Workers more concerned with lost buying power than the missing files of Sen. Trillanes

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) has accused President Duterte of wasting his time and power in  neutralizing his political opponents rather than in arresting the deluge of high prices, saying that at the moment workers are more concerned with their lost purchasing power than the missing amnesty files of Sen. Trillanes.

“Ang problema ng manggagawa ngayon ay ang nagtataasang presyo at bumabagal na ekonomiya hindi ang rebelyon ni Trillanes noon laban kay Gloria,” lamented PM chair Renato Magtubo.

Trillanes, a fierce critic of President Duterte, is contesting the latter’s attempt to lock him up by revoking the amnesty privilege granted to him by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.  Duterte revoked Trillanes’ amnesty because his application form is reportedly missing from DND records.

“This move is easier to figure out now as the void ab initio principle applied to Trillanes is preceded by the quo warranto approach employed against CJ Sereno. This revocation can be as stealthy as quo warranto but for whose gain? A fascist’s appetite for absolute power is not the same with the workers’ desire for economic relief,” said Magtubo.

The group complained that while workers are losing their buying power due to runaway inflation, the President remains preoccupied with consolidating power and the persecution of his political adversaries.

“You cannot stop Sen. Trillanes and other critics from speaking their minds on many issues especially now that economic problems are weighing down the poor. What you can surely prevent is the worsening of inflation by stopping your TRAIN and repressing market manipulation by unscrupulous traders and businessmen. But where are you on this issue, Mr. President?” asked Magtubo.

Inflation hits a national average of 6.4% last month, the highest since 2009. NCR posted a higher rate at 7% while ARMM had 8.1%.

“Ang hinahanap dapat ng Pangulo ay ang solusyon sa problemang ito hindi ang nawawalang file ng kalabang senador,” concluded Magtubo.

6 September 2018

A national bank, strategic employment program needed in place of Bumbay system

They make a killing in doing their trade, but motorcycle-riding ‘Bumbays’ give life to enterprising Pinoys who are in dire need for cash.  Their existence, therefore, has become socially-compatible over time compared to the hooded riding in tandems who roam communities to kill their targets.

 

Yet we agree to the plan that their usurious loan practice is put to an end.  But an alternative to 5/6 system must be formed or less the Duterte administration is just creating new problems to replace the old ones.

We believe an alternative program can easily replace the 5/6 system.  A national bank or a national lending program that cater to the needs of the poor can surely take its place. Without this needed replacement, the government will only push the system further into the black market where more notorious financial sharks operate.

 

Furthermore, an elaborate national employment program must be organized to bring down the number of workers in the vulnerable sector of the economy.

 

The Bumbays operate without permits and we have the anti-usury law that prohibits the system. But this is the kind of arrangement that flourishes in the mainly underground market that dominates the Philippine economy. They make small loans to small people. This is the practical economic reason why the system gained mutual agreement in poor communities where a big number of unemployed and underemployed members of the labor force are in desperate struggle for sources of livelihood. 

 

For where should you go if you need a small, quick, and hassle-free loan to jump-start or sustain a small, unregistered enterprise like a sari-sari store, carinderia, a repair shop, among others?  Definitely you are not welcome to any commercial bank that imposes stringent requirements for a loan, including collateral.  And here comes a friendly Bumbay in the neighborhood who has the solution.

 

Of close to a million registered businesses in the country, more than 90 per cent are considered micro-enterprises or those with capitalization of less than PhP 3 million and employing not more than 10 people.  The government has no data on how many are actually involved in the underground economy--the vulnerable families who fall victim to financial sharks that are not exclusive only to the Bumbays.

 

As of October 2016, 60.8% of the labor force is considered wage and salaried workers. The rest are either unemployed or working on own account or sariling sikap. Underemployment is at 18 per cent.

11 January 2017

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. ###

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[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 

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