Stop NCAP protest caravan tomorrow am

 

Partido Manggagawa condemns arrest of 20 Labor Day rallyists in Cebu

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the arrest of 20 rallyists who assembled at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City this morning. Police arrested 8 miners from Carmen Copper in Toledo and 12 fishers from Talisay City on alleged violation of quarantine protocols. “The government is using covid-19 as an alibi to suppress the right to peaceful assembly of workers who are airing their demands on Labor Day,” asserted Dennis Derige, spokesperson for PM-Cebu.

 

A third group of rallyists who were workers in the Mactan Economic Zone and other factories together with student supporters were finally able to hold a short program at Plaza Independencia. All three groups, who are affiliates of PM and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), were supposed to commemorate Labor Day by marching around Cebu City. The arrests effectively scuttled the Labor Day plans of workers in Cebu City.

 

“Today’s arrests reveals the impunity of police against workers who are suffering under the economic crisis that has been spawned by the failed covid response of the Duterte administration. Similarly, the commemoration of Bonifacio Day was marred by the arrest of five union organizers who led a workers protests against mass layoffs in the Mactan ecozone. Covid is being weaponized against workers who are fighting for their rights and welfare,” stated Derige.

 

The workers in Cebu and in other major cities nationwide were to commemorate Labor Day with the theme “Tabakk ng Manggagawa Laban sa Palpak.” “Tabakk stands for Trabaho, Ayuda, Bakuna, Karapatan at Kasarinlan which are the key demands of workers in response to the economic crisis and the covid pandemic,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He added that “However, workers are also raising the political call ‘Palpak, Palitan.’ This means we are calling on the people to replace the inutile and authoritarian government with a new one which will respect political rights and respond to workers’ demand for social and economic reform.”

 

In Metro Manila, PM, SENTRO and other groups in the Nagkaisa labor coalition held a motorcade from the ABS-CBN headquarters to the People Power Monument to Mendiola and finally at Liwasang Bonifacio.

 

As of the time of writing, the release of the 20 rallyists in Cebu have been put on hold by the police despite the payment of fines for each of the workers arrested.

 

Photos can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10159032773159323

 

May 1, 2021

Extreme sacrifice, endless struggles by women under the pandemic – Partido Manggagawa

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said women workers suffered the most difficult year under the pandemic as the government, unconscious and unprepared to deal with the gender dimension of this combined health and economic crises, endowed families with only two months of ayuda during the past twelve months and treated everyone, old and children alike, as 'pasaway' under a militarized pandemic response.

 

“Bago pa man ang COVID-19 na pandemya, nasa disbentaheng posisyon na ang kababaihang manggagawa kapwa sa lugar ng trabaho at sa loob ng tahanan. Lalo lang lumala ang kalagayang ito nang umabot sa matinding krisis pang-ekonomiya ang COVID-19 pandemic dahil sa kapalpakan ng gobyerno ni Duterte sa pagtugon dito,” declared PM Secretary-General Judy Miranda, Monday, as her group joined the World March of Women at Plaza Miranda for celebrating International Women’s Day.

 

Miranda said the unemployment problem also hit the women hardest, forcing women to leave their jobs and stopped looking for new ones as they have assumed more domestic responsibilities at home, including aiding their children on their online schooling.

 

“Noong 2019, ang joblessness ay 30% sa kababaihan, 12% naman sa kalalakihan. Sa panahon ng pandemya nitong 2020, naging 47% sa kababaihan at 29% sa kalalakihan, ayon sa sarbey ng SWS. Pero hindi ibig sabihin nito ay nawalan ng trabaho ang mga babae dahil sa halip, dumami pa ang kanyang responsibilidad sa tahanan,” explained Miranda.

 

And for those who remained at work in essential services and the manufacturing sector, women workers fought back against mass layoffs and non-payment of wages and separation pay as employers made the pandemic an alibi to cut the benefits or bust the unions.

