Hustisya para sa mga manggagawang biktima ng pagguho ng gusali

 

Photo from Bureau of Fire Protection Central Luzon

Kinokondena ng Partido Manggagawa sa Central Luzon ang naganap na trahedya ng pagguho ng itinatayong gusali sa bahagi sa Pampanga kung saan dalawa na ang kumpirmadong patay.

 

Ayon sa huling mga ulat, 26 pa lamang sa mahigit 40 katao na pinaniniwalang na-trap sa gumuhong gusali ang na-rescue. 

 

“Malinaw na may pananagutan dito ang may-ari, kontraktor, DOLE, at maging ang lokal na pamahalaan, dahil ito ay malinaw na kapalpakan, bukod sa kapabayaan sa occupational health and safety (OSH) standard na dapat pinaiiral sa lahat ng workplace, lalo na sa construction sites,” pahayag ni Ver Estorosas, tagapangulo ng Partido Manggagawa sa Bulacan. 

 

Pangunahin aniyang layunin ng OSH law na pigilan ang workplace accidents sa manggagawa kaya nangangahulugan ito ng regular na inspeksyon lalo na mga construction sites.

 

Dapat magkatulong ang DOLE at LGUs sa enforcement ng OSHS standards sa kanilang nasasakupan dahil ang aksidente ay palaging risko sa construction sites. 

 

“Pero kung parehong natutulog sa pansitan, ang kapahamakan ng manggagawa ay palaging naisusugal,” dagdag pa ni Estorosas.

 

Nananawagan din ang PM sa mabilisang imbestigasyon sa naging sanhi ng aksidente, gayundin sa agarang medikasyon at kompensasyon para sa mga biktima. 

 

Nangangamba rin ang grupo na kung walang SSS coverage ang construction workers dito, na siyang kalakaran sa industriya, hindi sila masasaklaw ng benepisyo ng Workmen’s Compensation Act. 

 

“Ang kawalan ng SSS at iba pang benipisyo ng manggagawa sa konstruksyon ay dagdag na pananagutan sa batas ng mga employer,” diin ni Estorosas.

PRESS STATEMENT

Partido Manggagawa-Bulacan

25 May 2026

1% dagdag sa SSS premium suspendihin o sagutin ng pamahalaan

Nanawagan ang Partido Manggagawa (PM) sa pamunuan ng Social Security System (SSS) at sa Palasyo ng Malacañang na suspendihin ang pagpapatupad sa 1% na pagtaas sa premium contribution sa harap ng kabiguan ng pamahalaan na tugunan ang kahilingan ng manggagawa para sa P150 na dagdag sahod, gayundin sa resulta ng surbey na nagsasabing 63% ng mga Pilipino ang nakakaramdam ng higit pang paghihirap sa kasulukuyan.

 

“Premyo sa produktibidad, hindi dagdag premium sa SSS ang dapat ipataw sa manggagawa”, sigaw ng mga kasapi ng PM sa ginanap na piket ngayong umaga sa tanggapan ng SSS kasama ng Nagkaisa Labor Coalition.

 

Sa halip na dagdag kita ay pawang kaltas sa sahod umano ang napapala ng manggagawa.

 

Ayon kay Renato Magtubo, Pangulo ng PM, kabawasan sa take-home pay ang 1% dagdag premium sa SSS habang papataas ang implasyon at ang wage orders naman na iniutos ng mga regional wage board ay di pa nangalahating maibalik ang nawalang halaga ng sahod sa nakalipas na taon.

 

Inilahad din ni Magtubo na may halos P90 bilyon, ayon sa COA, na hindi nakokolektang kontribusyon ang SSS sa libu-libong pasaway na employers na di hamak na mas malaki sa inaasahang koleksyon na P51B mula dito sa dagdag premium.

 

“Suspensyon o kaya ay sagutin ng gobyerno ang kontribusyon ng manggagawa sa SSS,” deklarasyon ni Magtubo.

