Five thousand people took the streets of Davao City today on Labor Day pressing the Aquino government for higher wages and rejected his proposed palliative non-wage benefits.
The marchers represent organized workers in both public and private industries in the region, the plantation workers, miners, factory laborers, and those from the service sector like construction, transportation, hotel and restaurant, as well as workers from government utility offices.
Joining them are the organized victims of urban poor demolitions, out of school youths, women victims of prostitution, families of overseas workers who have been victims of various forms of exploitations, and organizations representing other sectors.
“The march is a testament that the unrest in the country’s labor front remains no matter how much this government tries hard to placate the outrage,” Franchie Buhayan, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Southern Mindanao Region said.
“President Aquino has offered non-wage benefits, palliatives in the form of subsidies and other dole-outs but it refuses to resolutely stem the people’s hardship by confronting outstanding issues on wage and prices,” Buhayan said in reaction to the President’s declarations at a breakfast forum with some labor groups in Malacañang today.
Instead of providing substantial wage hikes, President Aquino has offered seed money for cooperatives of labor groups, scholarships and promises of benefits from agencies like Pag-Ibig, PhilHealth, Social Security System, and Government Service Insurance System.
“He forgot that these government agencies are the same culprits of the workers’ agony through corruption of the funds that workers have religiously contributed. Besides, the greater issue here is that we have a President who could not face squarely the capitalists, and make these employers provide just wages to the workers whose toil are being exploited for profits. In that way, he could have adequately answered the people’s needs, foremost is surviving the cost of living,” Buhayan said.
“Either he is simply indifferent, or acting as a plain stooge to capitalists whose super profits depend much on making laborers work more and paying them less, one thing is sure, he is a President who lacks the bone to help his people,” Buhayan added.
Aside from deliberately evading abidance of minimum wage standards, many employers intentionally deny workers’ benefits most commonly are remittance to SSS, provision of overtime and holiday pays, allowing leave and other benefits, to save cost on labor costs.
Buhayan added that capitalists’ exploitation is getting harsher but President has allowed it, as seen in the number of employers, getting retrenched without due cause, and the increasing number of perpetually contractual workers.
“Other blatant violations take the form of repressing trade unionism, which is ironically provided in labor laws. But you hear many union members being victimized by coercive actions, either physical or by other means to discourage them to give up fighting for what is due,” Buhayan said.
The President’s announcement of new job openings is no good news in itself, according to Buhayan. “What kinds of jobs will these be, if capitalists can maintain exploitative terms with their workers without the slightest fear of being punished?”
“Besides, why do we see the continuing exodus of Filipinos to other countries, taking on odd jobs and ending up as victims if indeed these jobs made available in the country can adequately provide for their needs? The truth is the government has never been able to provide job opportunities that will raise the standard of living and at the same time ensure human development, and respect of dignity among most Filipinos,” Buhayan said.
Buhayan also said President Aquino’s policy pronouncements on the problem of prices indicate same cowardice to confront the perpetrators of people’s hardships.
“He feeds us with the same deception towed by oil cartel companies, such as justifying increases by way of citing oil price trends in the world market, when in fact these are schemes of deception and that he can actually decisively address price hikes in the country by regulating the way oil companies can unscrupulously set pump prices via such speculations,” he said.
“We urge the people not to be hoodwinked by these palliatives. These pronouncements could not provide the meaningful change that people need. We have got to show this government that it is the people who are decisive of the change they most need,” Buhayan said.
Davao City- The nationwide distribution of smart cards meant to give discounts to fuel purchased by public utility jeepney drivers was met with a protest action by drivers and operators under the progressive Transmision-Piston today.
The protest action staged along Shell gasoline station along Bajada corner Torres St., this city reiterates the driver and operators’ clamor to scrap oil deregulation law and the Value Added Tax imposed on petroleum products.
According to Edil Gonzaga, Secretary-General of Transmision-Piston, “the fuel subsidy is useless and indeed a waste of people’s money. It’s a gimmickry intends to deodorize PNoy’s administration who is clearly favoring big oil companies.”
