‘End of boladas”: Labor group on non-prioritization of anti-endo bill

Malacañang’s announcement that the anti-endo bill that was refiled in Congress after Duterte’s veto in 2019 is no longer a priority legislation did not surprise organized labor.

“Workers no longer expect anything from President Duterte after that shameful veto of the bill in 2019. He is a non-sequitur after that, hence, the claim of Usec. Jacinto Paras that sectors had not been voicing out their opinions on the issue after that veto is a statement of fact as we believe that restating a truckload of arguments on endo will not rectify a farce,” declared Nagkaisa Chairperson Sonny Matula.

He added that the "end endo" campaign of the Duterte administration is a "ningas cogon" propaganda and has no more ember to sustain its energy to bite. “We are back to the old days of labor-only contacting, 555 and all form of precarious work, being practiced with alacrity, both in private and public sectors,” said Matula.

Matula said it is in fact Duterte’s end endo debacle and his mishandling of the pandemic response that compelled the coalition to launch the #EnDoterte call on Labor Day and will campaign for this platform come the 2022 elections. 

For Josua Mata, Secretary General of Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), “Waiting for labor and employers to agree on a security of tenure bill is like waiting for Godot. It once again proves what we have been saying all along - Duterte intended to hoodwink workers into thinking that he is on their side. That is why Duterte and his ilk have to go. Goodbye, Duterte!”

On his part, Partido Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo finds the announcement as the Palace’s official way of ending a script. “In the first place, Duterte’s end endo pledge in 2016 is a farce that’s ridiculously hard to keep for a pro capitalist politician. Kung naduterte ang manggagawa ng isang boladas (deception), manggagawa naman ang mangangamanya ngayon ng EnDoterte,” he said.  

Even in the public sector where the President exercises control and supervision, contractualization remains a major problem, according the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK). “We are not at all surprised since the number of job orders and contract of service in the public sector has ballooned to nearly a million workers under his term. Not to mention more than 300,000 barangay workers working without pay and protection as frontliners during the Covid pandemic. That's the highest number of public sector ENDO workers in all administrations. What can you expect from a President that not only allows contractualization in his own backyard, but also encourages it,” said PSLINK President Annie Geron. 

“Mabuti pa si Mayor Vico Soto, ended na ang endo sa Pasig LGU,” she concluded. ###

In 2016 presidential campaign, Duterte declared that the moment he becomes President contractualization will stop. He even warned employers who are practicing endo that they will not only lose their money but also their pants.

Labor Groups call for ENDOterte, not Duterte for VP

Labor groups are incensed at the announcement of President Rodrigo Duterte that he is running for the second highest position in the land right after his dismal performance as President characterized by grave abuse of workers’ and human rights; and very poor pandemic response.  

“We are already tired of Duterte’s ‘kill, kill, kill’ languange and cursing. We are not slaves or subjects of a notoriously criminal king. We deserve respect as humans and as workers from our leaders,” said Atty. Sonny Matula, Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition Chairperson and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President. 

His running is an insult to at least 30,000 families he left without mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children in his bloody war on the poor. 

“This is a treacherous ploy to circumvent the consitution and to perpetuate oneself to power,” said Renato Magtubo, Nagkaisa! spokesperson and Partidong Manggagawa Chairperson. 

“This only proves how fearful he is of losing power. After all, he knows he’s facing possible jail time for all the atrocities he committed,” said Josua Mata, Secretary General of Sentro.

It seems Duterte wants to perpetuate himself in power to protect himself from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC should do its sworn task and formally investigate Duterte for his alleged crimes against humanity, bordering on genocide. 

“The possibility of President Duterte running for vice president in the 2022 national elections is a "sorrowful jab" lacking any sense of statemanship from the highest  executive,” added Matula. 

It aggravates the “present agony and sorrow” of the Filipinos and does not provide a ray of hope for  the future. 

“He is already tired as he admitted several times. Another elected post as VP in 2022 is another heavy  burden to bear for Filipinos,” said Matula. 

His presidential failures cannot be redeemed by running second only to his daughter or his former aide.

“For more than five years, women have been at the receiving end of his verbal abuse, mysogynist acts and insecure ways around powerful women whom he has persecuted and publicly ridiculed for his own selfish means. Enough,” said Judy Miranda, chair of the Nagkaisa! Women’s Committee. 

