NAGKAISA labor coalition calls on creation of a tripartite labor laws compliance inspection task force

PNOY, nga-nga sa mga manggagawang biktima ng sunog - Ensure health and safety of workers

The lives and the scathing injury of KENTEX workers are the heavy price for the complete breakdown of government’s labor laws enforcement and for the employers’ patent disregard to the mandatory laws on wages, social protection benefits and the statutory basic workplace safety guidelines.

The KENTEX factory workers’ deaths depict the abominable culture of indifference among many public servants and profit-oriented employers to enforce existing guidelines that uphold workers’ basic rights and well-being.

Therefore, we, the undersigned convenors of the NAGKAISA Labor Coalition, collectively call on Labor Secretary Baldoz to establish a tripartite "Task Force Valenzuela" (TFV) to undertake a surprise sweep and unannounced inspection of factories and plants in the City of Valenzuela to crack down on sweatshops.

In the light of the tragedy that befell our fellow workers in KENTEX, we believe that it now becomes imperative to verify employer compliance with all existing labor laws and safety standards, fire and building structure standards and to determine compliance with all other city requirements for the issuance of business permits and operational licenses.

Justice must now not just be for the KENTEX dead and their families but also for the countless workers nationwide who labor under the same pakyawan system or through unregistered and unregulated labor manning agencies, to be deployed without any statutory benefits, least of all minimum wages, into firetraps where their lives are sacrificed on the altar of profits. Disposable lives and in the case of the KENTEX workers, thrown away.

We strongly believe that the immoral and illegal activities of the KENTEX owners are actually widespread in Valenzuela, and the inspections should begin in the very factory neighborhood where the fire occurred and with those firms also serviced by the unregistered manning agency. The inspections should also cover those firms that undertook voluntary self-assessments of their labor standard compliance. It is never the best way to enforce labor or safety standards by relying on the mere "say-so" of a very self-interested employer and factory owner.

This proposed crackdown in Valenzuela will have national resonance and will hopefully, by making an example of those who will be caught, ensure that labor standard compliance will be honored more in the practice, rather than in its breach.

We urge the DOLE to seize the historical opportunity to render justice not just for the KENTEX workers but to finally break the widespread culture and practice of corporate irresponsibility that made the loss of the workers lives not just immoral but evil and criminal.

Palace toots horn on hunger decline

HUNGER GAMES Street dwellers take their meals on the pavement along a busy road in Manila. Malacañang claimed credit for the improved numbers shown in the latest SWS survey. PHOTO RUY L. MARTINEZ

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday attributed the decline in the number of families experiencing “involuntary” hunger in the first quarter of the year to the success of its social welfare program.

“The welfare of the Filipino people has always been at the front and center of the Aquino administration,” its spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

The Palace official made the statement in reaction to the release of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing the nation’s hunger rate for the first quarter of the year declining to 13.5 percent (around 3 million families) from 17.2 percent (3.8 million families) recorded in December 2014.

The 3.7 point decline was the lowest in 10 years, the SWS said.

The March 2015 survey showed that 11.1 percent or an estimated 2.5 million families experienced moderate hunger while 2.4 percent or 522,000 families endured severe hunger in the last three months.

The survey was conducted from March 20 to 23 among 1,200 adults nationwide.

“Moderate Hunger refers to those who experienced hunger only once or a few times in the last three months, while Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it often or always in the last three months,” the SWS said.

The 2015 first quarter hunger survey was released just a week after the first quarter self-rated poverty among Filipino families was reported at 51 percent, a point below 2014’s fourth quarter of 52 percent.

The first three months’ self-rated food poverty also dropped to 36 percent from the previous quarter’s 41 percent.

Quality of life

Lacierda said government initiatives, such as the conditional cash transfer program and the expansion of PhilHealth coverage and reforms in basic education, among others, were among the factors that contributed to the decline.

The numbers and the rhetorics, however, did not impress 72-year-old Elena who hops from one fastfood restaurant to another in Intramuros, Manila, to ask for leftovers from diners.