 

Nagpoprotesta ang mga grupo dahil habang ang layunin anila ng SSS ay pahabain ang lifespan ng pondo nito sa pamamagitan ng dadag sa premium, ang nababawasan naman ay ang hindi tumataas na sweldo ng manggagawa habang ang mga benepisyo, katulad ng sa Philhealth, ay nananatiling minimal. 

PRESS RELEASE

14 January 2025

Government or employers asked to shoulder hike in SSS employee share

Amid the criticism over the scheduled 1% hike in Social Security System (SSS) contributions starting this year, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on either the government or employers to shoulder the increase in employee share for the current year.

 

“The increase in employee share for SSS contributions will result in lower take-home pay at a time when workers face extreme economic difficulties due to the cost-of-living crisis. In contrast, the government and capitalists have the capacity to pay. The least they could do is to lighten the burden for workers in the new year,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina City councilor.

 

Several groups and individuals have called for the suspension of the scheduled SSS contribution adjustment in view of the economic burden on workers and pending reforms in SSS, such as the failure to collect unpaid remittances from employers.

 

It was reported yesterday that the Commission on Audit (COA) cited SSS for its inability to gather some PhP 89 billion in collectibles from almost half a million employers. The COA called this “weak performance by the SSS in collecting premiums.”

 

Magtubo said that “These employers who deduct social security contributions but do not remit them to the SSS are misbehaving and criminal, or pasaway. Simply, it is wage theft. It is time that SSS wage a war on pasaway employers.”

 

He added that “Capitalists are more than solvent as they have increased their share in the fruits of production in the last 15 years of robust economic growth. Real wages have been stagnant in that period of 50% labor productivity rise. This implies an expansion of capital share, or profit in other words.”

 

Magtubo concluded that “Alternatively, the government can also subsidize the employee share in the meantime. A large share of government revenues come from workers’ withholding taxes anyway. Formal workers disproportionately bear the burden of taxation in the country. Workers’ payroll taxes are automatically deducted while corporate taxes are dependent on the declaration of capitalists. This is a double standard.”

January 6, 2025

Partido Manggagawa welcomes SSS and GSIS exclusion from MIF, seeks GFI’s accountability

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) welcomes the decision of the House panel to spare SSS and GSIS from Maharlika’s sources of fund.

But the group maintains that the decision does not absolve Congress as well as the executives of the two pension funds from accountability.  

PM said members’ vigilance and strong opposition were key for this reversal, and thus, should be sustained to prevent future attempts at misappropriating workers’ funds.

“The mere fact that Congress toyed with the idea of creating a wealth fund out of our pension funds is already a red flag. But more reprehensible was the reckless approval of the SSS and GSIS executives to divert funds into the MIF without consulting the fund owners – the Filipino working class,” said PM Secretary General.

To prevent a repeat of this attempt for fund diversion, the group proposes that a mechanism for consultation - in the minimum regular dialogue with labor groups and in the maximum, a referendum for members - be instituted in the SSS and GSIS manual or system of operations.

Miranda explained that fund members were truly disgusted with SSS’ decision because an 11-15% increase in premiums was imposed beginning 2018 on the pretexts that the fund’s life was deteriorating, and members’ benefits need to be enhanced.  

Women workers expressed this reservation as Miranda recalled, during the public hearings on the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave, the SSS claimed the EML can only be funded by an increase in premiums. “But now we’ve got a surplus for Maharlika,” lamented Miranda.

Earlier, the Nagkaisa Labor coalition where PM is affiliated, countered that a wealth tax is the better source of the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) as they are a real surplus from labor’s productivity that remains concentrated at the hands of wealthy businessmen.

Partido Manggagawa

08 December 2022

Nagkaisa statement on sovereign wealth fund

Wealth fund should come from wealth tax: 

Pera naming mga manggagawa yan, bakit kayo ang nag-uusap?

