Government’s deeds do not match words on human rights issues

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the government on its response to the European Union Parliament’s critique of inaction by the Philippines on human rights concerns.

 

“Deeds do not match words. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles are being disingenuous when they say that the administration is acting on the complaints. In reality, violations of human rights continue with impunity. The recent controversial arrest of Dr. Naty Castro is a case in point. Arrest, detention and red-tagging of critics and activists is on top of the thousands killed in the bloody drug war and the dozens of unionists murdered under the present dispensation,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

The group said that the EU Parliament is not the only international body taking the government to task. In its latest report, the International Labor Organization’s committee of experts on the committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations averred that speedy and effective probes of the killings of trade unionists and the conviction of perpetrators are lacking if not absent.

 

Magtubo added that “Just to cite one case, the murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña remains unsolved to this day, almost three years after he was shot while facilitating a labor seminar for export zone workers in Cavite. It was the outrage over the killing of Dennis just days before the annual International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2019 that precipitated the current complaint against the Philippine government for systematic violations of Convention 87 and Convention 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

 

 “Aside from Dennis, no justice has been served for the killings of PM leaders Orlando Abangan of Cebu, Rolando Pango and Victoriano Embang of Negros Occidental. As the ILO report has noted, the government keeps on repeating that investigations are happening without providing any details,” Magtubo insisted.

 

The group also stated that the government is dragging its feet on a review of the rules governing the conduct of security personnel during disputes and the scrapping of a program on peacekeeping in the export processing zones.

 

“The Philippine Economic Zone Authority in particular has been blocking progress on strengthening the freedom to unionize and the right to protest of workers in export processing zones. Their latest maneuver has been to change the name of the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office to Alliance for Industrial Peace and Program Office but the aim of militarizing ecozones by setting up police precincts and suppressing unionism remains in place,” Magtubo explained. 

February 22, 2022

Workers critique Duterte’s last SONA: Recycled anecdotes, absence of strategy

 

From the point of workers who have suffered through the failed covid response and were betrayed by the promise to end endo, there was really no high point to the 3-hour long SONA. There was nothing new he said about the most controversial and pressing issues like the drug war and the West Philippine Sea as he simply recycled his non-sequiturs. And there was deafening silence on a concrete strategy to combat covid and recession.

 

In the midst of a pandemic and a recession, the focus of the SONA should have been laying out an effective plan. These are also what the people are looking for in the SONA as revealed in the recent Pulse Asia survey. The people’s demands for a response on jobs, the economy, inflation, vaccine and even the West Philippine Sea are actually reflected in the labor coalition Nagkaisa’s call for TABAKK or Trabaho, Ayuda, Bakuna, Karapatan and Kasarinlan.

 

Duterte said that he really had no plans given the threat of the Delta variant except to impose another severe lockdown. In other words, Duterte will just be repeating the mistakes of the past year but coming from an even worse situation that last year. Walang pag-asa at inspirasyong makakatas sa huling SONA.

 

The alibi and excuses for the drug war was the lowest point of the SONA. Duterte spent so much time spinning his worn-out tales and anecdotes about drugs as an existential problem. As usual the numbers he mentioned about the drug war like 50,000 arrests per day and billions of drugs interdicted are fairy tales that are not backed up by evidence.

 

Nothing will happen in the last year of Duterte given the absence of a plan on recovering from the pandemic and the recession. In fact, in the next few months, the winds of the coming presidential elections will be blowing hard and Duterte the politician will surely be concerned about his fate after 2022—as he has admitted, he is apprehensive about being made accountable for the crimes during his regime.

July 26, 2021

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

Nagkaisa statement on ICC's findings of crimes against humanity in Duterte's drug war

 Press Statement

December 15, 2020

Ref Attu. Sonny Matula

N1 Chairperson

CP 09178079041 

World leaders must always be reminded that they are accountable to the people they represent. When those in power fail in their responsibilities to their people, domestic and international laws provide us with the instruments or remedial measures to correct injustice. 

