TUCP laments poverty threshold may mislead policy making

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) expressed dismay over the poverty threshold standard released recently by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza (TUCP Party-List / MANILA BULLETIN)

“If we are going to use this as standard basis for our public and private policy to uplift our people from poverty, it would appear there is no sense of urgency in this poverty threshold standard amount set by the Philippine Statistics Authority,” said TUCP President Raymond Mendoza.

The PSA said that an amount worth P10, 481 is needed per month to meet the basic food and non-food items of a Filipino family of five members.

“In it, there are no prospects of hope for the millions of poor Filipinos. This standard is so low and it wants to keep our status quo as it is,” said Mendoza.

The labor leader lamented that “employers and business groups are also going to use this government standard amount to say there is no need for a significant wage increases particularly for minimum waged earners because minimum wages, as what this standard implies, are above the threshold.”

“This very low standard erases the need for wage boards to provide significant wage increases,” said Mendoza.

“It gives us the impression that ‘everything is okay’ and there’s no need for wage increases because minimum wages are higher than the minimum threshold,” he added. - By Analou De Vera

TUCP bats for ‘affordable’ in-city tenement housing

The labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said on Thursday that it would propose to the government the construction of affordable in-city tenement housing for minimum-waged earners near their working places, which would not only help decongest traffic but provide workers decent houses to live.

“In the light of growing inadequate mass transport problems and worsening traffic congestion, we shall also demand that Pag-IBIG expand its services and benefits to members by initiating development of an affordable in-city tenement housing for lowly-paid workers and develop housing projects for workers in the regions and the countryside, in the export processing zones, Overseas Foreign Workers, and government employees,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said.

The in-city housing program for workers will help working people and their families cope with rising cost of living in metropolis and minimize a range of stress-related disorders and diseases caused by travelling and commuting in a problematic mass transport system environment, Mendoza explained.

“We are not closing our doors to an increase in contributions in Pag-IBIG as we have yet to see the proposal from them. We shall wait for their presentations before we make the decision to support it or not,” the TUCP said.

Mendoza said that any increase should redound to lower home loan interest rates, higher maturity savings returns for members, increased efficiency in Pag-IBIG operations, greater accessibility to home loans particularly for minimum wage earners and low income workers.

Mendoza said they are looking at utilizing idle government-owned lands in the National Capital Region to build tenement housing units similar to tenement housing in Taguig and Tondo, Manila to reduce workers’ daily expenses in the face of their meager daily salary.

“We also acknowledge that the dividends that they have been giving out to members have improved in the past several years which is good for the workers and their families because their contributions is considered forced savings and Pag-IBIG should sustain this,” Mendoza said.

“We also understand from their last Chairman’s report that the number of home loan borrowers have increased substantially and it is important to ensure the sustainability of Pag-IBIG.”

The current contribution rate by each member contribution rate is pegged at P100 employee share plus P100 employer counterpart, or a total of P200 per month. By law, the contribution rate is set at 2% of a member’s salary, with a cap of P5,000 Maximum Fund Salary (MFS) of P5,000 per month. This was set way back in 1986. The present value of P200 then is now P12.75.

Contributions of members, including employer’s counterpart contributions are returned to Pag-IBIG members upon reaching membership maturity of 20 years. The average total savings of a member for 20 years is approximately P80,000.00. There are members who voluntarily increase their contributions.

Members are also able to borrow 80% of their total savings with the Fund under Pag-IBIG’s multi-purpose loan program.

Members are able to borrow from the Fund housing loans which they can use to purchase their own homes. The maximum housing loan a member can borrow is up to P6 Million depending on capacity to amortize the loan. They can use the loan to purchase a house and lot, construct a house, a condo unit, or house improvement.

Members are also entitled to Calamity Loans equivalent to 80% of their total savings with the Fund during times of natural disasters and declaration of state of calamities in their areas of residence.

Higher contribution rates will result to higher savings, higher MPL and Calamity loan entitlements and low housing loan interest rates. - by Vito Barcelo

TUCP slams special envoy for labor twit

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has urged the government to step up training of Filipino construction workers and increase their pay to stop foreign workers from taking the jobs.

