The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said that the Million People March Part 2 in Ayala today will be an opportunity for workers to “register their voice against the pork barrel and patronage politics.” “Both the venue and protest date are significant to workers. The Ayala district is home to at least one million blue and white collar job workers. Beginning today workers in NCR are due to receive a P10 crumb from the new Wage Order,” stated PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

Insisting that “Through the system of withholding taxes on our salaries and wages, and VAT on the goods and services we buy, workers do not only pay the right amount of taxes on time, we also disproportionately provide a greater share of our income to the national treasury,” the group expected Makati employees and workers to participate actively in the protest.

Magtubo said workers are enraged at how billions of pesos of taxes that were paid out of workers’ productivity are appropriated by corrupt politicians among themselves. “The new economic formula called Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), since illegal, is nothing but contraband smuggled into the pockets of lawmakers for a special job well done,” said Magtubo, referring to the additional allocation to lawmakers on top of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) after the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The labor leader and former party-list representative added that DAP, as explained by Malacanang, is a stimulant for ‘miscarriage’ and not for ‘growth’ since its implementation is worse than the PDAF. “The best thing it was able to achieve was boost the spending spree or personal savings of politicians not the purchasing power of ordinary workers,” Magtubo concluded.

PM is advocating the rechanneling of funds freed by the abolition of pork barrel to universal social protection such as universal healthcare, mass housing, public education, public employment, climate programs, and other services. Magtubo appealed to anti-pork protesters “Not to stop at abolition and push for an alternative fund distribution system in which social services will be as accessible as a right and not subject to the patronage of politicians. The anti-pork protest should develop into a movement for universal social protection and also converge with the anti-epal, anti-trapo and anti-dynasty advocacies of the last elections. Such is a roadmap towards lasting political change in our country.”

Upon its issuance last month, PM described the P10 wage order an insult and a classic case of bigay-bawi since its value eventually eroded by the impending MRT rate hike, increase in price of rice, and the looming power and water rates increases. Amidst the backdrop of protruding corruption scandals in the highest levels of government, Magtubo said, “the workers’ need to deliver its strongest condemnation of this system: Enough of this kind of rule!”

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), 4 October 2013

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PM calls on workers to join October 4 Ayala anti-pork protest
PRESS RELEASE
01 October 2013

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on fellow workers to join Friday’s continuation of Million People’s March anti-pork barrel scam protest in Ayala Avenue, Makati City. PM and labor coalition Nagkaisa! is joining the march.

“Both the venue and protest date are significant to workers. The Ayala district is home to at least one million blue and white collar job workers. Beginning October 4, workers in NCR are due to receive a P10 crumb from the new Wage Order,” stated PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

Upon its issuance last month, PM described the P10 wage order an insult and a classic case of bigay-bawi since its value eventually eroded by the impending MRT rate hike, increase in price of rice, and the looming power and water rates increases.

But amidst the backdrop of protruding corruption scandals in the highest levels of government, Magtubo said, “the workers’ need to deliver its strongest condemnation of this system: Enough of this kind of rule!”

Magtubo said workers are now totally enraged at how billions of pesos of taxes that were paid out of workers’ productivity are appropriated by corrupt politicians among themselves.

“The new economic formula called Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), since illegal, is nothing but contraband smuggled into the pockets of lawmakers for a special job well done,” said Magtubo, referring to the additional allocation to lawmakers on top of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) after the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The labor leader and former party-list representative added that DAP, as explained by Malacanang, is a stimulant for ‘miscarriage’ and not for ‘growth’ since its implementation is worse than the PDAF.

“The best thing it was able to achieve was boost the spending spree or personal savings of politicians not the purchasing power of ordinary workers,” Magtubo concluded.

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 Labor enforcement reforms needed in wake of Paranaque construction accident

Press Release
October 5, 2013

The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection reforms in response to the accident at a construction site in Paranaque last Wednesday that claimed the life of one worker and injured 15. “Heads must roll and justice must be served for the needless deaths and injuries to construction workers,” insisted Wilson Fortaleza, PM spoksperson, as he predicted that more accidents are due to happen with the current real estate boom.

