Update sa Naganap na Pagkilos Kahapon sa Quezon Hall

Kahapon, Setyembre 15, 2008, 1:30 ng hapon kasabay ng meeting ng President’s Advisory Council ay nagkaroon tayo ng pagkilos upang igiit na maibigay na ang ating 10% salary increase. Ito ay dinaluhan ng halos 200 empleyado at nagkaroon ng isang maikling programa. Sa pagkilos na ito ay nagsalita si Pang. Roman, inilahad niya ang mga ginawa/ginagawang hakbang ng UP Administration para maibigay na ang ating 10%
tulad ng pagsulat, pakikipag-usap sa mga opisyal ng DBM, pag submit ng mga report na hinihingi ng DBM, subalit sa dulo ay hindi pa din siya nagbigay ng katiyakang maibibigay na talaga sa atin ito, sinabi din niyang ayos lang naman ang ginagawa nating mga pagkilos dahil nakakatulong ito sa ating hinihinging 10% salary increase.

Dahil nga sa wala pa ding katiyakan kung ito ay maibibigay, ngayong Oktubre ay nagpaplano tayo ng isang pagkilos papunta ng DBM Malacanang, pero siyempre patuloy ang ginagawa nating mga local na pagkilos upang patuloy din ang pressure sa Administrasyong Roman at ang gusto nga natin ay dapat sumama din sila (ang UP officials). Mungkahing ang mga chapter sa mga awtonomus campus ay maglunsad din ng pagkilos , kasabay ng isasagawang pagkilos mula sa Diliman (pinag-uusapan pa ang petsa ng pagtungo sa DBM) patungong DBM Malacanang.

UP Faculty, Workers Protest Wage Hike Delay

MANILA, Philippines – Around 200 faculty members and nonacademic workers of the University of the Philippines (UP) Monday marched to its main campus in Diliman, Quezon City, Monday to protest the two-month delay in the release of their 10-percent salary increase.

Bearing placards containing their demands, members of the All UP Workers Alliance held a program at the lobby of the Quezon Hall shortly before the scheduled meeting of senior university officials around 3 p.m.

The protesters assailed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for its alleged arbitrariness in holding funds for the increase.

Dr. Judy Taguiwalo, national vice president for faculty of the All UP Academic Employees Union, said they could not understand why DBM Secretary Rolando Andaya has yet to act on several requests made regarding the wage increase.

Citing an executive order issued by President Macapagal-Arroyo on May 1, Taguiwalo argued that all government workers, including UP personnel, should have received the increase effective July 1. “We see no logical reason why the DBM should keep what is rightfully due us,” Taguiwalo told the Inquirer.

“It’s been two months now since they delayed our salary hike. With the worsening inflation rate, the 10 percent additional salary could hardly help us keep up with the rising costs of goods and services,” she added.

UP President Emerlinda Roman earlier told Taguiwalo’s group in a letter that the DBM declined to approve the budget for the wage hike because UP was no longer included in the government Salary Standardization Law when the university’s new charter was signed last April.

Roman briefly spoke Monday with the protesters on her way to the meeting of the UP President’s Advisory Council.

She said she was optimistic that the DBM would soon approve the funds after the agency asked for documents and the draft of an agreement between the university and DBM.

Roman said she found it strange that while the national government regarded UP as the top university in the country, “our employees have the lowest salary among government workers. I think that’s inconsistent.”

“I assure you that we’re doing what is needed to give you the best of both worlds,” she told the protesters, apparently referring to their efforts to get the nod of the DBM while studying ways to improve other benefits for UP personnel.

Taguiwalo, however, said they were not contented with Roman’s speech.

She then challenged the UP executive to join them in a prayer rally to press Andaya to hasten the release of the funds.

“President Roman told the union that all we can do now is pray. If she’s really with us, then she should lead us in a prayer rally in front of the DBM office,” Taguiwalo said.

By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:29:00 09/15/2008

Ating hamon sa Administrasyong Roman: Pangunahan ang “Prayer Rally” sa DBM para igiit ang ating 10% Salary Increase

Setyembre na. Dalawang buwan nang natanggap ng mga kapwa natin kawani sa pamahalaan ang 10% salary increase. UP na lang ang wala pa.

Samantala, kung ang inflation rate noong Hulyo ay 12.3%, at nitong Agosto ay umakyat pa ito sa 12.6%, ibig sabihin lalong bumaba ang halaga ng inaantay na 10% salary increase sa pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin at mga serbisyo!!!

Bakit iniipit ng Malacañang at ni Andaya ang ating salary increase?

Hindi natin maiintindihan kung ano talaga ang dahilan kung bakit patuloy na iniipit ng DBM sa pamumuno ni Rolando Andaya ang ating 10% salary increase. Utos ba ito ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo na siyang kagyat na pinuno ni Andaya?

