Shutdown POGOs, protect victims of crime and labor rights violations – Partido Manggagawa

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) added its voice to the growing public clamour to shutdown the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country, both legal and illegal. But at the same it urges the government to protect and save their workers, both foreign and local, from further injustice after having been victimized by human trafficking and other crimes committed against them by their recruiters and operators.

“Kahit saan tingnang anggulo, batay sa pagdinig sa Senado ay operasyong sindikato ang lumalabas na pag-iral ng mga POGO na ito sa ating bansa. Sino mang protektor ng operasyong ito ay dapat malantad at maparusahan,” declared PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

POGO operations in the country has come under close scrutiny from the public after news of their illegal operations, tax evasion, and the proliferation of crimes related to it such as human trafficking, sex trafficking and kidnapping, among others, began to surface one after another.

“History would tell us that high-end gambling operations, legal or not, are always accompanied by crimes especially against women as most of the victims of human trafficking, prostitution and sexual abuse are women. Whoever is allowing these things to happen should be guilty of the same crime hence must be prosecuted,” said Miranda.

The group argues that closer ties with China should not make the country more tolerant of these kinds of crimes, including violations of labor rights.

Crimes against women and violations of labor standards, Miranda stressed, have no boundaries hence the Philippine state is duty-bound to apply them to all workers, local or foreign.

“Hindi dahil malayang pinagnenegosyo ng administrasyon ang mga POGO sa bansa ay malaya na rin nilang mapagsamantalahan ang mga manggagawa,” concluded Miranda.

18 February 2020

Workers ask DOLE to include labor reps in Boracay inspection

Photo from Philstar.com

The partylist group Partido Manggagawa welcomed the inspection by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) of Boracay establishments even as it asked for the inclusion of labor representatives in the plan.

“We request the DOLE to include duly deputized representatives of labor groups in the planned inspection in Boracay to ensure compliance by Chinese-owned shops and stores of our labor laws and regulations. Under DO 183 released in 2017, reps of workers and employers can be deputized as labor inspectors to strengthen the labor law compliance system. Dozens of deputized inspectors from workers organizations have been trained since then and should now be deployed by the DOLE in Boracay,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “Some 30,000 workers were displaced by President Rodrigo Duterte’s closure of Boracay last year and most of them have not found employment again in the island. So we are concerned about reports that the Chinese-owned establishments have been exclusively hiring Chinese nationals as cashiers, cooks, waitresses, laborers and drivers. This is a violation of our labor regulations as these are jobs that can be done by Filipinos.”

“However, we do not call for the expulsion or deportation of Chinese workers. The Chinese migrant workers should be treated justly just as we would like our overseas Filipino workers to be treated with dignity abroad. Once there is a formal determination that their jobs can be done by Filipinos and can be filled up, the Chinese workers can then be repatriated back to China at the expense of their Chinese employers who violated our laws. The Chinese workers must be paid by their Chinese employers for their wages for the duration of their contract even though it was not served because of the repatriation. This is our pro-migrant worker resolution of these problem of influx of Chinese workers in our country,” Magtubo explained.

He averred that “Finally, we ask the DOLE to priotize the re-employment of Filipino workers displaced by the Boracay shutdown last year. The government has a master list of these displaced workers. Now that Boracay is back in business, these workers should be re-employed as promised.”

April 21, 2019

Labor partylist calls Tulfo indolent in studying the facts, calls on China to hire him if he resigns

In the midst of the controversy over Mon Tulfo’s remark about lazy Filipino workers, the labor partylist Partido Manggagawa (PM) called the special envoy to China “indolent in studying the facts.” “Si Mon Tulfo ang totoong tamad, tamad mag-imbestiga. Where is the evidence to backup his assertion that Chinese work harder than Filipinos? Does he have a time and motion study? What is his productivity metric?,” exclaimed Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM supported the call of workers for Tulfo to apologize for his baseless remark and resign his post. “We call on China to hire Tulfo for his good work for them once he resigns. Tulfo should have resigned yesterday if he had any sense of decency. But he doesn’t. As envoy to China, he should be protecting Philippine interests in China instead of being an apologist of Chinese investors in the Philippines,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “All that Tulfo has going for him are opinions of anonymous contractors who aver that Filipino workers are lazy. Lawyers called this hearsay. Ordinary people call this gossip. It is just too much to ask of him to be honest with his facts or lack of it. Likewise, it is ridiculous to ask contractors for their opinions of Filipino workers due to conflict of interest.”

Magtubo explained that “We challenge Tulfo to provide a comparative survey of labor productivity for Chinese and Filipino workers. What is obvious is that Filipino workers are underpaid and overworked. According to a study by a Department of Finance official, real wages in the country have not risen from 2001 to 2016 even as labor productivity has grown by 50% in that period. In other words, the pie has become bigger but Filipino workers have not received crumbs even. Instead employers have greedily taken all the increase in size of the pie. Workers have been denied their fair share in the fruits of production.”

March 13, 2019

Partylist slams Chinese ambassador’s threat vs OFW’s

Photo from Business World

The partylist Partido Manggagawa slammed Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua for threatening to retaliate against OFW’s in China even as the group opposed the call for the mass deportation of Chinese migrant workers. “We stand for the protection of all migrant workers everywhere and thus oppose threats and plans for deporting en masse both Filipino and Chinese migrant workers,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “The Chinese ambassador’s threat is a blatant blackmail and the government should grow enough spine for the Department of Foreign Affairs to make a diplomatic protest.”

The group asserted that migrant workers should not made pawns in a diplomatic war and also must not become scapegoats in a failed government policy. “It is the Chinese investors bringing in Chinese workers that must be made responsible for their crimes. Everybody’s hypocritically talking of upholding the law by evicting Chinese workers but turn a blind eye to the violations by Chinese investors,” Magtubo explained.

He furthered that “At the root of the problem is the Duterte administration’s lax policy with regard to the entry of Chinese capital and loans. The government itself created the problem because of its subservience to the interests of the Chinese government and Chinese capitalists.”

Magtubo averred that “Instead of mass deportations of migrant workers in the Philippines and China, we call for a bilateral labor agreement to protect migrant workers. Such an agreement must secure decent wages, benefits, working conditions and jobs including the freedom to unionize. Further, to plug the gaping loophole that facilitates illegal migration, labor deployment abroad must be through government channels instead of private agencies.”

February 27, 2019