Gonzaga cited that only a few days after the announcement P-Noy on the said fuel subsidy, the oil price rose twice with an increase of almost P2 per liter.
“Now we see that this fuel subsidy is useless,” he said.
Transmision expressed its support to the proposed repeal of the oil deregulation law in the congress saying this is a more substantive move to bring down the oil price.
The group also expressed its support to the ratification of the P125 wage increase bill being pushed by the progressive partylists in congress.
Gonzaga added, “ If P-Noy really wants to alleviate the hardship of the people, he must have a political will to approve the legislated wage hike. But, we all know that P-noy, just like the previous administration is inutile in favoring the marginalized sectors.”
The smart card being distributed to selected drivers will give P1.00 discount to every 1 liter purchase of gas and diesel. “It is not even enough to cover the increase imposed by oil corporations this April,” Gonzaga lamented.
He said, “We want a long-term solution to the economic turmoil we all bear. Enough of fooling the people of gimmickry like that of the fuel subsidy.”
DAVAO CITY ---Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR) unites with the tribesmen and community of slain Bagobo K’lata leader Datu Dominador Diarog in their struggle from the fierce attempts of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy to grab the land that is home to their tribe.
Their case is a classic struggle faced by the national minorities in the country who have, since time, been frequently victimized in various ways, but principally by attempts to evict them from the land on which they derive their means of living, their cultural values and life systems. The death of Datu Diarog in 2008 was a tragic culmination of his almost decade of struggle in defense of the fertile agricultural land beneath Mt. Apo which is home to the Bagobo Klata tribe.
Since 1999, Quiboloy was able to occupy 5,000 hectares of land covering portions at the foot of Mt. Apo particularly in Brgy. Tamayong, Brgy. Manuel Guianga, Brgy. Sirib, and Brgy.Carmen in the City. These lands have been either converted into ‘prayer mountains,’ extravagant mansions, pine tree plantations, and just recently a gherkins (small cucumber) plantation is being planned in Sitio Kahusayan.
But Quiboloy was never successful in his attempt at fully taking over the land since Datu Diarog refused to yield their 5-hectare stead in Sitio Kahusayan, Brgy. Manuel Guianga in Tugbok District, which is within Quiboloy’s claim.
The Diarog’s land has been fenced off, their house burned, and Datu Diarog himself was talked into by Quiboloy’s men, one of them was identified by Diarog family members as a certain Greg Canada, to sell the land at P50,000 per hectare, but still they persisted and held on to their land.
Such harassment incidents preceded Datu Diarog’s death three years ago on April 29, 2008, when armed men strafed his house, killed him with armalite bullets and injured some of his family members, his wife and his then five-year-old daughter.
Since the Datu’s death, there was never a day that his family and his diminishing tribesmen in Sitio Kahusayan live away from coercsions and brutal attempts of eviction.
Just this month, three backhoes had been escorted to the village by military personnel from the 84th Infantry Battalion. These soldiers have been deployed in the area for several months now as “Peace and Development Teams.”
Members of the Diarog clan have in several times, too, figured in the harassments perpetrated by these soldiers, who are so-called ‘PDTs.’ These harassments are either in the form of being tagged as rebels, or being sought out by the soldiers themselves.
The attacks never ended in Datu Diarog’s death; and neither did his surviving tribesmen’s resistance.
The place claimed by Quiboloy is not just the sacred ground of indigenous peoples whose protection are ensured in the very laws of the country and in international covenants, but a sacred conservation ground too, being part of the declared Mt. Apo protected area.
It is lamentable that amidst these deplorable incidents, we have yet to hear government institutions act on the matter: The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the City Government of Davao itself.
It is appalling that these institutions, by the very fact that Quiboloy has continued amassing of wealth, unhampered, is a tragic proof of their tolerance of such beastly deed. We have been calling on them for action, but it seems they too are rendered inutile.
This forces us to turn our appeals on the Davaoeńos. We call on you to rally behind our lumad brothers and sisters of Kahusayan; to rallyin opposition to this blatant violation of human rights and dignities of lumad peoples who are our very own fellow Davaoeńos.
To fight on their side is to fight to end the impunity of these giant oppressors in our midst.
