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To demand abolition of contractualization: Red Workers march from DOLE to Mendiola

PRESS RELEASE

December 15, 2016

Manggagawang Sosyalista (MASO)

Contact person: Leody de Guzman 09205200672

To demand abolition of contractualization:

Red Workers march from DOLE to Mendiola

HUNDREDS of workers from the socialist alliance Manggagawang Sosyalista (MASO), comprised of militant and anti-capitalist “Red unions” assembled today at the labor department offices in Intramuros, Manila before marching to Mendiola to press for the abolition of all forms of contractualization, not just the much-hated “endo or 5-5-5 employment scheme”.

Sec. Bello wants a Department of Labor and Employers

At the workers program in Intramuros, Lino Brin, MASO chairperson and president of the Pag-asa Steel union said, “The workers call on DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello to take the sides of the workers rather than adopt a flimsy seemingly neutral stance on the nefarious employment scheme that has led to a cheap and docile labor force”.

“The so-called win-win solution proposed by the trade department and echoed by Secretary Bello seeks to regularize workers at their contractors rather than to the principals who utilize contracting and subcontracting arrangements to replace regular employees with cheaper contractual workers,” he added.

Brin explained, “Bello should act, not just as the alter-ego of President Duterte who has promised to stop contractualization during the electoral campaign but as the representative of labor, which is recognized by the 1987 Constitution as the “primary social economic force” and should be granted „full protection by the State‟. He should leave the DTI Secretary to be the champion of investors. From the last time we check, the DOLE is not named “department of labor and employers”.

Abolition of Contractualization: A Promise Undelivered

At around noon, the workers proceeded to march to Mendiola via Quezon and Recto Avenues. At the march, MASO vice chair Ding Villasin of Socialista asserted, “President Duterte rode on the crest of the people‟s anger towards elitist democracy that was restored after EDSA 1986. Part of his electoral rhetoric was his harsh words against abusive employers who employ contractual workers in order to cheapen their labor costs. Yet, after several months in office, no stone was unturned. The abolition of contractualization remains an undelivered campaign promise.

She furthered, “If President Duterte was able to enact „freedom of information‟ for the Executive branch. We challenge him to abolish contractualization in the same branch, to which he has full control of, as Chief Executive. After all, the Philippine government remains as the country‟s number one employer of contractual workers”.

Nasaan ang Pagbabago?

At Mendiola, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) chair Leody de Guzman declared, “Before the year closes, we fear that both the DTI and DOLE will railroad the passage of the so-called win-win solution at both houses of the legislative.

“To inflict another wound to the already injured working class would transform the public sentiment, from that which passively seeks the change promised during the May elections to that of a labor-led independent movement of the people that would actively pursue social change and meaningful reforms, not from above but from below,” de Guzman concluded. #

Hundreds march to Malacanang to denounce lack of change under Duterte presidency

Hundreds march to Malacanang to denounce lack of change under Duterte presidency

Hundreds of workers, urban poor, students, and other activists belonging to Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Sanlakas, and Partido Lakas ng Masa today marched to the gates of Malacanang to denounce President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to fulfill his promise to end “contractualization” and other anti-worker policies as well as his insistence on burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

They later joined thousands of other people who trooped to the People Power Monument in EDSA to condemn Marcos’ burial at the LNMB and block the restoration of declarations of martial law.

“We joined thousands of workers and other Filipinos today to remind the President that we are still here, that we have been waiting, and that we still haven’t experienced the change that he said will come if he gets elected as President,” Leody de Guzman, president of the socialist labor group BMP said. “It’s been six months since Duterte won and yet it seems that only the rich are again benefiting from the change in government,” de Guzman said.

Atty. Aaron Pedrosa, secretary-general of multi-sectoral group Sanlakas, for his part said: “Militant groups were encouraged by Duterte’s initial steps, such as his appointment of leftists in Cabinet, his support for FOI, and his critical stance towards the United States. But none of these has so far translated into any concrete benefits for the majority.

“So far, the President has yet to back his words with actions,” Sonny Melencio, chairperson of Partido Lakas ng Masa. “We marched today because we find it hard to identify actual measures that could assure us that change is indeed on the way.”

According to Melencio, more and more Filipinos are starting to question whether Duterte will indeed deliver his campaign promises, in particular, his promise to end contractualization, to provide dignified housing for the urban poor, to stamp out corruption in the bureaucracy, to give tax breaks for those earning below 30k/month, and to chart an independent foreign policy.

After marching to Malacanang, the militant groups joined a Caravan for Justice that drove through several cities in Metro Manila before heading to the People Power Monument to join tens of thousands of other Filipinos protesting against Marcos’ burial at the LNMB.

“It seems that there are only two groups of people that Duterte will never betray: the police and the Marcoses,” Melencio said. “But it seems that he is all too ready to turn his back on workers, on the urban poor, and on the Filipino people.”

For real change to happen, the group urged the public to take action and use their power to achieve significant social transformations.

“As Andres Bonifacio has demonstrated, hope lies not in our so-called leaders but in the Filipino people themselves,” de Guzman stressed.

