KAMP
PRESS RELEASE
08 October 2012
After an annoying week of ‘circus’ at the Commission on Elections, a network of grassroots organizations campaigning for social protection is pressing for a more empowering, agenda-based conduct of the 2013 national and local elections. In a “Caravan of Electoral Agenda” organised this morning by the Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP), a priority list of social policy agenda was presented in public as the campaign network plans to make active intervention in next year’s polls.
The list includes the agenda on:
Decent work and guaranteed employment
Universal Health Care
Humane housing and the right to the city, and
De-privatization of essential services
“Political campaigns in the past insult the intelligence of people, candidates entertain us with song and dance numbers and empty promises. Unholy alliances among parties show that winning is more important than presenting clear and coherent programs,” declared KAMP lead convenor, Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, adding that “It’s time to make our elections agenda-based.”
The KAMP caravan with some 300 representatives coming from communities of the network made its first stop at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) where workers demanded full compliance to government’s obligation to promote the workers’ rights and provide full employment to all Filipino workers.
“Yesterday was the World Day for Decent Work. The celebration was obviously empty here in the Philippines where contractual/outsourced jobs dominate the industries while more and more members of the labor force are trapped in chronic unemployment and underemployment problems,” said Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chair, Renato Magtubo. He likewise called on the government to formulate a public employment program that can offer guaranteed public jobs for the millions of unemployed.
From the labor department, KAMP members proceeded to the Comelec where they handed a letter to Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes, requesting the poll body to organize a series of national debate among the candidates on the said policy agenda. Nemenzo said the Comelec is in the best position to organize this national debate, “so that candidates can also be given a fair chance to explain their position on those particular issues.” She added that better still if the poll body can organize the same at the local level to bring it closer to the people.
Magtubo on his part explained that, “A national debate is thought-provoking and participatory, and therefore will be more empowering compared to sugar-coated political ads created by spin masters.”
From the poll body, the caravan headed toward the Department of Health office in Manila where KAMP members called for more radical reforms in the country’s health care system which they said, needs to institutionalize the principle and programs of primary health care to attend to people’s health needs at the onset, before they even reach the hospital. Nemenzo pointed out that in Cuba “hospitals are considered just a step away from the cemetery.”
The group said the KP program remains limited as the system merely converges with the government’s targeted conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, and therefore is not universal. “KAMP is pushing for a system where quality health care is accessible and available to anyone, anytime, anywhere,” explained Nemenzo, who is also the leader of WomanHealth Philippines.
The caravan’s last leg was at the National Housing Authority (NHA) where the demand for on-site/in-city housing program is being pushed by urban poor groups.
Bubuy Magahis, coordinator of Kilos Maralita said, “The present off-site relocation program denies the poor the right to the city. Cities are not only for the 1% and the middle class. The poor have the right to be with them and the State has the obligation to ensure that city spaces, including parks, are mutually shared by all its citizens whose majority in fact happens to be the poor.”
Showing posts with label health insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health insurance. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Labor party calls for strict regulation of labor standards in BPO industry
August 2, 2012
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today
called on the government to strictly monitor and enforce labor standards in the
business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the wake of the abrupt closure
of a call center in Cebu City which left more than 600 workers without jobs and
with unpaid wages, benefits and unremitted social security contributions.
“In the SONA of President Benigno
Aquino III he applauded the BPO industry but behind this so-called sunrise
industry lurks storm clouds that batter workers’ working conditions. Within an
industry which prides itself with above-standard systems are substandard
practices that are common in other businesses. The Labor Department and other
agencies cannot be complacent that all is well for workers in the BPO industry.
But the best regulator of labor standards are empowered workers and so we call
for representatives to be elected by workers with the mandate to talk with
management regarding working conditions, terms of employment, employee benefits
and work load including setting of quotas, metrics and performance indexes,”
said Renato Magtubo, PM national chairperson.