 

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are essentially profit-driven state-owned investment funds. Some of our neighboring countries who want to make the most out of their surplus—usually foreign exchange generated from exports—established state-owned entities to invest their excess capital on various instruments. Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, among others, created their own SWFs.

 

With the potential of SWFs to grow, they can distort incentives in an economy where they are invested enough to favor specific economic activities and enterprises. Although SWFs usually invest in foreign instruments, there is nothing stopping them from pouring investments on profitable economic activities and enterprises at home, thus, making SWFs a strategic tool for industrial policy. But this is not necessarily the motivation for the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund.

 

Now, should workers support the government’s attempt to create an SWF?

 

That public pension funds are identified as sources of financing for the SWF already earns the proposed fund minus points. Public pension funds are fragile. There is a reason both SSS and GSIS are very careful in their investment decisions and that is because that is how they secure future generations of Filipinos. GSIS should know the risks involved especially in foreign money market, after all, their exposure to the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis may have costed the pension fund some of its resources.

 

Can politicians pushing for SWF guarantee the security of workers’ retirement funds while exposing it to potential losses from profit-driven, speculative investment decisions? House representatives who back the SWF argue that pension funds are guaranteed by government funds anyway, and that the SWF will come with sufficient safeguard measures.

 

But NAGKAISA has a better idea to secure workers’ pensions, and that is by not exposing them to unnecessary risks. If SWF should be pursued, it must be funded by true surpluses generated by the economy—the proceeds from wealth tax!

 

In 2020, NAGKAISA floated the idea of taxing the unused assets of the wealthiest in the country. The tax revenue from the wealth tax could have funded pandemic recovery measures of the government. Now that the Philippines is gradually recovering, potential revenues from wealth tax can now be used to fund ideas such as SWF without risking workers’ funds.

 

And what is this obsession about the term “Maharlika”? If the proponents want to connect SWF to a concept from Philippine history, then they should have kept in mind that the Philippine government does not have a good record in managing public funds. That fact is also historical. Unless the proponents have concrete plans about protecting the SWF from turning into a Maharlika Wealth Scam, House Bill 6398 cannot just be allowed to pass. In any case, workers remain critical of this proposal especially when their pensions are on the line.

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition

03 December 2022

Labor partylist calls on DOLE to censure ECOP on EML

The labor partylist Partido Manggagawa asked Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to reprimand the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) for its statement that companies will discriminate against women workers because of the added costs of expanded maternity leave benefit. “ECOP’s statement is not just a grave threat but an expression of criminal intent. The Expanded Maternity Leave Law explicit prohibits employers from discriminating against female workers,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM partylist secretary-general.

The group reminded employers that violation of the EML Law under section 18 carries a penalty of 20,000 pesos to 200,000 pesos; or imprisonment from six years to 12 years; or both.

Miranda added that ECOP’s release of the survey is a calculated move to influence the drafting of the implementing rules and regulations of the EML law. “ECOP will no doubt lobby for exemptions and deferments similar to that in the wage orders of regional wage boards,” she predicted.

Miranda insisted that “Granting for the sake of argument that EML will entail additional costs for employers, still women workers have earned a right to this benefit as companies have been monopolizing the productivity gains for almost two decades. From 2001 to 2016, labor productivity has increased by 50% but real wages have stagnated.”

She averred that “But in truth, added maternity benefits will hardly make a dent in employers’ profits as it is the SSS that pays women workers for the bulk of the maternity pay. In 2016, just around only 250,000 or less than one percent of all women of reproductive age claimed maternity benefits with the SSS. There was a slight increase in 2017 with approximately 290,000 women applying for maternity benefits. The total costs of maternity leave paid by the SSS in 2016 and 2017 is less than 6 billion pesos annually.”

“PM partylist and other labor and women groups remain vigilant in ensuring that the victory of EML will not be watered down by greedy employers,” Miranda ended.

