Cabinet resignation is not a bold reset but just a marketing gimmick if not matched with policy shift

Rappler photo

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) criticized President Bong Bong Marcos Jr.’s call for the resignation of his entire cabinet as just a marketing gimmick and not a bold reset since it is not complemented by a policy shift that addresses hunger and poverty. President Marcos Jr. announced the cabinet revamp yesterday as his response to the loss of the administration senatorial slate and falling popularity ratings.

 

“The welfare of workers and the poor will not improve if there are new faces in the cabinet who implement the same policies of cheap wages, endo jobs and gutting of public services. Instead, labor groups want to see PBBM declare a bold reset in policies: certify the P200 wage hike as a priority legislation, support the security of tenure bill and return the Philhealth funds so it can scale up its services to members,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and re-elected Marikina councilor.

 

PM dared the administration to heed these concrete demands as an effective response to the discontent of voters as revealed in the recent polls and surveys. “PBBM also needs to shape up, not just his cabinet secretaries. It's not only the performance of the cabinet secretaries that should be reviewed and evaluated, but also PBBM's policies and programs that fail to address the serious problems of corruption, poverty, low wages, high prices of goods, and inadequate public services in health and education,” Magtubo explained.

 

To recall, last Labor Day, PBBM rejected the call for a legislated wage hike and instead asked the regional wage bords to respond to the demand for salary adjustments. Yesterday, the NCR wage board called for a consultation with labor groups. The group Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa attended the consultation but called on the NCR wage board to defer to Congress so that the latter can address the wage demand through legislation.

 

Magtubo added that “Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the president and are thus his alter egos. Therefore, if the policies and programs fail to address the worsening problems, the primary responsibility lies with the president—not just his alter egos.”

 

Kapatiran is calling for a P200 national wage hike to recover the P126 erosion of wages due to inflation and P74 as share in the rise in labor productivity. PM is supporting Kapatiran’s demand for a legislated P200 salary increase. 

Nagkaisa debunks business groups’ arguments against legislated wage increase

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition strongly refutes the preposterous and misleading argument put forth by certain business groups that only a minority will benefit from the proposed legislative wage increase and as a result, raising wages will send 50 million workers begging for ayuda.

The business groups recently claimed that increasing wages would only benefit a small percentage of the total workforce, stating that approximately 16 percent or about eight million workers in the formal sector out of the total 50 million Filipino workers would be eligible for the wage hike.

This line of argument tries to draw a trade-off between workers in the formal and informal sector to diffuse employers’ direct accountability to their workers, hoping that by painting this ‘little-to-no effect’ and hyperinflation scenario, lawmakers would reconsider passing a legislated wage measure.

We contend that the miserable state of the 50 million workers or more, which is a bigger agenda than a wage hike, is not for the workers to solve but for the government and the capitalist class which failed to address problems of chronic poverty and inequality in the country for decades.

And certainly, keeping minimum wages at starvation level perpetuates the problem, thus, telling minimum wage workers to sacrifice further on behalf of their poorer brothers and sisters in the working class does not solve anything except the comfort of businesses to keep their profit margins when wages are kept at bare minimum.

The employers' arguments fail to consider the broader economic effects and undermine the crucial role of fair wages in driving sustainable growth. Contrary to their claims, raising wages will have a significant positive impact on the economy and the majority of Filipino workers.

It is vital to recognize that the well-being of workers and economic growth are interconnected. By ensuring fair wages for a significant portion of the workforce, we can create a positive ripple effect that stimulates economic activity, increases consumer spending power, and fosters social progress. The 16 percent of workers who will experience increased wages will contribute to a healthier economic climate, benefiting businesses and workers alike.

In addition, the economic benefits of wage increase can help address the persistent issue of malnutrition in the Philippines. UNICEF data reveals the severity of malnutrition in the country, with devastating consequences for the future of Filipino children. Every day, 95 children die from malnutrition, and twenty-seven out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday. Shockingly, one-third of Filipino children are stunted, meaning they are short for their age. Stunting after the age of 2 can have permanent, irreversible, and even fatal effects. Needless to say, malnutrition is the culprit behind the country’s dismal below-average IQ ranking of the Philippines in the World Population Review 2023 (WPR).