Labor group dismayed with ‘win-win solution,’ demands decisive action

Labor group dismayed with ‘win-win solution,’ demands decisive action

Frustrated at the Labor department’s continued non-fulfillment of President Rodrigo Duterte‘s marching orders to abolish all forms of contractualization, socialist labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) has taken their advocacy to the footsteps of the president himself.

The group recently sent the Office of the President a letter, signed by labor leader Leody de Guzman, attached with a draft of an Executive Order ordering the abolition of all forms of contractual employment, among others.

In the letter to the president, it read “contractualization is an urgent national policy concern because it economically and socially destroys the lives of millions of our people—not only of our national labor force.”

It added that “due to its nationally-destructive outcome, contractualization is as criminal an enterprise as terrorism and the illegal drugs trade are at the present time.”

The group asked the President to “strongly consider the signing of this EO into law at the soonest time possible” to reflect his government’s “principled commitment to the stopping contractualization in all its forms.”

Pronouncements and proposals by secretaries Silvestre Bello and Ramon Lopez of the labor and trade departments respectively have not sat well with labor groups in the recently concluded consultative meetings it held. BMP along with other labor groups says that the ‘win-win solution’ is a misnomer and there can be no compromise with their demands.

“Our economic well-being as well as our dignity as the country’s ‘primary social economic force’ has been violated for decades now and yet the so-called ‘managers of the economy’ worry more about the projected decline in profits of employers,” said De Guzman.

“Any delays, flip-flopping statements and continued overconsideration for employers are new abrasions to labor’s dignity on top of the already heavily exploitative nature of capitalist-worker relations.”

The draft EO included the implementation and full protection of labor rights and standards as mandated by the 1987 Constitution, the strict prohibition of all forms of contractualization in the public and private sectors, the order to the Secretary of Justice to prosecute of violators and the regularization of all employees through direct-hiring.

The letter also included a recommendation for the president to schedule a meeting and dialogue with a broad delegation of labor groups to discuss labor policy-related issues and concerns at the soonest possible time. “This he owes to those who elected him into office,” De Guzman claimed.

Marcos: Bayani ng Naghaharing Uri, Hindi ng Masang Pilipino

NAKAKASUKLAM ang paglilibing sa pinatalsik na diktador na si Ferdinand Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani. Bagong hibla ito sa matagal nang lubid ng kasinungalingan na si Marcos ay bayani ng lahing kayumanggi na kasing peke na kanyang medalya sa diumano’y kabayanihan noong Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig.

Nakapagdududa din ang biglaan at tila panakaw na paglilibing sa kanya, na tiyak tayong hindi lingid sa kaalaman ni pangulong Duterte. Sa darating na mga araw, asahan na nating sasagot ang butangerong pangulo na ibaon na natin sa limot ang nasabing isyu.

Kung tutuusin, dapat nang ilibing si Marcos na namatay noong 1989 sa Hawaii, USA. Ngunit hindi sa libingan ng bayani kundi sa basurahan ng kasaysayan sapagkat hinusgahan na siya ng pag-aalsang Edsa 1986. Siya ay pasista, diktador, mandarambong, at mamamatay-tao. Hindi siya bayani ng masang Pilipino. Siya ay kriminal na kahihiyan sa kagitingan ng ating lahi.

Si Marcos ay bayani ng naghaharing uri hindi ng masang Pilipino. Sa panahon ng diktadurang Marcos, nalugmok ang bansang Pilipinas sa kumunoy ng kawalang pag-asa at ibayong kahirapan. Hindi ang taumbayan kundi ang mga kroni gaya ni Cojuangco, Lucio Tan, Benedicto, Virata, Romualdez, Cuenco, atbp., at ang kanyang paksyon ng naghaharing uri, laluna ang dayuhang kapitalistang nakinabang sa likas at likhang yaman ng bansa mula noon hanggang ngayon.

Sa panahon ng kadiliman ng Martial Law, naganap ang pandarahas, pagpaslang, pagwasak sa kabuhayan ng maralita, magsasaka, at manggagawa at mga kabataang estudyante at intelektwal na rumurok sa pag-aalsang Edsa, na nagawang ibagsak ang diktadura ngunit para lamang humalili sa poder ang karibal na paksyon ng pamilya Marcos.

Sa isyu ng rekognisyon sa diktador bilang bayani, tiyak tayong magpoprotesta ang paksyon ng naghaharing uri na nakinabang sa pagpapapatalsik kay Marcos at naitsapwersa din sa pag-akyat ni Duterte sa panguluhan. Sabihin mang biktima din sila ng diktadura. Ngunit sila ay mga magnanakaw din na galit sa kapwa magnanakaw!

Nananawagan ang Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) sa manggagawa’t mamamayan. Matuto tayo sa aral ng kasaysayan. Huwag bumuntot sa mga naghaharing uri. Isulong ang independyenteng kilusan ng uri at bayan. Kondenahin sa paglilibing ni Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani habang ipinagpapatuloy ang kagyat at ultimong mga kahilingan ng taumbayan para sa panlipunang hustisya at karapatang pantao.