March 20, 2019

Kababaihang manggagawa ikinatuwa ang pagkakasabatas ng Expanded Maternity Leave

Ikinatuwa ng mga manggagawa ang pagiging batas ng Expanded Maternity Leave na nagtatakda ng 105 araw ng paid maternity leave benefits mula sa dating 60 o katumbas ng karagdagang 45 na araw. 

“Pinaghirapan itong itulak ng kababaihan, lalo ng kababaihang manggagawa kaya’t nararapat lamang angkinin ng kababaihan, kasama ang mga champions nito sa Kongreso at Senado, ang tagumpay ng labang ito,” pahayag ni Judy Ann Miranda ng Partido Manggagawa partylist (PM) na kasapi ng koalisyong Workers4EML. 

She added that "The lapse into law of the Expanded Maternity Leave is a hard-won victory for women workers. President Duterte could not muster the courage to sign it into law and it took fast and furious action from women workers and their champions in Congress to thwart the determined lobby of ECOP and the SSS for a veto. Now that the 105-day maternity leave benefit is a law, opportunists may want to claim it for themselves but it was the years-long advocacy and campaign of organized women and labor groups that gave birth to EML."  

Naging batas ang nasabing panukala matapos hindi i-veto ng Pangulo at mag-lapse into law kagabi sa kabila ng malakas na lobby laban dito ng mga employer at mismong ng SSS. 

“Kung hindi sa walang tigil na pagkilos, presyur at paglalamay ng kababaihang manggagawa at maralita sa pagtutulak ng batas na ito ay malamang nag-dalawang isip ang Palasyo na hayaang ito ay maging batas,” paliwanag pa ni Miranda. 

Bagamat naging batas na ay sinabi pa rin ng PM na maari pa itong paunlarin ng husto sa mga susunod na yugto ng laban at nang makahabol pa sa mas mataas na standard ng maternity benefits na umiiral na sa maraming bansa. ###

Photos of vigil last night at https://www.facebook.com/judy.chanmiranda/posts/10219174819950136?__xts__[0]=68.ARBtPdHXRsBRlsLcpzDGU_MBrLZ8wt3_vheskV62BelCFXWafpvAD81OpSs9Crc08nUC8qG99Gr6Ji7nssj-6qXhTqkfxijSFfRQFiJc2eziNe3F6js0PhY9kOVpcqoBIjHEwcdPgsNoXDCpjdgCjWDzSl0gHBo_iDK9ABCRqeZbJ5vhkCcK54tJoOz4WjAQemscKyC4mqLxEpSBxUSM21yoi9QNoeXAY_lfdTabYWnmyxBFgZLN9iFolaopL5grQ6O6BZmW45oYJ2K31614eK9qO-PGKDj0iWcaWAHfaaP_YGoJ5YoJFQRLFsftaK1FLmXiot7WcIxA6puHTyWD&__tn__=C-R

and 

Photos of Workers4EML action the other day at https://www.facebook.com/judy.chanmiranda/posts/10219162472841466?__xts__[0]=68.ARBXOd_Ezg_YUpZYLu7tWgpeRU2fuhPNAU8-OBAVI8iEEm8tY86kz4iyUJYj0WRi9v_mL0u_wBk6zf7cLuuXD_U33DLlDhd5pW8_MVLoz9EWIE5RBDjIDmRKHRnXGOfgva1FbWP1TpLt6M2vvobtbg5Bym0j6RCeUsF1ygtEqDK0utlqUDWEdP-GumAC_HfgVBYhat7a560zsbPU7SeoqqwEz7g9uh88pt2Ee3-SVoQQ7T8nRxMlrX8AseUtaeDbk9wzr_4wfBmgG3qivouPZkDp1Wep7ktfbwU-jZLKkdFE3M9M3fDhAchei3oti5x1dlZ2nDlyrUEradmUvXZl&__tn__=C-R

21 February 2019
Partido Manggagawa partylist

Women workers slam Sara Duterte for proposing watered down EML

Women workers led by the labor partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Davao City mayor Sara Duterte for proposing a watered down version of the Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) Law. Tonight—the eve of EML lapsing into law—the coalition Workers4EML is holding a candlelight vigil at Mendiola.

