Undo Cayetano’s bias against workers, Velasco told; Labor group unveils demand for P2-trillion “Worker’s Stimulus”, “Wealth Tax”

Press Release

30 September 2020

Undo Cayetano’s bias against workers, Velasco told

Labor group unveils demand for P2-trillion “Worker’s Stimulus”, “Wealth Tax”

Quezon City – The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino challenges incoming House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco to undo the “legacy of austerity” and "bias against workers" under the leadership of current House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, insisting that “worker’s need a pro-people’s budget more than ever to tide them through the pandemic.”

“Cayetano didn’t have the spine to stand-up against the austerity measures of Sonny Dominguez, who has compelled Batasan to reduce its proposed stimulus package for economic recovery. For them, increasing the budget for the welfare of the workers and the people is not only a losing investment but an unnecessary expenditure”, said BMP Chairperson Leody De Guzman.

Earlier proposals for economic recovery such as the P1.3 trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) proposal by Representatives Salceda and Quimbo, as well as the P1.5 trillion COVID-19 Unemployment Reduction Economic Stimulus (CURES) proposal by House Speaker Cayetano, were trimmed down to the P275 billion Bayanihan to Heal as One (BAHO) 1, and the P165.5 billion BAHO 2.

HIGHER 2021 BUDGET

“Representative Velasco should heed the call of the workers for a better 2021 budget, one that does not abandon citizens and taxpayers at this time of need,” insisted De Guzman.

While the 2021 budget proposal which is only 10% higher than 2020’s budget, it reduced the spending of the Department of Health (DoH) from this year’s P181 billion to P131 billion, with only P2.5 billion allotted for CoViD-19. 

Spending for DSWD’s budget is more than halved, while DOLE’s Director Warren Miclat complained to Congress behind that they originally put forward a P76 billion budget but only P27.5 billion is approved for the budget proposal.

“WORKER'S STIMULUS”

BMP demands Velasco to take a look at its proposal for a P2 trillion stimulus package to be spent on 2021, equivalent to 11.6% of the 2019 GDP, which will be on top of regular expenditures of agencies.

“The P2-trillion pesos will be spent according to BMP’s formula for recovery, which can be summed up into 4Ks: Kabuhayan, Kapakanan, Kaligtasan, and Kapangyarihan,” said De Guzman.

BMP demands the following expenditure:

1. Rebuild people’s lost livelihoods (kabuhayan) via a state program of employment guarantee (P400 billion) and subsidy to the small and mirco-enterprises (P500 billion);

2. Protect the welfare (kapakanan) of working class households by testing a new system for universal basic income (UBI) system, starting from the poorest families (P425 billion). 

3. Ensure the health and safety (kaligtasan) of the masses by building a genuinely public health service from the tatters of corrupt and bankrupt PhilHealth and privatized healthcare, starting with paying for all out-of-pocket expenses (P400 billion) and ending the lag in rural healthcare infrastructure (P25 billion). 

4. Give power back to the workers (kapangyarihan) via subsidies to increase the worker’s equity in the firms they work on (P250 billion cost).”

“WEALTH TAX”

To finance the stimulus program, the BMP called on the Velasco leadership to “junk CREATE” and consider a new legislation for “wealth taxes”.

CREATE, or the “Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises”, will slash corporate income taxes from 30 percent to 20 percent, and will result in P650 billion foregone revenues.

BMP revealed a two-pronged wealth tax proposal. The first one is a one-time corrective wealth levy on the top 50 families as of 2019 (the last normal year) at 25% of their 2019 net worth, expected to yield P1 trillion. 

“Such a one-time levy can be considered as an emergency measure that lets the richest oligarchs in the country share in the burden of reviving an economy destroyed by CoViD-19 pandemic,” said De Guzman. 

BMP argued that “won’t impoverish the billionaires”, revealing that the average increase in the net worth of the Sy family is at 17% per annum from 2007 to 2019, i.e. their net worth quadrupled in just a little over a decade. During the same period, the estate of the Villar family grew seven-fold.

“The second type is a continuing 3% annual levy on the financial wealth of all individuals, expected to yield another P1 trillion,” said De Guzman.

