TUCP to ask additional P136 for minimum wage

Labor group TUCP wants an additional P136 increase to the mimimum wage to make it a "living wage."

MANILA, Philippines - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) will demand for an additional P136 to the current minimum wage during the first public hearing at Pasay City on Friday.

The wage board will be conducting the first public hearing for the wage petition around 9 a.m. at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

"Our economy has been improving and continues to perform better than its peers in the region but the Filipino workers who largely contributed to that growth are falling through the cracks and being left behind. Working people also deserved a share of the pie that only a few are privileged to have. Many minimum wage earners are falling by the day and they are being ignored by government," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

He said the group will file a wage increase petition of P136 on top of the current P466 minimum wage.

Workers in Metro Manila, numbering around 800,000, now receive nominal wage of P466 a day but due to inflation and mandatory salary deductions, they only actually get P299, Tanjusay said.

He cited International Labour Organization provision saying the living wage is the remuneration received for a standard 40 hour work week by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and his or her family.

"So is the P299 a decent wage? Is it the living wage? We are going to pose these questions tomorrow," he added. - By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

Solons. party-list and labor groups file petition at SC to halt train fare hike.

(Photo via Noel Alamar)

The groups filed today at the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari and prohibition with prayer for issuance of Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the recently implemented fare hike in the Light rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit.

The petitioners, led by Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, 2nd District Parañaque Rep. Gustavo Tambunting, Ang Nars Partylist Rep. Leah Paquiz, Buhay Partylist Congressmen Lito Atienza, Irwin Tieng and Mariano Michael Vellarde, former Cavite 3rd District Rep. Crispin "Boying" Remulla, Allan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP); Allan Montaño, Federation of Free Workers (FFW); Leody De Guzman, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP); Rene Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa (PM); and Annie Geron of PS LINK, said that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) failed to coordinate and direct the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTRFB) to comply with the publication, notice and hearing requirements for the fare hike.

According to Executive Order (EO) 202, the LTFRB has the "adjudicatory power to determine, prescribe and approve and periodically review and adjust, reasonable fares, rates and other related charges, relative to the operation of public land transportation services provided by motorized vehicles." This function of LTFRB is also in relation to the 2011 LTFRB Rules of Procedure. Instead, however, the DOTC issued Department Order No. 2014 - 014 on December 18, 2014, which announced the fare increase.

The petitioners added that DOTC unilaterally proposed, approved and implemented the fare adjustment. Hence, DOTC has no authority to issue the assailed Department Order and therefore can be considered null and void.

Named respondents were LTFRB Chairman Winston M. Ginez, DOTC Secretary Emilio Abaya, MRT 3 Office Officer-in-Charge Renato Z. San Jose, Metro Rail Transit Corporation and Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC) Administrator Honorito D. Chaneco.

The petitioners also called the fare hike as "heartless" since majority of the commuters taking the LRT and MRT are employees, laborers, small workers and minimum and informal wage earners who can only afford to spend a small portion of their salary for transportation expense.

They added that the responsibility to protect the economically underprivileged from injustice and oppression was neglected when the government unilaterally implemented the fare adjustment.

Furthermore, the petitioners also registered that continuing maintenance problem besetting the MRT, which caused trip delays and breakdowns is one of the clear reasons that the implemented fare hike was inappropriate and unreasonable. - Senate Press

BBL won’t benefit MILF alone

I have read the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), or House Bill No. 4994 in the House of Representatives and Senate Bill No. 2408 in the Senate. The bills were filed in both chambers of Congress in September last year after the draft was submitted by Malacañang.

The bill filed in the House was authored by pro-administration lawmakers. Among the Cebuano members of Congress, only TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza signed as author. I don’t know if any of the Cebuano solons belatedly inserted their names as the bill’s sponsors. The Senate version didn’t have Sen. Sergio Osmeña III’s signature.

The bill was introduced in September or around four months before the Mamasapano, Maguindanao clash that killed 44 elements of the Special Action Force, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and five civilians.

The emotional reaction to the deaths was pounced upon by the formerly moribund movement calling for the resignation of President Noynoy Aquino. It also led to some lawmakers withdrawing their support for the measure and demonizing the MILF in an obvious attempt to scuttle efforts to pass the BBL and jeopardize the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro rebel group.