“We are lighting 105 candles so that President Rodrigo Duterte will be enlightened into signing the law that will benefit tremendously women workers and ensure the health of newborn babies. If he cannot muster the courage to sign it into law, the very least he could do is let it lapse into law. We warn the President against vetoing the law as demanded by the employers group ECOP,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

She added that “Sara should be advised of the basics of law making. EML cannot be watered down anymore since it has been passed by Congress. The President can only sign it in toto, veto it or let it lapse into law. So Sara’s call for halving the salary of pregnant workers on leave, or worse giving them only a quarter of their pay, is not only detrimental to women but downright prohibited.”

Workers4EML which includes the labor groups PM, PSLINK, Sentro, TUCP and IndustriAll have been crucial in advocating and lobbying for the expanded maternity law. Yesterday women under the banner of Workers4EML held a noisy but colorful action at Welcome Rotonda.

“Push na natin ito mga kabaro at ka-manggagawa. Do not let the enemies of labor steal the victory that women workers have fought for,” Miranda averred.

She added that “Sara’s argument that it is necessary to water down EML in consideration of small businesses is nonsense. It is the Social Security System (SSS) which will pay the salary of pregnant workers on leave as long as it is not above the salary credit of P16,000. Sara conveniently remembers that the bulk of businesses are small but hypocritically forgets that majority of workers are minimum wage earners with salaries below P16,000. With the signing by Duterte of the law mandating an increase in SSS contributions, the workers’ pensions system is in no danger of going under.”

February 20, 2019

Partido Manggagawa partylist

Partido Manggagawa welcomes bicam approval of expanded maternity leave

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) welcomes the approval of the proposed Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) law by Congress’ bicameral conference committee. 

“It’s really the fruit of collective efforts. It became possible when women workers, trade unions and allies in Congress work hand in hand and doing campaigns in many forms just to make things done for the sake of women, their children and their families,” declared PM Secretary General Judy Miranda.   

Partido Manggagawa is part of Workers for EML (W4EML), a coalition of women groups in the trade union movement which pushed for the passage of EML in both houses of Congress.   

Once signed into law by the President, the current 60-day maternity leave benefits will be increased to 105 days. This is one week (7 days) higher than the ILO standard of 98 but it falls short of the 120 days approved by the Senate. 

The leave benefit is transferable. It also increases the paternity leave by 100% and gives additional 15 days for solo parent.  It likewise provides for benefit is 60-day leave benefits for cases of miscarriage or termination of pregnancy. 

The final version also mandates employers to cover the salary differential from the P16,000 maximum cap approved by SSS. It also removed the current limit of four pregnancies, adopting in effect the concept of freedom of choice in every instance of pregnancy. ###

Labor group alarmed at worsening SSS scandal, asks contribution hike be shelved

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today expressed alarm at new allegations of bribery hurled at top SSS officials. In the light of these, the group reiterated its demand for a stop to the planned hike next year in SSS contributions.

“We view with increasing concern the worsening allegations of bribery and profiteering by top SSS officialls as the financial safety of the workers social security fund is at stake. We ask that labor groups be invited to the congressional inquiry to be called on the matter so that we can air our views and proposals,” declared Rene Magtubo.

PM had earlier demanded that the proposed rise in SSS contributions be shelved pending the investigation of the scandal and internal reforms by the institution. The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for annual hikes starting next year up to 2020 that will raise contributions from 11% to 17%.

The House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries is scheduled to conduct an inquiry. PM is also asking the Senate to initiate its own investigation.

Magtubo explained that “Instead of the 32 million private sector workers forking out more for social security deductions, we suggest cutting perks and privileges of SSS officials and increasing the fund coverage by running after employers who do not remit contributions. All these must form part of internal reforms that should include firewalls against corruption and illegal transactions.”