De Guzman insisted that this is fair, given that “average growth rate before CoViD is at 6-7%, and the global average rate of return on capital at 5%”.##

For reference, please contact: Leody De Guzman

Manggagawa sa fishing boat carrier sa GenSan, isang taon nang hindi pinagtatrabaho

Workers Community

September 29, 2020

Sila ang mga manggagawa sa isang fishing boat carrier na nakabase sa General Santos City. Ayon sa kanilang tagapagsalita isang taon na silang hindi pinapagtrabaho. Patuloy ang operasyon ng kumpanya pero tinanggal sila kapalit ng mga bagong empleyado sa hindi malinaw na kadahilanan. 

Mababa ang sahod, walang sapat na benepisyo at mabigat at mapanganib ang trabaho na kadalasang inaabot ng isang buwan sa dagat o sa laot. Minsan pa ay lumalabas na sila ng bansa sa pangingisda ngunit walang katiyakan ang kanilang kabuhayan at ang kanilang pamilya ay dumaranas na ng kagutuman. 

Sa mga kinauukulang ahensya ng pamahalaan partikular ang DOLE sana ay mabigyan ninyo ng pansin ang kalagayan at problemang kinakaharap ng mga manggagawa.

Pakikiisa sa nakawelgang guro sa Holy Family

Nakikiisa ang ating Bukluran sa welga ng mga unyonistang guro laban sa unfair labor practice, refusal to bargain, at illegal lockout ng Holy Family School management. 

Para sa materyal at moral na suporta, pakidalaw po ang kanilang piket sa Maginhawa St., Teacher’s Village, Quezon City!

Palayain ang Valenzuela 20!

Hinuli ang mga manggagawa’t aktibista nagpapahayag ng saloobin nila ukol sa mass-layoffs, ‘di sapat na ayuda, at lumalalang trade union repression.

Dahil nilabag daw nila ang mga protocol ng quarantine. Gayong klarong-klaro sa mga litrato at video na may social distancing ang pagkilos at naka-face mask ang lahat ng lumahok. 

Ito ay paglabag sa karapatan ng lehitimong pagprotesta. Bahagi ng atake ng rehimeng Duterte laban sa manggagawang ipinaglalaban ang kanilang karapatan.

Trabaho at ayuda, hindi diktadura!

Junk terror law!

Palayain ang Valenzuela 20!

Atake sa manggagawang Pilipino, tinuligsa

“We also call for the international community’s solidarity against the on-going wholesale infringement of labor rights, as capitalists use the health and economic crises to justify the lay-off of trade unionists, only to replace them with cheap and docile contractual workers,” PAGGAWA spokesperson and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino chairperson Leody de Guzman said.

“The capitalist offensive against labor rights is less bloody and less sensational to mainstream media but it is more severe and detrimental, in scope and in depth, to the welfare of working class families,” he added.

Sa paggunita sa ika-48 anibersaryo ng batas militar

Bilang paggunita sa ika-48 na taon makalipas ang pagdeklara ng Martial Law at pagtutol sa mas tumitinding paglabag sa karapatan ng mga mamamayan sa kasalukuyan, nagsagawa ang ating Bukluran, kasama ang iba't ibang pwersa, komunidad, at mga manggagawa ng kilos-protesta sa labas ng Valenzuela City Hall kahapon, Setyembre 21.

Kasama sa mga panawagan ng mga manggagawa ay ang pagwawakas sa tiranya ng rehimeng Duterte at ang mariing pagtutol sa anumang pagtatangkang ibalik ang kadilimang naranasan ng bansa sa ilalim ng batas militar. Sa halip na karahasan at panunupil, kanilang panawagan sa administrasyon na bigyang-pansin ang mga isyung kinakaharap ng mga manggagawa: ang krisis ng trabaho, gutom, at kalusugan sa ilalim ng pandemya.

Kabilang sa mga dumalo ay mga manggagawa mula sa Valenzuela at Caloocan. Sa kabila ng mahigpit na pagpapatupad ng mga protocol para sa physical distancing, inaresto ang ilang nagprotesta dahil umano sa hindi pagsusuot ng face shield. Sa pagpapatuloy ng programa, ang iba pang dumalo ay dinala rin sa presinto sa diumano'y paglabag sa "social distance protocols".