PM is assisting the employees of
Direct Access Corporation, a locator in the Asiatown IT Park in Cebu City,
which shutdown without due notice last July 30 to the surprise of its
workforce. In arguably the first such protest among BPO workers, hundreds of
Direct Access employees spontaneously held a rally last Monday in the
prestigious ecozone.
Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson,
announced that the scheduled teleconference today between leaders of the Direct
Access workers and the US-based owner was postponed for tomorrow. He also
explained that no agreement was reached yesterday at mediation called by the
National Conciliation and Mediation Board, and a meeting with the Cebu
tripartite industrial peace council. “Direct Access workers welcome the offer
of employment at other BPO companies even as they press for their demands with
the different institutions that are intervening. They demand justice for
workers, the payment of some PhP 6.4 million in wages and other emoluments, and
the company’s culpability for violations of labor laws,” Derige insisted.
Magtubo recognized that numerous
studies have called attention to health and safety concerns specific to the BPO
industry, especially due to the graveyard working shift prevalent in call
centers. “BPO companies must provide health insurance that is on top of the
mandatory Philhealth membership and guarantees wider coverage and better
benefits that especially address call center-specific health issues and
afflictions.”
“Further, government must push for
industry-wide standards for wages, benefits and entitlements that is well above
the minimum set by law and commensurate to the dollar-earning nature of the BPO
sector.” Magtubo argued. In the SONA, President Aquino mentioned that the BPO
industry already employs more than 600,000 workers and earns revenues of some
PhP 11 billion, equivalent to 5% of the country’s GDP.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Labor group demands full blown inquiry into Philhealth’s bad health
PRESS RELEASE
21 August 2009
A labor partylist group, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), is calling for a full blown inquiry by Congress on the reported impending collapse of the Philhealth system so that the people, especially the working class, can get into the bottom of what could be another scam or lest a case of wanton neglect of the government’s soleuniversal health care system.
“Workers cannot afford to lose their only source of universal health care system, thus whoever would be found responsible for its collapse must be tried for committing this kind of horrendous act,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said.
Reports that unpaid government accounts amounting to some P20-B, contributed mainly to the financial hemorrhage of the system. The labor group wanted to know why this happed and where did their contributions go amid persistent allegations that the fund has been used by the administration during the 2004 elections and for patronage politics. Just a few years back, Philihealth had been boasting of a huge surplus.
During a Senate hearing early this week, Philhealth officials admitted that the health care system has a life of only up to 2016 if government debts are not settled.
Magtubo said the impending collapse of Philhealth will not only jeopardize the health coverage of more than 16 million wage and salaried workers but also the stake of voluntary members and non-salaried workers whose meager income made private health care a non-viable option for them.
Moreover, the labor leader said, Philhealth’s current ‘bad health’ dooms any expansion of the health care program which is a necessary step at improving the country’s human development index. Extension of universal health care for employed and unemployed persons is one of Partido ng Manggagawa’s demand for abailout package for workers.
The group pointed out that it is also during times of crisis, like this ongoing recession, where health care is doubly threatened as a consequence of job loss and chronic unemployment.
Universal health care is becoming a fundamental demand being pushed by labor groups around the globe. In the United States, for instance, a proposed legislation that would expand medicare coverage for another 50 million Americans is now hotly being debated in Congress.
21 August 2009
A labor partylist group, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), is calling for a full blown inquiry by Congress on the reported impending collapse of the Philhealth system so that the people, especially the working class, can get into the bottom of what could be another scam or lest a case of wanton neglect of the government’s soleuniversal health care system.
“Workers cannot afford to lose their only source of universal health care system, thus whoever would be found responsible for its collapse must be tried for committing this kind of horrendous act,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said.
Reports that unpaid government accounts amounting to some P20-B, contributed mainly to the financial hemorrhage of the system. The labor group wanted to know why this happed and where did their contributions go amid persistent allegations that the fund has been used by the administration during the 2004 elections and for patronage politics. Just a few years back, Philihealth had been boasting of a huge surplus.