“We come across numerous abusive employers who do not remit contributions withheld from the wages of their employees. Non-remittance of social security contributions is a frequent complaint of workers. Not enough enforcement and remediation is being done by the SSS on this grave issue,” he insisted.

November 8, 2017

Stop to SSS contrib hike asked amidst scandal

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called for a stop to the proposed hike in SSS contributions amidst the scandal surrounding the dealings of three of its officials. Three top executives of the SSS have been accused by a commissioner of conflict of interest and profiting from illegal transactions.

“The SSS must first clean its house and implement internal reforms before any additional burden is imposed on more than 32 million workers who are its members and beneficiaries. The planned 1.5% yearly increase in contributions starting next year up to year 2020 will significant cut into workers’ take home pay,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “As an alternative to hike in contributions, we suggest cutting perks and privileges of SSS officials and increasing the fund coverage by running after employers who do not remit contributions. All these must form part of internal reforms that should include firewalls against corruption and illegal transactions.”

The SSS has announced that it is proposing hike in contributions from 11% to 12.5% starting next year and for the succeeding years. By 2020, the contribution will rise to 17% of workers’ monthly pay.

“The conflict of interest and illegal transactons of the three SSS executives is probably just the tip of the icebarg as far as immoral profiting from the workers’ fund is concerned. Back in 2013, performance bonuses of more than a million each for SSS commisioners and top officials generated much outrage,” Magtubo explained.

He furthered that “Also there are numerous abusive employers who do not remit contributions withheld from the wages of their employees. In our work assisting workers, non-remittance of social security contributions is a frequent complaint. Not enough enforcement is being done by the SSS on this grave issue.”

November 1, 2017

PM joins womens’ groups in pushing House to approve RH bill

Press Release
February 16, 2011

Women members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) joined the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) in a big demonstration at the House of Representatives to push Committee on Appropriations to finally approve the budget provisions of the RH bill. Once approved, plenary deliberations of the bill will commence.

More than a thousand women, including hundreds of women workers, gathered at the South gate of the lower house from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon carrying placards and streamers with slogans calling for immediate passage of the RH bill.

PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda called on the Committee to quit stalling on the bill, “Every day of delay in the RH bill passage, eleven (11) poor working women are dying from pregnancy and birth delivery complications. It is time to put a stop to this continued ‘daily slaughter’ of women? With the passage of the RH bill, we can avoid losing 4,015 precious women’s lives per year! It has been more than a decade, almost 12 years now, with the daily average, 48,180 women’s lives could have been saved!”

Particularly for workers, Miranda explained that, “It is not true that the RH bill is purely a family planning bill. Those saying so are not being truthful. In addition to Article 134 of the Labor Code wherein employers shall provide reproductive health services to all employees, the RH bill mandates that employers shall furnish in writing the following information to all employees and applicants:

‘(a) The medical and health benefits which workers are entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave benefits and the availability of family planning services,
‘(b) The reproductive health hazards associated with work, including hazards that may affect their reproductive functions especially pregnant women, and
‘(c) The availability of health facilities for workers."

In addition, Miranda further explained that employers are likewise obliged to monitor pregnant working employees and provide them with paid half-day leaves for each month of the pregnancy period during their employment, reimbursable to either the Social Security System (SSS) or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

“These pro-worker provisions of the bill support the ‘SAFETY FIRST’ maxim in the workplace. Workers’ lives, especially women’s, are spared from pregnancy complications and work hazards,” according to Miranda. “Again, we call on our legislators to quit delaying the bill and the Catholic Church to quit confusing the people and blackmailing government officials. Kung totoong pro-life kayo, you should support the RH bill – the RH bill will save women’s lives.”

Workers protest SSS fund diversion for GMA stimulus plan

Press Release
February 1, 2010

Members of the party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) picketed the main office of the Social Security System in protest at the plan of SSS President Romulo Neri to channel P12.5 billion of SSS funds to the economic stimulus package of the Arroyo administration.

