Pahayag ng PM-Kabataan sa SONA 2020 ni Duterte

Walang duda na si Duterte ang numero unong pasaway at aminadong inutil kaya lumalala ang covid cases, lumulubog ang ekonomiya at humihirap ang buhay ng masa, kasama na ang mga kabataan.

Sa kanyang SONA, inamin ni Duterte na inutil siya. Inutil daw siya sa pagtatanggol ng soberanya ng bansa laban sa panghihimasok ng China. Ang totoo, inutil siya sa paglutas sa mga problema ng bansa.

Binanggit niya na tumataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin, nawalan ng trabaho’t hanapbuhay ang mga tao. Pero wala siyang inihain na solusyon. Wala siyang inilatag na plano. Basta maniwala na lang na may gagawin ang gobyerno!

Apat na taon na mula nang ipangako niyang wawakasan ang endo. Pandemya pa din ang kontraktwalisasyon sa mga manggagawa. Apat na tao na mula nang ipangako niyang tatapusin ang provincial wages. Pandemya pa din ang barat na sweldo ng mga manggagawa. Apat na taon na mula nang ipangako niyang susugpuin ang korapsyon. Pandemya pa din ang mga nakawan sa gobyerno at ni-rerecycle lang ang mga Duterte appointees na nabulgar sa anomalya.

Apat na taon nang binigo ni Duterte ang kanyang mga pangako. Di na pwedeng mangako lang uli siya na malulutas ang kahirapan sa huling dalawang taon ng kanyang termino!

Isa lang ang tinotoo ni Duterte sa kanyang mga pangako—ang dumanak ang dugo sa war on drugs. Sa apat na taon ay lagpas 10,000 mahihirap ang pinatay dahil daw nanlaban.

Sa huling dalawang taon, dadanak pa uli ang dugo. Gusto ni Duterte na ibalik ang death penalty. Pero kahit walang batas sa death penalty, dumadami ang namamatay dahil sa covid. At namimiligrong mamatay sa gutom ang mas marami.

Sa huling dalawang taon, walang magbabago. Ang fairy tale sa isipan ni Duterte ay ang salot ng droga na sumisira sa pamilyang Pilipino kaya’t ang solusyon ay kamay na bakal laban sa mga kriminal. Hindi niya makita ang nagdudumilat na katotohanan na kahirapan ang totoong problema ng bansa.

Ang solusyon sa kahirapan ay hindi war on drugs kundi gera laban sa oligarchs—sa mga malalaking kapitalista na may kontrol ng industriya, sa malalaking asendero na nagmamay-ari ng mga lupain at dayuhang kapitalista na bumabansot sa lokal na ekonomiya. Pero naaalala lang ni Duterteng banatan ang oligarchs kapag may gagantihan siya at may ipapalit siya na crony.

Sabi ni Duterte sa gitna nang kanyang SONA, di daw nya naiintindihan ang binabasa nya. Ano pa bang resibo ang kailangan natin para ipakitang ang pasaway na presidente—at ang bulok na sistema—ang dahilan ng paghihirap na dinaranas ng mga kabataan at manggagawa!

27 July 2020

On his fourth year and 5th SONA: Duterte is the biggest pasaway

A change in change narrative is underway. Duterte’s 5th SONA after four years in office, as expected, will never be a list of new pledges as promises made in 2016 is a grand fail. Instead, a narrative of ‘pasaway na Pinoy’, ‘pasaway na bisaya’, or ‘pasaway na terorista, unyonista, aktibista at human rights’ will be peddled for public consumption, in a blame game where this administration never admits a single failure of its own.

When in fact it is Duterte himself and his ilk in Congress who wasted four years in realizing the end to endo, increasing wages by abolishing the provincial rate system, stamping out corruption, freeing the country from foreign domination, ending the drug menace, and in making this country a primarily middle class nation in the immediate future. On the contrary it will, for convenience’s sake, make the pandemic a grand alibi in declaring a state of the nation that was never been good in the last four years and which, due to the persisting health and economic crises, will never become better for the rest of his term.

Workers will reject that kind of a narrative for it is Duterte’s failures in many aspects during the last four years, combined with its mishandling of the health crisis during the last four months, that make workers’ lives more miserable today. The virus came at a time workers job security remained unprotected with the veto of the anti-endo bill, while low wages, unemployment and underemployment leave workers with no savings to prepare for the rainy days.  I short, the massive loss of jobs and income today will only make living more unbearable for the millions of workers, formal and informal, local and overseas.

And so, who is the pasaway to blame for the sad state of the nation that we are in today? Certainly not the workers who were left behind during the last four years and who were forced into quarantine during the last four months.  Not the powerless masses who cannot afford the price of fighting the powerful.

Ang tunay na pasaway ay ang mga nasa kapangyarihan dahil sila ang mas sumusuway sa Konstitusyon at karapatan ng mamamayan. Silang inuna ang terror law sa halip na stimulus programs. Silang ang plano pagkatapos ng SONA ay magcha-cha habang nasa gitna tayo ng pandemya.

Sa madaling salita, si Duturte mismo ang tunay na pasaway.