At the same time, TUCP president Raymond Mendoza, who made the call amid the rise in foreign workers working in both private and public construction projects within the country, bashed Special Envoy to China Ramon Tulfo for saying Filipino workers were lazy and “slowpokes.”

.“Mr. Tulfo should have known these better than any of us because he was newspaperman all his life and he witnessed how workers highly contributed to the welfare of our country.”

“These statements are uncalled for, unpatriotic and acts of betrayal to his countrymen particularly to Filipino workers who built and continues to build our economy and the economies of other countries whether they work here or abroad,” Mendoza added.

Mendoza said the Filipino workers are known for their hard work and efficiency globally.

The labor group also observed that Filipino construction workers are being treated poorly, with meager salaries, inadequate social protection benefits, unsafe and unhealthy working places and dirty resting and living areas.

“Due to this low dignity, they opt to work abroad,” Mendoza said.

He said the government’s National Wages and Productivity Commission must exercise its mandate by conducting an immediate time-and-motion study on construction work to determine the need to raise salaries rate based on the labor-intensive construction job.

The TUCP also called on the Technical Education Skills Development Authority to work double time in conducting training and providing certification to workers in work sites even on Saturdays and Sundays.

There is also a need for the Department of Labor and Employment to re-examine the efficiency of government policy on labor-market test method in granting employment permits to foreign workers.


“Government must respond right away. It is high time to raise the salary and benefits of construction workers to keep them from working abroad. At the same time we have to modernize and certify more workers with multi-skills so that they can be qualified across the entire duration of the building project,” Mendoza said.

Citing government data, Mendoza said there are about four-million Filipino construction workers in the country but only about a million of them are certified and multi-skilled.

“And if they are already certified and gained enough work experience, workers prefer to work abroad because of higher salary, attractive benefits, and safer working conditions,” Mendoza said.

“Filipinos are skilled and possessed innate craftsmanship but are not certified to do the work but due to poor access to training and certification, so government institutions must step in and step up to minimize [the] influx of foreign workers,” Mendoza said.

“Filipino workers are not what Special Envoy Ramon Tulfo has said. World history, many governments, and countless private contractors and project owners are testifying that Filipino workers are world class working people,” Mendoza said.

“They are the most sought after type of workers compared to other nationalities because of their high quality of doing their work and because of their ingenuity, diligence, creativity and hard work they put into every task they are into,” Mendoza added.

Earlier, Tulfo said Filipino workers are not effective compared with the well-disciplined Chinese workers.

He said the influx of foreign workers in the country was due to employers’ preference.

Under fire, Tulfo refused to apologize, saying he was only telling the truth about Filipino workers. - by Vito Barcelo and Maricel V. Cruz

TUCP: SSS must level-up services with contribution hike

WITH the increase in monthly contributions now inevitable following the enactment of the new Social Services System (SSS) Law, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is expecting the SSS Board and management to provide a level-up, fast, efficient and quality service in exchange for members’ increase monthly payment

In a statement, TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said that if the SSS will not render improved quality service, actively paying members will be very disappointed and may be less supportive, resulting in a higher rate of delinquency among members.

It is necessary therefore that the SSS give back quality service so members will feel the increase in their monthly contribution is worth it, Mendoza said.

The TUCP has withheld its support for the increase in monthly contributions for the past four years.

“Before, we have been telling SSS management to undertake reforms in improving its collection targets rather than directly increasing members’ monthly payment by going after delinquent employers, reduce SSS bonuses and perks to SSS board and top execs, sell some assets, widen its investments, and minimize unnecessary operational costs to improve liquidity,” Mendoza said

“With the condonation program to delinquent employers on the way, we further see more income for SSS and looking at expanded membership who can avail of SSS benefits,” he added.

However, with the increase in monthly pension benefits and the forthcoming additional Expanded Maternity Leave benefits and unemployment insurance benefits, the TUCP can no longer hold back its support for the contribution hike without risking that the pension system’s reserve funds be compromised.

Thus, the TUCP now supports the increase in contributions beginning next month, Mendoza said. - The Daily Guardian