 

“Kalakhan ng ating frontliners sa health sector, food services, wholesale and retail ay kababaihan. Araw-araw nilang kaharap ang panganib, kawalan ng transportasyon, at mataas na presyo ng mga bilihin katapat ng kakarampot na sweldo,” added Miranda.

 

The group said it is this higher level of sacrifice and the daily struggle of women that helped families survive a year under the pandemic, thus, their roles must be recognized and appreciated by the government by formulating short to medium-term programs for women.

 

These include income support, public employment, day-long daycares for working mothers; and also the most important political demand of women today - democratic spaces and a  violence-free environment – in contrast to the prevailing state of killings and authoritarianism under the Duterte regime.

08 March 2021

Labor group slams PEZA and PNP for JIPCO IRR

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) between the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority last Monday.

 

“The signing of IRR of the JIPCO between the PNP and PEZA will mean further militarization of ecozones, harassment of labor unionists and escalation of the union busting. As far as workers are concerned, police presence in the ecozones has been to harass labor protests, disperse picketlines and arrest organizers,” stated Rene Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa (PM) national chair.

 

He added “The hugot line about forming JIPCO and sending police to the ecozones as mechanisms to promote industrial peace is just doublespeak. It is no different from the lie about police rescuing lumad children in the bakwit school in Cebu and police killing nanlaban suspected drug addicts.”

 

PM, a member of the country’s biggest labor coalition Nagkaisa!, had earlier demanded that the PNP and PEZA withdraw the program, and for DOLE to enforce labor laws in ecozones, educate officials of the bureaucracy and security forces on labor rights, and prosecute the violators whether they are state officials or owners of capital. In fact, almost exactly a year ago today, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello already wrote to both the PNP Chief and the PEZA Director General to express concern about the formation of the JIPCO in Central Luzon.

 

Magtubo cited a series of PNP and PEZA collaboration in suppressing workers’ activities within the last year or so. First, the arrest by the Cebu PNP of five labor organizers and their dispersal of a rally of retrenched workers of First Glory at the gate of the Mactan ecozone last November 30. Second, the dispersal of the picketline of workers of Sejung Apparel in the First Cavite Industrial Estate by Dasmarinas police together with security guards and barangay tanods for allegedly violating quarantine rules. The dispersal happened in the dead of the night during Black Friday of 2020. Finally, soldiers and police harassed union leaders, sent threatening letters to labor organizers and held anti-union meetings with workers of the FCF Manufacturing Corp., a factory in the Freeport Area of Bataan that makes high-end leather bags.

 

He reminded the PNP and PEZA that under the law, even employers who own the businesses and exercise direct control over their workforce are considered as mere bystanders, meaning they cannot interfere in labor activities, particularly on the right of workers to form unions as provided under the Bill of Rights and the Social Justice provisions of the Constitution. “If employers are mere bystanders in workers’ exercise of their labor rights, more so the PNP and PEZA,” Magtubo insisted.

 

He concluded that “JIPCO is hiding under the cover of peace building efforts but in reality, it is a declaration of war against the trade union movement in the country. But we will not be cowed and we will continue to organize.” 

February 17, 2021

Workers to UP: Fight for academic and workplace freedom

Only tyrants are hostile to academic freedom. Sila ang bawal sa UP, hindi ang aktibismo at malayang kaisipan.

 

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) joins the UP community in upholding academic freedom within the UP system in particular and for all other universities and learning institutions in general. Academic freedom does not make enemies of the state. It is, on the contrary, this democratic value that unmasks and unmakes tyranny, bigotry, and fundamentalism.

 

The current generation of workers are surely not aware of this old, little-known pact between UP and the government as represented by the Department of National Defense. Similar to this pact is the ‘50-meter proximity rule’ and non-interfernce during labor disputes that police and military are mandated to observe (Rule 19 Section 3 of 2010 PNP Operational Procedures). This was further upheld by 2011 “Guidelines on the Conduct of the DOLE, DILG, DND, DOJ, AFP and PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Rights and Activities”.