 
These distressing statistics underscore the urgent need for action. A significant wage increase plays a crucial role in combating malnutrition by enabling families to afford nutritious food, access healthcare, and provide a better quality of life for their children. By addressing the root causes of malnutrition through improved wages, we can protect the future generation of Filipinos from the devastating effects of undernutrition.

We maintain that the first key advantage of higher wages is that workers have more money at their disposal. With increased purchasing power, workers are empowered to spend on essential goods and services, thereby driving consumer demand. This heightened consumer spending not only benefits businesses directly but also stimulates overall economic activity, contributing to a positive economic cycle.

Secondly, higher wages can foster employee loyalty and motivation. When workers are fairly compensated for their efforts, they feel valued and are more likely to be engaged and productive in their roles. This improved productivity can enhance business efficiency and output, further bolstering economic growth.

Likewise, a workforce with higher wages projects stability and helps attract investments. Investors are drawn to countries or regions where workers have decent wages, as it signifies a stable and growing consumer base. Such countries are viewed as favorable investment destinations due to the potential for increased sales and profitability. By implementing higher wages, nations can position themselves as attractive markets for both domestic and foreign investment, spurring economic development and job creation.

Therefore, it is crucial for policymakers and businesses to recognize that investing in workers through higher wages yields significant long-term benefits. The positive effects cascade throughout the economy, generating a multiplier effect that contributes to overall prosperity.

PRESS RELEASE
Nagkaisa Labor Coalition 

Wage hike needed asap to solve rising hunger and poverty

Photo from Time

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called for a wage hike across the country in response to the rising incidence of hunger and poverty revealed in the latest Social Weather Station survey. “A legislated P100 nationwide across-the-board wage hike is a key component of a set of solutions to worsening hunger and poverty in our country. Kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

The latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showed that hunger incidence in December 2022 rose to 11.8% which is equivalent to 3 million families, up from 11.3% in October 2022 or 2.89 million families experiencing involuntary hunger. The same SWS survey also uncovered that poverty incidence climbed to 51% from 49% which translates to 12.9 million families rating themselves as poor, an increase of 300,000 families from October to December 2022.

 

“It is definitely not rocket science to understand that increasing household incomes by raising the wages of family breadwinners will mitigate hunger and poverty. Wage hikes together with ayuda and forms of social protection like universal pensions and employment guarantees will radically decrease hunger and poverty in the face of a cost of living crisis expressed by runaway prices of onions, eggs and other essential necessities,” Magtubo explained.

 

He added that “The only roadblock to a salary increase is employer resistance and government insensitivity. Their argument that wage hikes only benefit formal workers to the detriment of informal workers who are the vast majority is fake news. Research by the ILO and others find that minimum wage hikes have negligible effect on unemployment and instead have a lighthouse effect. Meaning, minimum wage hikes increase the wages even of the informally employed since it becomes socially unacceptable to pay lower salaries.”

 

In early December, a P100 “wage increase for wage recovery” petition was filed by the Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa and PM before the NCR Wage Board. No action has yet been taken on the wage petition.

 

“We call on Congress to legislate a P100 across-the-board salary increase for all workers as relief from the inflation shock,” declared Magtubo. PM stated that P81 has been eroded from the P570 minimum wage in Metro Manila as a result of the continuous rise in prices. 

Inflation in December 2022 reached 8.1%, slightly higher than the 8.0% in November. Notably, inflation is higher in areas outside Metro Manila. The consumer price index for December 2022 in Metro Manila was 116.6 while areas outside it was 120.1 according to statistical tables released today by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PM’s demand for a wage hike is based on a computation by the group using the PSA data. 