Elena, who claims to have been homeless for almost 40 years, told The Manila Times she is lucky if she gets to eat at least once a day.

Totong, a scrawny 12-year old, was sitting by the entrance of a convenience store along A. Soriano Avenue, also in Intramuros, hoping that office workers and students would take pity on him and spare him some loose change or even a piece of candy.

When asked if he had eaten for the day, the boy replied, “Hindi pa po [Not yet].”

Jennifer, 28, a sidewalk vendor, said that despite her meagee resources, she and her family could still have three square meals a day.

‘Pagpag’

The moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), however, said fewer families experienced hunger because pagpag is now readily and widely accessible to poor families especially in Metro Manila.

Pagpag is Filipino slang for leftover food scavenged from garbage cans and dumps. The word itself literally means to “shake off” and refers to the act of shaking the dirt off of the edible portion of the leftovers. - by CATHERINE TALAVERA REPORTER AND JOEL M. SY EGCO SENIOR REPORTER With JING VILLAMENTE

‘Pagpag’ caused surveyed hunger to drop?

A LABOR group on Tuesday downplayed the results of a survey by the group Social Weather Stations saying the number of people experiencing hunger had declined, saying that was due to the proliferation of “pagpag” food that is accessible to poor Filipinos especially in Metro Manila.

“Pagpag” is a Filipino term for leftover food from fast-food restaurants that is scavenged from garbage sites and dumps.

“We would like to attribute this development to the proliferation of “pagpag” food— very cheap, very delicious and easily accessible to the poor,” said Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa spokesman Alan Tanjusay.

The TUCP-Nagkaisa said the Aquino administration failed to make quality living for the majority of Filipinos by not meeting three benchmarks, including raising the income of the poor.

“The government failed to make power, water, telecom services affordable and the third is that the government’s enormous savings could have been dedicated to new jobs,” the TUCP said.

SWS said about three milion Filipino families experienced “involuntary hunger” at least once during the first quarter of 2015.

The First Quarter 2015 Social Weather Survey, conducted from March 20 to 23, 2015, also showed that this was 3.7 points below the 17.2 percent (estimated at 3.8 million families) in December 2014, and the lowest in 10 years since May 2005, when it was at 12.0 percent, SWS said.

The survey firm said the measure of “Hunger” refers to involuntary suffering because the respondents answer a survey question that specifies hunger due to lack of food to eat.

SWS said both “Moderate Hunger” and “Severe Hunger” likewise declined.

The 13.5 percent total Hunger in March 2015 is the sum of 11.1 percent (estimated at 2.5 million families) who experienced Moderate Hunger and 2.4 percent (estimated at 522,000 families) who experienced Severe Hunger, SWS said.

Moderate Hunger refers to those who experienced hunger “Only Once” or “A Few Times” in the last three months, while Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it “Often” or “Always” in the last three months.

The few who did not state their frequency of hunger were classified under Moderate Hunger.

Both Moderate Hunger and Severe Hunger fell between December 2014 and March 2015.

Moderate Hunger fell by 2.1 points, from 13.2 percent (estimated at 2.9 million families) to 11.1 percent.

Severe Hunger declined by 1.7 points from 4.1 percent (est. 888,000 families) to 2.4 percent.

Hunger fell amid the decline in Self-Rated Poverty and Self-Rated Food Poverty.

There was a 3.7-point fall in Hunger, a 1-point decline in Self-Rated Poverty, and a 5-point decline in Self-Rated Food-Poverty, between December 2014 and March 2015.

Hunger fell among the Poor, the Food-Poor, the Non-Poor and the Non-Food-Poor.

Overall Hunger (i.e. Moderate plus Severe) fell among the Self-Rated Poor by 2.1 points, from 21.3 percent in December 2014 to 19.2 percent in March 2015.

It fell among the Not Poor/On the Borderline by 5.4 points, from 12.8 percent to 7.4 percent over the same period.

It fell among the Self-Rated Food-Poor by 4.9 points, from 28.8% to 23.9 percent.