 

This rule, however, is often violated during strikes and lockouts. Lately, a more systematic way of undermining workplace freedom is imposed with the establishment of Joint Industrial Peace Concern Office (JIPCO) in economic zones or EPZAs.

 

It is in this context that Filipino workers cannot sit idle watching hard-won freedoms collapse in the workplace and campuses because a new tyrant thinks that his only way to preservation is the demolition of human rights.  It is because he is also aware of the fact that it is only freedom that can stop a tyrant from perpetuating his rule. ###

Foodpanda riders protest harassed by police, 1 arrested

 

 

Some 700 riders of the food delivery app Foodpanda held a “unity ride” today to seek redress of their grievances. However the peaceful protest at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was marred by an altercation with police from the Intramuros station. Jack Vergara of the Food Panda Riders Association was arrested while the cellphone of Romeo Maglunsod of the Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (KAGULONG) was confiscated by the police.

 

“We condemn the harassment by the Manila police of a peaceful concerted action by workers that is a constitutionally guaranteed right. We ask Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to ensure that workers’ right to redress of grievances is observed at the DOLE area. That is traditionally a site of protest but police are now using the pandemic as an excuse to suppress the right to peaceful assembly,” stated Rene Magtubo, national chair of Partido Manggagawa which is supporting the Foodpanda riders.

 

The Foodpanda riders assembled at the Film Center/Cultural Center of the Philippines area before proceeding to the DOLE to seek an audience and deliver a letter addressed to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello.

 

The groups are asking the DOLE to conduct an inspection for the purpose of resolving the grievances of the Foodpanda riders. Riders are discontented over recent changes in Foodpanda policies that have negatively affected their pay and working conditions.

 

“Pay is tied to bookings which are affected by so-called ‘grades.’ But the grading system is opaque. Grades have fallen due to changes in the system which penalize riders. Pay has also been reduced per delivery due to a new system,” explained Don Pangan of KAGULONG.

 

Further, a policy called “undispatch” forces riders to rush in order to pick up an order, thereby putting their safety at peril. The groups are demanding the removal of “undispatch,” and transparency and fairness in policies, including the computation of the pay for deliveries.

 

Pangan added that “Food Panda riders are called delivery partners but in reality are employees of the company owning the app. Food Panda riders are subject to control and supervision of the company as shown by the impact of policy changes on pay and condition. Foodpanda riders are not independent contractors but ordinary employees of th company owning the app.”

 

The groups are calling on the DOLE to act on their request for dialogue and inspection. “This is only the start of our advocacy for the rights and welfare of Foodpanda rider and other gig workers. Ang laban ng Foodpanda riders ay laban ng lahat ng gig workers,” insisted Pangan.

Food Panda Riders Association

Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (KAGULONG)

November 18, 2020

 

Labor group to government: Is cruelty becoming a new normal?

The rise in the number of cases involving cruel treatment by security forces against violators of quarantine protocols has alarmed the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) which sees this pattern as tolerated impunity that is becoming a new normal.

“Can’t our security forces in dreadful military uniforms act humanely before their fellow humans? Have they been instructed to apply brute force against anyone they perceive to be pasaway? There must be a new culture for a new normal being created here for these inhumane actions to be tolerated,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

The labor group reminded the government that human rights and labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution have never been demolished by President Duterte’s emergency powers under the Bayanihan Act.

According to police reports, there are more than a hundred thousand ECQ violators who have been apprehended or arrested since the lockdown has been imposed.  The most recent among them were the Makati (Parras) and Quezon City (Ragos and a fish vendor) incidents that have gone viral in the social media. There was also a PUP student leader among them, Rexlon Aumentado, who was illegally detained for 3 days.