January 20, 2023

Partido Manggagawa

Labor Yearender: Workers are in the frontlines of a fight against the pandemic of rights violations

 

Without a doubt, covid-19 has gravely affected everyone, rich and poor, employer and worker. Still, workers and the poor are the ones who have been disproportionately impacted. The double-digit economic recessions in the second and third quarters of this year has been felt as grinding poverty and daily hunger by 7 million Filipino families as revealed in the SWS survey in September.

 

The Philippine economy is in worse shape compared to its neighbors is due to the harsh and long lockdown. It is the authoritarian response of the Duterte administration that is to blame for the economic recession and the adverse effect on the working class. The administration was late in forming a response and once it did, it treated the pandemic—similar to how it treated the drug addiction—as a peace and order concern instead of a public health matter. The severe lockdown shuttered the economy, and left workers and the poor without jobs and livelihood for months on end. The aid provided by the government reached only 3 million households out of 16 million Filipinos who were temporarily jobless during the lockdown. Today 4.5 million are unemployed and 2.2 million more are out of work but are not officially jobless only because they stopped looking for employment.

 

To make matters worse, employers used the pandemic as an opportunity to deny workers their benefits and their rights. Workers were put on floating status for more than the six months allowed by law. Establishments reopened but replaced regular workers with new hires on endo status. Some employers shutdown their firms without paying workers separation and other benefits. Capitalist Grinches are exploiting the pandemic to bust unions as shown by the experience of the Arcya Glass Employees Union in Laguna and the First Glory labor union in the Mactan ecozone.

 

While the pandemic of rights violations spread, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) exercised social distancing from workers. The DOLE released a series of orders and advisories that denigrated labor standards and rights. Labor Advisory 17 allowed employers to cut wages and benefits as long as workers will agree. But workers were left with no choice but to bite the bullet of wage cuts as the DOLE suspended the filing of complaints under DO 213. Labor groups called on the DOLE to dialogue but were repeatedly denied. Meanwhile the government banned protests and arrested those who tried using the pandemic as an alibi. In one incident, the picketline of Sejung Apparel  workers in the First Cavite Industrial Estate was dispersed by police and guards in the middle of Black Friday night for allegedly violating quarantine rules. With workers strikes and street protests effectively banned, Congress railroaded the Anti-Terror Law.

                                    

But workers are fighting back and are in the frontlines of the struggle to reclaim their rights. The Arcya Glass workers spent their holidays in the picketlines to protest the continued operation of the factory despite allegedly being permanently closed. The First Glory labor union has voted to go on strike to demand the reinstatement of 300 fired workers. Labor groups in the Philippines together with international union federations have formed the Caucus of Global Unions Pilipinas to call for the repeal of the Anti-Terror Law on pain of the country losing its trade privileges with Europe. Workers in four big factories in the Mactan ecozone have organized into unions as a result of recent grievances over lack of aid during the pandemic and long-running issues over wages and benefits. Certifications elections are due to be held next year in the four firms. We predict that 2021 will see a resurgence of workers’ actions to defend democratic freedoms and labor rights.

December 29, 2020

Both business and govt must act to avert a social crisis—labor group

Photo by Patrick Adalin

The labor group Partido Manggagawa asserted that both business and government must act to avert the covid pandemic turning into a social crisis. This was the group’s reaction to the call by 32 business organizations for deficit spending by government for assistance to workers and the poor.

“Employers must bear temporary losses by paying wages to their workers during the lockdown. Businesses should go into deficit spending just like what they demand of government,” stated Rene Magtubo.

To illustate, he added that “We know of a parts supplier to car companies abroad that stopped operating this week without granting quarantine subsidy to more than 8,000 workforce and instead is applying for the P5,000 DOLE assistance to formal workers. This is a giant company that can very well afford to bear losses by paying wages during the lockdown.”

“Big businesses that employ more than 200 workers should be mandated to grant quarantine subsidy to its workers. These large establishments employ more than a third of all formal workers.”

