-Defend are mobilizing to call for resistance to the repression of democratic rights and defense of freedoms such as a critical press and the right to unionize. Unions are being red-tagged and strikes are being dispersed around the country, the group observed.

Magtubo made this remark in answer to Senator dela Rosa’s contention that the interests of the Filipino people trump concern over the livelihood of the ABS-CBN workers. He added that “It is obvious that the threat to shutdown ABS-CBN is rooted in President Duterte’s personal grudge and does not have anything to do with the national interest. Bato himself said that he lives or dies with President Duterte so his loyalty is just to one person not the entire nation.”

“Higher wages and better working conditions for ABS-CBN workers and the regularization of some 10,000 so-called talents in the network are the same popular demands of Filipino workers. Survey after survey reveal that regular jobs and decent wages are desired by the Filipino people,” Magtubo explained.

The group joined the clamor against the threat to shutdown ABS-CBN. “Stop the threat to end the franchise of ABS-CBN but the company must also stop endo among its workers,” demanded Magtubo.

The group called on regular and contractual ABS-CBN workers to forge an alliance and for the talents to organize so that they have voice and representation. “Neither the Lopezes nor Duterte, or his lackeys like Bato, can be relied upon to treat ABS-CBN workers fairly. Whatever happens to ABS-CBN, the workers are protected if they are united and organized,” stated Magtubo.

February 19, 2020

State of human rights in the country regressing further – labor group

The state of human rights in the country continues to regress under the Duterte administration, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement sent to media on the International Human Rights Day. The group joined the march by members of human rights community led by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and i-DEFEND in Quezon City. 

“Extra-judicial killings remain unchecked while harassments and actual assaults against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the trade union and other people’s organizations escalated in recent months,” said PM Secretary General Judy Miranda. 

These assaults, Miranda noted, include red-tagging, misogyny, arrest and detentions, including unsolved killings of HRDs working for trade union rights and protection of the environment. 

Last June, trade union leader Dennis Sequeña of PM Cavite was gunned down while doing lecture on basic trade union rights for EPZA workers. This incident, including other cases of trade union killings and violations, prompted the International Labor Organization (ILO) to send a high level mission to the Philippines to investigate the state of trade union repression in the country. That mission, however, is yet to be acknowledged and allowed entry by the government. 

But for the group, the biggest threat to human rights in the country is the counter-narrative being peddled against its very concept and principles by no less than the President who keeps on vilifying the HRDs as bad guys working with society’s criminal elements. 

“It’s very similar to having a company CEO who keeps on telling his workers that labor rights are bad. That mindset justifies all repressive actions while creating fear among workers that having a job is better than enjoying labor rights,” concluded Miranda.

10 December 2019

Workers will continue fighting for democracy and human rights

Authoritarianism and liberal democracy are two distinct form of governance, yet workers under both circumstances suffer different degrees of human rights violations. Democracy and human rights, in other words, are permanent demands and agenda that workers will be fighting for in either condition of elite governance. 

We remember how workers and their trade unions were supressed during the dark days of martial law, 47 years ago today. But it is also important to recall the resistance and heroism the workers’ movement played during those turbulent years until the end of the Marcos dictatorship. Then the struggles that never stopped even under the post-martial law/post-Edsa regimes. 

Today, therefore, is also a good day to ask: When will workers stop fighting for those agenda?  

Workers did fight before because democracy was lacking and state violence was an everyday bill. We fight today because democracy was still wanting while chronic poverty and inequality remain. 

Accordingly, workers will be fighting any plan by the administration to bring back martial law or re-establish dictatorship, alongside with the campaigns for job security, living wage, freedom of association, and deeper political reforms. And we are aware of the fact that winning these agenda is more difficult under the Duterte regime where the struggle for labor and human rights are taken as rebellion initiated by state enemies. 

There are reasons to worry about the dangers faced by human rights defenders (HRDs) in this country today, including those who are involved in trade union organizing. Several trade union organizers have already been killed in EJK manner of executions. There is also an on-going red-tagging of unions being undertaken by the military nationwide, most especially in hot spot areas like EPZA’s and mining communities. Several picket lines have also been dispersed violently by combined private and state security forces in the last three years.   

Today we join the human rights community led by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and In Defense of Human Rights (I-Defend) in demanding #StopTheAssault against HRDs and the Filipino people. 

We condemn, in strongest terms, acts of state violence in the same way as we reject and demand the scrapping of official policies like red-tagging of trade unions and other HRDs working for the realization of a life of dignity and human rights for all.

21 September 2019