The group also cited the police dispersal of a workers’ picketline in Cavite during Black Friday night. Dasmarinas police who refused to give their names threatened two strikers—at the Sejung Apparel Inc. factory in the First Cavite Industrial Estate—with arrest for allegedly violating the quarantine rules. “Labor rights are not suspended during the ECQ and this incident breaks all the rules of engagement, especially the guidelines on the conduct of security personnel during labor disputes,” Magtubo insisted.

PM is concerned that had there been no anonymous people posting their videos of those incidents, these human rights violations in thousands of unreported circumstances will just go unnoticed and perpetrators go unpunished.

“Bakit ba naging habit na ang pananakit? Bakit ba mayroon nang nalikhang malaki at maliit, malupit at mahina dito sa paglaban sa Covid-19,” lamented Magtubo.

“Makataong Tugon Hindi Militarisasyon” is one of PM’s “Apat na Dapat” Labor Day demands. The other demands include “Ayudang Sapat Para sa Lahat”, “Balik Trabahong Ligtas”, and “Ayudang Lagpas sa Panahon ng Lockdown.”

The group is with Nagkaisa! labor coalition which, together with Kilusang Mayo Uno, will be holding home and community protest online on Labor Day.

#MakataongTugonHindiMilitarisasyon

#MayDay2020

29 April 2020

Police disperse picketline using lockdown as alibi

A picketline of economic zone workers in Dasmarinas, Cavite was dispersed last night using the lockdown as an alibi. From 8:00 to 9:00 pm last night, two Dasmarinas police backed up with scores of tanods of Barangay Langkaan 1 and 2 and security guards threatened two workers in the picketline, Jackie Elorde and Amer Taluba, with arrest if they will not leave the picketline. Workers of Korean-owned Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) have been on picket-protest since December for non-payment of 13^th month pay and other violations.

“We condemn the forcible dispersal of the picketline of Sejung workers in the dead of Black Friday night by modern Roman centurions—police, barangay tanods and security guards—in blatant violation of the law,” asserted Jopay Odchimar, president of the labor union of Sejung workers.

She asserted that the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011 and the expanded version of 2012 which specifically includes barangay tanods prohibit interference by any security personnel in labor disputes. “The guidelines and labor rights are not revoked or suspended just because a quarantine is in effect,” Odchimar insisted.

She added that “The dispersal is the culmination of a three-week long attempt by FCIE to harass and starve Jackie and Amer into submission. Since March 27, all attempts to bring food and water to Jackie and Amer were stopped by security guards allegedly upon orders of FCIE estate manager Raffy Malanyaon. Guards maintained a 24/7 cordon sanitaire around the picketline in violation of the guidelines which mandate that police, military and guards should be 50 meters away and not interfere in peaceful picketing.”

“For more than four months, the Department of Labor and Employment provincial and regional offices did not act on a clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine further aggravated the sufferings of workers,” Odchimar explained.

The labor dispute is due to non-payment of 13^th month pay, last salary and union busting. Sejung declared temporary shutdowns several times. The first shutdown in October last year occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won a certification election. The company reopened but once more closed in December and has remained shutdown since then.

April 11, 2020

Group condemns dispersal of picketline using lockdown as alibi

 The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the dispersal of a picketline of economic zone workers in Dasmarinas, Cavite last night. From 8:00 to 9:00 pm last night, two Dasmarinas police backed up with scores of tanods of Barangay Langkaan 1 and 2 and security guards threatened two workers in the picketline, Jackie Elorde and Amer Taluba, with arrest if they will not leave the picketline. Workers of Korean-owned Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) have been on picket-protest since December for non-payment of 13^th month pay and other violations.