It fell among the Not Food-Poor/Food-Borderline by 1.3 points, from 9.0 percent to 7.7 percent.

At any point in time, Hunger among the Self-Rated Food-Poor is always greater than Hunger among the Self-Rated Poor. - By Vito Barcelo, Sandy Araneta | Manila Standard Today

Framework for the comprehensive management of hazardous and radioactive wastes pushed

The House of Representatives is set to approve on third and final reading a bill that would formulate a framework for the comprehensive management of hazardous and radioactive wastes.

The House Committee on Ecology, chaired by Rep. Amado S. Bagatsing (5th District, Manila), endorsed and sponsored House Bill 5585, which substituted House Bills 86, 393, 826, 1059, 2585 and 3191 authored, respectively, by Reps. Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba (1st District, Bukidnon), Susan A. Yap (2nd District, Tarlac), Marcelino R. Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City), Neptali M. Gonzales II (Lone District, Mandaluyong City), Douglas S. Hagedorn (3rd District, Palawan), and Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza (Party List, TUCP).

"Despite all our laws scattered in different enactments and decrees, we need a comprehensive and consolidated law that will provide us with an effective hazardous and radioactive waste management framework, which would require an inter-agency coordination both in the national and local government to oversee and make inventory of hazardous waste creators and treatment, storage and disposal facilities," Yap said.

According to Yap, there are several laws on the management of hazardous and radioactive wastes. These include Presidential Decree 1152 or "The Philippine Environmental Code," which provides a basis for an integrated waste management regulation starting from waste source to methods of disposal, mandates specific guidelines to manage municipal wastes, sanitary landfill and incineration, and disposal sites in the Philippines.

Yap also cited Republic Act 6969, the "Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act," which responds to increasing problems associated with toxic chemicals and hazardous and nuclear wastes, and Presidential Decree 984 (Pollution Control Law), PD 1586 (Environmental Impact Assessment System Law), RA 8749 (Clean Air Act); and RA9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), which require hazardous waste management.

As for RA9003, Yap said while it was lauded as a landmark legislation on proper handling of solid waste, it only went as far as defining hazardous wastes and leaving the management to the Local Government Units (LGUs) without providing sufficient enough guidance for the law.

Yap said if only there was already a law on the proper management and disposal of hazardous wastes, the 1996 Marcopper mining disaster in Marinduque would not have happened. The tragedy was one of the largest mining disasters in Philippine history that made headlines around the world, she noted.

"The discharge of mining tailings into the Boac River instantly killed the 27-kilometer long river, decimated the fish and other biodiversity in the habitat, buried at least one village underneath a toxic mud, depriving tens of thousands locals of their livelihood," Yap said.

In 2004, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ((DSWD) registered 3,801 hazardous wastes generators, which produce 226 million tons of hazardous wastes annually. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has estimated that, based on population projections, local healthcare waste could reach as much as 69.5 tons per day by 2050.

Just last July, the EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental non-government organization, raised the alarm on the presence of hazardous wastes dumped at Pier 18 of Manila composed of used computer hardware, chip boards, and cellular phones, which contain heavy metals that are toxic to humans.

"Our experience shows that a more comprehensive hazardous and radioactive wastes management is of extreme necessity in order to avert industrial disasters that could potentially destroy our environment and ecology, and ultimately, our people's health and safety," Yap said.

House Bill 5585, to be known as the "Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes Management Act," shall apply to the generation, possession, collection, recovery, reuse, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of hazardous and radioactive wastes in the country and shall cover the entry and transit into the Philippine territory of such wastes.

After formulating the criteria for identifying and listing of hazardous and radioactive wastes, the DENR shall prepare a National Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes Management Status Report (NHRWMS) in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and other concerned agencies.

The NHRWMS Report shall be the basis in the preparation and formulating a framework that would embody the policies pursuant to the proposed Act.

The framework shall be adopted as the official blueprint for hazardous and radioactive wastes management with which all relevant government agencies must comply.

