Labor groups endorse 7 senatorial bets

MANILA, Philippines – In an unprecedented move, 40 labor groups of various persuasions marched together on Wednesday, May 1, to commemorate Labor Day and endorse 7 senatorial candidates for the 2013 midterm elections.

This is the first time in 20 years that workers’ groups such as the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and the leftist Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), as well as the Alliance of Free Workers (AFW) and Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN), among others, agreed to support the same set of candidates. In past elections, each labor group endorsed its favored bets.

The groups – which formed the Nagkaisa coalition – said they will vote for the following: Team PNoy candidates Risa Hontiveros, Jamby Madrigal, Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, JV Ejercito of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), Bangon Pilipinas candidate Eddie Villanueva and independent candidate Ricardo Penson.

Except for Legarda, the senatorial bets joined the workers’ Labor Day march from España to Mendiola in Manila.

The coalition claims to have 250,000 members nationwide.

The list of candidates was finalized after the coalition sent a survey to 20 senatorial candidates in April. Out of the 20, a total of 15 responded. The coalition then voted unanimously for the final set candidates to be endorsed.

Josua Mata, a co-convenor of the coalition, explained why they voted for the 7.

Ejercito (Check his profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

Mata said Ejercito made it to list because he was the first to commit to the security tenure bill, which ensures a regular form of employment instead of contractualization. Mata said his brother, incumbent Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, is a “champion” of the bill. 

Estrada has filed a security tenure bill in the 13th Congress. On the other hand, Ejercito, as vice-chairman of the committees on labor and employment in the House of Representatives, also pushed for the passage of the security tenure bill in the House.

If elected, Ejercito said he will also support the formation of unions in the public sector. 

Hontiveros (Check her profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

“She has proven time and time again that she will stand by us,” Mata said.

Hontiveros has authored the Income Tax reduction for minimum wage earners law as representative of the partylist group Akbayan in the 14th Congress. 

If she wins, she said she will re-file the security tenure bill. She added that she will introduce non-wage benefits such as enrolling workers in the formal and informal sectors in Philhealth, the national health insurance program. 

Madrigal (Check her profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

“Many vouched for her maverick position, despite the fact that she’s part of the elite she has no [qualms] quarreling with [Senate president Juan Ponce] Enrile and others,” Mata said. “That won her some points.”

Madrigal said that she will introduce amendments to the EPIRA law or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which led to the deregulation and privatization of the power sector.

Labor groups said the law has failed to stop the increase in electricity rates. This is a crucial issue for them because it has discouraged investors in the manufacturing sector.

Legarda (Check her profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

She pushed for the passage of domestic workers’ bill (it was signed into law on January 18 and is now known as the Kasambahay law) and also for the ratification of the ILO (International Labor Organization) convention 189 in 2012, according to Mata.

The legally-binding agreement mandates signatories to put in place regulations that ensure the promotion and protection of the rights of domestic workers.

If elected, she said she will push for bills that protect Filipino workers in the country and abroad. Legarda failed to attend the Labor Day rally, however.

Cayetano (Check his profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

Mata said Cayetano promised in the survey that he will “work hard” for the passage of the security tenure bill.

Cayetano’s platform is “PiTik-Presyo, Trabaho, Kita,” where he promises to promote policies that will lower prices, create more jobs and increase wages. “The Constitution speaks of a living wage, not of a minimum wage, but what amount of additional wages will keep businesses going in the Philippines?” he said.

“…That’s why I use “Presyo, Trabaho, Kita – prices employment and income” because these go together, he explained. “If prices go down or if there are services the government has taken care of, it will balance out.”

Villanueva (check his profile here and vote in the Rappler poll) and Penson (check his profile here and vote in the Rappler poll)

Mata said both vowed “to work hard” for the passage of the security tenure bill.

“Ipaglalaban ko security of tenure, economic security ng manggagawa (I will fight to have the security of tenure bill passed into law and the economic security of workers),” Villanueva, founder of the Jesus is Lord Fellowship said.

 

Penson said he will file a billl securing a 20% increase of the minimum wage for the next 5 years (the current minimum wage in the National Capital Region is P456). 

“Alisin mo lang pork barrel kaya ng suportahan yan, (Just remove the pork barrel and we can support that,” he said. 

Security of tenure

6 out of the 7 candidates – Hontiveros, Penson, Villanueva, Cayetano, Ejercito and Madrigal – marched with the coalition from España to Mendiola and signed a manifesto with Nagkaisa. 

In the manifesto, the candidates vowed to file bills addressing the following:

a. amendment of the EPIRA law

b. having a representative from the labor sector in the Energy Regulation Commission

c. increasing the minimum wage

d. reforming the Salary Standardization law for government employees

e. ratification of ILO Convention 151 or the Public Service Labor Relations

f. increase in the budget allocation for education, health and other basic services

The hot-button issue of the day, however, is the passage of the security tenure bill. 

President Benigno Aquino III has refused to make the security tenure bill a priority, saying it should be “tweaked” first. He said if the current version of the bill – which ensures regular form of employment instead of contractualization – would be passed, it would only benefit 1.8 million people, while an estimated 10 million Filipinos could lose their jobs. 

 

Those who were endorsed by Nagkaisa disagreed with Aquino, however. 

Hontiveros said that she wants to assure the President that a security of tenure law will not “damage the generation of jobs.”

On the contrary, Hontiveros said that it will make more sense if employees have job security because having a sustainable source of income would improve workers’ buying power.

Villanueva, on the other hand, said he believes he can convince Aquino to pass the bill. 

“With outsourcing, lower tariffs on agricultural products, there’s a new paradigm,” he said. “The key is how to find the perfect balance between the security of tenure and the rights of workers and getting the right investments in the country, because if you’re too strict and if there are no jobs, then there are no rights to fight for.” 

“There’s no doubt that we need a security of tenure bill. There’s no doubt that contractualization of certain jobs is being abused,” he said. “The question is how do we adapt per industry and which industries will really survive in this kind of regime without affecting the rights of the workers,” he said. – Rappler.com