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