ARMM employees await dialogue on employment status in new Bangsamoro region

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Career service employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) eagerly look forward to a planned dialogue with lawmakers on the status of their employment in relation with the ARMM’s proposed replacement with a new Bangsamoro entity.

Members of the ARMM’s rank-and-file personnel, whose appointments were screened and attested by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), want officials of the commission to participate in the dialogue, too.

Lawyer Laisa Alamia, executive secretary of ARMM, on Thursday said Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Partylist Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza announced here last week that legislators will dialogue with regional officials and employees on employment concerns amid the impending creation of the Bangsamoro outfit based on the final peace compact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Mendoza was among members of Congress that held consultations last week in Cotabato City and nearby provinces on the legal ramifications of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the enabling measure for the creation of a Bangsamoro government based on the government-MILF March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.

“The supposed meeting was to take place this week. It must have been reset. We are just waiting for a notice toward that end,” Alamia said.

Employees of ARMM’s more than 40 line agencies and support offices, whose functions and powers were devolved by Malacanang to the regional government based on the region’s charter, Republic Act 9054, are apprehensive the transition, from the autonomous region to the MILF-led Bangsamoro government, will render them jobless.

Alamia said while ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman has continuously been assuring regional employees of protection from the CSC, their feelings and sentiments are something beyond the governor’s control.

“Even so, there is overwhelming support for the peace process from the ARMM’s personnel,” Alamia said.

Last week’s congressional consultations on the draft BBL in Central Mindanao were presided over by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the ad-hoc House committee tasked to enact the bill into law.

The ARMM government has no fewer than 30,000 employees, more than half of them working in the region’s Department of Education. - By John Unson (philstar.com)

Cebu lawmakers: Consult more on the Bangsamoro proposal

Rep Raymond Menoza with BBL Ad Hoc Com hearing in Cotabato City - Oct 23

CEBU - Six Cebuanos in Congress said Saturday they support the government’s dream of a lasting peace in Mindanao, but would like to hear what their constituents think of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Public consultations in Cebu may be held next month or in January 2015, said Representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza (Party-list, TUCP), one of the co-authors of House Bill 4994. He joined the 75 Mindanao district and party-list lawmakers for a public hearing in Cotabato City last Oct. 23.

“What is important is that we come to the table and try to find another solution, since the old solution which was pursued in the past 40 years has not ended the war,” Mendoza said.

Elections in 2016

Both the House and Senate versions of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law were submitted last month, six months after the historic signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro by the Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Aquino administration is working on the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, as well as the plebiscite in the Bangsamoro core territories, before the end of 2015, so that the first set of officials can be elected in 2016.

Five of nine Cebuano district representatives said they have yet to go over the details of the draft law and consult constituents, and could not yet categorically say whether or not they will vote for the bill. (Mendoza, the only Cebuano co-author of the bill, does not represent a district, but a party-list organization.)

Autonomy

“Thousands have risked their lives to achieve an elusive goal: peace. The Bangsamoro Basic Law is geared to give life to the constitutional provision of granting local autonomy, especially to those areas where the government has failed to provide adequate service to the people,” said Representative Gerald Anthony Gullas (Cebu Province, First District).

But while he said he was inclined to vote in favor of the bill, “nevertheless, Congress, especially those who drafted the bill, must examine piece by piece its provisions so as not to make any offensive stance against the Constitution,” Gullas also said.

Representative Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu Province, Fourth District) said he needs to study it further, having received only recently a copy of the framework agreement.

“This (Bangsamoro law) will open up the possibility of shifting our form of government to a federal one,” said Salimbangon.

According to the drafts, the Bangsamoro Government, as an autonomous region, will have “legislative powers over such matters as administrative organization and ancestral domain, which are not granted to local government units.”

However, the President will exercise general supervision, and the National Government will continue to exercise power over, among others, national defense, security, foreign relations, monetary policy, and customs and tariffs, according to a primer provided by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

Transition

Representative Raul del Mar (Cebu City, North) said he will thoroughly go over the provisions of the bill, as well as the corresponding arguments, before taking a position.

Representative Joseph Ace Durano (Cebu Province, Fifth District) said he will study how the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law reconciles the creation of this new political entity with the constitutional provisions on the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), among others.

If the basic law is passed and ratified in a plebiscite, the ARMM will be deemed abolished. A Bangsamoro Transition Authority appointed by President Benigno Aquino III will serve as the interim government, until the Bangsamoro officials are elected and can assume office.

Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa (Cebu City, South) said he will vote in favor of the Bangsamoro Basic Law if it will prove to be useful in promoting peace and unity in the country.

Abellanosa said, though, that he has many questions about the draft law.

Questions

“As previously ruled by the Supreme Court when it invalidated the 2008 memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain proposed by the previous administration, recognizing an entity ‘in preparation for independence’ violates the national integrity provisions. Hence, the next question is, ‘Does this constitute a preparation for independence of the Bangsamoro?” he said.

The congressman said he will suggest that the law “explicitly state that the Bangsamoro remains bound within the framework of the Constitution and explicitly recognizes national sovereignty.”

Both House Bill 4994 and Senate Bill 2408 provide that the National Government will retain its power over defense and external security, foreign policy, monetary policy, citizenship, postal services, immigration, some aspects of customs and tariff supervision, common market and global trade, and intellectual property rights.

The National and Bangsamoro Governments, according to the bills, will share some powers, including the power over social security, land registration, the penitentiary, auditing, civil service, justice, disaster risk reduction and management, and public order and safety.

The historic signing last March of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro capped negotiations that started in January 1997, facilitated beginning in 2001 by the Government of Malaysia.

By Elias O. Baquero, Isolde D. Amante and Princess Dawn H. Felicitas - SunStar

TUCP blames World Bank for 23,000 retrenchments

WE are daring to criticize the revered and mighty World Bank again.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) has rebuked the World Bank (WB) during its shareholder consultation last Thursday “for excluding core labor standards in its project and policy loans intended for so-called development programs in the country amid the static unemployment and underemployment statistics.”

TUCP estimates that because of “the absence of these standards, around 23,000 workers are already being affected in two ongoing country projects.”

“The bank continues to ignore very important core labor safeguards and standards on wages, health and safe working conditions, terms of employment of workers employed in Bank- financed projects. The continued absence of these core labor standards means that the World Bank will not stand in the way of those denying Filipino workers their right to organize and unionize in infrastructure projects sponsored by the Bank. It means that the Bank will not stand in the way of those retrenching workers in Bank–financed privatizations of state enterprises. We insist that these benchmarks be integrated as soon as possible, otherwise the Bank will be a party to the race-to-the-bottom in terms of the already massive de facto casualization and contractualization of workers,” said Alan Tanjusay, TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson.