Kung ang dinadahilan ay ang probisyon sa bagong UP Charter na may kapangyarihan ang UP Board of Regents na magtakda ng bagong compensation scheme para sa mga empleyado ng UP, may ganito ring probisyon ang 1991 Charter ng Philippine Normal University.

Ang 1991 PNU Charter (R.A. 7168) ay may ganitong probisyon kaugnay ng kapangyarihan ng Board of Regents: "Section 7, h: To fix and adjust salaries of faculty members and administrative officials and employees." Pero ang mga faculty at kawani ng PNU ay nakatanggap na ng 10% salary increase dahil hindi naman sila nagkaroon ng hiwalay na salary scale labas sa SSL mula pa nang ipinasa ang kanilang Charter noong 1991. E ganito rin naman sa UP a. Wala naman tayong bagong salary scale; wala namang pagbabago sa ating sweldo mula nang naipasa ang RA 9500 o 2008 UP Charter.

Nitong nakaraang linggo lamang, ipinagmalaki ni Andaya na may panukala ang DBM na itaas ng 100% ang sweldo ng mga kawani at mga opisyal ng pamahalaan sa kanyang paghapag ng 2009 budget. E bakit, 10% salary increase man lang namin dito sa UP para ngayong 2008 ay ayaw niyo pa ibigay?

Ating panawagan sa Administrasyong Roman: Pangunahan ang “Prayer Rally” sa DBM para igiit ang ating 10% Salary Increase!

Sa pinakahuling dayalogo ni Pangulong Roman sa mga guro at kawani ng UP sa UP Baguio noong Agosto 30, 2008, sinabi niyang halos araw-araw nilang tinatawagan ang DBM tungkol sa ating salary increase at hininging “magdasal” tayo para mapabilis ito. Marami sa ating mga kawani at ang kanilang mga pamilya ay isinasama sa kanilang mga dasal na maibigay na nga itong 10% salary increase. Pero hindi nakasasapat na umasa na lang tayo sa “Divine Intervention” para sa ganitong problema.

Sa tagal na ng panahong pakikisuyo at pakikipag-usap ng Administrasyong Roman sa mga nasa poder sa DBM at Malacañang ay nanatili silang bingi.

Hinahamon natin si Presidente Roman at mga opisyal ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas na pangunahan ang isang ”prayer rally” sa harap ng opisina ng DBM, malapit sa Malacañang, para igiit ang matagal nang nabimbing 10% salary increase. Baka sa ganitong paraan lamang diringgin ng nag­aastang mga bathala sa Malacañang ang dasal na ibigay na ang ating 10% salary increase.

Employees of Biggest State Hospital Pickets Over Non-Payment of Salary Increase

More than a hundred employees of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) picketed in front of the hospital main lobby today at around 12:00 - 1:00 PM to dramatize their discontent over the continued non-payment of the 10% salary increase being trumpeted by the National Government since last year but was only given to almost all government agencies starting July 2008. Said salary increase was mandated under the 2008 National Budget but was enacted by Congress only on February 2008.

According to officials of the University of the Philippines (the mother unit of PGH) led by President Emerlinda Roman, they could not give the increase because the Department of Budget and Management have not yet released the money for the said increase, justifying that the University is no longer covered by Salary Standardization Law under its new charter (RA 9500).

However, Mr. Benjamin Santos, Manila Chapter President of the All U.P. Workers Union, the group that leads the picket contend that: "No matter how you would read and interprete the new university charter, there's nothing in the law that disenfranchise the university employees from the 10% salary increase to all national government employees. As a matter of fact, the law even mandates that all the requirements of the university for this year and the years to come, shall be included in the national budget."

The employees promised that should their call for the implementation of the 10% salary increase starting July 2008 as mandated by law remained unheeded, they will bring the matter up to the doorsteps of Malacanang (the Official Residence of the President of the Republic).

A Shortage amid the Glut in Nursing Graduates

The Philippines has an oversupply of nursing graduates especially with the visa retrogression in the US. But ironically, many government hospitals lack nurses and other health professionals. With low pay and poor working conditions in government hospitals, nursing graduates opt to work abroad even as volunteers with no pay and allowance.

BY RITCHE T. SALGADO
Contributed to Bulatlat
Volume VIII, Number 28, August 17-23, 2008

Jay-R Manzano, 21, is all set for his review. He made sure to wake up early so that he could still go through his notes and not forget the discussion his class had the day before.

Jay-R and his friends, sisters Grethel Ann and Gretchen Mae Tubo, are reviewing for the licensure examination for nurses come late November. Like most of their friends and classmates, they have started their preparation early, the usual being a month before the scheduled exam. They have enrolled at a commercial review center, but by late October they will be undergoing a more intensive review in their school, the University of Cebu.