“We condemn the forcible dispersal of the picketline of Sejung workers in the dead of Black Friday night by modern Roman centurions—police, barangay tanods and security guards—in blatant violation of the law,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He asserted that the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011 and the expanded version of 2012 which specifically includes barangay tanods prohibit interference by any security personnel in labor disputes. “The guidelines and labor rights are not revoked or suspended just because a quarantine is in effect,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “The dispersal is the culmination of a three-week long attempt by FCIE to harass and starve Jackie and Amer into submission. Since March 27, all attempts to bring food and water to Jackie and Amer were stopped by security guards allegedly upon orders of FCIE estate manager Raffy Malanyaon. Guards maintained a 24/7 cordon sanitaire around the picketline in violation of the guidelines which mandate that police, military and guards should be 50 meters away and not interfere in peaceful picketing.”

“For more than four months, the Department of Labor and Employment provincial and regional offices did not act on a clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine further aggravated the sufferings of the workers,” Magtubo explained.

The labor dispute is due to non-payment of 13^th month pay, last salary and union busting. Sejung declared temporary shutdowns several times. The first shutdown in October last year occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won a certification election. The company reopened but once more closed in December and has remained shutdown since then.

April 11, 2020

Labor group slams criminalization of unionists

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today condemned the criminalization of unionists in Cebu, Valenzuela and Cavite. In Cebu, a “wanted list” of unionists were posted at the gate of the Mactan Economic Zone and its security office last Wednesday. In Valenzuela, in the middle of negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), a union president and vice president were arrested due to a criminal complaint also last Wednesday. Finally in Cavite, criminal complaints were also filed against union officers.

“We are alarmed at this disturbing pattern of unionists being treated as criminals. Unionism is not a crime. But with the prevailing culture of impunity, employers are emboldened to criminalize unionists and treat them as terrorists,” declared Rene Magtubo, national of PM.

Names and pictures of Myra Opada, Luzelie Gesta and Aurelia Parangan were on the “wanted list” in the Mactan ecozone. Opada is union president at Philippine Light Leather Corp. (PLLC), Gesta is secretary of the union and Parangan is an active member. All three have been terminated by PLLC management but the workers have filed cases of union busting, unfair labor practice and illegal dismissal.

Meanwhile, the president and vice president of the labor union at the Nation Paper Products and Printing Corp. (NAPPCO) were arrested and detained at a Valenzuela police station for two days already. The union is trying to raise the P36,000 total bail for the two. The CBA negotiations were cancelled as a result of the arrest and detention.

Cases for falsification of public documents by were filed against union officers at Jisoo Garments Manufacturing Corp. and Dong Seung Inc. in the Cavite ecozone more than a month ago. The criminal complaints followed other instances of harassment by management of active unionists in the two Korean-owned garments factories.

“While police are arresting tambays for crimes that have not been committed, employers are similarly engaged in criminalizing unionists for exercising their rights as workers. Police should instead arrest employers who are illegally employing endo workers, under paying workers for wages and benefits and not remitting deduction for SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth,” argued Magtubo.

The group is studying the possibility of a congressional investigation of the spate of incidents of union repression in the country. A global union body had listed the Philippines as among the worst countries for workers in its 2018 Global Rights Index. 

June 29, 2018

PM supports riders’ fight vs profiling, indiscriminate road use policies

PRESS RELEASE

26 January 2014

 

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed its support to motorcycle riders who were protesting against indiscriminate road and anti-crime programs, specifically the ‘no back-ride’ and the ‘vest with plate number’ policies being proposed by law enforcers and some local governments.

 

Hundreds of motorcycle riders under Arangkada and the Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO) today held a motorcade-cum-rally from the Quezon City Elliptical Circle to the People Power Monument in Quezon City.

 

“The proposed ban on back-ride is not only unconstitutional but also anti-worker,” said PM spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza, adding that while many criminals use motorbikes in committing crimes, “not all riders are criminals and thus do not deserve a ‘person of interest’ kind of profiling.”

 

Fortaleza explained that using motorbike is now the popular choice among workers both in the formal and informal sector because it is the cheapest and fastest mode in getting to work or in delivering personal and community services. 

 

“In fact many in the PNP, MMDA, LGUs and other NGAs are also using motorcycles. And many of labor organizers, too,” he added.