According to PM, even micro, small and medium enterprises can shoulder temporary losses by paying quarantine subsidy to their workers. A microenterprise with 5 workers and P1.5 million in capitalization—the median numbers for the category—will incur P50,000 in quarantine subdidy for one month which translates to losses since there is no revenue. This P50,000 temporary loss is still just 3.3% of its total capitalization and should not lead to bankruptcy. These microenterprises number 850,000 and employ almost a third of all formal workers.

Magtubo explained that “For a median small enterprise with P7.5 million in capitalization and employing 50 workers, shouldering the quarantine subsidy of P10,000 in one month translates to a loss of 6.7% of their capital, which is still manageable.”

“But, assuming for the sake of argument that the SMSE sector is precisely what the government should assist, then the P5,000 DOLE assistance is wanting and must be raised to P10,000. This is what should be funded from the P280 billion in stimulus that business is proposing,” Magtubo insisted.

He furthered that “However this imply that large enterprises must take the cudgels for their own workers. But at present they are not doing that. So they must be compelled by a government order mandating that big firms pay quarantine subsidy to their workers. Employers have benefited from more than a decade of economic growth without sharing the bounty with their workers whose real wages have stagnated. Now that there is a crisis, employers are morally obliged not to pass on the burden to their hapless workers.”

March 21, 2020

Wealth of PH 1% can feed entire nation – Partido Manggagawa

PRESS RELEASE

23 January 2015

 

Their number can hardly fill up a bus but the combined wealth of the country’s richest families can easily feed the entire nation.

 

This reality, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) said, can help explain the unreturned query of Glyzelle Palomar to Pope Francis on why only few people come to their help.

 

PM said Glyzelle was definitely not referring to the country’s 1% as the few good Samaritans but to the few likely neighbors that occasionally come to their aid. 

 

“Now it can be explained to Glyzelle that with just half of their estimated wealth of $74 billion (Php 3.2 trillion) in 2014, the country’s Richest 50[1] can actually provide 17 to 24 million families the basic minimum requirements of daily living for one year,” explained PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

 

There are about 12 million Filipino families who consider themselves poor based on the latest survey by the Social Weather Station (SWS).  Government statistics, however, put the number of families in extreme poverty to only 4.2 million in 2012.[2]

 

The same report points out that in 2012, a Filipino family of five needed Php 7,890 to meet its basic food and non-food requirements every month.  For food alone it needs Php 5,513. 

 

Based on these estimates, a family of five needs at least Php 94,680 in one year to keep themselves above the poverty threshold or Php 66,156 to beat the food threshold. 

 

Fortaleza expounded that assuming the richest 50 gave up only half of their wealth which is equivalent to Php 1.6 trillion out of compassion for the poor, that can easily translate to 17 million families surviving poverty in one year or 24 million families surviving the food threshold. 

 

With an average size of 4.6 members, the Philippines has about 22 million families.

 

The labor group explained further that the combined wealth of the richest 50 is equivalent to five years salary for about 5 million minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region. 

 

But Fortaleza was quick to point out that this kind of scenario will never work out since in reality, it is the super rich that feeds on the hard labor and meagre income of poor Filipinos. 

 

The Forbes’ list of Philippines richest 50 showed families in oligopolistic control of the country’s vital industries such as power, water, telecommunications and transportation, banking and finance, farmlands and real estates, construction, highways, mining, hotels and restaurants, media and entertainment, and even in services like schools and hospitals.

 

Fortaleza pointed out that common issues against the capitalist owners of these industries include labor contractualization; high cost of their products and services; organized fraud with their capture of regulatory agencies; and their control of political power through sponsorship of political parties to actual bribery.

 

PM came up with its own assumptions also to echo Oxfam’s analysis that the richest 1% is gaining control of more than half of the world’s wealth by 2016.  The latter released its report on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where world leaders talk mainly about business and other global concerns.

 

Fortaleza said that similarly, the richest 50 in the Philippines is getting a bigger slice (almost a third) of country’s gross domestic product as their wealth increased by 428%, from $14 billion in 2008 to $74 billion in 2014.   