The bank had organized a round of consultation with various labor unions representatives, environmental advocates, sectoral leaders of peasants, indigenous peoples, women, fisherfolk and youth in the Astoria Plaza in Pasig City last Thursday in the course of its global review and update of its environmental and social policies.

Gerard Seno, executive director of the Associated Labor Unions-TUCP, said the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have started asserting since 1997 for the incorporation of the core labor standards in the safeguard policies of the Bank.

Commendably the World Bank has taken a position against the use of child-labor and non-discrimination in the work force due to sex, religion and political beliefs but there are still huge and gaping holes in their current draft of the “Environmental and Social Standard: Labor and Working Conditions,” TUCP said.

The bank’s board is scheduled to consider a draft in 2015 that is supposed to be inputted with ideas gathered from the consultations.

“The draft labor standard prepared by the Bank does not have the standard requirement that has existed at the bank’s private sector lending arm the International Finance Corporation (IFC) since 2006 and those that have been adopted in recent years by many regional development banks,” Seno said.

TUCP-Nagkaisa Executive Director Luis Corral pointed out that there are more than 23,000 workers in the 119 electric cooperatives whose wages, working conditions and even security of tenure could be affected by World Bank grants and loans for these electric cooperatives.

Coral said, “We are concerned that the workers in these electric cooperatives are not being consulted through their existing unions. The fear of retrenchment or displacement is very real. We remind the Bank that because of the bank-sponsored privatization of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) thousands of workers were retrenched. The Bank must proceed with more responsibility and social consciousness.”

“The World Bank has to be reminded that it is the ordinary taxpayers’ money from all the member governments that finances these Bank projects. These are taxes paid by ordinary workers. We also remind the Bank that its aim is to eradicate poverty. It will not do so if even in its own projects, it will not stand for standards that will advance decent work,” Corral added.

We wholeheartedly endorse TUCP’s proposals to the World Bank. - Manila Times

Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) Ad Hoc committee hearing in Cotabato City

October 23, 2014 - Rep. Raymond Mendoza at Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) Ad Hoc committee hearing in Cotabato City with ARMM Gov. Hataman and various officials of congress and local government.

For other BBL committee schedule see link

Peoples Action against the World Bank – Philippines

Manila –  This WB safeguard review started almost 3 years ago, but communities and organizations in the Philippines barely understand its process and contents. And to our knowledge, this is the first actual official interaction with Philippine organizations.  Yet, there has been too little time and lackluster effort to enable meaningful engagements.  Meanwhile, Southern and Northern organizations expressed their struggles and frustrations with the dismal handling of the Bank of the safeguards review over the past 2 years. The WB meetings last Oct. 8-11, 2014 in Washington DC was a clear reflection of peoples’ deep resentment over the poor consultation and bad safeguards draft. And here is the Bank doing a repeat of the same failures in running effective consultations: you give us too short notice to prepare and incomplete documents to consult. No draft business procedures, no implementation plan, no translations.

The affected communities and their support groups demand that the WB safeguard policies must be strengthened to ensure real protections for people and the planet. The draft does not promise to deliver that.

We are concerned that right now, Filipinos are not overcoming poverty, inequality and hunger are increasing, our natural resources are threatened by industrialization and extractive industries while labor rights are diluted or informalized. Contrary to the Bank’s rosy narratives of Philippine growth linked with its financing, this growth is widening inequality. Bank financing has not helped in preventing the intensified privatization of commons and has contributed to the systematic dismantling of essential public services. It has been muted in dealing with the discrimination against marginalized groups such as PWDs, IPs, children, and sexual minorities who are the most vulnerable sectors. They have been threatened by projects that were partly-funded by the World Bank Group. Remember the Manila Sewerage Project? Remember Chico dam in Cordillera? Remember IFC’s support to a mining project in the ancestral domain of the Mamanwas in CARAGA? In many instances, safeguards were useful in ensuring some basic minimum levels of protection were available.  But the Bank is moving to moving to eviscerate these basic human rights protections. You’re dumping people with more debts but you’re removing your environmental and human rights accountability.

We have watched with rising concern that your new “safeguard” proposals betray these expectations and represent the opposite.  In this process, we believe that the World Bank is stepping back on its promise to reduce poverty.

Instead of ensuring protection of vulnerable communities and the project affected people, your draft proposes dismantling of even existing protections that have been built over decades of hard work, hard won protections that people have fought and died for here in the Philippines, including social justice laws for indigenous peoples, environment, land reform and people’s participation in governance.

We cannot remain mute spectators of this regressive journey and must convey to you the rising frustration and anger amongst the many communities that are facing these impacts from Bank-supported projects, and also within many people’s movements and supporting civil society groups, networks and alliances from all over the Philippines.

Our colleagues have watched with growing dismay – the increasingly insensitive responses to the passionate appeals by cornered and distressed communities affected by bank supported projects.  I personally appealed that this consultation be re-scheduled to give time for communities and organizations to understand better the process and substance of the safeguards, but my appeal was rejected.

We are also alarmed by the rising talk of the Bank venturing into riskier investments, coming from as high positions as the WB President! Hundreds of indigenous peoples and forest dwellers organizations are terribly concerned with the proposed ‘opt out’ clause, and the dilution of protection hitherto given to biodiversity rich and protected areas.  You also propose to venture into uncharted territory of biodiversity offsets!  These are gambles more suited to a venture capital fund, not fit for a “Development Bank”, and the Filipinos cannot allow this to happen.

We, the dozens of people’s movements and organizations present here from all over the Philippines, and the many thousands we represent back from our communities, are rejecting this current draft of safeguards.  The protections you now seek to dismantle, the safeguards that we fought for over decades - do not belong to you, they are not yours to throw away, they belong to the world and its vulnerable people.

We are also aware of a handful of saner voices from within the bank, and urge them to fight inside the system, for protecting the very rights they themselves enjoy – also for the people and communities around the world facing potential threats from this proposed dilution of protections.  We strongly believe this protest action that we are compelled to take, will strengthen those voices and create a better environment for creating a really progressive safeguards policy.  This will be in the interest of the bank itself, as well as for the entire Philippines, and the rest of the world.

That is why we are forced to take this action now and join our partners in the protest outside.  Today we are going out of this consultation, to defend the safeguards and to stand with the World and against the Bank that is trying to destroy it!  We sincerely hope that this will help a better tomorrow, within & outside.

