Presidentiables dared to offer policy steps to end endo

The partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) dared presidential candidates to propose policy steps to follow through on their commitment to stop contractualization. In a televised presidential debate last night, all five candidates promised to “end endo.”

“It is obvious that the presidentiables played to the crowd by declaring their intent to end endo but it was all too clear that they gave no concrete proposals on regulating much less eradicating the epidemic of contractualization. Either they have a shallow or erroneous understanding of the roots of contractualization,” averred Rene Magtubo, chair of PM and also its first nominee for the partylist elections.

“In deeds not by words should the presidentiables be judged on the issue of contractualization,” insisted Magtubo. PM, along with other labor groups, have been campaigning for the passage of the Security of Tenure bill that has languished in Congress for nearly a decade.  The bill seeks to regulate contractualization by setting a cap on the number of non-regular workers and amending provisions of the Labor Code on subcontracting and outsourcing.

The group noted that none of the presidentiables who are solons pushed for the Security of Tenure bill while those who are local executives employ job order workers, the equivalent of contractual employees in the public sector, in their city halls.

“Mar Roxas deserves special mention for countenancing the outsourcing of Philippine Airlines employees in 2011 while he was cabinet secretary and threatening to file economic sabotage against PALEA members who fought contractualization in the national flag carrier,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and also PM partylist nominee.

He added that the “Contrary to the misconception of a few presidentiables, contractualization is expressly allowed by the law and is merely regulated but not prohibited. Moreover, lax inspection and enforcement by the Department of Labor and Employment worsens the situation.”

“This stems from the view of government that employers have to be encourged to invest and shifting from regular to contractual labor is part of the package. Thus it is worrisome that even as the presidentiables profess desire to end endo, in the same breath they want to placate employers by providing more incentives. We won’t be surprised that whoever becomes president will simply cave in to the employers’ lobby on the alibi that contractualization is necessary to generate more investments,” Rivera elaborated.

April 25, 2016

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.

Presidentiables asked for jobs policy as unemployment to rise with new graduates

Press Release
March 23, 2010

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) challenged the presidentiables to reveal their jobs policy as unemployment is expected to rise by April with the influx of new graduates to the labor force.

“We ask the presidentiables to present a jobs policy that will address the grave problem of unemployment in general and youth joblessness in particular Of the estimated half a million graduates this March, more than 90,000 will not be able to find work despite investing four or five years and a fortune in a college education,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

Magtubo issued his challenge during the PM national congress that is being held at the Oblates Missionary Center in Quezon City. The two-day congress ends today with the election of five nominees from among 120 delegates from different chapters nationwide.

Magtubo based his assertion on the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) April 2005 unemployment data of 18.5% for graduates. “Despite possessing a shiny new college diploma, graduates are only marginally better off than undergraduates whose unemployment rate is 21%,” he added.

To generate decent jobs, PM is advocating a short-term program of massive public employment program and a long-term reorientation of economic and trade policy away from liberalization. “The present emergency employment program must be made more widespread to employ millions but should also be reformed. People’s organizations not local politicians must administer the public employment program so that it will not be used for patronage and it must promote decent work instead of worsening contractualization. But a strategic jobs policy demands the political will to reverse liberalization, deregulation and privatization, and to uphold domestic industry and agriculture,” Magtubo explained.

Magtubo furthered that “The graduates of 2010 are only 12% of the 100 school age kids approximately 14 years ago who have survived the education system. Of these 12 out of 100, seven will take a licensure exam but only three will pass. Of the three, only one will find profession that fits his or her education. The rest will find work that has nothing to do with their college course.”

Labor party-list warns joblessness awaits graduates

Press Release
March 17, 2010

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) warned that joblessness awaits the new graduates who will be entering the labor force come April. “Of the estimated half a million graduates this March, more than 90,000 will not be able to find work despite investing four or five years and a fortune in a college education. We challenge the presidentiables to present a jobs policy that will address the grave problem of unemployment in general and youth joblessness in particular,” stated Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

Magtubo’s figures are a projection of the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) April 2005 unemployment data of 18.5% for graduates. “Despite possessing a shiny new college diploma, graduates are only marginally better off than undergraduates whose unemployment rate is 21%,” he added.

