Advance basic sectors’ agenda, not charter change for the rich and foreign capital

 

Members of the NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition staged another protest in front of the Senate on the eve of Valentine's Day against charter change (chacha), simultaneous with the Senate's ongoing investigation into reported anomalies in the gathering of signatures for the people’s initiative (PI) to amend the Constitution.

 

Joined by Kalipunan ng mga Kilusang Masa (KALIPUNAN), the two groups urged the Senate and the House of Representatives to prioritize the immediate needs of the working people, such as increasing workers' wages, lowering the prices of goods, jobs crisis, combating poverty and violence, including those against women, and addressing the climate crisis, which is the biggest global problem today.

 

“Ang dapat pusuan ng mga mambabatas ay wage hike at pagkamit sa living wage, hindi ang chacha para sa mayaman at dayuhan," said Partido Manggagawa (PM) Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda, challenging the Senate to finally pass the proposed P100 wage hike bill, which was already reported in plenary by Committee on Labor Chair Sen. Jinggoy Estrada last week.

 

Miranda emphasized that the same should be done in the House of Representatives, where bills proposing P150, P750 and P33,000/month for public sector workers wage hikes as well as the abolition of regional wage boards are pending, instead of leading a fake people’s initiative.

 

Furthermore, creating green and climate jobs to address chronic unemployment and climate crisis is a new social imperative that Congress needs to decisively address, said Miranda.

 

Meanwhile, Josua Mata, one of the conveners of NAGKAISA! and Secretary General of the Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), stated that even the ongoing Senate hearings on economic charter change not only consume time but also divert attention from the real problems of the masses because the blame is placed on the Constitution rather than on the unequal distribution of wealth and dynastic governance in our country.

 

"The Constitution did not hinder us from developing our own industries. But we don't even have an industrial policy. In fact, foreign interest prevented us from doing so through the dictates of the IMF-WB and WTO for liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. But why are we blaming the Constitution now,” asked Mata to the proponents of economic charter change.

 

Mata also warned that opening up charter change in many ways could also lead to disregarding its provision prohibiting the entry of nuclear arms into the country, especially when the same is not strictly enforced in the case of the entry of US military hardware into the country.

 

This is a reaction to reports that the Philippines is expecting the arrival of nuclear-capable BraHmos supersonic missiles imported from India for P21 billion. "Is there a plan for the Philippines to become a nuclear power while the majority of Filipinos remain poor?"

Photos can be accessed at PM FB page: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/pfbid02Zi4mJTniMUU3EHTybNhUKHqFZv3EeZUs2fpK17pP7DNkq2QDLikFcVeMeHnDmzYNl

NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition

February 13, 2024

Labor group slams House’s move allowing foreigners 100% ownership of public utilities

The labor group, Partido Manggagawa (PM), warns as ‘unFilipino’ and ‘dangerous’, the plan by members of the House of Representatives to relax foreign limitations on ownership of public utilities in the country by way of a killer amendment to the Commonwealth Act, otherwise known as Public Service Act of 1936. 

The House plenary on Tuesday passed on second reading House Bill 78. A majority-backed bill that passes the second reading is almost sure of passing the third and final reading at any moment.  The bill has a similar counterpart in the Senate. 

The killer amendment is aimed at differentiating “public utility” from “public service”, thereby avoiding the 60-40 limit set by the 1987 Constitution on ownership of public utility. Under the proposal, the secretariat of National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) will have the power to recommend before Congress the reclassification of public utility as a ‘public service’. 

“Our present lawmakers are trying to make themselves economically profound yet are very confused of what a public utility is. But let’s believe our instincts here. Their confusion comes not from the grey side of the law but from their vacillating standpoint that we Filipinos can stand on our own,” stated PM spokesperson, Wilson Fortaleza. 

Fortaleza asserted that as a matter of fact, the global agenda of trade union and social movements around the world today is de-privatization as decades of globalization (liberalization, privatization and deregulation) processes did not only weaken the capacities of poor nation-states but also created the most outrageous level of inequality among peoples, where less than 1% of the population owns more than half of the world’s wealth. 

“There is now a Brexit in EU and perhaps, a Frexit and Grexit soon. Trump on the other hand is pulling the US inwards to make America great again. The main proponents of globalization are now moving to the right by talking left as this is the only way to distance their selves from a failed project. Yet here are our smart politicians trying to save this failed and evil system in the Philippines,” said Fortaleza. 

The group cited as an example the failed privatization of the country’s water and power sector, which control by oligarchs and their foreign partners, is now the favourite subject of President Duterte. 

“The oligarchs are very happy we gave them the best of our public utilities in the 1990s onwards. They want more, of course, in the same way the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Americans and Europeans would want to take their slice of the pie that Congress under Cayetano is willing to surrender as one,” lamented Fortaleza. 

