Bulatlat » Independent Think Tanks Refute Malacañang’s Arguments Against P6,000 and P125 Salary, Wage hikes

“Since July 2010, skyrocketing commodity prices coupled with stagnant wages have eroded workers’ wages in lightning speed, which is unmatched by the previous administration,” said EILER executive director Anna Leah Escresa.

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

As Malacañang thumbs down the demand of government employees in the country for a substantial wage increase, research groups have taken turns debunking government claims that salary and wage hikes are impossible to implement given the current economic conditions.

Current Wage Provides Only 41 Percent of What Families Need

The IBON Foundation said the value of the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila has dropped and is only able to provide for about 41 percent of the amount needed for a family to live decently. This is less than the figure 10 years ago, in 2001, wherein the minimum wage was about 52 percent of the cost to live decently.

According to the IBON Foundation, the daily minimum wage of P404 (US$9.39) is just 2/5 of the estimated average family living wage (FLW) of P988 (US$23) in the National Capital Region (NCR) as of March 2011. The family living wage is defined as the minimum amount needed for a family of six members to meet their daily food and non-food needs plus a 10 percent allocation for savings. The latest living wage estimates are based on the 2008 family living wage computation of the National Wages and Productivity Commission of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

According to IBON data, the daily minimum wage of P265 (US$6) in 2001 was half of the amount a family needed to live decently, which was then pegged at P509 (US$12).

As the DOLE and the wage boards deliberate on whether to give a wage hike next month, the research group urged government to raise wages to a decent level and approximate the wage increase to the estimated family living wage.

Nonstop Price Hikes

Adding to the urgency of a wage increase, a labor research group said, is the fact that the combined wage increases in the past decade had been totally eroded within only eight months by nonstop price hikes under the Aquino administration.

The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) said that from the start of Aquino’s term in July 2010 up to February this year, the real value of the P404 (US$9.39) minimum wage in the National Capital dropped by around P7 (US$0.16) This decline cancels out the net increase in the real value of minimum wage under the Arroyo administration from 2001 to 2010, which amounted to only P5 (US$0.11).

EILER’s computation is inflation-adjusted using 2000 as base year.
“President Aquino has just dethroned former president Arroyo, beating her record as the worst ‘eater’ of workers’ wages. Since July 2010, skyrocketing commodity prices coupled with stagnant wages have eroded workers’ wages in lightning speed, which is unmatched by the previous administration,” said EILER executive director Anna Leah Escresa.

She said that the wage erosion comes as no surprise as local pump prices have increased more than ten times since the start of year while the prices of almost all food commodities have also risen.

” There are also looming power and water rate hikes. Such record erosion of wages points to the government’s callousness in calling on Filipinos to wait for the inflation to reach five percent before the government can approve any wage increase,” Escresa said.

Government Should Take Care of its Employees

In the meantime, labor groups are determined to press for their economic demands no matter what Malacañang says.

The Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) said that it would continue their campaign for a P6,000 ($138) increase in the monthly minimum pay of all public sector employees.

“True to its character, the Aquino administration is skirting the issue by saying that its hands are tied because of the Salary Standardization Law 3 which mandates a staggered wage adjustment scheme for state workers. For the country’s rank-and-file government employees who are already struggling to survive amid the rising costs of commodities, the issue is already beyond the SSL 3. We all know that it allowed only the smallest pay adjustments and failed to provide immediate economic relief to the lowest-paid government employees. We will continue to press for a P6,000 salary hike,” said Courage President Ferdinand Gaite.

Gaite was referring to Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s statement that the administration was “limited by law” and therefore unable to act upon the employees’ demand for a substantial wage increase.

Gaite said that as their employer, the government should prioritize the needs of government employees. He said that the Aquino administration should prioritize measures that will give the working people much-needed economic relief.

“At the time when our wages are pegged at near-starvation levels, we don’t need dole-outs, subsidies or excuses, we demand a substantial wage hike now!” Gaite said.

Gaite said that their group was also fully behind the call of private sector workers for a P125 across-the-board daily wage hike. The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) is at the forefront of the campaign for the wage hike.

Gaite slammed the price hike, saying “Government employees, like the majority of the Filipino people can no longer cope with the rising prices of commodities and services. As it is, we are already struggling to subsist on our meager salaries. With this recent oil price hike, most of the country’s 1.4 million government employees are living in abject poverty, are prey to loan sharks and could barely make it to the next day to work. Thus, we have no other recourse but to push for a substantial salary adjustment, this time, focusing on the minimum pay earners or those employees who suffer the most,” Gaite declared.
The labor leader in the meantime also expressed disgust over the Aquino government’s continuing inaction to stop the continuing oil price hikes.

“DOE (Department of Energy) Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr even has the gall to tell us that the fuel firms’ P1.50 hike was already an accommodation of the government’s request to soften the impact of oil price hikes. This attitude of a ranking government official is a reflection of the over-all stance of the Aquino administration when it comes to the oil companies: the oil cartel continuously raises its prices while the government rushes to justify the abuse,” Gaite said.

Gaite said that President Benigno Aquino’s apathy toward the legitimate demands of the labor sector is most lamentable.

“Instead of pushing for band-aid solutions like paltry subsidies available only to selected sectors, Aquino should immediately implement a substantial wage increase for both the public and private sector in order to provide immediate economic relief to the workers and employees reeling from the unabated price hikes, “ Gaite asserted.

