Workers slam killing of SOT bill

Photo from ABS-CBN

The ‘ifs and buts’ on the anti-endo bill are over. After an overnight flip-flop on whether a presidential veto is coming out or not, the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill has finally found its death today inside the Palace.

“We didn’t expect that even a weak version of an SOT bill will suffer judicial killing from the President,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Magtubo said that between labor’s demand to end endo and the employers’ call to veto it, President Duterte has clearly surrendered to the capitalist blackmail.

He reminded the President that, three months into his administration, he forcefully warned employers that he will kill them for continuing with the practice of endo.

“Now that he is three years into his term, he has completely made a U-turn by singing the capitalist chorus that businesses will die if workers are made regular. Duterte’s promise to end endo is dead,” said Magtubo.

The veto’s message, the labor leader said, was very clear on its intent: “That the President wanted to maintain the country’s exploitative yet competitive status quo - our being a republic of endo.”

The labour group argued that: “Without a stronger anti-endo law, all type of work in the country is now candidate for all type of contractual employment arrangements. Businesses may grow out of this exploitative model, which NEDA, DoF, DTI and DOLE truly believe, but not the living standard of workers which is what social justice wanted to achieve.”

The death of anti-endo bill, however, won’t stop the struggle of workers against the epidemic of contractualization until the last three years of the Duterte administration.

“Hangga’t buhay ang endo, tuloy ang laban!,” concluded Magtubo.

26 July 2019

Duterte plans to cripple if not kill SOT bill

Inquirer photo

In the face of the flip-flop over the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the plan to either “tweak” or “veto” the proposal that will lapse into law tomorrow.

“Not satisfied with an already watered-down SOT bill, Malacanang wants to cripple if not kill it. Between labor’s demand to end endo and the employers’ call to veto it, President Duterte seems bent on surrendering to the capitalist blackmail,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “We wish to remind the President that three months into his administration he forcefully warned employers that he will kill them for continuing with the practice of endo. Now that he is three years into his term, he has changed his tune by repeating the capitalist chorus that businesses will die if workers are made regular. Duterte’s promise to end endo is dead.”

The group also challenged Presidential Spokesperson Sal Panelo to resign from his post and stop confusing the public. “If Panelo was a contractual worker, he would have been terminated for all his bloopers. But such is the double standard of life. Public officials can laugh off their mistakes while endo workers suffer from job insecurity,” asserted Magtubo.

PM is asking Malacanang to explain the truth behind the copy of the veto. “What is the status of the veto of the SOT bill that is already signed by the President and validated by a barcode of Malacanang? Is this a Damocles sword for the workers to accept a mangled SOT bill in return for not it being vetoed?,” Magtubo asked.

26 July 2019

Partido Manggagawa slams Duterte’s tete-a-tete as propaganda

The Duterte-Panelo “talk show” yesterday at Malacañan Palace did not address what workers and the poor desire to hear from the President: tangible solutions to the rising prices of rice and other basic commodities that have impacted negatively on income and the cost of living.

Worse, the President blamed workers strikes for lack of foreign investors. It is such a lame excuse. Investors invest in a country primarily because of profitability and political stability. Moreover, a strike—though a guaranteed workers’ right under the Constitution—is highly regulated by the government. Thus it will not be a major factor to affect the country’s stability and employers’ profitability. In most cases, a strike occurs because of employers’ unfair labor practices and the deprivation of workers’ just share in the fruits of their labor.

The “talk show” was primarily designed to strike back against Trillanes— laying the ground for the government to make the arrest after the Supreme Court referred the latter’s case to the Makati regional trial court. The address was not about arresting problems brought about by runaway inflation.

Moreover, the “talk show” tried to sow fear in the public’s mind based on an imagined destabilization plot against his government. The President by “selling hard” his theory of destabilization plot has exposed his real aim of “an authoritarian rule” in order to effectively govern the country.

We rate the “talk show” as “SPG”: striktong propaganda ng gobyerno. Indeed, as many media practitioners lament: an interview done to a government official by another government official is pure propaganda.

12 September 2018