PM lambasted employers for cutting corners in occupational safety in order to raise profits and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the lax implementation of labor and safety standards. “While capitalists were scrimping on protection for workers and DOLE was sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace,” Fortaleza elaborated.

Ricardo “Boy” Marcaida, a construction worker who is acting president of the Samahan ng Manggagawa sa Komunidad (SMK) in Malabon, averred that “Accidents are not acts of divine providence that can be dismissed as unavoidable. Instead accidents are the result of unsafe acts and therefore preventable by strict enforcement of occupational safety and health and labor standards.” SMK is a legitimate labor organization registered with the DOLE which is affiliated to PM.

“Under the regime of the DOLE’s self-assessment program, the number of labor inspectors have shrunk from around 240 to less than 200 and the number of establishments inspected plummeted from 60,000 in 2003 to just 6,000 in 2010. Self-assessment means that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep get slaughtered,” Marcaida criticized.

He recommended that “We propose that the DOLE deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors. In so doing the number of inspectors and inspections can be increase several fold overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers lives and limbs can be saved.”

Fortaleza added that “The DOLE has again been caught sleeping on the job. DOLE must review contractors and their principals for compliance not just with safety regulations but labor standards such as payment of minimum wages and benefits, observance of working hours and remittance of social security among others. Construction workers are among the most overworked yet underpaid of employees since they are generally unorganized.”

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 PM supports Santiago bill giving aid directly to the poor

PRESS RELEASE
22 September 2013

Saying patients need no politicians but doctors and medicines during times of medical needs, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) has thrown its support to Senate Bill 1445 filed by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago that seeks to provide free essential healthcare directly to the poor.

Santiago’s proposal provides for the distribution to indigents of free essential medicines through barangay health centers. The bill seeks to give the secretary of health the discretion to determine the kind of medicines that would be included in the free medicine program. The measure effectively removes the power of discretion enjoyed by lawmakers over their Priority Development Fund (PDAF) that reinforces the system of political patronage in the country.

“Senator Miriam’s proposal is in line with our view that the pork barrel fund must be replaced with a ‘universal system’ where social services are provided by the State as entitlement to every Filipino citizen and not as charity from epal politicians,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

The group likewise finds Santiago’s bill a strong argument against porky solons in the Lower House who are seeking a TRO against the removal of their discretion to medical and scholarship funds.

Fortaleza added that as pointed out by many studies, it is this discretionary nature of the pork barrel fund which makes this system a “political” rather than as a “developmental” tool.

Partido ng Manggagawa has called for a package of four steps it dubs as “Apat na Dapat” in getting rid of the evil pork barrels system. These include:

• Abolition of the pork barrel system at all levels;

• Replacing it with a universal system to fund universal social protection programs such as universal healthcare, public employment program, education; socialized housing, and farm insurance/subsidies, among others;

• Institutionalization of participatory budget process; and;
Passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

Universal healthcare, Fortaleza argued, is one of the top concerns of Filipinos as cost of medical services in the country remains high while the supply side cannot cope with the rising demand for health services.

Health experts estimated that the country needs some P312B-P350-B in 2015 to meet the essential health needs of every Filipino. Based on national health accounts, 57.9 per cent of medical care comes from a household’s ‘out of pocket’ expense.

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 Workers to PNoy: P10 pay hike won’t make growth inclusive

Press Release
September 8, 2013

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) criticized the government’s defense of the P10 wage hike for workers in the National Capital Region by pointing out that it will not lead to inclusive growth. “President Benigno Aquino III keeps on boasting about the 7.8% increase in gross domestic product yet for him P10 in coins is all that the creators of this greater wealth can partake of!,” exclaimed Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

He added that “PNoy’s ‘inclusive growth’ is just so much propaganda if the government cannot give workers a better share of the cake no different from the rhetoric of ‘daang matuwid’ since the administration favors reform not abolition of the pork barrel.”

Fortaleza explained that “Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte’s alibi that a bigger pay raise will lead to job losses is the usual capitalist blackmail that government has parroted for the last three decades. All that time—except for the recession years 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1998—the economy has developed even as poverty, hunger and unemployment has persisted. Without wealth redistribution—and a living wage instead of poverty pay is a key component—inequality will remain.”