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Editoryal: See no evil, hear no evil | Philippine Collegian

For the 100^th commencement exercises, the UP administration chose President Benigno Aquino III as the commencement speaker and conferred on him the university’s highest academic honor: an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree. It was one of the biggest insults to the academe.

What is an insult? It is when the school administration honors a person that all sectors in the university – faculty, students, employees – have condemned for his incompetence and broken promises. The administration, however, seemed to believe that Aquino still has a spotless performance, awarding him the honorary degree for “providing leadership in rallying the people to stomp out corruption,” and promoting the rule of law and respect for people’s constitutional rights.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Nothing could be more absurd.

The see-no-evil, hear-no-evil administration has forgotten that Aquino was the same person who claimed that the historically massive cut on the UP budget was only just. He was the same person who insisted that UP already had its own means of generating funds, thus, the billion-peso cut on the budget would do no harm. Aquino, the president who does not understand that the budget cut could lead to tuition hikes for the state universities to sustain their operations. Aquino, who does not understand the meaning of a state university, the only hope of the impoverished to send their children to college.

This was also the same person who had done nothing in the recent spate of fare, commodity and oil price hikes. His administration claimed that it cannot do anything with the oil price hikes because prices in the global market were steadily increasing. But this could only be either of two things: a failure to see that it has the capacity to control the price hikes, or a lie to cover up for its negligence.

For instance, Aquino’s government refuses to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law (ODL), which has long allowed oil companies to dictate prices in the country with the removal of government intervention. It aimed to prevent oil price hikes by encouraging competition among the private players. After 13 years of implementation, it does not take a genius to see that the ODL has defeated its own purpose.

These actions are in no way a form of respect for people’s constitutional rights, such as the right to education, contrary to what the UP administration claims.

...

More important, in awarding Aquino for his anti-corruption campaign, the UP administration agrees with the president’s shallow understanding of poverty and other social dilemmas. For a university that fosters critical thinking, there is no reason to acknowledge a person who reduces the structural problem of poverty to moral bankruptcy in the government.

Aquino’s poor understanding of the social conditions reflects how he has isolated himself from the people he promised to serve. He is unfamiliar with the plight of the majority because he does not attempt to get out of the comforts of his wealth and executive power to truly examine the dilemmas that burden the impoverished. As a result, his administration has only prescribed ineffective and half-baked solutions to long-standing social problems.

By the same token, the UP administration is isolating itself from its constituents in awarding the highest academic honor to Aquino. It sends a clear message to the more than 4,000 graduates: Aquino is an example for them to look up to. This is an offense to a university whose primary purpose is to provide service to the people.

Editoryal: See no evil, hear no evil | Philippine Collegian

Morong 43 file formal charges against GMA and military officials behind their arrest

 

  Reference:        Carlos Montemayor, R.N. – (+63922) 499-6237 / (+632) 929-8109

Quezon City, Philippines -- Taking their struggle to the next level, former detainees and members of the so called Morong 43 trooped to the Quezon City Hall of Justice today to formally file a civil case against top ranking government and military officials believed to be behind the gross injustices they were made to suffer in the 10 months that they were unlawfully detained. 

The plaintiffs are suing for damages totaling P15 million for physical and psychological torture and other forms of indignities they suffered during their illegal arrest and detention. Defendants named in the suit are former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, former Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado, Gen. Delfin N. Bangit, former commander of the 2^nd Infantry Division (ID) Gen. Jorge Segovia, commander of the intelligence unit of the 2^nd IDPA Lt. Col. Cristobal Zaragosa, 2^nd IDPA Warden Major Manuel Tabion, commander of the 202^nd Infantry Batallion (IB) Col. Aurelio Baladad, 16^th IBPA commander Lt. Col. Jaime Abawag, and Rizal Provincial Police Office commander P/Supt. Marion Balolong.

The case was filed by six of the Morong 43 health workers namely, Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor, Dr. Alexis Montes, registered nurse Gary Liberal, registered midwife Ma. Teresa Quinawayan, Reynaldo Macabenta, and Mercy Castro. 

With the filing of the suit, the health workers said that they are taking on a new chapter in their quest for justice. “We want to send a strong message that one cannot just get away with human rights violations. This is our contribution to efforts in making sure that human rights violators are made accountable for their actions,” Liberal, one of the plaintiffs, said.

Liberal furthered that they are aware of the red-scare tactics the military is once again attempting to employ citing the AFP’s press releases that their troops identified four former Morong 43 detainees in 2 separate clashes between the New People’s Army and AFP soldiers in Luzon.  “If there is one thing that the military is very good at, it is recycling terrible arguments such as the Morong 43 being members of the NPA.  Their own lies further expose their institution as prime human rights violators.  Nobody believes them anymore,” Liberal stressed. 

He added that the Filipino people and thousands of citizens from more than 32 countries, many of them prominent in their fields of expertise, serve as their inspiration in the filing of civil case. 

Free the 43 Health Workers! Alliance’s Carlos Montemayor added that their group  fully support the Morong 43’s quest for justice.  He said that their group will never tire of “beating the gongs of human rights issues” even if most of the Morong 43 are now free.  Two of them, Rogelio Villarasis and Mario Delos Santos, are still detained at Camp Bagong Diwa because of  trumped up charges against them.  Their legal counsels are still working for their release.

As the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the alliance challenged the Aquino government to ensure that the military and police will fully cooperate in the court hearings.  They also enjoined the public to keep their vigilance to avoid any whitewash.##