Workers' Coalition Slams House Urgent Call for Chacha

The  biggest labor coalition in the country slams the House leadership's "hell-bent" effort to amend restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution amid the raging fight against CoVID 19 pandemic.

Instead of resuming plenary debates and deliberations on the proposed constitutional amendments in his Resolution of Both House No. 2 (RBH 2) when sessions resume this week, NAGKAISA holds that Speaker Lord Allan Velasco needs to prioritize the passage of the Bayanihan 3 and other measures to help displaced workers and to ease the burden of the CoVID 19 pandemic.

NAGKAISA said it before and will repeat it again that this is not the time for charter change. The money for the charter change campaign should be appropriated for "ayudang sapat para sa mga manggagawang nalaglag sa trabaho o kung may trabaho man ay di nakakapasok sa trabaho."

First, on procedure, the alleged political "consensus" in the House has no counterpart support in the Senate. Under Article XVII of the Constitution, without the uppet chamber,  such initiative is already dead on its track before moving an inch. 

Second, it does not reflect the utmost welfare of the Filipino people nor considered the health and safety of our citizens in this time of pandemic.

With all due respect to the House Leadership or political "consensus" in the House, there is no urgency on the Speakers' proposition to amend the fundamental law to entice foreign direct investment (FDI) via relaxation of land ownership. Relaxation will not entice investment when investors are holding their capital waiting for better times after the pandemic.

Also, other countries' experience will tell us a different narrative. To cite some, China, Vietnam and Singapore are able to capture the bulk of FDI in Asia in the past decades without giving ownership of land to foreign investors.

The major factors that have kept investors at bay are not the limitations to ownership of land and shares in corporation, but the prohibitive cost of doing business, red tape, corruption, lack of infrastructure and the high cost of electricity. 

Add to these, European and American investors shy away from  the country because of the unpredictable Duterte administration, corruption,  the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and the rampant violation of trade union and human rights.

Instead of dancing with Chacha, Congress in the midst of the on-going pandemic should devote the remaining time of the 18th Congress in making sure that the government’s  vaccination program should be appropriately funded and vaccines to be used are safe and effective. 

Also,  Bayanihan 3 should be made urgent in their legislative calendar so as to discuss and approve said  measure to mitigate  the impact of the pandemic on workers’ jobs and on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of the economy.

Nagkaisa believes that “trabaho, ayuda bakuna, karapatan at kasarinlan" (TABAKK) para sa pagbangon ng ekonomiya ang dapat atupagin ng kongreso hindi ang pagbabago ng konstitusyon (CHACHA)”. 

Pati ba naman PPE pivot to China na rin? - Nagkaisa

The Nagkaisa labor coalition on Wednesday deplored what it calls as unbridled expansion of the Duterte administration’s ‘Pivot-to-China’ policy.

The group was referring to the supposed preference accorded to Chinese-made PPEs by the government at the expense of local manufacturers and thousands of their workers. 

“Pati ba naman PPEs ‘pivot to China’ pa rin ang policy,” lamented Nagkaisa Chair Sonny Matula, as he reacted to published reports of gripes being raised against the government by local PPE manufacturers. 

The Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP), a group composed of five experienced manufacturers in electronics and garments, have been complaining about lack of support to local industry even as it was the government itself which prodded them to repurpose their businesses for the production of medical grade PPEs amid the pandemic. 

Repurposing their facilities, the group said, cost them $35 million in investments. The CPMP, as reported, has a total capacity to make 720 million masks, 36 million coveralls and isolation gowns and 120 million PPE-related accessory covers.

But the Duterte administration, the group claimed, bought only a portion of that supply as most PPEs were procured from China. The group, in one public hearing held at the Senate, reported that some 3,500 of their workers have already been laid off. 

“We could have saved these workers and created more jobs had the government made it a strategy to support key sectors of the economy that have the potential of producing the country’s needs during the pandemic,” said Matula, adding that even the government can venture into this kind of production as we have trained workforce available for this kind of jobs.

The group demands that procurement policy be changed to prioritize local production as well as the full disclosure to who or what groups have largely benefited from importing PPEs abroad. 

PRESS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

Labor Coalition

05 May 2021