Signatories:

AKBAYAN

Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA)

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)

Bank Information Center (BIC)

DANGAL

Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)

NAGKAISA

NGO Forum on the ADB

Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)

SANLAKAS

 

Petilla won’t resign, vows to avert blackouts

MANILA, Philippines - Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla has shrugged off a labor coalition’s call for him to resign, saying that he is committed to avert a looming power shortage in the summer of 2015.

“I won’t allow the blackouts to happen. I will do everything to fight it out because I know I am fighting for the people,” Petilla said in an interview.

He maintained that he did not deceive anyone when he said there would be a power shortage when he proposed to invoke Section 71 of the energy law last July to allow the government to tap additional power capacity through the purchase or lease of modular generator sets.

He explained that since he made the proposal in July and revealed the projected power situation next summer, additional capacity of some 437 megawatts was tapped.

“Before July, this did not exist. There was no 437 MW,” he said.

Petilla noted that President Aquino’s declaration of a state of emergency in the power sector summoned stakeholders and the private sector to cooperate and work together in finding solutions to the looming power woes.

A Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-led group called Nagkaisa has asked Aquino to fire Petilla for “deceiving the Filipino people with his manufactured power shortage scenario hitting the entire island of Luzon early 2015.”

The group said Petilla painted a wrong picture to justify the call for emergency powers.

“Secretary Petilla took the country for a ride. He bluffed the President, the Cabinet, the senators and congressmen, the business sector, the labor and consumer groups with his tall tales of thin power reserves to justify emergency powers that entail possible purchase of multibillion-peso generator sets,” Nagkaisa said in a statement.

But Petilla maintained that the power situation in the summer of 2015 is still critical with the shortage still at 700 MW, taking into account the need for reserves of 647 MW, which is the size of Sual, the biggest plant in Luzon.

“When it comes to power, supply and reserves go hand in hand,” he said.

The additional 447 MW will come from the First Gen Corp.’s Avion plant with 100 MW by April 2015, 36 MW from the upgrading of Millennium Energy’s Limay plant to be ready by March 2015, 20 MW as a result of the rehabilitation of the Bauang plant by March 2015, 10 MW from Petron’s Bataan plant to be ready by December 2014, 60 MW from JG Summit’s Batangas plant for commissioning in January 2015 and 20 MW from the Botocan hydroelectric plant in Laguna for completion in December 2014 for a sub-total of 246 MW.

The balance is estimated to come from participants of the interruptible load program. Under the ILP, big power users would use their own power to ease pressure on the grid.

Petilla said that while this is a good development, there is no guarantee that the committed capacities would come as expected and run smoothly.

“These are all photo finish. We don’t have control over this if something goes wrong, so it is very prudent for the government to have reserves,” he added. – By Iris Gonzales (The Philippine Star) With Mayen Jaymalin

Peoples Action against the World Bank – Philippines

Manila – This WB safeguard review started almost 3 years ago, but communities and organizations in the Philippines barely understand its process and contents. And to our knowledge, this is the first actual official interaction with Philippine organizations. Yet, there has been too little time and lackluster effort to enable meaningful engagements.

Meanwhile, Southern and Northern organizations expressed their struggles and frustrations with the dismal handling of the Bank of the safeguards review over the past 2 years. The WB meetings last Oct. 8-11, 2014 in Washington DC was a clear reflection of peoples’ deep resentment over the poor consultation and bad safeguards draft. And here is the Bank doing a repeat of the same failures in running effective consultations: you give us too short notice to prepare and incomplete documents to consult. No draft business procedures, no implementation plan, no translations.

The affected communities and their support groups demand that the WB safeguard policies must be strengthened to ensure real protections for people and the planet. The draft does not promise to deliver that.

We are concerned that right now, Filipinos are not overcoming poverty, inequality and hunger are increasing, our natural resources are threatened by industrialization and extractive industries while labor rights are diluted or informalized. Contrary to the Bank’s rosy narratives of Philippine growth linked with its financing, this growth is widening inequality. Bank financing has not helped in preventing the intensified privatization of commons and has contributed to the systematic dismantling of essential public services. It has been muted in dealing with the discrimination against marginalized groups such as PWDs, IPs, children, and sexual minorities who are the most vulnerable sectors. They have been threatened by projects that were partly-funded by the World Bank Group. Remember the Manila Sewerage Project? Remember Chico dam in Cordillera? Remember IFC’s support to a mining project in the ancestral domain of the Mamanwas in CARAGA? In many instances, safeguards were useful in ensuring some basic minimum levels of protection were available. But the Bank is moving to moving to eviscerate these basic human rights protections. You’re dumping people with more debts but you’re removing your environmental and human rights accountability.

We have watched with rising concern that your new “safeguard” proposals betray these expectations and represent the opposite. In this process, we believe that the World Bank is stepping back on its promise to reduce poverty.

Instead of ensuring protection of vulnerable communities and the project affected people, your draft proposes dismantling of even existing protections that have been built over decades of hard work, hard won protections that people have fought and died for here in the Philippines, including social justice laws for indigenous peoples, environment, land reform and people’s participation in governance.

We cannot remain mute spectators of this regressive journey and must convey to you the rising frustration and anger amongst the many communities that are facing these impacts from Bank-supported projects, and also within many people’s movements and supporting civil society groups, networks and alliances from all over the Philippines.

Our colleagues have watched with growing dismay – the increasingly insensitive responses to the passionate appeals by cornered and distressed communities affected by bank supported projects. I personally appealed that this consultation be re-scheduled to give time for communities and organizations to understand better the process and substance of the safeguards, but my appeal was rejected.

We are also alarmed by the rising talk of the Bank venturing into riskier investments, coming from as high positions as the WB President! Hundreds of indigenous peoples and forest dwellers organizations are terribly concerned with the proposed ‘opt out’ clause, and the dilution of protection hitherto given to biodiversity rich and protected areas. You also propose to venture into uncharted territory of biodiversity offsets! These are gambles more suited to a venture capital fund, not fit for a “Development Bank”, and the Filipinos cannot allow this to happen.

We, the dozens of people’s movements and organizations present here from all over the Philippines, and the many thousands we represent back from our communities, are rejecting this current draft of safeguards. The protections you now seek to dismantle, the safeguards that we fought for over decades – do not belong to you, they are not yours to throw away, they belong to the world and its vulnerable people.