Pagkatapos ng ilang oras sa presinto, nagdesisyon ang Valenzuela City PNP na palayain ang lahat ng kanilang inaresto, sa kondisyong haharap pa rin ang mga ito sa kanila umanong mga paglabag sa batas-panlungsod. Handa ang BMP na tutulan ang mga maling paratang na ito at ipanawagang ibasura ang anumang kasong isasampa. 

Sa araw mismo ng pag-alaala sa mga manggagawang binusalan rin sa panahon ng batas militar, ang tugon ng gobyernong Duterte sa mga manggagawang naghahangad lamang ng disenteng pamumuhay ay pwersahang pagpapatahimik. Di maikakaila ang tunay na demokrasya't kalayaan ay makakamit lamang sa pagkakapit-bisig ng mga manggagawang lumalaban sa panunupil ng estadong hangad lamang ay mapagsilbihan ang interes ng mga naghaharing-uri.

Stop the Attacks Against Workers ! Never Again to Martial Law!

Trabaho at Ayuda, Hindi Diktadura!

Trabaho, Pagkain, Kalusugan! Hindi Panunupil at Pandarambong!

Media Advisory: Workers unite against trade union repression on Martial Law Anniversary

Media Advisory

20 September 2020

Workers unite against trade union repression on Martial Law Anniversary

What: Protest action of United Workers 

When: Monday, 21 September 2020, 12-1pm

Where: Commission on Human Rights, Commonwealth Avenue

United Workers - an alliance of the largest labor groups Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition, and Pagkakaisa ng Uring Manggagawa (PAGGAWA) - will hold a protest action at CHR in memory of the thousands of workers, who have died, and thousands more who went missing, were tortured and got arrested during Martial Law, at the height of the Marcos dictatorship and the intensifying attacks against workers. Fast forward to the present, the group will bring pictures of the trade unionists and workers who have been killed, tortured and are currently detained by the Duterte regime. 

Media coverage is requested.

Stop the Attacks Against Workers! Never again to Martial Law! Unyonismo hindi Terorismo! Ayuda hindi Diktadura!##

References:

Elmer Labog, KMU Chairperson

Atty. Sonny Matula, Nagkaisa! Chairperson

Leody de Guzman, Paggawa Spokesperson

On the recent employment statistics report by the PSA

Ka Leody de Guzman

Chairperson, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino 

September 6, 2020

The employment statistics as shown by the PSA is misleading. They are presenting joblessness not just with rose colored glasses but with blinders. Government statisticians would like to highlight that the figure has went down to 10%, from 17.7% in April at the height of the lockdown. 

The hocus pocus in the unemployment data would not fool the workers and the poor. Official statistics may show that it is up as compared to April not only because of the easing of the quarantine restrictions but also due to their prevailing definition where those only those who are not working and are not seeking work are unemployed. Meaning, for the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), those who are thrown out of work as wage earners, particularly in the distraught industries of airlines and tourism, but are hustling as hand-to-mouth online sellers are still employed! Para sa gobyerno, pati ang mga nasa temporaryong gawa-paraan para mabuhay ay tinuturing nilang may-trabaho!

Our experience with various unions reveal that employers are using the COVID19 pandemic to lay-off workers, especially tenured workers who may cause a dent in their liquidity once they claim for retirement benefits and separation pay, only to replace them with cheaper contractual workers. Government should prosecute these employers who exploit the desperation of a hungry and quarantined labor force to extract more profit through starvation wages. Sila ay mas masahol pa sa mga terorista dahil ginagamit nila ang pamilya ng manggagawa bilang hostage para tumanggap ang mga kontraktwal ng mas mababang sweldo.

The data is rigged. The highest increase in unemployment were recorded at the National Capital Region. Yet some sectors that registered increase in employment are in sectors that are not present in the country's most economically active urban areas, particularly in mining and quarrying, and agriculture and forestry. Other sectors were there was alleged increase in hiring are also progressing at a snail's pace - such as electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply, and human health and social work activities, and construction. 

One sector that was reported to have increase in employment is unarguable - wholesale and retail trade. But we would not regard it as gainful employment since these ventures, mostly online selling, are not stable, have low capitalization, and any interruption to the circulation of their capital becomes a life-and-death struggle for their livelihood. 

The manipulation in the presentation of the employment data by the PSA intends to bolster the faltering numbers of the Duterte regime, whose incompetence in handling the lingering scourges of the COVID19 pandemic and a crippling economic recession has already been established as an incontestable fact. #