Workers join Black Friday protest, condemn PNoy for rejecting tax reform bill

The workers party list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today condemned the Aquino government for rejecting the proposed bill lowering income taxes as it called on its members to join the Black Friday protest. “If Heneral Luna was alive today, he will be part of the #BlackFriday protest while shouting ‘Punyeta ang mataas na buwis sa manggagawa!’,” exclaimed Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and one of its partylist bets for the coming elections.

Magtubo stated that PM members in factories are holding lunch break actions today in support of the #BlackFriday protest called by groups pushing for lowering of income taxes. “Factory workers in Metro Manila and the export zones in Cavite and Cebu, and also members of the Philippine Airlines union PALEA are participating in the #BlackFriday protest.” Magtubo explained.

PALEA members are holding pickets today at Philippine Airlines offices at the airport to demand the reinstatement of 117 employees to be laid off on November 30. Besides opposing the mass layoff, PALEA members are also raising the call for lowering income taxes.

“Inclusive growth is just a marketing gimmick if it cannot be made concrete by tax reform benefiting workers. Workers, as fixed income earners subject to withholding taxes, carry the onerous burden of primarily financing the coffers of the state but suffer from poor social services that are subject to political patronage,” Magtubo elaborated.

He challenged presidential candidates to heed the clamor of workers for progressive taxation and lowering of income taxes. “Mar Roxas’ alibi that tax reform during the election season is not timely is a lame excuse. If daang matuwid does not lead to tax reform then it is a deadend for workers,” Magtubo argued.

PM vowed to push for tax breaks for workers as part of its electoral platform. The labor partylist group’s “Apat na Dapat” platform includes lowering of prices, living wages, regular jobs and quality public services. PM insists public services must be funded from the proceeds of progressive taxation that shifts the burden from workers and the poor to the rich and employers.

November 27, 2015

PM to BOC: Balikbayan boxes contain labor and love; smuggled goods are in container vans

NEWS RELEASE

24 August 2015

Labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) joined OFW groups and individuals around the world in denouncing the new policy of Bureau of Customs (BoC) to subject balikbayan boxes to inspection and to impose duties on their assessed values exceeding $500.

“The policy is anti-OFWs on two grounds. First, it begins with the sweeping assumption that OFWs are into technical smuggling. Second, it ends up with a new revenue scheme that can generate some P600 million/year from small articles being sent home by our OFWs,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

Partido Manggagawa is asking the BoC and Malacanang to scrap the twin policy altogether as they smack with a veiled intention of making money out of the small and non-business articles coming from our OFWs.

The BoC came up with the memorandum explaining the new policy based on the findings that balikbayan boxes are being used for technical smuggling. The bureau said some P50 million are lost every month from technical smuggling and one way to address this problem is to subject balikbayan boxes to inspection.

But Magtubo said, “Stricter rules must be imposed against illicit trade, including imported goods that are meant for business and not against compressed articles that contain hard labor and deep love coming from our OFWs.”

He pointed out that this reform is also aimed at the wrong target since smuggled business articles are usually found in 40 ft.-long container vans and not in 4-cubic foot balikbayan boxes.

On the planned imposition of duties against articles exceeding $500 in value, Magtubo said the policy can be used arbitrarily and indiscriminately against OFWs who are unaware of custom’s valuation as well as the procedures on how values are determined on a mix of articles that are compressed inside the balikbayan boxes.

The labor group lamented the fact that OFWs have already been paying $0.05 cents per dollar in their remittances thus the new policy will be an added burden to them.

He also agreed with the view that the new policy may only create new forms of corruption in the most corrupt agency at the expense of hardworking OFWs.