The measure creates an Inter-agency Technical Advisory Council for purposes of policy integration, harmonization and coordination of functions.

Aside from provisions of rewards and incentive schemes, the measure also provides liabilities, prohibitions, fines, damages and penalties, administrative sanctions, citizen suits and Strategic Legal Action Against Public Participation.

The DENR, the DOH and the PNRI, shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations, in consistent with other rules and regulations issued by relevant government agencies and instrumentalities relative to hazardous and radioactive wastes management.

In addition to its mandated functions, the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee created under Republic Act 9003 or the "Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000" shall also monitor the implementation of this proposed Act.

Co-authors are Reps. Christopher S. Co (Party List, AKO BICOL), Rodel M. Batocabe (Party List, AKO BICOL), Agapito H. Guanlao (Party List, BUTIL), CesarV. Sarmiento (Lone District, Catanduanes), Anthony G. Del Rosario (1st District, Davao Del Norte), Victoria G. Noel (Party List, AN WARAY), Emi G. Calixto-Rubiano (Lone District, Pasay City), Belma A. Cabilao (1st District, Zamboanga Sibugay), Dan S. Fernandez (1st District, Laguna), Mel Senen S. Sarmiento (1st District, Western Samar), Eric L. Olivarez (1st District, Paranaque City), Rolando A. Uy (1st District, Cagayan de Oro City), Napoleon S. Dy (3rd District, Isabela ), Erico Aristotle C. Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol), Evelina G. Escudero (1st District, Sorsogon), Sol Aragones (3rd District, Laguna), Ansaruddin A.M. A. Adiong (1st District, Lanao Del Sur), Cheryl P. Deloso-Montalla (2nd District, Zambales), Joseller M. Guiao (1st District, Pampanga), Imelda R. Marcos (2nd District, Ilocos Norte), Alex L. Advincula (3rd District, Cavite), Dakila Carlo E. Cua (Lone District, Quirino), Isidro T. Ungab (3rd District, Davao City), Thelma Z. Almario (2nd District, Davao Oriental), Carlos M. Padilla (Lone District, Nueva Vizcaya), Frederick F. Abueg (2nd District, Palawan), Pedro B. Acharon, Jr. (1st District, South Cotabato), Nicasio M. Aliping, Jr. (Lone District, Baguio City), Magnolia Rosa C. Antonino (4th District, Nueva Ecija), Rosa Marie J. Arenas (3rd District, Pangasinan), Leopoldo N. Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan), Silvestre H. Bello III (Party List, 1 BAP), Anthony M. Bravo (Party List, COOP NATCCO), Lawrence Lemuel H. Fortun (1st District, Agusan Del Norte), Gwendolyn F. Garcia (3rd District, Cebu), Ana Cristina Siquian Go (2nd District, Isabela), Anthony V. Gullas Jr.(1st District, Cebu), Fernando L. Hicap (Party List, ANAKPAWIS), Mark Llandro L. Mendoza (4th District, Batangas), Victor F. Ortega (1st District, La Union), Leah S. Paquiz (Party List, ANG NARS), Mariano U. Piamonte, Jr. (Party List, A TEACHER), Terry L. Ridon (Party List, KABATAAN), Roman T. Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City), Estrella B. Suansing (1st District, Nueva Ecija), Randolph S. Ting (3rd District, Cagayan), Eulogio R. Magsaysay (Party List, AVE), Julliette T. Uy (2nd District, Misamis Oriental), Victor J. Yu (1st District, Zamboanga Del Sur), Sharon S. Garin (Party List, AAMBIS-OWA), Pablo R. Nava III (Party List, APPEND), Jonathan A. Dela Cruz (Party List, ABAKADA), Philip A. Pichay (1st District, Surigao Del Sur), Henry S. Oaminal (2nd District, Misamis Occidental), and Arthur R. Defensor, Jr. (3rd District, Iloilo).

SOURCE: Jazmin S. Camero, Media Relations Service-PRIB Media Relations Service, Public Relations and Information Bureau