 

The Philippine GDP, according to the World Bank, was estimated to value $272 billion in 2013. ###

---

[1] www.forbes.com/philippines

[2] NSCB - Despite rise in the number of families, extreme poverty among families remains steady at 1.6 million in 2012—NSCB 

Eradicating wang-wangs will not eradicate poverty

Press Statement

July 25, 2011

PNoy’s bosses are unsatisfied with the SONA. Eradicating wang-wangs will not eradicate poverty. It will not create jobs for the Filipinos nor raise the wages of workers.

Workers want a war not just against Gloria for plundering the nation but even more a war against globalization for pillaging the country’s patrimony. Labor calls for a new not just straight road. The old road of contractualization, privatization, liberalization, deregulation and globalization is at the root of the impoverishment, unemployment and hunger of Filipinos.

It is not PNoy’s leadership style that is the problem but his leadership vision that is at issue. This false vision of progress through globalization is no different from Gloria’s.

Urban poor suffering highlighted in “Kalbaryo ng Maralita”

Press Release
March 30, 2010

Poverty, hunger, homelessness and unemployment were highlighted in a “Kalbaryo ng Maralita” held today by militant urban poor. “There are more than 18 million urban poor out of 90 million Filipinos and their numbers keep growing due to migration from rural areas and grinding poverty in the cities. The social volcano will explode unless government on the grievances of millions of poor and hungry,” warned Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

More than a 100 members of PM and Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino participated in the yearly ritual of “Kalbaryo ng Maralita.” AMP is a network of urban poor organizations in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. The march started at 9:00 a.m. from Palasan along Sucat Road in Parañaque and ended in a program at the Baclaran Church around 12:00 noon. Some of the marchers carried makeshift crosses and wore symbolic crown of thorns on their heads. The program was conducted like a traditional “pasyon.”

The urban poor challenged the presidentiables to present appropriate platforms to address the demands of the urban poor. “We are tired of motherhood statements about ending poverty or fighting corruption as the root of poverty. We want concrete programs that will resolve the lack of jobs, lack of food, lack of housing and lack of earnings that plague the lives of the poor. These are the heavy crosses that the poor bear daily,” said Robert Labrador, an AMP. The group cited government estimates of some 300,000 homeless families living in so-called danger zones and thus threatened with demolition.

“Palasan is the starting point of the Kalbaryo because it is symbolic of the sufferings of the urban poor. The residents of Palasan recently had to endure a series of violent demolitions spearheaded by the Parañaque police and private guards of the Amvel Subdivision which is owned by El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde. Palasan reflects the eviction and militarization that plagues the urban poor,” added Romy Cabugnason, a PM leader in Parañaque.

In the Kalbaryo, the Parañaque police and Amvel guards will be caricatured as Roman centurions while Velarde will be depicted as a hypocritical Pharisee. After several demolition attempts that included arson and arrests, the residents of Palasan were finally evicted and their community buried under a meter of soil.

Magtubo asserted that “There are many more Palasans. There are millions of urban poor who survive but endure without decent housing. There are masses of Filipinos whose search for their daily bread is a matter of life and death. If their poverty will end, it will need a critical analysis that goes beyond simply blaming corruption and it will need the political will to implement redistribution of wealth and radical reforms.”

The former community of Palasan was situated beside the Amvel Subdivision owned by Velarde who recently admitted to proposing the controversial rerouting of the C5 extension road. The Palasan residents accuse Velarde of landgrabbing and being the mastermind behind the demolition.

Pagdurusa ng mahihirap ilalahad bukas sa “Kalbaryo ng Maralita”