Despite the effort that they are making, they have already accepted the fact that they may not be able to get their dream job as nurses in the United States of America as soon as they hoped. But they are willing to work as volunteers abroad or even in private hospitals here, with no pay and no allowance.

“Just so we will gain the experience that we will need once the US will start accepting Filipino nurses again,” said Jay-R.

“We know that right now the US is not accepting Filipino nurses because of the (visa) retrogression, but then I am still optimistic that after the elections (in the US) this little obstacle will be lifted, and again they will open their doors for us,” Grethel said.

In order to protect American nurses and other health professionals, the US has set a limit on the number of foreign nurses that will be given access to the US. This created a shortage of nurses and physical therapists in the States and so the US Congress passed H.R. 5924 or the Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act. However, the Hispanic block in the US Congress sets as a condition to passing the bill, the granting of amnesty to Mexican illegal settlers in the US. This created a deadlock in the progress of the bill and in the process, the hiring of foreign-trained nurses decreased, if not stopped.

In an article in The FREEMAN (August 11, 2008), Oscar A. Tuason, administrator of the Cebu Doctors University Hospital, expressed alarm over the decrease in the demand for Filipino nurses in the US. He said that this has a direct effect on the number of enrollees in the nursing program of schools, elaborating that at present most nursing schools are losing students at the rate of five to eight percent.

Tuason cited five reasons for the decrease in demand for Filipino nurses: the worsening quality of graduates, unskilled and inexperienced nurses, attitude problems that include lack of motivation and lack of commitment, signing up with more than one agency, and poor ability in conversational English due to the decline in the standard of education.

Judy Aragones, R.N., PhD., spokesperson of the Cebu chapter of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) and a professor at the University of San Carlos, however, expressed disagreement with Tuason regarding the trend in nursing enrollees.

“It is obvious that more and more of our young people are taking up nursing,” Aragones claimed. “There are those whose heart may not be in the profession but they see it as their way out of poverty. Even if the US is closing its doors, there are alternate destinations for our nurses like the Middle East, Singapore, Japan and European countries.”

Aragones, however, maintained that going out of the country for work is not the solution to the country’s economic problems. “I strongly disagree with our government encouraging our people to work abroad. It is the responsibility of our government to take care of our graduates. We are losing skilled and hard working people,” she lamented.

Aragones admitted that the main reason for the decrease, if not stop, in the hiring of foreign-trained nurses is mainly because of the visa retrogression policy of the US. As a consequence, many graduates have found themselves unemployed or under employed; and with schools producing more nursing graduates each year, the health sector in the country is now facing a dilemma in the oversupply of nurses.

“Some of them have to make do with being volunteers, receiving no pay or allowance. Their only consolation is that they would be able to use the certification that they would get from hospitals for possible employment in other countries,” Aragones said.

She admitted that hospitals in Cebu are understaffed. Because they could not afford to hire new nurses, they are forced to accept only volunteers.

“It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that our nurses are employed. To encourage them to stay and serve the country, the government should come up with a good socio-economic package that would include non-monetary compensations,” Aragones said.

She said the government must provide good working conditions, skills development, and such other non-economic benefits, saying that salary-wise the Philippines would not be able to compete.

“The starting pay of our nurses right now, on average, is at P15, 000 ($331) per month. Compare that to the salary they will be getting in the US and other countries (an average of US$20 per hour). This is very small,” she explained.

Jay-R, Grethel and Gretchen are now making efforts to pass the local licensure exam. Soon they will start to process their papers for the US, despite the retrogression. “We know that right now it seems impossible to get a job in the US, but then again, it does not mean that we should also stop trying,” Gretchen said.

Aragones explained that unless the government would do something to encourage health workers to stay in the country, more young people like Jay-R, Grethel and Gretchen would still desire to work in foreign countries like the US. Contributed to Bulatlat

Arroyo wants lasting reign, not lasting peace in Mindanao

InPeace Mindanao
Press Release

August 14, 2008


The Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace) questions and condemns in the strongest terms President Arroyo's proposal for charter change which is meant to extend her stay in power beyond 2010, rather than solve the Moro problem in Mindanao.

The group questions the sincerity of Mrs. Arroyo who said that charter change will solve the issue of Muslim autonomy in Mindanao. We are rather persuaded that with Arroyo's past conducts in pushing for cha-cha, that she is just exploiting this issue to justify its own interest, which is to create a federal form of government and have Arroyo elected as prime minister or as head of state.