 

According to the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB), motorcycles overtook the utility vehicles from 2005 onwards and close to half of the private vehicles roaming our streets are motorcycles or tricycles. 

 

The NSCB added that it could be a sign of progress or proof of a shrinking middle class.  There are some 3-4 million registered motorcycles, according to the MRO.

 

Fortaleza, however, clarified that the labor group will not oppose government’s campaign against criminality as long as it recognizes the limits of its power to impose unjust rules. 

 

“Solving street crimes must be a collective effort.  One way to do it is for law enforcers to be in close coordination with legitimate, organized riders’ clubs, not by intimidating them.  And also not by striking a modus vivendi with godfathers of criminal gangs,” concluded Fortaleza.

Urban poor group condemns violent Paranaque demolition, use of deadly force

Press Release

April 24, 2012

Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino

The urban poor group Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) and the labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) condemned the violent demolition at the Silverio Compound in Paranaque and assailed the use of deadly force by the police. “Heads must roll for the death of one resident from police gunfire and the brutality accompanying the arrest of scores protesters,” said Ramil Cangayao, spokesperson of the AMP. AMP is an alliance of urban poor associations in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon.

Meanwhile Renato Magtubo, PM national chair, asserted that “Violent evictions must be prohibited. Land disputes must be resolved through negotiations without the threat of violence, deceit or bribery. Residents must be relocated to better living conditions to ensure that negotiations end peacefully in agreement.”

Cangayao expressed the fear that violence may erupt once more in Paranaque since another demolition has been scheduled on Thursday at the Tucuma community in Barangay Merville. Ramil Asturias, president of the Tucuma Federation, declared that they will defend their community from any attempt at demolition.

The Tucuma residents are planning a rally at the Paranaque city hall tomorrow to appeal for a stop to the scheduled demolition. Tucuma Federation is an affiliate of the AMP.

Magtubo explained that one of the demands of the coming Labor Day rally is a moratorium on demolitions. Some 20,000 workers and urban poor under the umbrella of the newly-formed Nagkaisa will march along Espana to Mendiola to highlight the issues of job contractualization, low wages, high prices of oil and power and violent demolitions, among others. Some 40 labor organizations established the Nagkaisa, among them the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Federation of Free Workers, Alliance of Progressive Labor and PM.

PALEA resists dispersal, slams PAL for “picket busting”

Press Release

October 20, 2011

PALEA

More than 1,000 members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) successfully resisted the attempt to disperse its protest camp yesterday. “We accuse the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) of using a sheriff and scores of hired goons to bust PALEA’s peaceful and lawful protest. The dispersal attempt was in clear violation of the status quo order of Pasay RTC Judge Maria Rosario Ragasa yesterday in which PAL agreed to respect the campout,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa.

Pasay City Sheriff Virgilio Villar arrived at the PALEA campout at around 3:00 pm yesterday accompanied by some 100 men in white t-shirts or undershirts and blue pants ostensibly to implement an order from Executive Judge Edwin Ramizo of the Pasay RTC. At 4:15 pm, the sheriff and the unidentified men started tearing down streamers at the front of the protest camp but were repulsed by PALEA members. “The sheriff and his goons came back again at 6:00 pm, scuffles broke out but they were finally forced to retreat. All the time, scores of riot police were just a short distance away observing the dispersal attempt,” Rivera explained.

Today the six PALEA members who were sued by PAL for “illegal occupation of the perimeter of PAL’s In-Flight Center (IFC)” submitted their position paper at the sala of Judge Ragasa. PALEA moved for dismissal since the civil courts have no jurisdiction over cases involving or arising out of labor disputes as per Article 254 of the Labor Code. A decision on the case is expected tomorrow.

