Labor yearender: Workers haunted by endo, EJK’s in 2016

The broken promise of ending endo and the spillover of the war on drugs to trade unionists were the big issues that confronted workers in 2016. Still like the rest of Filipinos, workers bid goodbye to the bad news of 2016 and look forward to good tidings in 2017. A hope for the coming year is the forging of an alliance for real change between millennial students and militant workers.

The year seemed to augur well for workers as all the presidential candidates, in a widely televised debate during the election campaign, promised to stop the pernicious practice of contractualization. After his resounding victory, Rodrigo Duterte followed through on that pledge with pronouncements that endo will be abolished and directed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to ensure this policy shift.

The new DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello announced that a new department order on contractualization will be issued by the end of 2016 after tripartite consultations. Indeed three labor summits were even convened for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

However the new draft DOLE DO 30, to replace DO 18-A promulgated under President Benino Aquino III, has been universally condemned by the full spectrum of labor groups, from the moderate to the militant. DO 30 has been soundly rejected by organized labor as continuing rather than prohibiting outsourcing, subcontracting and other forms of contractualization. The ball in now in halls of Malacanang as the labor coalition Nagkaisa has called on DU30 to nix DO 30 and instead uphold his promise of ending endo.

Aside from the epic fail of DO 30, another bitter disappointment for workers was the government’s lack of success in resolving the outsourcing dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL). For months, the DOLE mediated meetings between PAL and the union PALEA on the issue of reinstating 600 employees who have bravely resisted endo at the flag carrier. Yet this December, the DOLE refused to order PAL to enforce a settlement agreement that provides for the re-employment of the PALEA 600. Bello’s DOLE did a Pontius Pilate and ordered that the courts should instead resolve the PAL-PALEA dispute.

Meanwhile, as many have feared, the bloody war on drugs finally caught up with ranks of organized labor. In the single month of September, two labor leaders were ambushed vigilante style, six farmers killed and a union officer arrested by police on trumped up drug charges. Just days apart, PM-Cebu leader Orlando Abangan was ambushed on his way home while former union president Edilberto Miralles was gunned down in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. In the heat of preparations for union certification elections, Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in Tarlac by police and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher. Calls for tripartite consultations and convening a task force on violent attacks on unionists fell on deaf ears.

Various labor groups have blamed the culture of impunity for the spillover of killings onto the ranks of unionists. The groups have called for a stop to the killings and the war on drugs itself. They also point out to the fact that the war on drugs has indiscriminately targeted the poor and unemployed, which comprise practically the 6,000 people killed so far.

So before the end of the year, increasingly disillusioned over the Duterte administration’s failed promise of ending endo, enacting social reforms like a living wage, and implementing the “change is coming” slogan, militant workers were ready to link up arms with millennial students who took the lead in spontaneous protests against the hero’s burial for the dictator Marcos.

Thus barely two weeks after the surprise interment of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, labor’s traditional Bonifacio Day marches became an occasion for militant workers to join the #MarcosHindiBayani campaign. Student groups sent delegations to the traditional workers rally in the morning and the labor groups sent contingents to the evening protest at the People Power Monument against the Marcos burial.

With 2016 drawing to a close and 2017 about to open, it is time to remember the past even as the people look forward to the future. During the dark days of martial law, it was the student and workers movement that was the backbone of the people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. Martyrs from the ranks of the students, workers and other sectors are the real heroes of our country.

Marcos was ousted in a people power uprising but all the succeeding governments failed to topple the structures of injustice and oppression that mired Filipinos in dire poverty. Thus this led to a section of the population prey to the historical revisionism and political ambitions of the Marcoses. Likewise to a mass of Filipinos susceptible to the wiles of a president who insists that the country’s problems can be reduced to drugs and criminality. The present generation of students and workers face the challenge of continuing the unfinished fight of the anti-dictatorship movement for real change.

December 30, 2016

Workers on 100 days of Duterte: Killings overshadow social programs of the administration

It was a deadly 100 days.  To say otherwise is creative imagination.

 

This was the very brief description made by Partido Manggagawa (PM) when asked about its assessment of the first 100 days of the Duterte administration, noting that the number of killed in the war against drugs is obviously more graphic and chilling than the number of jobs created, number of endo lords neutralized, and number of landlords subjected to land reform.

 

“It cannot be denied that President Duterte’s deadly war on drugs overshadowed his social programs during his first 100 days in office.  His energy is there 100 per cent, leaving the social programs walk the business-as-usual course,” stated PM chair, Renato Magtubo.  

 

Magtubo said that as early as now, important social programs for workers such as contractualization and living wage were in danger of being completely compromised as powerful local and foreign business groups closed ranks to oppose such measures. 

 

“These powerful interests inside and outside the administration were behind the push for the win-win solution on endo and the removal of leftist officials in government,” said Magtubo.

 

The labor leader said, 100 days were clearly not enough to deliver on social programs, “But to be compromised is also recipe to a failure.”

 

Tomorrow marks the 100 days in office of the Duterte administration. It also coincides with the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work.

 

The Church-Labor Conference (CLC) where PM is a member is holding a rally tomorrow at the Mabuhay Rotonda to reiterate its call for a change in labor policies particularly on ending contractualization and the realization of living wage.

 

The group said that in the next five and a half years, it wanted the policy shifted to “Kabuhayan hindi Patayan”, in sharp disagreement with the recent pronouncement made by President Duterte that he will be happy to slaughter three million more in his relentless war against drugs.