We are also aware of a handful of saner voices from within the bank, and urge them to fight inside the system, for protecting the very rights they themselves enjoy – also for the people and communities around the world facing potential threats from this proposed dilution of protections. We strongly believe this protest action that we are compelled to take, will strengthen those voices and create a better environment for creating a really progressive safeguards policy. This will be in the interest of the bank itself, as well as for the entire Philippines, and the rest of the world.

That is why we are forced to take this action now and join our partners in the protest outside. Today we are going out of this consultation, to defend the safeguards and to stand with the World and against the Bank that is trying to destroy it! We sincerely hope that this will help a better tomorrow, within & outside.

===================
Signatories:
AKBAYAN
Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA)
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)
Bank Information Center (BIC)
DANGAL
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)
NAGKAISA
NGO Forum on the ADB
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)
SANLAKAS

Blackouts could cost economy P23B – Aquino

IF an anticipated drop in power supply is not immediately solved and blackouts will occur next year, the cost to the economy could be as high as P23 billion, President Benigno Aquino 3rd warned on Wednesday.

Citing government estimates, Aquino said the economic cost of the feared power outages could reach a minimum of P9.3 billion to as high as P23.3 billion, excluding foregone revenues in sectors that will be affected by brownouts.

“[It depends] on the duration of the power outage. The lower figure [P9.3 billion] assumes power outage of two hours a day on average for three months. The higher figure [P23.3 billion] assumes a worse scenario of five hours a day also for three months,” the President noted during the Presidential Forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

This, he said, will likely dent the annual gross domestic product (GDP).

“The economic cost as estimated here pertains to output foregone, i.e. GDP loss from stoppage of economic activities. The estimate does not include foregone investment and tourist arrivals arising from the negative impact of the power outage on the country’s image as investment and tourist destinations,” Aquino added.

It is for these reasons, the President explained, that he had asked Congress for extra powers under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to address the situation on a “worst-case scenario” perspective.

“If there is no power come our summer months, there will only be one party that will be blamed, and that will be the executive. So we were asking from them various powers, not emergency, but these are really embodied already in Epira—to address the situation if and when El Niño is really severe, the forced outages in the trend that they have shown in the past two years also continue, to address also the cannot-be-postponed Malampaya shutdown, among other things,” Aquino said.

Although there are several options that the government can take, renting generators for about two years is no longer being considered because setting these up would take about six months.

The President said the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) is a “plausible substitute” but these standby generators for the most part have never been considered as baseload plants.

“What’s the difference? Standby generator, you run for a few hours. These ILP producers, in effect, will have to produce on a very regular basis, perhaps on a daily basis, if and when the reserve situation is seriously jeopardized,” he also explained.

Aquino said the Energy department balked on running the Malaya plants because they are 30 years old and it would be costly to maintain both plants.

Meanwhile, 49 labor groups and workers’ organizations called on the President to fire Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla for “deceiving the Filipino people” by manufacturing a power-shortage scenario.

The workers’ group Nagkaisa (United) was reacting to revelations during a recent congressional hearing where Energy officials admitted that the projected deficit in supply in 2015 is only about 21 to 31 MW, a far cry from the 1,200 MW shortfall trumpeted by Petilla.

“It is now very clear to us that Secretary Petilla took the country for a ride. He bluffed the President, the Cabinet and everyone with his tall tales of thin power reserves to justify emergency powers that entail possible purchase of multi-billion peso generator sets” Joshua Mata, a group convenor. said.

Another convenor, Louie Corral, executive director of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa, said the government should have acted as early as 2011 to avert a power crisis by building new power plants and exercising strong regulatory powers to prevent market fraud.

“The only time we will support emergency powers is when the government finally decides to take over the whole industry with the utmost objective of bringing down the price and securing a sustainable power supply not only for present needs but also for the next generations to come,” Corral added. - by JOEL M. SY EGCO SENIOR REPORTER AND JING VILLAMENTE REPORTER Manila Times

Labor groups demand Petilla’s resignation

DOE Sec. Petilla, pinagbibitiw sa puwesto ng ilang labor group
GMA News Video

Related Article: Labor group wants Petilla’s head for deceiving the Filipino people bigtime over so-called power crisis

Labor group wants Petilla’s head for deceiving the Filipino people bigtime over so-called power crisis

A COALITION of 49 labor groups and workers’ organizations called Nagkaisa is demanding President Aquino to immediately fire Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla for deceiving the Filipino people with his manufactured power shortage scenario hitting the entire island of Luzon early 2015.

Officials of the Department of Energy admitted during a congressional hearing that the projected deficit in supply for the coming summer of 2015 is only about 21 to 31 MW, a far cry from the 1,200 MW shortfall trumpeted by Petilla.

“It is now very clear to us that Secretary Petilla took the country for a ride. He bluffed the president, the cabinet, the senators and the congressmen, the business sectors, the labor and consumer groups with his tall tales of thin power reserves to justify emergency powers that entails possible purchase of multi-billion peso generator sets. Mr. Petilla deliberately exposed the country to unnecessary jeopardy that has been discouraging job-creating investments away since he came out with his bogus story in July,” Josua Mata of Sentro-Nagkaisa, one of Nagkaisa convenors said reading Nagkaisa statement.

“This is a grave crime to the Filipino people. The only way for Secretary Petilla to redeem himself, after having been rebuffed by congressmen for his exaggerated numbers on the alleged looming power crisis, is to apologize to the people and submit an irrevocable resignation. If he doesn’t have the delicadeza to do so, we are demanding his head from the president. Either way, the Filipino people does not deserve a reprehensible nincompoop in government,” he added.

“Instead of asking congress to hastily grant him emergency powers, President Aquino should first kick his energy man out for his failure to lead a critical department of the executive,” Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson of Partido Manggagawa-Nagkaisa.

Fortaleza said Petilla’s main blunder is the absence of policy intervention and the heap of unsound options in addressing the looming power crisis.

Petilla has proposed costly lease agreements from independent power producers to fill up the capacity gap in two years. Another option was to top existing capacities from industries’ embedded generator sets under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

“Petilla must go not because power emergency is none existent but also because policy intervention is absent. The president must fire him for deceiving the entire nation including himself as the chief executive and his fellow members of the cabinet,” added Fortaleza.

Another convenor, Louie Corral, executive director of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagakisa, explained that had the government acted as early as 2011, we could have started building new capacities by building new power plants; forced private power to rationalize their scheduled maintenance shutdowns; optimize the use of every plant especially hydro; and exercised strong regulatory powers to prevent market fraud.