PM has called on labor groups, including the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines which has rejected the P10 hike as a “painful joke,” for a coordinated campaign for a living wage. “If the middle class finds it necessary to hold a Million People March for the abolition of the pork barrel, it is imperative on the working class to launch a mass movement to end the cheap labor policy,” the group averred.

“With a P10 pay hike, how can the government expect to lift out of dire poverty the 28% of Filipinos, as revealed in the National Statistics and Coordinating Board (NSCB) survey from 2006 to 2012? With a P10 wage raise, how can the 19.2% of Filipinos who experience hunger put more food on their tables?,” Fortaleza asked.

He contended that “Valte’s excuse that the measly wage hike sought to balance workers and employers interests is a surefire formula to aggravate inequality. According to Forbes magazine, the wealth of the richest 50 Filipinos increased by an incredible 348% from 2006 to 2012 while that of the richest 10 grew by an immoral 1,005%.”

“The PhP 1.9 trillion combined wealth of the richest 10 Filipinos is equivalent to the yearly income of 21 million minimum wage earners. While the PhP 2.8 trillion total wealth of the richest 50 corresponds to the yearly pay of 31 million minimum waged workers. Based on the Global Pay Scale survey, the Philippines ranks second to the last before Tajikistan with Filipino workers average wage of US$ 279 way below the world median of US$ 1,480,” Fortaleza furthered.

As a concrete proposal, PM is advocating the replacement of the regional wage boards by a National Wage Commission. Fortaleza stated that “The mandate of the Wage Commission will be to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. This is different from the wage boards which are bogged down by convoluted and contradictory 10-point criteria in fixing wages. The Wage Commission should raise the minimum wage to the level of the living wage by a mix of mechanisms such as direct pay increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers.”

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 Group slams P10 wage hike as a “cruel Napoles joke”

Press Release
September 7, 2013

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) slammed the P10 wage hike in the National Capital Region (NCR) as a “cruel Napoles joke” inflicted on the workers. “Janet Napoles steals P10 billion from the people’s money and the government offers P10 in coins to workers as a consolation. While the people’s attention is focused on the billion peso pork barrel scam, the wage board thinks it can quietly dupe workers with a measly pay increase,” insisted Wilson Fortaleza, PM’s spokesperson.

Meanwhile PM called on the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) which had filed a P83 across-the-board wage petition to coordinate with other labor groups to protest the NCR wage board’s decision and launch a joint campaign for a living wage. “The TUCP’s rejection of the wage board’s decision is a good initial move. The next step should be to complement the TUCP’s appeal to the wage board with a call on workers to hold mass actions. If the middle class finds it necessary to call a Million People March for the abolition of the pork barrel, it is imperative on the working class to launch a mass movement to end the cheap labor policy,” Fortaleza argued.

He added that the P10 wage hike is a “dagdag-bawi scam.” “Government decides to give workers a P10 hike in wages but it will take it back with the proposed P10 increase in fares for the MRT and LRT. Further, prices of basic goods like rice have inflated so that in the end, workers are worse off than before,” Fortaleza explained.

“PM’s own study reveals that the cost of living in the NCR is already P1,200 as of April this year for a family of six and yet the new minimum wage adds up to only P466, which will not even buy half of the basket of goods and services,” Fortaleza said.

He continued that “This is the ugly reality of inequality in our country. The Philippines is the fastest growing economy in Asia yet only a few, the capitalist class, is benefiting from the increased wealth created by the working people. The assets of the ten richest Filipinos amount to some US$45 billion, which is equivalent to the yearly wages of 20 million minimum wage earners.”

PM contends that the wage boards have outlived their usefulness and should be replaced by a Wage Commission. Fortaleza stated that “The mandate of the National Wage Commission will be to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. This is different from the wage boards which are bogged down by convoluted and contradictory 10-point criteria in fixing wages. The Wage Commission should raise the minimum wage to the level of the living wage by a mix of mechanisms such as direct pay increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers.”

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