The labor group raises the fear that if Congress is not seeing these examples as something that would make them rethink of a better alternative other than reliance to foreign, particularly Chinese investments, then this country really fits the narrative of being a Republic of Endo, Province of China.

19 February 2020

Press Release: Cavite workers call on Congress to investigate ecozone investors

Workers embroiled in a labor dispute in a Korean-owned factory in Cavite called on Congress to investigate violations of workers’ rights and labor standards by foreign investors in economic zones. The demand by workers of Sejung Apparel Inc. coincided with a solidarity visit this morning by Sen. Risa Hontiveros to their picketline.

“When foreign investors violate our labor laws with impunity, then Filipino workers are second-class citizens in our own land. We ask Congress to make incentives to foreign investors conditional on their respect for workers’ rights,” asserted Josephine Odchimar, union president.

The proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Act (CITIRA) removes incentives to foreign investors in ecozones. The Department of Finance and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority are openly debating the provisions of the bill. Labor groups on the other hand take an independent position and ask that incentives be tied to labor rights.

Odchimar added that “We welcome Sen. Risa and her staff to our picketline which has served as our home for the holidays. Similar to the story of Jesus being born in a lowly manger, we spent Christmas in a humble picketline.”

Sejung workers are demanding the release of the mandated 13^th month pay, the latest salary due workers, a stop to the removal of machines and an end to the outsourcing of production to other factories.

Meanwhile the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for lack of action in enforcing labor standards at Sejung.

“December 24 has come and gone but the DOLE still refuses to use it powers to enforce the payment of wages and 13^th month pay for workers of a ‘Grinch’ company. While DOLE officials in the national and regional offices are enjoying their happy holidays, Sejung workers had a sad Christmas and are facing a bleak New Year since labor standards are not being enforced,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Odchimar explained that DOLE had already conducted a factory inspection last December 19 and promised to issue an order if management does not release the 13^th month pay on December 24 as mandated. However, she added that DOLE did not issue an order and instead is trying to schedule another inspection.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. What’s keeping the DOLE regional office from issuing a compliance order? Even during the mediation hearings, Sejung maintained its illegal and hardline stance that it will grant the 13^th month pay in March not December. Yet the DOLE dare not lift a finger even as Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello issued press releases reminding employers about the payment of the 13^th month benefit,” Magtubo averred.

Photos of the solidarity visit can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/donnaescueta.nano/posts/10216599085550453 and https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157724749314323?__xts__[0]=68.ARAFRCJop2H-p1EpVO643elmAgPyuPLojo7ntrHEok9UjAnCbDRsjazTpvQJm0pOiw3Wfm0l6iKYQ5Q03Vs7ihV5zCyKl8BgsZFOXd5pSU9fFxGrBdZ_S4GKz0Qe8yVlMYyIPvgF_i8ey4XOWl_VWQfSgq-sJFXCJ4PRVJdlEP1CgdDpj8hx3A8HLDjSdLHA440vlGYjhsarXPUVO5agzpTrGtquexNdTLPtKnD8bt6Ff5JZgoLW8cgz7GbQyrvhBL9Hld2mWolWi53ktLpYXMFCyOafGQOKwT0FoYiW0RCfqbzKtiLb13VfIPRj3XGPe_9iEzhpmb9zgFsP8u8N&__tn__=-R

December 30, 2019

Foreign agenda is bad cha-cha – labor group

NEWS RELEASE

10 June 2015

The House of Representatives (HOR) is on the verge of making the biggest historical mistake and disservice to the country today once its members vote for the removal of economic restrictions imposed upon foreign interests by the 1987 Constitution, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. indicated lately that the HOR is going to pass his pet Resolution, the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH1), once absolute majority of the House membership are present in today’s session. 

PM Chair Renato Magtubo stated that, “Although the mode that is being smuggled for approval today is an untested formula for charter change, the push for it appears to be so powerful it is able to marshal the big quorum and solid vote of both the smart and shabby politicians in Congress.”

Magtubo said powerful interest groups were behind the big push for economic cha-cha as disclosed by no less than the Speaker of the House himself.

Belmonte admitted last year that the biggest lobby groups behind the economic cha-cha were the foreign chambers of commerce led by the American Chamber of Commerce, Australian New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, European Chamber of Commerce, Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Korean Chamber of Commerce, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters Inc.

Magtubo said: “The primary mandate of Congress is to uphold the full protection of the country’s sovereignty, patrimony and social justice which exclusively pertain to our natural and human resources. Hence, a cha-cha with foreign agenda is a bad cha-cha.”

Full freedom for foreign capital 

According to PM, Belmonte’s economic cha-cha carries the same old agenda of giving foreign capital full ownership freedom and flexibility in doing business in the country. 