Yet these options, Fortaleza said, can still be utilized right now as these powers are present under DOE’s mandate, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Office of the President, and Congress under the Joint Congresional Power Commission (JCPC).

“The only time we will support emergency powers is when the government finally decides to take over the whole industry with the utmost objectives of bringing down the price and securing a sustainable power supply not only for present needs but also for the next generations to come,” concluded Corral.

The Nagkaisa is a coalition of labor unions and workers’ organizations who band together three years ago to advance security of tenure, reduce the price of electricity, empower public sector workers and improve workers living wage. The members of the coalition are the Alliance of Free Workers (AFW) All Filipino Workers Confederation (AFWC), Automobile Industry Workers Alliance (AIWA), Alab Katipunan, Association of Genuine Labor Organizations (AGLO), Associated Labor Unions (ALU), Associated Labor Unions- Association of Professional Supervisory Officers Technical Employees Union (ALU-APSOTEU), ALU-Metal, Associated Labor Unions-Philippine Seafarers’Union (ALU-PSU), ALU-Textile, ALU-Transport, Associated Labor Unions-Visayas Mindanao Confederation of Trade Unions (ALU-VIMCOMTU), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Association of Trade Unions (ATU), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Confederation of Independent Unions (CIU), Confederation of Labor and Allied Social Services (CLASS), Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS), Federation of Coca-Cola Unions (FCCU), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Kapisanan ng Maralitang Obrero (KAMAO), Katipunan, Pambansang Kilusan ng Paggawa (KILUSAN), Kapisanan ng mga Kawani sa Koreo sa Pilipinas (KKKP), Labor education and Research Network (LEARN), League of Independent Bank Organizations (LIBO), Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN), MARINO, National Association of Broadcast Unions (NABU), National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU), National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NAMAWU), National Association of Trade Unions (NATU), National Confederation of Labor (NCL), National Confederation of Transport Union (NCTU), National Union of Portworkers in the Philippines (NUPP), National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries (NUWHRAIN), Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), Pepsi Cola Employees Union of the Philippines (PEUP), Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA), Pinag-isang Tinig at Lakas ng Anakpawis (PIGLAS), Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PILLU), Philippine Independent Public Sector Employees Association (PIPSEA), Partido Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), Philippine Transport and General Workers Organization (PTGWO), SALIGAN, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Workers Solidarity Network (WSN)

Labor group blames high power rate

THE Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) yesterday said the purchasing power of workers in Cebu and other parts of the country are greatly affected by the high cost of electricity.

ALU-TUCP education director Art Barrit said that business operations are no longer competitive due to high power rates in the country. As a result, most employers can hardly comply with the minimum wage order set by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (NWPC).

“Our economy is fueled by the remittances of OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers), not by FDI (foreign direct investment) which posted only $4 billion last year, whose total FDI in the Asean region registered at $120 billion,” Barrit said.

Based on their study, Barrit said the biggest budget outlay and the business operation is not the salaries in wages of the ordinary workers but on power and electricity.

“This is the reason why workers are asking Malacañang to review and revisit the Epira (Energy Power Industry Reform Act) and to have a cap on power rates,” Barrit said.

A letter dated June 17, 2014 was sent to President Benigno Aquino III through Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Sec. Linda Dimapilis-Baldoz and Secretary to the Cabinet Rene Almendras by the Nagkaisa Labor Convenors.

“It has been 59 days today since you said you will meet us again to give your response to important various issues we raised with you and your cabinet during the nationally shown pre-labor day breakfast dialogue on April 29, 2014,” read the letter.

“With our local unions and members nationwide egging us for your feedback we would highly appreciate if you let us know if you are still inclined to meet with Nagkaisa to give your response to the issues on the table,” the letter further read.

Barrit said the labor sector has been asking Malacañang for a meeting on the power issue. Relatively, the Aquino administration is amenable to their proposals. - By Elias O. Baquero / SunStar

Labor group supports optional AIDS tests for employees

A LABOR group expressed support for a Department of Health (DoH) policy that makes tests for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) optional for employees.

This is a “more viable government response to a very insidious spread of HIV” compared to mandatory testing, Associated Labor Unions executive vice-president Gerard R. Seno said in a press statement.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the prevalence of the diseases in the country is relatively low, however, the country is “one of only seven countries globally” where there has been an increase in HIV cases from 2001.

A total of 4,814 cases of HIV/AIDS were noted in 2013, data from the DoH HIV (Human Immonodeficiency Virus) and AIDS registry showed.

For its part, the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) has yet to come up with a definite stand on the matter as its members remain unable to arrive at a consensus due to the contentions raised -- that the proposed policy would subject infected individuals to stigma and discrimination.

“There is no right or wrong in the opposing arguments offered by government and advocates,” Mr. Seno said. “(W)e have to address the problem as quickly as possible without infringing the right of an individual in making choices for himself.”

The TUCP has been taking up steps to address HIV/AIDS discrimination in the country and has recently partnered with the PNAC, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, the DoH, PhilHealth, and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to conduct seminars on this.

“The seminar module was designed to mainstream ALU organized workers with HIV and AIDS and to empower participants with a conviction to share the information with their relatives, friends, and co-workers,” TUCP Spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay said.

The DoH is currently lobbying for the adoption of the policy in the amendments currently made in the National AIDS Law.

Officials from the DoH could not be reached for further comment. -- J.V.D. Cabuenas / Bworldonline

Peace panels to create team to oversee ARMM-Bangsamoro transition

The peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are putting together a team that would coordinate preparations for the smooth transition of government functions from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).

In a press statement, government peace panel head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the creation of the composite team was agreed upon during the three-day meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last September 27 to 29. She said the team will be in charge of all the preparations in anticipation of the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) by Congress and its subsequent ratification through a plebiscite.

“The composite team will be made up of members coming from the central and ARMM governments and the MILF,” Ferrer said.

“The terms of reference of said composite team is being drafted and is expected to be signed soon,” she added.

Job loss fears to be addressed

Ferrer said that among the supposed functions of the composite team is to address the concerns of thousands of ARMM employees who might get affected by the transition.

“The Civil Service Commission and other relevant agencies will be consulted to ensure a smooth transition,” Ferrer said.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa had earlier estimated that about 24,000 government workers in the ARMM might lose their jobs once the region is dissolved and replaced by the Bangsamoro government.

The TUCP-Nagkaisa said the Civil Service Commission (CSC) should make sure that the existing workforce will be integrated into the new Bangsamoro government through "lateral transfer and merit-based integration."