Radio Release
March 29, 2010

Kahirapan, kagutuman, kawalan ng pabahay at trabaho ang pinatingkad na mga suliranin sa isang “Kalbaryo ng Maralita” na ilulunsad ng militanteng mga grupo bukas ng umaga. “May lagpas 18 milyong maralitang tagalungsod at bawat araw ay lumalaki ang kanilang bilang bunga ng migrasyon mula sa mga probinsya at ng grabeng kahirapan sa kalunsuran,” paliwanag ni Renato Magtubo, tagapangulo ng party-list na Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Higit sa 100 kasapi ng PM at Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) ang sasama sa taunang “Kalbaryo ng Maralita.” Ang AMP ay isang network ng mga samahan ng maralita sa Metro Manila, Central Luzon at Southern Tagalog. Ang martsa ay magsisimula ng 9:00 nu sa McDonald’s Kabihasnan sa Parañaque at magtatapos sa Simbahan ng Baclaran bandang alas dose. Magdadala ang ilang militante na mga krus na gawa sa karton at mga koronang tinik na gawa sa papel. Ang programa sa Simbahan ng Baclaran ay itutulad naman sa isang pasyon.

Hinamon ng mga maralita ang mga presidentiables na maglahad ng plataporma na tutugon sa mga karaingan ng maralita. “Sawa na kami sa abstraktong mga islogan tungkol sa pagtatapos ng kahirapan at paglaban sa korupsyon bilang ugat ng kahirapan. Ang gusto namin ay konkretong programa na tutugon sa kawalan ng trabaho, pagkain, pabahay at kita na pasaning mga krus ng mahihirap,” dagdag ni Robert Labrador, isang lider ng AMP.

Sa Kalbaryo ay ilalahad bilang mga sundalong Romano ang mga pulis ng Parañaque at mga gwardya ng Amvel Subdivision habang itutulad sa mga Pariseo si Mike Velarde ng El Shaddai. Pagsasalarawan ito ng serye ng demolisyong naganap kung kailan lamang sa Palasan sa Parañaque, isang komunidad malapit sa lugar na pinagsimulan ng Kalbaryo. Pinangunahan ng mga pulis ng Parañaque at gwardya ng Amvel ang demolisyon habang inaakusahan ng mga residente ng Palasan si Velarde bilang utak ng demolisyon. Ang Amvel ang inamin ni Velarde na siyang dahilan kung bakit ipinalihis niya ang kontrobersyal na C5 extension road.

Urban poor to challenge presidentiables in “Kalbaryo ng Maralita” tomorrow

Press Release
March 29, 2010

Militant urban poor will hold tomorrow a “Kalbaryo ng Maralita” to air their grievances about poverty, hunger, homelessness and unemployment. They will also challenge the presidentiables to present appropriate platforms to address the demands of the millions of poor and hungry Filipinos.

“We are tired of motherhood statements about ending poverty and corruption as the root of poverty. We want concrete programs that will resolve the lack of jobs, lack of food, lack of housing and lack of earnings that plague the lives of the poor. These are the heavy crosses that the poor bear daily,” said Robert Labrador, a leader of the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP). AMP is a network of urban poor organizations in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.

More than a 100 members of AMP and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) will hold the yearly tradition of a “Kalbaryo ng Maralita.” They will march tomorrow morning Palasan in Parañaque to the Baclaran Church.

“Palasan is the starting point of the Kalbaryo because it is symbolic of the sufferings of the urban poor. The residents of Palasan recently had to endure a series of violent demolitions spearheaded by the Parañaque police and private guards of the Amvel Subdivision which is owned by El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde. Palasan reflects the eviction and militarization that plagues the urban poor,” added Romy Cabugnason, a PM leader in Parañaque.

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson, asserted that “There are many more Palasans. There are millions of urban poor who survive but endure without decent housing. There are masses of Filipinos whose search for their daily bread is a matter of life and death. If their poverty will end, it will need a critical analysis that goes beyond simply blaming corruption and it will need the political will to implement redistribution of wealth and radical reforms.”

In the Kalbaryo, the Parañaque police and Amvel guards will be caricatured as Roman centurions while Velarde will be depicted as a hypocritical Pharisee. After several demolition attempts that included arson and arrests, the residents of Palasan were finally evicted and their community buried under a meter of soil.

The former community of Palasan was situated beside the Amvel Subdivision owned by Velarde who recently admitted to proposing the controversial rerouting of the C5 extension road. The Palasan residents accuse Velarde of landgrabbing and being the mastermind behind the demolition.