Itinakwil natin ang diktadurang Marcos ngunit mas labanan ang diktadura ng mga kapitalista’t asenderong nagsasamantala sa mamamayan!

Marcos: Hitler, Diktador, Tuta! Marcos is No Hero.

DTI’s ‘win-win solution’: Sugar coating to legitimize workers’ further exploitation

DTI’s ‘win-win solution’: Sugar coating to legitimize workers’ further exploitation

MILITANT labor again slammed the so-called ‘win-win solution’ being lobbied by the trade and industry department to end the menace of contractualization besetting the country’s labor force, claiming that “it would only be a continuance of capitalists’ transgressions and systematic exploitation”.

They likewise challenged President Duterte’s sincerity in fulfilling his campaign promise to end temporary employment; the militants urged him stop his economic managers’ dead on their tracks in promoting their outright anti-labor proposal or suffer political isolation from those who propelled him to power.

The groups Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) ang MASO-Pilipinas made this allegation as they ‘gate-crashed’ the 6th annual forum of PALSCON or the Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors which was set to tackle their position on the proposal of the trade and labor departments.

Among the speakers of the forum included Senator Franklin Drilon, secretaries Ramon Lopez and Silvestre Bello III of the trade and labor departments.

Under Lopez’ proposed set-up, workers will be hired by the service providers and manpower agencies as regular employees, receiving various benefits such as leave credits, 13th month pay as well as retirement, social security and health insurance plans, among others.

The militants called the proposal “baseless and dismissive” of Article 280 of the Labor Code, which states that regular employees are those who perform “usually necessary or desirable” in the normal operations of a business.

“For more than two decades now, workers have been severely burdened by the wanton denial of our rights, forcibly shoving us further below poverty line. No amount sugar-coating from capitalist agents, will dupe us into taking their bait,” said Leody de Guzman, president of the socialist BMP.

The groups insisted the proposal would only mean that Articles 106 to 109 of the Labor Code and Department Order 18-A, “legal instruments used to circumvent constitutionally-guaranteed rights” shall remain intact.

De Guzman articulated that Articles 106 to 109 provided the loophole for capitalists in these trilateral agreements to use contractors and subcontractors that provide cheaper workers to carry out work that should be performed by their regular employees.

These provisions, he claimed, “were only meant to obfuscate employee-employer relationships. More so, it reinforces the capitalist blackmail of ‘work or starve’, under constant threat of unemployment by simply terminating their employment contracts”.

The groups say that there shall be no compromise in their call for the abolition of all forms of contractual employment and will continue to hound conferences of capitalists and anti-labor government officials.

Concretely, the groups are urging President Duterte to a) issue an Executive Order to declare DO18-A void and the revision of the BMBE law; b) certify as urgent congressional bills nullifying Articles 106 to 109 and the prohibition of contracting of ‘usually necessary or desirable’ work, pursuant to Article 280 of the Labor Code. The criminalization of labor-only contracting and deputize labor union leaders as labor inspectors to check and report violation of labor standards.

“It will simply take President Duterte an issuance of an Executive Order to scrap contractualization for good. To ordain such would lift millions of families from the yoke of dearth and misery,” de Guzman concluded.

A ringing endorsement of dictatorship

A ringing endorsement of dictatorship

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, a socialist labor group, joins Filipinos in denouncing the Supreme Court’s decision to authorize President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to bury the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.



Ferdinand Marcos is no hero: He was responsible for killing and torturing thousands of people—including many workers. He looted the public treasury. And he created the conditions that made the lives of millions of Filipinos miserable.

To bury him at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is to glorify rather than condemn mass murder, torture, and plunder.

Duterte’s determination to bury Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is certainly payback for the Marcoses’ support for his candidacy. While he has so far failed to fulfill his campaign promises to workers, he has demonstrated a steely sense of purpose in fulfilling his promise to the Marcos family.

More than just repaying debts, however, Duterte’s determination to glorify Marcos is also an expression of his support for dictatorship and his contempt for democratic rights. 

All previous regimes, and all those whose interests they protected, deserve part of the blame for making dictatorship seem to many like a better alternative than our current system.

The Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, GMA, and Aquino II administrations not only failed to deliver justice to Marcos’ victims; they also all failed to carry out the social reforms that would have prevented people from believing that a return to out-and-out authoritarianism can solve their problems. 

But let us not gloss over the fact that the Supreme Court would not have made the ignoble stand they made today if not for President Duterte’s insistence that a hated dictator be glorified as a hero.



Both President Duterte—as well as the nine Justices who voted in support of his plan—are spitting on the memory of all those who suffered during, and as a consequence of, the Marcos dictatorship.


They are also reinforcing the climate of impunity reigning in the country and emboldening ruling warlords and political dynasties to shun all democratic pretenses and rule with iron fists.

But even if they use the laws to deodorize and legitimize dictatorship, they will never succeed in turning a villain into a hero.



We call on all Filipinos to join us in denouncing this travesty of justice, and we support all protests and direct actions against the dictator’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.