By Camille A. Aguinaldo, Reporter
CONTRACTUALIZATION, low wages, and denied labor rights are among the problems that continue to hound workers, labor groups said in a press conference on Friday, days ahead of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 23.
At a press briefing in Manila, leaders of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said they will join forces anew on Monday to protest the labor policies under the Duterte administration.
“We were fooled with endo (endo of contractualization). We were hit by TRAIN (Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion law). We were given false hopes on wages. Dead rights. Victims of violence. This is the situation of Filipino workers in the two years of the Duterte administration,” Federation of Free Workers (FFW) national president and Nagkaisa chairperson Jose Sonny G. Matula said in Filipino, reading the joint statement of the labor groups.
KMU national chair Elmer C. Labog said they will urge the President on July 23 to increase workers’ wages and set a national minimum wage.
Protest actions are also set in Cebu, Davao, General Santos City in South Cotabato, Iligan City in Misamis Oriental, and Bacolod in Negros Occidental on July 23, according to the labor groups.
Mr. Matula said the government’s orders aimed at ending contractualization, Department Order No 174 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and Mr. Duterte’s Executive Order No. 51, were flawed.
He added that Mr. Duterte has not yet certified Senate Bill No. 1826 or the proposed Security of Tenure and End of Endo Act as an urgent measure, even if Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III has said that the President would do so.
“If the President will not take serious actions on this issue, millions of workers in the country will remain in endo,” Mr. Matula said.
The labor leader also criticized a lack of direction in Mr. Duterte’s promise to adjust provincial wage rates. He also expressed dismay over the mistreatment of labor unions, citing the layoffs of several companies.
“There is no concrete plan regarding wages, (thus) the system of cumbersome wage hikes in the level of regional wage boards amid the increasing prices of commodities,” Mr. Matula said.
Labor groups also rejected the proposed shift to federalism, saying the Constitution does not need amendments to provide reforms in the labor sector.
“What should be changed? Wages, rights, situation of workers, housing, education, we do not need Charter change to fix that….Even if the 1987 Constitution has flaws, there are many provisions that have yet to be enforced,” Partido Manggagawa chair and Nagkaisa spokesperson Renato B. Magtubo said.
“Our problem is the control of the few over politics, the economy and the distribution of wealth created by workers,” he added.
For his part, Officer-in-Charge J. Prospero E. de Vera III of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) defended the TRAIN law in a press briefing, Friday.
“If our intention is really to provide access and equity to quality education, we need significant funds for that and we need the implementation of the TRAIN law to make sure free quality high education is achieved,” Mr. de Vera said.
Mr. de Vera said P40 billion has already been appropriated for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, for academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.
An P11-billion increase for 2019 has been included in the National Expenditure Program to cover the new batch of K-12 graduates.
At present, the free higher education supports around 1.3 million Filipino students in 112 state universities and colleges and 78 CHEd-recognized local universities and colleges.
A total of 300,000 slots have also been offered to poor students to avail themselves of the tertiary education subsidy (TES), which Mr. de Vera said the CHEd plans to increase by 400,000.
“The computation of that budget is anchored on the revenues generated through the TRAIN law, so we cannot expand access to education, we cannot increase budget if TRAIN is suspended,” Mr. de Vera said. — with Charmaine A. Tadalan

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