Chanting “Neri, Gloria: Hands off our funds!” and “Additional workers benefits not more GMA projects is the right stimulus plan!” some 50 workers from PM gathered at the East Avenue office of SSS around 10 a.m.

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson, argued that “It is not just illegal but illegitimate for Neri to divert billions in SSS funds to infrastructure projects that will benefit capitalists first and workers last, if at all. A pro-labor stimulus plan must put money in workers hands through additional SSS benefits for workers, including an unemployment subsidy for displaced SSS members.”

The group also revealed that they are studying the option of filing a class suit of SSS members against Neri for the alleged fund diversion. The workers also voiced support for Senate Resolution 850 directing the committee on government corporations and public enterprises to investigate the plan to channel the P12.5 billion for the government’s "economic resiliency plan."

Among the protesters were workers who are SSS members with complaints about their benefits. Among them is Tomas Piroy, a resident of Tanza, Cavite but who works as a security guard in Paranaque. Piroy recently secured a loan from SSS but objects to the P200 service charge automatically deducted from his loan. “The SSS is our money yet we are charged for accessing our benefits,” Piroy stated.

Dennis Sequena, leader of PM in Cavite raised the prospect that due to the lack of transparency and corruption in the administration, “Workers funds might be used for the electoral campaign of the regime-backed candidates if not of GMA herself in Pampanga. Neri is apparently confused that as administrator of the SSS money his real boss is the workers who have put their hard-earned money in the insurance fund not GMA who wants to dip her hands in the piggy bank of the working class.”

He added that “If instead of funding infrastructure projects, the P12.5 billion in SSS funds is used as unemployment subsidy for workers laid off due to the economic crisis, then some 200,000 will benefit. This will be enough to cover the 40,000 laid off, according to the conservative figures of the DOLE, since the start of the global recession and the tens of thousands more to be displaced in the coming months and years as the economic crisis shows no sign of abating.” PM is pushing for an unemployment subsidy at the minimum wage rate of P10,000 for up to six months for workers who are recently displaced.

Labor group asks SSS to allot more funds for displaced workers from increased revenue

PRESS RELEASE
21 April 2009

The militant labor party-list group, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), is urging the Social Security System (SSS) to allocate more funds for displaced workers given the reported increase in the pension fund’s income last year.

SSS Executive Vice-President Horacio T. Templo declared the other day that the pension fund’s net revenue reached P22.8 billion in 2008 from P12.1 billion in the previous year, or an increase of 88 percent. The increase, according to Templo, mainly came from the sale of its shares in Meralco and Banco De Oro. Membership contribution also rose 11.4%, from P61.8 billion to P68.9 billion. In effect, the fund’s return on investment rose to 10.9% from 8% in 2007.

Labor first

PM chair Renato Magtubo said this is welcome news for labor, yet this can only be true if benefits from this rise in revenue redound directly to the real owners of the fund – the private sector employees who are now reeling from the impact of the global economic crisis.

In the face of the raging economic crisis, the labor leader challenged the government to promote a “labor first policy” not only to protect labor rights during crisis but also to serve as a policy guide for the better and appropriate use of our resources.

“For so many years we workers are not even aware of how our pension fund is being managed and where our contributions are being invested. Many times we hear of reports that the fund is being used to bail out private firms. Perhaps this is our turn to demand that our fund be used to bailout the workers in the face of the raging economic crisis,” stressed Magtubo.

Earlier, the SSS contributed some P12.5-B to President Arroyo’s P330-B ‘stimulus package’, which is most likely to be used, as feared by many sectors, for patronage politics.

Reversal of “no loan policy”

Magtubo added that Templo’s disclosure effectively reversed the fund’s previous pronouncements that it has run out of money to extend assistance to workers affected by the crisis.