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles said that civil service rules will be followed and civil service eligibilities and entitlements of ARMM employees will be respected during the transition phase.

“We imagine that there may be some reorganization of the governmental structures in consonance with the proposed ministerial form [of government of the Bangsamoro],” Deles said, emphasizing that, “certainly in doing that, there will be a clear plan, separation benefits if necessary.”

“We’ll follow the laws of the land. Certainly to those who have civil service eligibility, we’ll have different options open to them such as being transferred to another area or by choice, being separated with due compensation. This will all undergo due process,” Deles said.

Deles added that the transition process will only begin once the BBL is passed and ratified in a plebiscite.

BTA interim government

The BBL will serve as the legal basis for the creation of the Bangsamoro juridical entity that will replace the ARMM.

Under the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the government and the MILF last March, the BTA shall serve as the interim government prior to the establishment of the Bangsamoro government and the assumption of its elected leaders in 2016.

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPPAP), aside from the creation of the composite team, both panels have recently formalized the bodies and mechanisms that will roll out the normalization plans stated under the CAB.

These bodies include the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), which shall oversee the decommissioning of firearms of MILF combatants; the Joint Normalization Body (JNC), which shall coordinate the different normalization processes and mechanisms; and the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) which, under the CAB, “shall study and recommend the appropriate mechanisms to address legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, correct historical injustices, and address human rights violations through land dispossession.” — Elizabeth Marcelo/BM, GMA News

Over 24,000 Filipinos to lose job next year: TUCP

MANILA: Many workers in the Philippines and abroad are expected to be displaced next year, labor groups and recruitment industry officials has warned the national government.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) was quoted as saying by Philippine Star that about 24,000 local government employees are likely to lose their jobs with the setting up of Bangsamoro Transition Council next year.

“Workers employed in municipalities, cities, provincial and regional offices will be displaced once the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is dissolved and taken over by the Bangsamoro Transition Council,” TUCP executive director Louie Corral reportedly said.

“The major responsibility of the government is to provide safety nets for these workers who had been serving the bureaucracy quietly,” he reportedly said, adding that the Aquino government apparently has no not yet planned for the impending displacement of government employees.

He also called on the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to step in and take the necessary course of action.

“We are wondering why the commission has not geared up for one of the very important elements of the transition issue,” TUCP official Gerard Seno was quoted as saying.

Seno further said the CSC should ensure that the affected workers are integrated into the new Bangsamoro government using lateral transfer and merit-based integration rather than leaving their fate to circumstance.

Officials of the job placement industry have reported that around 4,000 Filipino workers employed in US bases in Afghanistan are also expected to be displaced by the impending pullout of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

They reportedly said about 4,000 Filipinos are still posted in Bagram Air Base and Kandahar Airfield and only around a thousand will be retained for maintenance of the military facilities.

Some of the workers are expected to return home starting November as their companies shut down after losing bids to supply logistics to the US forces.

But the workers are hoping that they will still be needed by international contractors hired by the US government, the recruitment officials were quoted as saying by Philippine Star. - The Filipino Times

Massive displacement of local, foreign workers seen next year

MANILA, Philippines - Many workers here and abroad are expected to be displaced next year, labor groups and recruitment industry officials warned the national government yesterday.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said about 24,000 local government employees are expected to lose their jobs with the setting up of Bangsamoro Transition Council next year.

“Workers employed in municipalities, cities, provincial and regional offices will be displaced once the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is dissolved and taken over by the Bangsamoro Transition Council,” said TUCP executive director Louie Corral.

He said the 24,000 workers are the largest number of employees to be affected as the new Bangsamoro government becomes operational.

The government, Corral said, has the primary responsibility to provide safety nets for these workers who had been serving the bureaucracy quietly.

Corral said the Aquino government apparently has no preparation in place for the impending displacement of government employees.

He called on the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to step in and take the necessary course of action.

“We are wondering why the commission has no preparations towards one of very important elements of the transition issue,” TUCP official Gerard Seno said.

Seno said the CSC should ensure that the affected workers would be integrated into the new Bangsamoro government using lateral transfer and merit-based integration rather than leaving their fate to circumstance.

Also yesterday, officials of the job placement industry reported that close to 4,000 Filipino workers employed in US bases in Afghanistan are also expected to be displaced.

Recruitment officials said thousands of overseas Filipino workers are likely to be affected by the impending pullout of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

They said about 4,000 Filipinos are still working in Bagram Air Base and Kandahar Airfield and only around a thousand will be retained for maintenance of the military facilities.

Some of the workers are expected to return home starting November as their companies closed down after losing bids to supply logistics to the US forces.

But the workers are hoping that they will still be needed by international contractors hired by the US government, the recruitment officials said. - By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)

‘Bangsamoro should regulate Lanao plants’

THE BANGSAMORO entity that will be created to govern a Muslim autonomous region should have the primary supervision and regulation of the hydroelectric power plants in Lake Lanao, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said on its Web site.

Citing the delineation of powers in the Annex on Power-sharing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), the MILF said that the Bangsamoro entity would have primary jurisdiction on the issues of power generation in Mindanao.

“It is on this premise that such claim that the regulation of existing hydropower plants in Lake Lanao will remain primarily under the concerned national government agencies is not accurate, and, therefore, should be corrected at once,” the MILF said in an editorial posted on its Web site luwaran.com.

Miriam Colonel-Ferrer, the chief negotiator of the government peace panel, said that the Lake Lanao power plants will remain primarily under the concern of the national government during the Ad Hoc Committee hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) last week at the House of Representatives.

However, Ms. Ferrer clarified that power plants not connected to the national transmission grid will be under the regulatory powers of the Bangsamoro government.

Under Article XIII on Economy and Patrimony, Section 22, on Inland Waters, the proposed bill says that “the Bangsamoro shall have exclusive powers over inland waters, including but not limited to lakes, marshes, rivers and tributaries.”

The proposed bill further states that “the Bangsamoro Parliament shall enact laws on the regulation, management and protection of these resources.”

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the current base-load of electricity in Mindanao comes largely from hydroelectric sources, which contributes roughly more than 700 megawatts to help meet the overall power demand of 1,300 megawatts in the Mindanao region.

BANGSAMORO COUNCIL WILL LEAD TO JOB CUTS

Meanwhile, labor groups have urged the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to step in and address the possible displacement of some 23,000 public sector workers -- most of whom are teachers -- in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) once the Bangsamoro Transition Council takes over by next year.