The NAGKAISA Labor Coalition (NAGKAISA) welcomes the report by the International Criminal Court that a “reasonable basis” has been found for crimes against humanity committed in the course of the Duterte government’s “war” on drugs. This report provides glaring evidence that the Philippine government has horribly failed in its duty to protect the lives and dignity of its citizens. Instead, what we have seen under Duterte is the intensification of violence against our fellow Filipinos. From the drug war killings to the red-tagging, intimidation, as well as  murder of trade unionists and progressive activists, the Duterte government does not represent a break from previous administrations, rather merely showing its preference for violence when compared to earlier regimes. 

NAGKAISA, together with the broader progressive movement and our friends in civil society,  welcomes the ICC report. We believe that impunity and the abuse of power has continued for too long in the Philippines. While a warning to self-serving government officials, Duterte’s possible indictment for crimes against humanity is also a huge boost to the struggle of people’s organizations on the ground. International pressure will bring much needed support to the various groups and individuals that have devoted their lives to the service of Filipinos. 

It is these activists, unionists, and reformers that have been the focus of government repression, not the thieves in power that have robbed Filipinos of a dignified life for decades. We look forward to holding the Duterte government accountable for its crimes against the working people of the Philippines.

Those victims of atrocities are not hopeles. Since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after WW2, a number of civilian and military key  leaders  have been brought before domestic and international courts to be held accountable to charges including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Many were convicted, some died before the conclusion of their trials and others were acquitted.###

Workers to troop to Congress tomorrow for SONA reaction, demand end endo

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the SONA of President Rodrigo Duterte for failing to tackle the delivery of campaign promises including ending contractualization. Tomorrow, members of PM along with other groups from the labor coalition Nagkaisa will troop to Congress to call for the passage of the Security of Tenure bill.

“Duterte’s SONA—minus the stories and curses—was all about death and taxes. People will die. Filipinos will be taxed. Taxes will be used for the war on drugs and the armed forces instead of for social services. In contrast, the SONA’s silence on endo and other reform promises was deafening,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and spokesperson of Nagkaisa.

More than a hundred workers will assemble at the gates of Batasang Pambansa at 11:00 am tomorrow to push for the enactment of a law to prohibit all forms of contractualization. It will also be an opportunity for labor to air its reaction on the SONA.

Magtubo explained that “The SONA was full of sound and fury but signifying nothing for workers. Workers got absolutely nothing from the two-hour long SONA speech of President Duterte. The SONA started on the theme of the promise of change. Thus workers waited for Duterte to elaborate on the delivery of the promises. But not a single word on ending endo. And no much else too on other social reform issues.”

“Instead the narrative of whether promises were delivered were overshadowed by Duterte’s rambling rants against his critics, principally human rights advocates and the mass media. Indeed the rants were an entertaining distraction from the embarrassing topic of undelivered promises. Paradoxically only China was unreservedly praised,” he added.

Magtubo insisted that workers were left with unanswered questions after the SONA. “So has the promise of change been delivered? Obviously not, but why? After the hours-long stories, curses and boasts, how will the lives of the workers and the poor be changed permanently? Of these, there were no answers,” he argued.

Isang Bigong Taon: A failed one year for Digong – labor groups

Contractualization did not stop; wages remained low and regionalized; the unemployment and underemployment problems continue to weigh down on a large number of Filipino workers.  “In sum, it was “Isang B(D)igong Taon” on the labor front for President Duterte’s first year in office,” stated various labor groups in their one year assessment of the President’s performance.

It can be recalled that the President made a campaign pledge that contractualization will stop the moment he becomes the President.  He also vowed to raise wages and abolish the system of provincial rates.

“We tried to rate the President’s performance as objective as we can, but the outcomes for labor over his first 365 days have been generally wanting, have given us false expectations and given us many unfulfilled promises,” said the workers groups in a joint statement distributed to media during a demonstration held at the Boy Scout Circle in Timog Quezon City, Friday.