 

In contrast Magtubo said:  “Mr. President, we have 100M Filipino lives to protect, 40M good jobs to create, and 26M people to lift out of poverty. If you will only consider the drug problem as both eco-social and public health issues, war against poverty is a better war to wage.”

 

The county has a population of over 100 million. Poverty incidence remains at 26%.  Most of the 40 million labor force is in non-standard employment affected by the chronic problems of contractualization, low wages, and the rising tide of informalization.

October 6, 2016

Rallyists ask DOLE to act on killings of unionists, endo at PAL

In a rally today at the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) asked the government to act with dispatch on the wave of killings and abductions of unionists, and the pending endo dispute at Philippine Airlines.

The rallyists demanded the intervention by the DOLE on the endo dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the enforcement of a settlement agreement that provides for the reinstatement of some 600 PALEA members. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the controversial outsourcing program of PAL that resulted in the mass layoff of more than 2,000 regular employees and their transfer as contractual workers in service providers.

“Similar to the task force on media killings formed by the current administration, such a body should be probe the spate of killings and abductions of labor unionists. It is an urgent concern as in this single bloody month of September, two labor leaders were assassinated, six farmers killed and a union officer abducted,” asserted Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson for PM.

PALEA is calling on the DOLE to administer the implementation by PAL of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 and re-employ some 600 workers terminated in 2011. In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

Fortaleza added that “The DOLE has a responsibility to stop the culture of impunity that has resulted to the killing and abduction of labor unionists. Forming a task force to probe the attacks on workers and farmers is just a first step. As we have feared, the extra-judicial killings in the wake of the war on drugs has now spilled over into the labor movement. Truly human rights and labor rights are indivisible.”

Last week, Edilberto Miralles, former union president, was gunned down in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. On September 17, Orlando Abangan, a PM leader and organizer in Cebu, was ambushed on his way home. Last Sunday Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in Tarlac and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher. Labor groups have called the drug charges as trumped-up.

Besides the latest fatal shooting of a farmer in Palawan, earlier this month, four farmers were shot dead in Nueva Ecija and then a farmer leader killed in Isabela.

September 28, 2016

PM calls for justice for slain leader, victims of extra-judicial killings on anniversary of martial law:

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) today called for a stop to the killings due to the war on drugs and justice for one of their leaders ambushed last Saturday. PM joined the big mobilization of the coalition iDefend (In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity) this afternoon to commemorate the anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

“On the 44^th anniversary of martial law, the struggle for human rights and democracy for all remains as relevant and critical as ever. With the war on drugs claiming thousands of lives and a state of lawlessness imposed on the whole country, civil liberties and democratic freedoms are under clear and present danger,” stated Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

He added that “The prevailing climate of impunity that has resulted in wanton killings of alleged drug pushers and addicts has also provided fertile ground for politically motivated slayings. The ambush killing of PM-Cebu leader and organizer, Orlando Abangan a few days ago is testament to this. Abangan’s murder came after the killing of Gloria Capitan, an environmental activist in Bataan, last July 1, on the first official day in office of the Duterte administration. The extra-judicial killings done in the name of the war on drugs have now spilled onto slayings of human rights defenders.”

The iDefend members started assembling at 2:00 pm today in Bustillos Church before marching to Plaza Miranda for a mass and program. At 6:00 pm the iDefend marchers lighted candles to commemorate the victims of martial law, the war on drugs and political killings of human rights defenders like Abangan and Capitan.

Also in Cebu today, PM and other militant and human rights groups held a rally to call for justice for Abangan and Capitan. They marched around downtown colon this afternoon to call for a stop to the killings and to never forget the terror of martial law.

“We call on the authorities for a swift but thorough investigation of the killing of Ka Lando Abangan. We know that they are already pursuing leads that point to certain suspects. Still we urge them not to stop at the arresting suspected gunman but to probe who the mastermind is. Ka Lando is not involved in drugs and is respected in his community as an activist, so we believe that his killing is politically motivated and is related to his work as a human rights defender of urban poor and workers,” explained Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

Derige also revealed that five days before Abangan was shot to death, he escaped a first attempt on his life. He recalled that several armed men riding motorcycles came looking for Abangan in a place where he frequently hangs out.

September 21, 2016

PM condemns vigilante style killing of a leader

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the killing of one of its leaders in Talisay, Cebu today. Orlando Abangan, a community leader of PM-Cebu, was shot at close range by a lone gunman around 8:00 am while he was on his way home in Sitio Lawis, Barangay Maghaway in Talisay City.

“We condemn the vigilante-style killing of Ka Lando and call on the authorities for a thorough investigation of his murder. Justice for Ka Lando and other victims of extra-judicial killings,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Abangan, 35 years old, is survived by his wife and two children. He was a full time organizer of PM in the province of Cebu since 2001. During the last election, he built an organization of persons with disabilities in Talisay that campaigned for social protection and social services for their sector. Recently he was engaged as informal sector organizer of the labor center Sentro.

Fortaleza added that “In calling for justice for Ka Lando, we are also assailing the culture of impunity that has resulted to the spate of slayings everywhere. Labor rights and human rights are an indivisible whole. Before he was killed, Ka Lando was vocal in criticizing the extra-judicial killings in our country.”

PM is a member of the coalition In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend) which advocates that human rights and due process cannot be sacrificed in government’s ongoing war against drugs and criminality.

PM is joining iDefend  and other human rights groups in a rally in Manila on Wednesday, September 21, on the anniversary of the declaration of martial law. Justice for Abangan will be one of the demands of the forthcoming protest.

September 17, 2016