During a Senate hearing early this week, Philhealth officials admitted that the health care system has a life of only up to 2016 if government debts are not settled.
Magtubo said the impending collapse of Philhealth will not only jeopardize the health coverage of more than 16 million wage and salaried workers but also the stake of voluntary members and non-salaried workers whose meager income made private health care a non-viable option for them.
Moreover, the labor leader said, Philhealth’s current ‘bad health’ dooms any expansion of the health care program which is a necessary step at improving the country’s human development index. Extension of universal health care for employed and unemployed persons is one of Partido ng Manggagawa’s demand for abailout package for workers.
The group pointed out that it is also during times of crisis, like this ongoing recession, where health care is doubly threatened as a consequence of job loss and chronic unemployment.
Universal health care is becoming a fundamental demand being pushed by labor groups around the globe. In the United States, for instance, a proposed legislation that would expand medicare coverage for another 50 million Americans is now hotly being debated in Congress.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Labor party demands extension of health coverage to laid-off workers to at least 6 months
PRESS RELEASE
19 April 2009
A militant labor party is demanding the government to extend to at least six months the health coverage for retrenched workers, saying that the three-month extension announced by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) the other day may not be enough to secure the health needs of a worker’s family during interim dislocation as a consequence of job loss.
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) secretary general Judy Ann Miranda, said one of the major consequences of job loss to a worker is the inability to access health care he or she previously enjoyed during employment. Under the rules, Philhealth coverage is good only until a member is employed.
The problem with this, Miranda said, is that a time lag before a worker finds another job is long, an average of 12 months, according to a study, especially if a displaced worker surpasses the “age limit” required for a new job. Thus, stressed Miranda, “a longer extension of health coverage is necessary to protect the worker and his family during this transition.”
“Loss of income as a consequence of job loss falls heavy on workers and the termination of their Philhealth coverage undermines their health security, especially on women and children,” said Miranda.
With the loss of work-related health insurance, laid off workers cannot afford the high cost of drugs and health care. Miranda explained further that it is also during hard times that health problems arise as displaced workers grapple with stress and other problems that affect their well-being.
The labor group said the state has an obligation to secure the health needs of its people with or without work, adding that universal health care is a right and should not be treated as collateral damage resulting from job loss.
Extension of health care benefits 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 unemployment subsidy, tax refund, reform and expansion of public employment program, 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 to press for those demands leading to a bigger Labor Day action on May 1.
19 April 2009
A militant labor party is demanding the government to extend to at least six months the health coverage for retrenched workers, saying that the three-month extension announced by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) the other day may not be enough to secure the health needs of a worker’s family during interim dislocation as a consequence of job loss.
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) secretary general Judy Ann Miranda, said one of the major consequences of job loss to a worker is the inability to access health care he or she previously enjoyed during employment. Under the rules, Philhealth coverage is good only until a member is employed.
The problem with this, Miranda said, is that a time lag before a worker finds another job is long, an average of 12 months, according to a study, especially if a displaced worker surpasses the “age limit” required for a new job. Thus, stressed Miranda, “a longer extension of health coverage is necessary to protect the worker and his family during this transition.”
“Loss of income as a consequence of job loss falls heavy on workers and the termination of their Philhealth coverage undermines their health security, especially on women and children,” said Miranda.
With the loss of work-related health insurance, laid off workers cannot afford the high cost of drugs and health care. Miranda explained further that it is also during hard times that health problems arise as displaced workers grapple with stress and other problems that affect their well-being.
The labor group said the state has an obligation to secure the health needs of its people with or without work, adding that universal health care is a right and should not be treated as collateral damage resulting from job loss.
Extension of health care benefits 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 unemployment subsidy, tax refund, reform and expansion of public employment program, 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 to press for those demands leading to a bigger Labor Day action on May 1.
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