I do not pretend to be an expert in the law so I will have to rely on the opinion of the members of Congress as to the constitutionality of some of the provisions of the BBL or the entire BBL itself. My actual impression while reading the BBL draft was that it can be used as model by those pushing for a federal government setup.

The passage of the BBL would demolish the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The change of the name of the new Moro entity already gives away the BBL’s intention, which is to expand the territories currently encompassed by the ARMM and make the entity more autonomous. The entity will be known as Bangsamoro, which actually sounds like a state within the Philippine state.

In this sense, I was more interested on how much authority the “central government” is ceding to the Bangsamoro, especially in the maintenance of peace and order. I don’t see a problem with the creation of a Bangsamoro police force because it will still be under the Philippine National Police (PNP). National defense and security will still be provided mainly by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In sum, I expected government giving in to some of the demands of the MILF, after all that is what a peace negotiation is about. You win some, you lose some. I don’t think, however, that the draft BBL would be passed without revisions. That’s why it is a draft because it is not perfect. Its main test, of course, is constitutionality.

And here’s one point that the people should remember: the BBL is not about the MILF. It is wrong to assume that the BBL’s provisions are intended to benefit a particular group. The BBL is for the Bangsamoro people, or those who want to be part of a Bangsamoro entity. In a way, it is a gift of the Philippine state to the Moro people.

Mohagher Iqbal, the head of the MILF panel to the peace talks, mentioned this during the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash. Once the Bangsamoro entity is established, the MILF will transform itself into a political party. In a way, it will have the inside track in the elections that will follow, but other Muslim groups can form their own political parties to steal the initiative from the MILF.

When asked what MILF will do if it loses in the elections, Iqbal said, “e, di talo.” But that does not mean MILF would be able to take up arms again because by then its armed force will already be disbanded. - Bong O. Wenceslao / SunStar

Bill lowering retirement age of mining workers gets union support

LABOR UNIONS in Philex Mining Corp. have supported a proposed law that will further lower mining workers’ retirement age by five years, citing health hazards that their members encounter everyday.
Both surface and underground workers should be allowed to retire at 50, Engineer Renerio C. Lardizabal, Jr., president of the Philex Mines Supervisory Employees’ Union (PMSEU), told lawmakers at a Senate hearing last week.

Although the proposed retirement age for mining workers has already been set at 50 by a 1998 law that revised the country’s Labor Code, its implementation was suspended after the Social Security System (SSS) refused to comply, saying that the law did not specifically amend Republic Act No. 1161 or the Social Security Law. Since then, all parties concerned agreed to a middle ground of 55 years old.

“The exposure of underground and surface workers are the same with regard to the hazardous conditions -- gas fumes, dust and others that would affect their health. So we are proposing that, through the Honorable Congressman of Benguet, we can lower it to 50 so workers will still be fairly young when they leave Philex,” Mr. Lardizabal said.

Mr. Lardizabal made these remarks last week at the Senate, which is hearing Senate Bill Nos. 1370 and 1062. Both filed by Senator Jose E. Estrada, the bills, which remain at the committee level since 2013, aim to lower the compulsory retirement age of all mine workers to 50 years old by amending the Labor Code.

At the House of Representatives, a similar bill filed by Benguet Lone District Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan -- House Bill No. 4271 -- was approved May last year.

Robert Carajay, a member of the Philex Rank and File Employees-Union Associated Labor Unions, expressed support for Mr. Lardizabal’s position.

“I support the statement of the president of the supervisory union to lower the retirement age. The workers don’t really reach the age of 60 years old, they die earlier than that,” Mr. Carajay said.

“Our experience is that the workers who retire at the age of 60 years old, the statistics say that they die after three years,” Jose Maria S. Batino, deputy executive director of Occupational Safety and Health Center of the Department of Labor and Employment said.

For his part, Ronald R.S. Recidoro, vice-president for Legal & Policy of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CoMP) said it is studying the effect of the measures on the industry.

“Next week we will follow up on the results of that so we can come out with a position,” Mr. Recidoro said.

Philex Mining Corp. is one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Metro Pacific Investment Corp. and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld. -- Alden M. Monzon BusinessWorld