The youth and student group
Partido Manggagawa-Kabataan (PM-Kabataan) expressed solidarity with the call of
medical frontliners for a two-week “time out” in the Mega Manila area in order
to arrest the spread of covid and recalibrate the response to the pandemic. PM-Kabataan
is the youth wing of the labor group Partido Manggagawa.
Jonel Labrador, PM-Kabataan coordinator,
said that “We stand with doctors, nurses and other medical frontliners in their
demand for a time out before the health system is overwhelmed and so that
government can devise an effective strategy. Workers will support this appeal
as long as there is ayudang sapat for the duration of the time out and there
will be balik trabahong ligtas once the ECQ is lifted. In fact, included in the
frontliners’ demands are precisely the provision of aid, public transportation
and compliance with workplace safety.”
He added that “Medical
frontliners are right that they should not be put in a situation where they
decide who will live or die once the health system is overwhelmed. Similarly
workers should not be forced to choose between contracting covid at work and
dying of hunger while jobless.”
PM-Kabataan also slammed the opposition
of Sen. Cynthia Villar and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez to the time out call. “In
dismissing the call of medical frontliners, Villar and Lopez are being the voice
of big business. For them, profit trumps public health. In contrast, PM-Kabataan
asserts that if public health and workers’ safety are not secured then there
will be no economic recovery for all,” Labrador insisted.
He asserted that government
should not just consult with medical frontliners but put epidemiologists not
generals in charge of the covid response. “Executive Secretary Salvador
Medialdea’s reply that the IATF will discuss the call of medical frontliners is
not enough. The generals at the helm of IATF should be put on time out and
replaced by epidemiologists and medical experts. The battle against covid is a
public health concern not a peace and order issue,” Labrador elaborated.
He also expressed solidarity
with the protest today by motorcycle riders who are opposing the IATF’s policy
of no barrier/shield, no back ride policy. “This is not only illogical but also
unsafe as proven by transportation experts. But the IATF is monopolized by
generals so their vision is tunneled by their peace and order perspective. If
you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” explained Labrador.
He concluded that “The labor movement, medical frontliners, motorcycle riders, mobility advocates and all affected groups and sectors must ally to push for the right policies to win the war against covid.”
Partido Manggagawa-Kabataa