“The labor center expresses concern over the unknown fate of these workers who will be dislodged once the Bangsamoro law takes effect. We call on the Civil Service Commission to step in and take the necessary course of action,” said Gerard R. Seno, Associated Labor Unions (ALU) executive vice-president, in a press release.

Of the 23,000 workers in the region that may find themselves jobless, 18,000 are teachers.

“This is a significant number of public sector employees ever to be displaced in the course of Philippine government paving the way for the new Bangsamoro,” said Louie M. Corral, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) executive director, in the same release. “The government has the primary responsibility to provide safety nets for these workers who had been serving the bureaucracy quietly... They should be integrated because they are already an asset.”

For his part, CSC Commissioner Robert S. Martinez earlier said that employees which will be affected may apply for other positions if their posts will be dissolved. -- BusinessWorld Online with Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas

Concerns over possible dislocation of ARMM workers

Labour confederation says 24,000 government workers in Mindanao would be left jobless once a new body takes over from ARMM

Manila: A labour confederation has expressed fears that some 24,000 government workers in Mindanao would be left jobless once a new body takes over from the administration of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

During a recent House of Representatives committee deliberation on the provisions on the proposed Bangsamoro Law, officials of the civil service commission admitted to Rep. Raymond Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Party list they have not made any plans concerning possible dislocation of workers once an administration for the envisioned self-rule region steps in.

“The labour centre expresses concern over the unknown fate of these workers who would be dislodged once the Bangsamoro law takes effect. We call on the civil service commission to step in and take the necessary course of action. We are wondering why the commission has no preparations towards one of the very important elements of the transition issue,” Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labour Unions (ALU) said.

Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had largely focused on the political and economic aspects of the planned Bangsamoro — a self-sustaining self-rule region envisioned to be comprised by Muslim dominated areas in Central and Western Mindanao. Authorities had all but completely ignored or had forgotten about the government workers who would be left without jobs once the transition starts.

It can be recalled that in March this year, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed a peace agreement, ending more than two decades of conflict with the Christian-dominated central government in Manila.

According to Seno, the labour group is proposing the civil service commission oversee transition matters pertaining to the labour sector and ensure the workforce to be integrated into the new Bangsamoro government would consider absorbing those currently employed in ARMM, with a merit-based integration adopted rather than leaving displaced employees to fend for themselves.

TUCP executive director Louie Corral said: “This is a significant number of public sector employees to be displaced. But the government has the primary responsibility to provide safety nets for these workers who had been serving the bureaucracy quietly. Rather than allowing these people fall through the crack, they should be integrated as they are already an asset.”

Sources said although a peace agreement had been signed between MILF and the government, it could still take several months until a new authority could be set up to replace ARMM.

The ARMM was set up during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos as a result of the 1996 peace agreement between Moro National Liberation Front.

More than two decades after ARMM was established incumbent President Benigno Aquino III, as part of his promise to MILF, started work on dismantling ARMM which he described a “failed experiment” in self-rule. - By Gilbert P. Felongco, Correspondent Gulf News

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Group fears displacement of 2,400 ARMM gov't workers with creation of Bangsamoro

Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa is worried that around 2,400 government employees in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will lose their jobs once the region is dissolved and taken over by the Bangsamoro Transition Council.

In a statement, the group said the public sector workers are currently employed in municipalities, cities, provincial and regional government offices in the region.

“The labor center expresses concern over the unknown fate of these workers who will be dislodged once the Bangsamoro law takes effect,"said Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU).

He said the Civil Service Commission should step in, adding the CSC does not seem to have prepared for "one of the very important elements of transition."

During House deliberations on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law chaired by TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza, CSC resource persons could not answer

TUCP-Nagkaisa said the CSC should make sure that the existing workforce will be integrated into the new Bangsamoro government through "lateral transfer and merit-based integration".

Meanwhile, TUCP Executive Director Louie Corral said that it is the responsibility of the government to look after the welfare of public sector workers.

"Rather than allowing these people fell through the cracks, they should be integrated because they are already an asset," he said. — JDS, GMA News

WORLD DAY OF DECENT WORK | Workers picket manning agency for labor lawviolations

Rally outside the Asiapro office in Pasig City, 7 October 2014. PHOTO COURTESY OF NAGKAISA

MANILA - To mark the World Day of Decent Work today, members of labor coalition Nagkaisa (United) on Tuesday picketed the Asiapro main office in Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City to condemn the “pseudo” manning agency for gross violations of workers’ rights.

In a statement, the coalition said that despite its name, Asiapro is not a multi-purpose cooperative.

“Asiapro is a grand structure of deceit and an organized syndicate with a multi-billion peso profiteering from the blood and sweat of hapless Filipino workers,” Nagkaisa said.

“The people running Asiapro are with pedigree, deeply-experienced and widely networked to camouflage and further entrench their labor-only-contracting fleecing operation. They are not just modern day labor slavery drivers, they are also rapacious and brutal not only for not giving the right wages and benefits for is workers but for skirting the laws and statutes by not paying millions of pesos of taxes that a responsible manning agency does to government,” it added without identifying the people behind Asiapro.

The coalition said it would try to uncover the Asiapro masterminds so that they can be held accountable “for their abuse and injustice committed against thousands of its workers and their families.”

- InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

Nagkaisa labor coalition declares war against “King of labor-only-contracting Asiapro” in today’s World Day of Decent Work

AROUND 200 members of labor coalition Nagkaisa picketed the Asiapro main office in Barangay Kapitolyo in Pasig City this morning to condemn the pseudo-manning agency for its gross violations of workers’ rights to mark the World Day of Decent Work observed worldwide today.

Below is the Nagkaisa labor coalition statement issued today:

“We, the Nagkaisa! (United!), join arms in condemning in highest and strongest terms the illegal practice being perpetrated by the Asiapro Multi-purpose Cooperative against thousands of vulnerable Filipino workers in its employ as we commemorate today the World Day of Decent Work along with other labor unions and progressive labor groups around the world.

We are enraged by Asiapro’s unfettered and multiple grave violations of international conventions on decent jobs and serious abuse of Philippine labor statutes that upholds the rights and interests of Filipino workers.
Behind its mask and by its pretense as a multi-purpose cooperative, Asiapro is a grand structure of deceit and an organized syndicate with a multi-billion peso profiteering from the blood and sweat of hapless Filipino workers.

The people running Asiapro are with pedigree, deeply-experienced and widely networked to camouflaged and further entrenched their labor-only-contracting fleecing operation. They are not just modern day labor slavery drivers, they are also rapacious and brutal not only for not giving the right wages and benefits for is workers but for skirting the laws and statutes by not paying millions of pesos of taxes that a responsible manning agency does to government.