Rivera argued that “In its insistence in dismantling PALEA’s campout, PAL is exposing its contradictory claims. PAL says that the 2,400 PALEA members cannot be accepted back to work since the airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations departments have been closed and outsourced. So how come PAL alleges that the IFC which houses the catering department is essential to its operations. This raises the suspicions that it will allow Sky Kitchen, a supposed separate entity that at present provides substandard catering service according to reports reaching PALEA, access to the facilities of the IFC.”

Rivera recalled that the unidentified men came in two groups. One contingent came out of the IFC while another marched down from Terminal 2. When confronted, Sheriff Villar initially admitted that the unidentified men were with him but later denied knowledge of the group. “Nonetheless the circumstances reveal that PAL’s goons were acting in concert with Sheriff Villar’s since every time he attempted to tear down tents and streamers, the goons moved with him,” he detailed.

The thousand-strong ranks of PALEA stayed overnight to guard the camp out. PALEA has vowed to defend its “occupation” which it has announced to be inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests and part of the global movement against corporate greed and corruption.

PALEA to Tourism Congress: Ask PAL to open talks

Press Release
October 7, 2011
PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) called on the
Tourism Congress to exert moral suasion on Philippine Airlines (PAL)
to open talks to resolve the ongoing labor dispute in the face of the
company’s refusal to negotiate with the union. The Tourism Congress
had expressed concern that the labor row is negatively affecting the
influx of tourists.

Meanwhile two PALEA officers today appeared at the Southern Police
District (SPD) Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City as part of
the investigation of an incident involving the entry of four policemen
to the PAL In-Flight Center at MIA Road last Wednesday. Jake Garcia
and George Dela Rosa, PALEA board members, filed their affidavits this
morning in the complaint against the policemen headed by a certain
PInsp. Neil Deveraturda.

Last October 5, at around 6:45 a.m., a Toyota Revo with SPD markings
and body number 408 were confronted by PALEA members due to the
suspicious nature of it entry. The policemen were found to be detailed
at Taguig and were unable to answer questions by PALEA officers Garcia
and dela Rosa why they had not coordinated with the Pasay police and
the Inter Agency Monitoring Center which has jurisdiction.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa,
warned police against conniving with PAL’s plan to dismantle the
protest camp. “Unfortunately for PAL, PALEA’s peaceful protest is
allowed by the Labor Code. The police should learn from the mistake of
their commander-in-chief PNoy who has remained deafeningly silent
after his shoot-from-hip threat of filing an economic sabotage case
against PALEA”

Rivera also replied to the Tourism Congress’ call that PALEA should
follow the decisions of the Labor Department and Office of the
President. He said that “The Tourism Congress is barking at the wrong
tree. It is PAL which is not respecting the judicial process by
prematurely implementing the outsourcing plan when there is no final
decision by the courts.”

“If the Tourism Congress wants to be a spokesperson for the riding
public then they should abstain from intervening in the legal issues
and concern themselves with issues of airline safety and efficient
service. They should investigate if the overworked and untrained scabs
being used by PAL to fly its greatly reduced number of flights are up
to par in safety and efficiency. They might be shocked by what they
unearth should they pursue an honest to goodness inquiry on behalf of
the passengers and tourists,” Rivera insisted.

PALEA members forcibly evicted from check-in counters

At the Terminal 2 check-in counters, Centaur security guards and airport police have forcibly evicted PAL employees—many of them women—who have linked up in arms in defense of their ranks. PAL employees Kathleen Yumol, Rhonan Alonzo, Christian Concepcion hurt in the dispersal by combined private security guards and airport police led by Col. Dionalo Antallan

PNP personnel also padlocked the gates of the Our Lady of the Airways Parish grounds where more than 200 PALEA supporters from Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and other groups are holding a program. After PALEA’s legal counsels intervened, the gates were opened by police are still physically blocking the gates. OLAP's Monsignor has allowed the protesters to hold a mass and stay at the grounds.

Meanwhile PALEA and PM members in Cebu staged a rally at the Mactan International Airport in support of the protest action vs. layoff and contractualization.