The mass action was organized by the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro), Partido Manggagawa (PM), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), National Federation of Labor Unions (Naflu) and the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea).  Members of the World March of Women and Ateneo University’s Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) also joined the rally.

No end yet to endo

In a meeting on Labor Day, President Duterte asked labor groups to draft an Executive Order that would use prohibition of all forms of contractualization as a framework.  This was after the unanimous rejection of labor groups of Department Order 174 issued by Labor and Employment Sec. Silvestre Bello III sometime in March.  He also instructed the labor department to resolve with dispatch the years of dispute between PAL and PALEA on the issue of contractualization.

In response the labor groups submitted a unified draft together with the formal labor sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission. But almost two months from its submission, the President has done no executive action to address the rampant contractualization.

“We have always advocated for a prohibition of all forms of contractualization and a stop to the abusive operations of manpower agencies and manpower cooperatives. The President himself at his assumption to power and in his first meeting with labor groups early this year openly expressed disgust over these as they ‘abused workers,’ using his words,” said the groups.

According to labor groups, DO 174 continues to permit contractualization and allows manpower agencies and manpower cooperatives to take a cut from workers’ salaries each payday.

There was also no certification issued by the President on pending anti-endo bills filed before the Congress. The PAL-PALEA dispute is not yet resolved.

The only token victory they got on this respect, the groups said, is the planned deputization of trade unionists as labor inspectors, the first batch of which are now undergoing training at the labor department.  

Freedom of Association is also one of the areas where the President has a failing mark from the groups as organizing remains extremely difficult particularly in Economic Zones as workers get harassed and get fired for trying to organize unions.

Wages, power, employment, OFW fees, new taxes

With the regional wage setting mechanism still in place, discrimination in terms of wages still persists across the country. The President said he was for a national minimum wage, but such policy pronouncement has not translated even to a working paper from DOLE that they can discuss with workers.

“In the meantime the real value of wages continues to drop, power rates and prices of basic goods and services continue to climb, making it more burdensome for the working class. Meanwhile, the collection of exorbitant placement and other fees for OFW have not been addressed sufficiently if at all,” added the group.

In addition, the planned imposition of excise taxes on oil and the expansion of VAT coverage on goods and services under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), the group feared, will lead to further erosion of workers purchasing power especially those earning the minimum wage and below.

  

ILO Convention 151 ratification, the saving grace

The President, however, got a passing mark for being the first chief executive to endorse for Senate concurrence International Labor Convention 151 on Labor Relations in the Public Sector. The treaty, once ratified by the Senate, would guarantee the right to organize of public sector workers and allow them to bargain for better working conditions, among others.

Wrong war

Asked why the President failed to satisfy workers’ clamor for change during the last 365 days, the labor groups said, “It is expected when a leader quickly descends into a wrong war that only resulted to thousands of unsolved killings.  While surveys have consistently showed that inflation, wages, and employment remain the top concerns of every Filipino.”

30 June 2013

PM, Sentro, FFW, NAFLU, PALEA

Workers calls for defense of political freedoms on Independence Day

As the nation celebrates Independence Day today, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on workers to defend political freedoms. “The workers and the people must be vigilant in protecting the liberties and freedoms we now enjoy amidst the declaration of martial law in Mindanao and the extra-judicial killings due to the war on drugs,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The group also expressed solidarity with the rallies and events being held today to echo a similar call of defending civil liberties and political freedom. PM had earlier stated its opposition to the imposition of martial law in Mindanao.

“Even as workers are aware of the defects of the trapo democracy we have today, the rights and freedoms Filipinos possess at the moment is better than having none at all under a martial law or authoritarian regime,” Magtubo averred.

He explained that “Martial law in Mindanao is a disproportionate response to a localized issue. Further, it is a transgression of the Constitution as only rebellion and invasion, not terrorism, are the basis of imposing military rule. Clearly, after more than two weeks since its declaration, martial law has not helped in putting down the Maute group. What martial law has done is unnecessarily sacrifice workers’ and people’s rights in the guise of suppressing terrorism. Reports of the dispersal of a labor strike by soldiers in Compostela Valley is just the harbinger of such abuses under a martial law regime.”