RBH 1 seeks to further ease restrictions on foreign capital by amending specific provisions of the Constitution particularly Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions), by inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”

This phrase, Magtubo said, “is comparable to an aircraft carrier loaded with all sorts of lethal weapons and with our Congress people assigned the new role of launching these warheads to annihilate the constitutional barriers for the complete rule of foreign capital in the country.”

The former partylist representative explained further that while the current provisions restricting foreign ownership of land, corporations and public utilities will remain in the Constitution, Congress, under the RBH1 insertion, can anytime pass a law removing these. 

100% ownership

PM said the country have had enough of free trade and investments with other countries and the global community since the Galleon trade – the free trade agreements with America, the IMF-WB/WTO regimes, and under the latest BOT and PPP programs, yet the country has remained in the state of underdevelopment.

The group believes that foreign capital wanted full control of their businesses in the country, including 100% ownership of land and corporations as they eye the country’s booming real estate business as well as the lucrative industries in power, water, infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, and even in education and healthcare. 

The group said a good exhibit to this foreign drive for cha-cha is the case of PLDT where ownership of a big chunk of its shareholdings were found to be under the control of an entity which is neither a registered corporation nor a citizen of the Philippine Republic, violating in effect the 60-40 rule Constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership.

Reports indicate that these shares are actually owned by the Indonesia-based Salim group whose entry into the country was facilitated by PLDT Chair Manuel Pangilinan known in the industry as MVP.

“Perhaps MVP does not want a ‘foundling’ tag attached to PLDT’s alien shares,” added Magtubo.  And the same is true for other businesses where foreign interests are concealed under the skirt of local dummies.

No guarantee to foreign investment

The claims that economic cha-cha would mean more foreign investments in the country remains highly speculative as there are major factors that hinder their entry into the country, according to PM. 

“During the last decades, China, Vietnam and Thailand received the bigger chunks of FDIs than us despite their more restrictive policies on foreign ownership. Aliens cannot own land in China yet it gets the biggest FDI in Asia.  In other words, there are other bigger factors such as corruption, poor infrastructure and high power rates that discourage the entry of FDIs into the country,” said Magtubo.

He added that in terms of employment, for 40 years jobs, in the most liberalized EPZAs, which now include the BPOs, hardly reach 4% of total employment.  Meanwhile employment benefits in mostly foreign firms can never offset the social costs of destructive mining operations in the country.

“If these were the only gains we got from more than a century of dancing with foreign agenda, then perhaps the country, on the contrary, does not need more of them,” concluded Magtubo.

Workers to call for rejection of Belmonte cha-cha in Bonifacio rally

Press Release

November 29, 2014

The rejection of the charter change move led by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte will be a highlight of tomorrow’s big Bonifacio Day rally, declared the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM).

“Workers oppose Belmonte’s economic cha-cha as it carries the same old agenda of giving foreign capital more flexibility and freedom in doing business in the country. While Congress makes an x’mas rush to vote on the chac-cha as demanded by foreign Santas, it gives a deaf ear to workers demands for enabling laws to the living wage and security of tenure provisions of the Constitution,” stated Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Several thousand workers from the groups comprising the labor coalition Nagkaisa will commemorate the 151^st anniversary of the plebian hero Andres Bonifacio by marching from Welcome Rotunda to Mendiola tomorrow morning. Aside from opposing Belmonte’s cha-cha, workers will also criticize the anti-labor policies pursued or tolerated by the Aquino administration such as contractualization, cheap labor, high cost of power, and the deepening inequality created under the general condition of jobless growth.

“The motive force for the economic cha-cha is clearly exposed by the fact that Belmonte’s announcement of a pre-x’mas vote came right after the House leadership met with representatives of foreign chambers of commerce and local business groups,” Fortaleza argued.

PM vowed to mobilize workers in a campaign to fight the economic cha-cha. “The Bonifacio Day rally is the opening fire of the campaign to oppose Belmonte’s cha-cha and the Christmas holidays will not dampen workers resolve to resist this new attempt to tear up the token nationalist provisions of the Constitution,” Fortaleza insisted.

He added that “Belmonte and company is concocting an untested formula in constitutional amendments thru a joint resolution loaded with the sinister insertion ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ which can be utilized anytime the need for actual amendment arises. Belmonte’s cha-cha is surely waiting for an intense legal and extra-legal battle.”

The theme of Nagkaisa’s Bonifacio Day rally will be “Hanap ng manggagawa: Makamanggagawang lider ng bansa.” Thus the labor coalition is giving notice to political wannabes that their early plunge to the 2016 elections is giving workers a bad impression, that their attention now are all in pursuit of their personal political ambitions and not the urgent demands of the working class.