She wants lasting reign and lasting power, not lasting peace. Arroyo has clearly used the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) as a trojan horse to subvert the Senate as a stronghold of the political opposition and open the floodgates for charter change. Arroyo's peace rhetorics have been unmasked anew. She has employed duplicity in the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP)'s negotiations with the MILF to cater to her own desire for political perpetuation.

This proposal for cha-cha would never bring peace in Mindanao. This is peddled by this same government that fails its negotiations with the MILF. This would be the same government that has been engaged in an all-out war policy against the Moro people. Ultimately, this will be the same government responsible for aggravating the country into critical level of poverty, economic and political hardship, due to corruption and repression.

It is a big shame that Arroyo and her cohorts are trampling the noble aspirations of the Mindanao peoples for just and lasting peace in order to further her self-interest. We deplore this move by Arroyo, and we call on our Mindanao legislators to hear the voice of the people in Mindanao: We want authentic peace, not charter change.

We continue to support the right to self determination of the Bangsamoro people. The political maneuverings of the Arroyo government has shown that it will not be the Bangsamoro who will benefit from the windfall of gains from the peace negotiations. Arroyo has once more trampled upon the Bangsamoro people's aspiration for genuine autonomy. She will go down in history as the President who is caught red-handed for undermining the GRP-MILF peace process to pursue her interest. #


for Reference: Atty.Beverly Selim Musnia

Public Health Providers Tired of GMA’s Promises

A meager P18.65 ($0.42) per day is the equivalent of the ten percent increase to Salary Grade I government employees, which includes health workers in public hospitals.

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat
Volume VIII, Number 25, July 27-August 2, 2008

Jamil Dionisio has been working as nursing attendant for 15 years at the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP). His take home pay is only P3,000 ($67.827 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.23)a ) per month.

A big chunk of his salary is gobbled up by payments for Government Security and Insurance System (GSIS) and Pag-ibig loans, personal loans and taxes.

Even though his wife is working abroad, Dionisio still finds it hard to make both ends meet.

His three children have transferred from private to public schools due higher tuition and other fees. To cut expenses on transportation, he acquired a motorcycle and still pays for it on an installment basis.

Asked about the ten percent salary increase for government employees, he said, “Hindi namin naramdaman.” (We never felt it.)

Dionisio is one of the thousands of health workers nationwide who grapple with low salary and limited benefits.

According to the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), the ten percent salary increase is only P18.65 ($0.42) per day for Salary Grade I workers.

Entry level for rank-and-file employees in hospitals categorized as government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) is Salary Grade IV with a P7,000 ($158.26) salary. Utility workers receive less, with Salary Grade III entry level receiving only a little more than P5,000 ($113.045) per month.

As of March 2008, the National Wages and Productivity Commission placed the daily cost of living for a family of six in the National Capital Region at P858 ($19.15). It means that to be able to live decently, a family needs to earn P25, 740 ($574.68) per month.

An insult

Emma Manuel, AHW chairperson warned Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against taking pride in the ten-percent salary increase for government employees.

“Pagod na kami sa mga pangakong walang katotohanan,” (We are tired of empty promises.) Manuel said.

She said that Arroyo’s tarpaulins with the slogan “Ramdam ang Kaunlaran” (Progress is felt) is a big insult to government workers.

She described their condition, “Butas na ang bulsa, hikahos na.” (Pockets empty, struggling to survive). She added, “Our present take home pay even with the measly ten percent hike could not even take us home.”

Manuel also said that the long-awaited benefits accorded by law such as the subsistence allowance, cost of living allowance (COLA) backpay, increase in hazard pay “remain only as dreams” as these are subject to the availability of funds.

She also criticized Arroyo for not allocating funds for the implementation of the Nursing Law. The law mandates the increase of entry salary grade for nurses to Salary Grade 15 or P16,000 ($361.745) per month. Most nurses are classified under Salary Grade 10.

The AHW reiterated their demand for a P3,000 ($67.827) salary increase for government employees.

Doctors

Meanwhile, Dr. Julie Caguiat, executive director of the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) decried the Arroyo government’s neglect of doctors and health workers.

Caguiat said that while there are many well-meaning doctors who would want to serve the poor in rural areas, the economic conditions and lack of support from government compel them to work abroad. Caguiat said that 80 to 90 percent of municipal health officers in the country are taking up nursing.

The HEAD said that resident doctors in public hospitals receive only P18,000 ($406.96) per month.

“The conditions are not inviting,” Caguiat said. She deplored that those who go to far-flung areas are even branded as rebels.

“We ask Arroyo, where have the doctors gone? If we are losing our doctors, who will be the ones to look into the people’s health?”

Caguiat also called on the Arroyo government to address the plight of the poor. Caguiat said, “It is frustrating for us to treat them and then send them back to their abject conditions.” Bulatlat