It is recalled that early last month, SSS Chair Romulo Neri, defended the fund’s “no loan policy” for laid-off workers, saying that the 10% mandated ceiling for benefits has already been breached. Neri was only forced to reverse his position when the Partido ng Manggagawa protested the callousness of such a policy. A week later, the SSS announced that it has allocated P500 million for displaced workers.

But the labor group said the P500 million window is surely not enough to mitigate the impact of massive job loss. Only about 50,000 displaced workers can avail of the fund if they are provided a P10,000 one-month unemployment subsidy. The labor department, however, said that some 40,000 workers lost their jobs since October while over a hundred thousand are either affected by reduced work hours and wage cuts. And the number is still growing especially in the export zones.

PM insists that direct subsidy or loan facilities for displaced SSS members be extended to at least six months, as their transition to finding new jobs takes longer due to the deepening economic crisis. NEDA Director-General Ralph Recto estimated the cost of this measure to about P7 billion.

Extending unemployment subsidy/insurance to displaced workers is one of the demands in the “bailout package for workers and the poor” advocated by the Partido ng Manggagawa. Other demands include a tax refund, reform and expansion of public employment program, extension of healthcare coverage, and moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

The group is also demanding the reversal of liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies, which it claims, were responsible for the country’s chronic underdevelopment.

PM, along with other labor groups, are set to launch series of protest actions including a “Lakbayan” to press for those demands leading to a bigger Labor Day action on May 1.

Workers picket SSS to protest policy of “no loan for displaced workers”

Press Release
March 11, 2009

Members of the labor groups Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and United Cavite Workers Association trooped to the main office of the SSS for a picket-protest against the SSS Administrator Romulo Neri’s declaration that the social security fund will not release loans to laid-off workers. They also reiterated the call for Neri’s resignation for “not just being hard-fisted with SSS funds but being cold-hearted to the workers.”

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson argued that “SSS loans to the displaced is more justified than lending P12.5 billion of the workers fund for government infrastructure projects that the World Bank has exposed as graft-ridden. And since Neri cannot tell the truth about the NBN ZTE deal, he can hardly be trusted to reveal the real condition of SSS funds.”

The protesters brought a life preserver as a symbol of the importance of SSS as a safety net and social protection for workers. “At the precise moment when workers are struggling against drowning in the crisis, Neri punctures the life preserver of SSS loans that is one way to save the displaced,” Magtubo insisted.

Among the protesters was Elisabeth Sayson, a garment worker with the Ultimate Dream Fashion in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario who had completed paying 36 months in contributions but was denied a loan since she had been dismissed from work this month. “Workers in export zones usually complain of capitalists who do not remit deductions from our wages. Now we have to fight SSS itself for denying us the right to avail of our very own money that we had entrusted to it,” Sayson criticized.

PM opposes the SSS position that displaced workers can only avail of emergency loans if they continue membership as “voluntary members.” Sayson argued that “How can we continue contributing to the SSS when we are out of work and without an income. We are ready to contribute to the SSS if the government gives an unemployment subsidy to retrenched workers until we can find a new job. If not then the government must subsidize the employee and employer contributions to SSS so that our benefits will not be cut off.”

The group also declared that the summer jobs being offered by SSS can complement but cannot be a replacement for loans for displaced workers. The protesters say that 2,000 summer jobs are not a safety net but a band aid solution given that tens of thousands of workers and counting have been laid off.

Magtubo reiterated their position that “The SSS must open its books for an audit by representatives of organized labor other than those already sitting in its board. Congress should also study an amendment to the SSS law in order to lift the 10 per cent ceiling and the necessity of a government infusion of money to the workers’ fund so it can provide benefits for the estimated hundreds of thousands of workers that will be displaced. The 10 per cent limit should not be a concrete ceiling but a movable elevator that can be adjusted as the conditions require.”

“We sacrificed part of their daily pay for social security contributions in preparation for a rainy day. Now is that rainy day. In fact this is bound to be a rainy season. To deny workers this social protection in their hour of need is cruel,” Sayson stated.