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 rally to protest zero subsidy for Philhealth and call for board resignation

 

In a protest at a Philhealth branch office today, workers decried the zero subsidy for Philhealth in the national budget that was signed by President Bong Bong Marcos, Jr. last December 30. Dozens of members of the Nagkaisa labor coalition picketed the Philhealth branch at Mother Ignacia, Quezon City and called for the resignation of the board of the public health insurance body.

 

“In the 2025 national budget, there is zero subsidy for Philhealth but full subsidy for trapos in the form of AKAP, AICS, TUPAD and confidential funds,” stated Judy Miranda, Partido Manggagawa (PM) secretary general, which was among the groups that participated in the protest.

 

PM called on workers and the poor to continue to press for the restoration of the Philhealth subsidy because this may be repeated next year if the Marcos Jr. administration does not see any outrage from citizens. “Senior citizens, poor mothers and indigent Filipinos who are supposed to be covered by Philhealth as per the Universal Health Care Act stand to lose their benefits due to the zero subsidy,” Miranda explained.

 

PM slammed both the executive and the legislative for not allocating any subsidy for Philhealth. “It is the confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte and all other officials that must be taken out, not support for health insurance of workers and the people. Zero subsidy for Philhealth, NO! Zero budget for confidential funds, YES!,” asserted Miranda.

 

However, the group added this is also partly the fault of Secretary Herbosa. PM called for the resignation of Herbosa for his failure to make good on commitments to improve Philhealth benefits for its members, many of whom are workers. “Sectary Herbosa should step down since he cannot do his job and make good on his promises. He committed to increasing by 50% across-the-board hike in Philhealth benefits which has not materialized. Philhealth has excess funds since it is scrimping on benefits. Herbosa, Alis dyan!,” Miranda asked.

 

PM’s demand for Herbosa’s resignation is part of the group’s advocacy for quality public services. PM earlier joined the Nagkaisa labor coalition in filing as intervenor in the Supreme Court case to oppose the transfer of P90 billion of Philhealth’s excess funds to the National Treasury. The group has also been demanding public laundromats and whole day childcare centers to ease the burdens of employed and unemployed women.  

Photos of the protest today can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/pfbid02yrYgp8jD5bUoRBMDCX5HKcVUAM1d1Kva6BJcpve2o7mhh2vnwd81dtP2nGgiJEPml

Press Release

January 15, 2024

“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

DSWD stampede could have been prevented by universal aid--labor group

Photo from Manila Times

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) on Tuesday said that targeted or non-universal systems of providing cash aid and other social protection programs to poor Filipinos will always face administrative gridlock if not chaos like what happened to yesterday’s roll out of DSWD’s educational assistance.

 

“When poor people cross the lines because they were ill-informed of proper qualifications and procedures, the problem therefore lies not with their unruly behaviors but primarily with the non-universal and non-permanent system of social protection,” stated PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

 

Magtubo was referring to prior announcements made by Secretary Erwin Tulfo himself as regards qualification and limited venue for the payout of educational assistance.

 

The DSWD announced earlier that 4Ps beneficiaries are no longer qualified for education aid, only for the agency to issue further clarification later that a certificate of indigency is no longer required as a copy of enrollment certificate would suffice to qualify in the program, thus the confusion.

 

“Secretary Tulfo, with his signature sharp eye and acid tongue for even the smallest amount of ‘kapalpakan’ of even the lowest public official, should have learned hard lessons from the chaotic roll out of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in the earlier stage of the program. Hindi pala simpleng naitu-Tulfo ang problema ng kahirapan,” said Magtubo.

 

Magtubo said the DSWD episode yesterday also reminded him of the Wowowee stampede which killed at least 70 people.

 

“The government should constantly be reminded of the fact that unsolved problems of poverty and misery sent waves of people crashing into the gates of Philsports Arena in 2006. Yesterday was a reminder to Secretary Tulfo that graduating from poverty in a country as highly unequal as the Philippines needs less pep talk but serious structural reforms.”

 

The labor group suggested that varied forms of social protection be placed into a basket under a system that is universal and permanent in nature such as universal health care, education for all, unemployment insurance, employment guarantee, living pension for the elderly, and other forms.

 

“Universalization eventually reforms the system of patronage today where the sick, the unemployed, the elderly, the children and their parents must assume debts of gratitude from politicians and other government officials who were given special privileges and access to public funds for dole out,” explained Magtubo.

 

On the contrary, added the labor leader and incumbent Councilor of the City of Marikina, targeted systems create discrimination and inequality even among the poor who need to qualify themselves first as either belonging to the poorest of the poor, near poor, or an indigent in general.

 

“Para mareporma, ang scholarship fund o educational assistance, halimbawa, ay diretso na dapat sa mga iskwelahan at mga ahensya ng gubyerno na lamang ang mag-usap at mag-account. Ganundin sa healthcare, ang pasyente ay hindi na kailangang dumaan kanino mang opisyal dahil ang bahay o tanggapan ni honorable ay hindi naman pagamutan,” concluded Magtubo.

22 August 2022

Group appeals for aid for Mactan ecozone workers in Cebu

The massive damage resulting from Typhoon Odette included the infrastructure of factories in Metro Cebu, the Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City and the southern part of the province. As a result, thousands of ecozone workers are temporarily out of work due to the damaged factories. “Thus, we are appealing for aid for the affected workers from the government as well as the companies too,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the Cebu chapter of the Partido Manggagawa (PM).

 

PM welcomed the announcement from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that it is extending assistance for some 25,000 informal workers worth P100 million through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD). But Derige asserted that affected workers in the formal sector desperately need support too.

 

Citing informants from the Mactan Export Processing Zone Workers Association (MEPZWA), Derige reported that the factory of the biggest employer in the Mactan Ecozone has been damaged and as a result its more than 14,000 workers are without work until January 17. In contrast, just before Odette hit the Philippines, those workers were supposed to work through the Christmas holidays due to a large shipment of apparel. Another garment factory in the Mactan Ecozone employing more than 3,000 workers was also severely damaged and their workers too are on forced leave. Just these two companies already comprise almost a fifth of the total 100,000 workers in the Mactan Ecozone.

 

“Even outside of the Mactan Ecozone, other manufacturing and service establishments are not operating either due to actual damage from the typhoon or the lack of electricity. For example, one food processing company is closed in the meantime for lack of electricity and so its 130 employees are temporarily jobless without an assurance when they will be back at work,” Derige declared.

 

“It is the government that is in the position to provide immediate relief both to workers in the formal and informal sector. Everybody has suffered and no one must be left behind in the relief and rehabilitation effort. We hope that the DOLE hears the plea of MEPZWA and other Cebu workers,” Derige insisted.

 

He added that “Nonetheless we also ask companies to provide support to their own employees as they are more than capable. Just before Odette, Mactan Ecozone locators were already operating normally. And for a decade and half before the blip of the pandemic, business was booming for firms inside and outside the Mactan Ecozone. But while productivity rose by 50% and revenues doubled in 15 years, real wages have stagnated. At this dark hour of disaster, we call on employers to share the fruits of labor with their workers.”

 

Derige cited that one unionized mining company in Cebu already gave a P5,000 ayuda to all of its employees and extended a P20,000 calamity loan payable in one year without interest. This should be a model for others, he asserted.

December 27, 2021