Signing of anti-terror law and veto of anti-endo bill reveals Duterte’s real color

President Duterte’s signing of the anti-terror law and his veto of the anti-endo bill reveals that he is undeniably an enemy of labor rights. The contrast is remarkable. Duterte made a promise to abolish endo only to drag his feet and at the crucial juncture shoot down the bill that will limit contractualization. Now, labor activists fighting for regular jobs and workers’ rights are threatened by the vague provisions of the anti-terror law.

Even without an anti-terror law, labor rights are already under attack by the agents of the State. In the middle of the lockdown, at the height of Black Friday last April 10, elements of the Dasmarinas police threatened to arrest two workers manning the picketline in the First Cavite Industrial Estate if they don’t abandon the protest. In January this year, the PNP and the Philippine Export Zone Authority launched the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) in Central Luzon to prevent militant unionism in the export zones. Two years ago, photos of three women union leaders were posted under the heading “wanted” at the gate of the Mactan Economic Zone in Cebu.

All these flagrant violations of labor rights by agents of the State will be enabled by the restriction of civil liberties under the draconian provisions of the anti-terror law. Thus workers have a stake in resisting and defying the slide to authoritarianism.

Workers will fight back and push back against the restriction of civil liberties and suppression of labor rights. Last June 30, workers held a global day of action against the anti-terror bill. On July 7, workers will join others sectors in a bigger action to protest the authoritarianism. 

July 4, 2020

Sports City workers’ demands to Adidas and other brands

Workers of the Adidas supplier Sports City conglomerate are asking the brand to mediate in their urgent demands in the light of the grave impact of the covid pandemic on their working and living conditions. Sports City’s factories are located in the Mactan Cebu Economic Zone, employ some 16,000 workers and at present manufactures for Adidas, Under Armour, Lululemon and Saucony. The conglomerate is mainly comprised of Mactan Apparel, Metrowear, Feeder Apparel, Global Manufacturing, Vertex One and Global Warehouse.

1.       Aid

Conversion of PhP 2,000 loan provided by Sports City into a grant and additional PhP 2,000 subsidy to workers. This will provide relief to workers who have become indebted due to the no work, no pay policy during the two-month lockdown. The 5 kilos of rice and several pieces of canned goods given at the start of the lockdown was an advance on the Christmas package. Thus Sports City has really extended assistance that it will not charge to workers’ existing benefits. But aid is urgently needed as until now a large number of Sports City workers are not working as the factory is not in full operation. Further some 80% of Sports City workers did not receive any assistance from government.

2.       Safety committee

Formation of a safety committee as provided for in the law with the mandate to ensure workers’ voice in the enforcement of occupational health and safety rules. The recent controversy in which the company threatened an anonymous worker with legal action reveals that lack of transparency naturally breeds issues. The anonymous worker made a post about two Sports City workers who returned to work but was found infected with covid.

3.       Production order

Commitment by Adidas to maintain production orders in Sports City to ensure jobs for workers. Workers of Mactan apparel are presently on rotation while Metrowear workers will on rotation starting in July. Workers in Global Wear Warehouse had been told that Adidas wants to relocate production to Cambodia allegedly because of less disruption due to covid. Workers will view any relocation of order by Adidas as condoning union busting by the Sports City.

4.       Freedom of association

The provision about Sports City respecting freedom of association in compliance with brand commitment has been deleted in the latest copy of the company rules and regulations (CRR). The statement of respect for FOA was previously included in the CRR distributed to all workers. Workers view this as a union busting maneuver by Sports City.

25 June 2020

DOLE asked to call labor,employers to dialogue on layoffs in airlines, other sectors

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to convene conferences between the airline industry and union or worker representatives to formulate measures to preserve jobs. “Mass layoffs should be the last resort of employers and government must pro-actively act to prevent it. Unemployment is a real terror to workers than any threat from terrorist groups,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “DOLE, hoy gising, di pwedeng natutulog sa pansitan. DOLE cannot be a bystander looking at unemployment figures rise and content with asking employers to report retrenchments—which is what the agency is doing at the moment.”

PM is asking DOLE to immediately hold labor-industry dialogues in the airlines industry and other sectors where jobs are being shed. The group reports that factories in export processing zones are preparing to permanently or temporarily lay off workers in the next few weeks allegedly due to reduced orders from abroad. Expressway workers are also on the chopping block as toll operations are transitioning to cashless mode and will be fully automated.

“In these tripartite dialogues, various measures can be tabled for agreement. For example, as the economy is gradually opened then workers can return to work in batches and those not reporting for work shall be put in a labor pool instead of being retrenched. While in the labor pool, these workers shall receive aid from government and employers. After six months, employers can then decide if these workers will be retained or fired,” Magtubo explained.

The group also demands that government formulate emergency employment measures and expand unemployment insurance programs through tripartite dialogue. PM is appealing to Congress to revise the proposed stimulus bill so that aid to business is conditional on a no layoff, no endo commitment.

“MSME’s that will receive support from government should retain workers and make them regular. Taxpayer’s money should incentivize compliance with decent work and the new normal must be built on inclusive growth. Workers first in the new normal,” Magtubo insisted.

June 19, 2020