As we join fellow workers in fighting for decent work, the Nagkaisa labor coalition today vows to make life difficult for Asiapro and promises to make its greedy high people running the organization be brought to justice.

In observance of the World Day of Decent Work, Nagkaisa today swears to uncover the Asiapro masterminds and make sure they will be made to account including all of the conspirators of the syndicate to pay for their abuse and injustice they have committed against thousands of its workers and their families.”

Mabuhay ang Nagkaisa!
Long live Nagkaisa!
Together, let us bring Asiapro to justice!

DoJ affirms bill on unemployment benefits

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) has backed a House bill seeking to expand benefits under the Social Security System (SSS) for employees separated from the service.

House Bill No. 4668 -- “An Act Expanding The Benefits of the Social Security System So As To Provide for the Unemployment Benefits Thereby Amending For This Purpose Republic Act No. 8282, as Amended, Otherwise Known as the Social Security Law of 1997” -- is authored by Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza (Trade Union Congress of the Philippines).

In a legal opinion to North Cotabato Rep. Jesus N. Sacdalan (1st district), chairman of the House committee on government enterprises and privatization, Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima said her department “recognizes the importance of this bill and we express our support thereto.”

Ms. de Lima also emphasized in her opinion that SSS funds should be sufficient to fulfill its obligation to its members.

The bill seeks to provide unemployment benefits in the form of monthly cash payments to an employee who is terminated, or “involuntarily unemployed” as the bill says. The said benefits are equivalent to the employee’s minimum wage.

“It is imperative upon the state to ensure that our work force does not only have meaningful and satisfying jobs, but can also address employment or income security during unfortunate times when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” Mr. Mendoza said.

Ms. de Lima said the objective of the proposed bill -- to give temporary economic support to employees who were separated from their employment while looking for new opportunities to work -- “appears to be the same intention” in providing workers with separation pay under the Labor Code. -- Reden D. Madrid Bworldonline

NAGKAISA pickets Chinese embassy; backs HK’s general strike, prodemocracy protests

NAGKAISA members rallied today in front of the Chinese embassy’s consular section in Makati City to air their support to the general strike of Hong Kong’s trade unions and the week-old massive pro-democracy protests rocking this prosperous semiautonomous city of China.

Part of the worldwide network backing the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, the NAGKAISA leaders blasted China for its “dogmatic refusal” to respect the Hong Kong citizens’ right to universal suffrage or the right to vote and be voted, as well as its role in the violent attempt to disperse the protesters last Sunday.

Rally leaders said that the uncalled-for police assault using tear gas and pepper spray against a peaceful protest, where at least 59 were injured and 89 arrested, has in fact backfired on the authorities as it prompted more people to join the demonstrations – initially led by the Hong Kong Federation of Students – who now swelled to tens of thousands under the banner of the broad Occupy Central movement.

The Sept. 28 dispersal also prodded the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) to call for a general strike on Oct. 1 coinciding with the 65th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

Heeding HKCTU’s call were trade union members from the ranks of teachers, dockers, beverage employees and from other industries as this Hong Kong’s largest labor center stated that “to defend democracy and justice, (the workers) cannot let the students fight the suppression alone.”

NAGKAISA also lauded HKCTU as actually the “backbone of the multisectoral democracy movement in Hong Kong” even before the former British colonial ruler handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

NAGKAISA activists handed the consular office a letter* urging the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities “to respect the right of the Hong Kong protesters to peaceably assemble and to raise their grievances and democratic demands, and to refrain from resorting to violent and other retaliatory measures.”

They also warned that “ruthless repression à la Tiananmen Square in 1989 will have tremendous global repercussions to China and will no longer be tolerated and ignored by the international community.”

Included in the letter was the demand of the Hong Kong protesters for Leung Chun-ying to step down as the city’s chief executive “for his dismal leadership and for his role in the violent suppression of dissent and prodemocracy protests.”

The protesters revealed that part of the deal in the 1997 handover was that Hong Kong citizens would be allowed to vote for their leader – called chief executive – in 2017; but China’s government reneged on its promise when it declared last August that only those vetted by Beijing would be allowed to become “candidates” in the election.

“It would be another form of a sham ‘election’ like the current system where the chief executive is ‘elected’ by a 1,200-person ‘committee’ filled with Beijing sycophants and lackeys, thus, both are downright undemocratic and elitist,” NAGKAISA said in its letter.

NAGKAISA reiterated that universal suffrage and other basic democratic rights are not incompatible with an autonomous or Special Administrative Region (SAR) setup like in Hong Kong.

“They will even bolster the ‘one country, two systems’ model for the post-British Hong Kong that China supposedly adheres to, and will eventually benefit Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as the rest of the world,” NAGKAISA leaders declared.

—————————————————————-

3 October 2014

*HIS EXCELLENCY ZHAO JIANHUA
Ambassador to the Philippines
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
Makati City

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

We represent the general membership and leadership of NAGKAISA, the broadest labor coalition comprising 80% of all the organized workers in the country.

We are one with the people of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), Hong Kong’s top independent trade union center even before the territory’s handover from the UK to China.

Mr. Ambassador, allow us to freely express NAGKAISA’s utmost concern in the current social upheavals in Hong Kong, China’s foremost special administrative area. We respectfully urge the Chinese government as well as the Hong Kong authorities to respect the right of the protesters – who include our colleagues from the HKCTU and other Hong Kong-based NGOs – to peaceably assemble and to raise their grievances and democratic demands.

We condemn the violent measures taken by the Hong Kong Authority in its attempt to break the protest last Sunday. Using brute force against unarmed and peaceful protesters will have tremendous repercussions to Hong Kong – and China – and definitely will not be tolerated and ignored by the international community.

In particular, NAGKAISA wishes to present the following demands to the Chinese government and the Hong Kong administrators, through the Embassy of China here in Manila:

(1) End to the crackdown against peaceful assemblies and protest actions.

(2) Immediately release all arrested protesters and guarantee their basic human rights.

(3) Implement universal suffrage or the right to vote of Hong Kong citizens, including fielding and selecting their own chosen candidates in the election for Hong Kong leaders.

(4) Resignation of Chief Executive CY Leung for him to take responsibility for the violent and uncalled-for dispersal of student activists and other protesters last Sept. 28.

In the spirit of free and responsible exchange of even opposing ideas, thank you for giving us this opportunity.

Sincerely,

NAGKAISA Convenors