“The accounts of abuses in Mindanao due to martial law is no different from the cases of extra-judicial killings or arbitrary arrests of labor unionists because of the war on drugs. In the bloody month of September 2016, seven labor leaders and farmer activists were killed vigilante-style, among them a PM organizer in Cebu City. That same month, a union president was arrested in Tarlac on trumped up charges of drug possession,” Magtubo said.

The group vowed to launch protests and actions to defend civil liberties and resist labor repression. “While employers’ groups were among those welcoming the declaration of martial law, workers will be at the forefront of resisting the repression of civil liberties,” Magtubo insisted.

12 June 2017

Advisory: Human Rights Day rally tom by iDefend coalition

Tomorrow, December 10, 10:00 am, Mendiola
Assembly 8:00 am, UST along Espana

Justice for victims of extra-judicial killings!

Justice for victims of martial law!

Justice for victims of endo!

Advisory: “WALK THE TALK” for A LIFE OF DIGNITY FOR ALL

7 December 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

Buhay na may Dignidad para sa Lahat (DIGNIDAD)

85-B Masikap Street Ext., Barangay Central, Diliman, Quezon City | Tel. # 7097833

 

Requests press coverage of its event on the occasion of HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK

“WALK THE TALK” for A LIFE OF DIGNITY FOR ALL

A community workshop and walk with messages

addressed to the Duterte Administration

 

D E C E M B E R  8, 2016

2:00 - 4:30 PM - WORKSHOP at SAN ROQUE CHAPEL

along Sebastian Street Barangay San Roque (North Triangle), Quezon City

(from Agham Road, across Philippine Science High School, enter the community through

“talipapa” near the tri-bike and tricycle terminal. From there, about 8min. walk to the chapel)

               

4:30 pm - WALK

from the Chapel to Agham Road then to Bantayog ng mga Bayani

 

5 - 5:30 pm - NOISE BARRAGE and CANDLE LIGHTING at Bantayog ng mga Bayani

 

 

Contact: Teody Gacer @ 09297181427; Ana Vitacion @09175584657

 

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Week, DIGNIDAD Coalition will hold on December 8 a community workshop and walk dubbed as “WALK the TALK” to raise people’s awareness on human rights including social and economic rights. It will also highlight people’s calls addressed to the present administration to fulfill these rights.

 

There will be a discussion with about 100 women, men, and youth in the urban poor community in North Triangle. Then participants will breakout to make a poster or any visual representation of their appreciation of human rights (placard, drawing, etc.). By 4:30pm, the workshop participants and other people in the community – carrying their outputs from the workshop (drawing, placard, etc.) – will walk from the chapel going to Agham Road, then to Bantayog ng mga Bayani. The event will culminate with a noise barrage and candle lighting.

 

For Dignidad, the biggest war of the Duterte administration should be the war against poverty and inequality. This war is crucial in eliminating drugs, criminality, and terrorism.  Many believe that his electoral victory is hugely a protest vote by the masses against the Luzon-based oligarchy and incidentally a vote to end chronic poverty, unemployment, and the social injustice stemming from the people’s lack of access to the essential requirements for a humane life. However, the development blueprint of his administration still looks sketchy. Until now, the people have yet to see a clear development program that will address the economic and social ills in the country.

 

Dignidad Coalition is a broad platform composed of 32 grassroots organizations, labor groups and other sectoral coalitions, movement‐based party‐lists and multi‐sectoral issue-based coalitions, church‐based organizations, human rights groups and academics advancing an agenda towards the realization of a life of dignity for all Filipinos. It aims to raise people’s awareness on social and economic rights and to promote programs through the campaign for a Universal, Comprehensive, and Transformative Social Protection and its eight specific demands. These demands are on work and livelihood, social/public services, food, and social security.  Among its members are: Kilos Maralita, WomanHealth, Freedom from Debt Coalition, PATAMABA, KABAPA, Coalition of Services of the Elderly, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, NASSA, SENTRO, Partido ng Manggagawa,, Alab Katipunan, ARYA, Kilusan, Rights Network, IRDF, PKMK)

Workers on 100 days of Duterte: Killings overshadow social programs of the administration

It was a deadly 100 days.  To say otherwise is creative imagination.

