TUCP urges Congress to probe rising number of illegal foreign workers in PH

MANILA, Phlippines -- A labor group on Wednesday urged Congress to look into what it called the increasing number of foreigners working in the country without working permits.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines’ call came following the of 52 more foreign workers allegedly working without valid permits in Davao City last week.

“The increasing incidence of migrants working in the country without necessary government working permits and without fulfilling other requirements for alien workers has very serious adverse implications not only in the local construction industry, fishing, mining and other industries, but also in the current employment and underemployment situation in the country," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.

The Bureau of Immigration in Davao rounded up 50 Chinese, one British and one Australian working on the construction of the coal-fired power plant of Therma South Inc., a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corporation.

TUCP also called for the investigation into how Aboitiz Power hired the foreigners despite the lack of work permits.

In December last year, the BI detained and deported more than 200 foreign workers working without permits at construction sites in Bataan and Batangas provinces.

While stressing that the TUCP is not against foreign workers in the country, Tanjusay said those without valid permits are vulnerable to abuse.

“They are susceptible to being abused for reasons such as their lack of capacity to speak and understand the Filipino language and other exploitative working conditions such as unjust compensation given to them. They should enjoy the freedom from this worst form of modern-day slavery,” he said.

Senator Miriam-Defensor Santiago and TUCP party-list Representative Raymond Mendoza have filed resolutions for inquiries into the matter.

Department Order No. 12 (Series of 2001) known as the Omnibus Guidelines for the Issuance of Employment Permits of the Department of Labor and Employment requires all foreigners seeking employment to apply for an Alien Employment Permit. - By: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com

TUCP, Ecop: Reduced workweek to backfire

Workers and employers are one in opposing a proposal for a four-day work week to conserve electricity in offices and factories.

Both the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines said the proposal put forth by the Energy department would backfire and erode productivity.

The Department of Energy’s failure to have a policy on power security and competitive rates led to this crisis, said Louie Corral, TUCP executive director. “How dare it now tries to impose a labor policy. Why will workers sacrificed to answer for the policy failure and lack of forward planning of the Department of Energy? When did workers become the safety net to ensure high profits for power generation and Meralco?”

Ecop president Edgardo Lacson, for his part,  said that to cut working days to four a week would blunt the country’s competitive edge in the global workplace.

“While the rest of the world continuously work from five to six days a week, it will  be expected that the country will further slide down in the competitiveness ladder,” Lacson said.

Both groups said the compressed workweek would tell on the health of the workers whose efficiency and productivity would suffer due to fatigue caused by the stressful 2-hour extension for 4 nights.

The Philippines bears highest cost of electricity in Asia and the Filipino family in general has exhausted all means to cut cost, Corral said. “Have they lost all decency? Is this their idea of the social contract of our government with its people? Their cavalier treatment of the SONA directive to consult and their easy conclusion of who must pay the price speak volume about what we can expect from the both of you during the DOE leadership,” he added.

He said that while many Filipinos  are sacrificing because of the power crisis, Petilla apparently does not seem to share this sentiment.

‘Instead of time-bound and transparent multi-sectoral consultations, Petilla is very quick to dump the burden on worker while he insensitively undertook negotiations for expensive power barge rentals. Petilla apparently do not understand correct sequencing,’ he said

For his part, TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said that a compressed  week for daily wage earners would mean one day less of wages.

Tanjusay reiterated the call TUCP made with the Nagkaisa labor coalition in April to President Aquino to convene a multi-agency, multi-sectoral task force to generate a national response and work towards solutions-- a clear policy on power supply, price and a coherent strategy out of the crisis.

He said the DOE failed the consumers by not applying a full-options approach which would have nipped the crisis in the bud or minimized its impact.

The DOE, he said, rather contently sleepwalks from crisis-to-crisis applying one band-aid solution after the other but what they really did was surrender the real power policy making to Meralco and to the generation sector actors-- neither wants a secure power supply or a competitive rate. - By Vito Barcelo

TUCP thumbs down 4-day workweek plan

by JING VILLAMENTE

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has shot down the four-day workweek proposal by Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr. as a means to conserve energy.

TUCP Executive Director Louie Corral on Thursday said the proposal highlighted the Department of Energy’s lack of policy on power security and competitive rates.

“Why will workers be sacrificed to answer for the policy failure and lack of forward planning by the Department of Energy? When did workers become the safety net to assure high profits for power generation and Meralco?” Corral added, referring to the Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power distributor.

“In this power crisis, all must bear the burden and all must sacrifice but Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla apparently does not seem to share this sentiment,” he said.

Corral accused Petilla of “dumping” the burden on workers while pushing for “expensive power barge rentals” to ease the energy shortage.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said a compressed four-day workweek would be stressful for workers.

Tanjusay reiterated the group’s call for President Benigno Aquino 3rd to convene a multi-agency, multi-sectoral task force to generate a national response and a clear policy on power supply, price and a coherent strategy to address the looming power crisis.

TUCP urges Petilla to hold dialogue on power problem

 Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla

MANILA, Philippines - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Monday called on Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to hold consultations with stakeholders and immediately establish policies and plans to address the looming power crisis.

The TUCP made the call after President Benigno Aquino III, during his 5th State of the Nation Address, instructed Petilla to schedule time-bound consultations.

Without the consultation, the TUCP said that various businessmen are taking advantage of the current power situation by offering expensive sources of electricity.

“Power policy is de facto being set by the independent power generation sector and Meralco. They are now taking advantage of the absolute lack of leadership of Petilla as one group is peddling very expensive solar, another trying to lease power barges to the government and Meralco is shuffling around maintenance schedules to prevent the crisis,” TUCP executive director Louie Corral said.

TUCP has also appealed to Aquino to convene a multi-agency, multi-sectoral committee to draw up a consensus on what policy the government should implement on power security and competitive rates.

“Only the president can restore investor and consumer confidence. Petilla preens with confidence but his explanation sounds curiously fraudulent," Corral said.

- By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)