PM meanwhile criticized the latest NSO employment figures for “propagating myths instead of truths.” Magtubo argued that “Unemployment has been kept magically low by removing from the labor force those who have already been discouraged from looking for work and even those who keep on looking for work but have not found any for more than six months. Starting in 2005, by a mere redefinition of terms, one million Filipinos have been taken off from the unemployment rolls and the government can claim that unemployment has come down from the historical average of 10% to the current 7%.”

PM is advocating a short-term program of massive public employment program and a long-term reorientation of economic and trade policy away from liberalization to generate decent jobs. “The present emergency employment program must be made more widespread to employ millions but should also be reformed. People’s organizations not local politicians must administer the public employment program so that it will not be used for patronage and it must promote decent work instead of worsening contractualization. But a strategic jobs policy demands the political will to reverse liberalization, deregulation and privatization, and to uphold domestic industry and agriculture,” Magtubo said.

Magtubo furthered that “The graduates of 2010 are only 12% of the 100 school age kids approximately 14 years ago who have survived the education system. Of these 12 out of 100, seven will take a licensure exam but only three will pass. Of the three, only one will find profession that fits his or her education. The rest will find work that has nothing to do with their college course.”

PM is calling on the youth and the graduates to be critical and vote for candidates who have a concrete program to address unemployment. The party-list group is campaigning on a platform of “Apat na Dapat,” which means regular jobs, decent wages, affordable housing and universal healthcare coverage.

Labor party calls for changes to martial law-era labor code

Press Release
September 21, 2009

On the anniversary of the declaration of martial law, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for major changes in the labor code in the interest of advancing workers rights and welfare. “It is ironic that even as we vow never again to repeat the tragedy of martial law, the 1974 labor code remains in force as an enduring legacy of the dictatorship and a tight chain on the hands of the workers. The 1986 Edsa revolution dismantled many ramparts of the Marcos dictatorship and revived the trappings of elite democracy but it retained the labor code in order to restrict the freedoms of workers,” argued Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.

PM together with other labor groups under the KONTRA coalition formed to campaign against contractualization mobilized today several hundreds of workers. Theme of the workers rally was “Wakasan ang Batas Militar sa Paggawa.” The KONTRA mobilization assembled around 9 am at Morayta in Manila before proceeding to Mendiola by 10 am.

“The urgency of revising the martial law-era labor code comes to stark relief as the International Labor Organization starts its High Level Mission on the government’s enforcement of the Convention 87 and 98 on the right to organize of workers and bargain collectively,” Magtubo explained. The ILO High Level Mission (HLM) arrives today and starts if investigation officially tomorrow.

Magtubo also issued a challenge to the presidentiables to make put in their platforms the labor issues. “For the coming election to truly be a fight between good and evil, the presidentiables must specifically commit to changes in the labor code and jurisprudence on labor in the interest of promoting workers rights and welfare. Any presidentiable who claims to be fighting for good instead of evil must be an advocate of labor,” Magtubo insisted.

PM also appealed to the ILO HLM to investigate the “no union, no strike” policy in the export zones and the contractualization of labor both of which the group claims as a hindrance to the exercise of the right to unionize and bargain. “For example, Philippine Airlines will spinoff by November 15 its catering, passenger and cargo handling operations thus affecting an estimated 2,000 workers, about half its workforce. But this is just a retire-rehire tactic to weaken the PAL union. Lucio Tan owns the companies which will continue the spun off operations but with workers who are non-union with cheaper wages, less benefits and no security of tenure,” Magtubo described.

He also clarified that in the Mactan Export Processing Zone in Cebu workers are complaining of unfair labor practices by management designed to interfere in the workers exercise of the freedom to organize. “A clear case in point is Alta Mode, a garments factory producing world famous brands like Abercrobie and Fitch and Hollister, that put on forced leave all of the union members on the day of the election for workers to decide on having a union. And several days after the union won a majority of the votes, the management put the factory on temporary shutdown in order to intimidate the workers,” Magtubo added.