 

This was the very brief description made by Partido Manggagawa (PM) when asked about its assessment of the first 100 days of the Duterte administration, noting that the number of killed in the war against drugs is obviously more graphic and chilling than the number of jobs created, number of endo lords neutralized, and number of landlords subjected to land reform.

 

“It cannot be denied that President Duterte’s deadly war on drugs overshadowed his social programs during his first 100 days in office.  His energy is there 100 per cent, leaving the social programs walk the business-as-usual course,” stated PM chair, Renato Magtubo.  

 

Magtubo said that as early as now, important social programs for workers such as contractualization and living wage were in danger of being completely compromised as powerful local and foreign business groups closed ranks to oppose such measures. 

 

“These powerful interests inside and outside the administration were behind the push for the win-win solution on endo and the removal of leftist officials in government,” said Magtubo.

 

The labor leader said, 100 days were clearly not enough to deliver on social programs, “But to be compromised is also recipe to a failure.”

 

Tomorrow marks the 100 days in office of the Duterte administration. It also coincides with the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work.

 

The Church-Labor Conference (CLC) where PM is a member is holding a rally tomorrow at the Mabuhay Rotonda to reiterate its call for a change in labor policies particularly on ending contractualization and the realization of living wage.

 

The group said that in the next five and a half years, it wanted the policy shifted to “Kabuhayan hindi Patayan”, in sharp disagreement with the recent pronouncement made by President Duterte that he will be happy to slaughter three million more in his relentless war against drugs.

 

In contrast Magtubo said:  “Mr. President, we have 100M Filipino lives to protect, 40M good jobs to create, and 26M people to lift out of poverty. If you will only consider the drug problem as both eco-social and public health issues, war against poverty is a better war to wage.”

 

The county has a population of over 100 million. Poverty incidence remains at 26%.  Most of the 40 million labor force is in non-standard employment affected by the chronic problems of contractualization, low wages, and the rising tide of informalization.

October 6, 2016

Workers call for war vs endo; respect for human rights in war vs drugs

On the occasion of the opening of the new Congress and the SONA speech of President Rodrigo Duterte, the workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the government to wage a vigorous war against contractualization and poverty. At the same time, it urged that human rights and due process be respected in the war on drugs in the wake of hundreds of extra-judicial killings since the new President was elected.

PM members from Metro Manila and Calabarzon are joining a multisectoral mobilization from various militant groups. They will assemble at 1:00 pm along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and then march towards Batasang Pambansa.

“Ikulong ang mga tulak ng endo at contractualization lords. Buhayin wag patayin ang human rights. Ito ang panawagan ng mga manggagawa,” urged Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

PM is also leading a mobilization of workers and poor in Cebu today to urge the administration to deliver on its campaign promise of ending contractualization. At the same time, PM in Cebu is calling for a stop to the wave of extra-judicial killings. Yesterday, the spouse of one PM-Cebu  leader was killed by police.

“Every Filipino deserves their day in court. Instead hundreds of poor people are being massacred in the course of the war on drugs,” declared Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

“Contractualization, just like drugs, destroys lives, wreaks families and ruins the future of the youth. How can a decent life for a family be sustained when breadwinners are endos who are paid poverty wages without benefits and who lose their jobs after five months? We would like to see big time pushers of contractualization, among whom are the richest capitalists, be penalized as criminals,” exclaimed Magtubo.

Last July 1, PM and other labor and church groups held a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment and presented a 10-point proposal to end endo in a bid to engage the new administration on the contractualization issue.

The group’s SONA mobilization today is part of its anti-endo contractualization. PM vowed to escalate the campaign against endo and win pending labor dispute such as the outsourcing row at Philippine Airlines.

July 25, 2016