Health Group Slams Senate Ratification of JPEPA

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
2/F Doña Anita Bldg, 284 E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City
Telefax: (02) 725 4760 Email: headphil@gmail.com


Media Release
10 October 2008

The health group Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) is calling on all nurses, doctors, caregivers, and other health personnel to denounce all of the sixteen senators who voted in favor of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

According to HEAD, the senators who ratified the patently onerous trade agreement have placed health personnel everywhere, even those not seeking work in Japan, in a very disadvantageous and vulnerable position.

“Pro-JPEPA senators have institutionalized the commodification of health workers and professionals in a trade deal,” declared Dr. Geneve E. Rivera, HEAD Secretary-General. “They should be made accountable for this betrayal.”

Through JPEPA, the employment of nurses and caregivers in Japan was bundled with negotiated trade concessions sought by the Arroyo government. Thus, labor standards, job security, migrant and labor rights, benefits and wages, and other protection for Filipino nurses and caregivers have all been compromised in exchange for so-called trade investments.

“Parang ‘Bagsak-presyo’ ng mga nurses (like a rummage sale of nurses),” Dr. Rivera said. “This is the message that the Arroyo government and pro-JPEPA senators is sending to the world.”

In its submitted position paper, HEAD earlier warned the Senate that JPEPA would set a dangerous precedent for its anti-migrant worker provisions, which may be used by other countries who need Filipino health personnel.

In terms of nurses alone, around 85% are working abroad and an estimated 15,000 more leave the country annually. “All of the health personnel working across the globe should make these pro-JPEPA senators feel their wrath by denouncing them in public and in the coming elections.” added Dr. Rivera.

HEAD also reacted strongly to Senator Mar Roxas’ assertion that ratifying JPEPA is both “timely and necessary” to keep the country “globally competitive”.

“If this was a race to the bottom, if this was an auction of Filipino nurses to the lowest bidder, then Sen. Roxas is right. Is this what he wants?” said Dr. Rivera. “Sen. Roxas has shown an utter incapacity to sympathize with the plight of Filipino health workers, especially nurses and caregivers.”

HEAD will join other sectoral groups in a picket at the Japanese Embassy in Roxas Boulevard later today.

“This is labor export policy at its worst. Senators are conniving with the Arroyo government in allowing the unbridled exploitation of Filipino health workers and professionals.” Dr. Rivera concluded, “This policy must end. The struggle against JPEPA will continue until it is thoroughly rejected.”####

References:
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712

Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos
Vice-Chairperson, 0916 214 5724

UP Employees to Get Salary Hike

By Julie M. Aurelio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:51:00 10/08/2008

MANILA, Philippines – After waiting for more than three months, employees of the University of the Philippines will finally enjoy the 10 percent salary increase for all government workers that was supposed to take effect on July 1.

Dr. Judy Taguiwalo, national vice president of the All UP Academic Employees Union, said they welcome the pay hike as mandated by Executive Order 719.

“We were planning to appeal personally to the Department of Budget and Management earlier, but this is good news,” she told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

UP President Emerlinda Roman said the much awaited salary increase for the university’s employees – both permanent and temporary – was approved by President Macapagal-Arroyo only last week.

“We received the DBM memorandum on Oct. 3, and the budget for the pay hike was released on Monday,” she said.

The DBM earlier declined to approve the budget for the university workers’ pay hike, saying that with the signing of the new UP charter in April, the university was no longer covered by the salary standardization law.

Roman said the UP accounting office was already preparing the new pay roll. “Everybody understands that they have to wait for the process. It cannot be released immediately,” she added.

Taguiwalo said they hope to receive the extra pay in the coming weeks.

“The 2009 National Health Budget: Investing in Medical Tourism” - HEAD

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD
2/F Doña Anita Bldg, 284 E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City
Telefax: (02) 725 4760 Email: headphil@gmail.com

Media Release
08 October 2008

The Arroyo government is investing in health care – but for foreign medical tourists, not for Filipino patients.

The much-ballyhooed increase in the Department of Health (DOH) budget for 2009 is actually a continuing and growing investment in government-sponsored medical tourism, based on a study by Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) of past and current national health budgets. HEAD led members of the health sector that trooped to the House of Representatives earlier today to underscore their criticism of the 2009 health budget.

“The DOH budget for Health Facilities Enhancement Program of P180 million in 2007 suddenly became P1.66 billion in 2008, a whooping 822% increase! For 2009, this amount increases even further by 22.29% to P2.03 billion,” according to Dr. Geneve E. Rivera, HEAD secretary-general. “Yet public hospitals and government-run health facilities continue to wallow in a state of disrepair and lack of adequate facilities.”

HEAD notes that among the items highlighted by budget secretary Rolando Andaya in the 2009 national budget, allocation for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program was the highest, even more than the allocation for the provision of potable water (P1.5 billion) and the Tuberculosis Control Program (P1.3 billion).

Even among public hospitals, the more substantial budget increases are for specialty hospitals like the Lung Center of the Philippines (an additional P157.6 million), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (an additional P185 million), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (an additional P236 million), and Philippine Heart Center (an additional P185 million).

“These are the same hospitals earmarked for integration as the Philippine Center for Specialized Healthcare in line with the government’s medical tourism program.” Added Dr. Rivera, “In fact, NKTI and PHC are already participants in this medical tourism program.”

HEAD insists that if the Arroyo gov’t can allocate such an amount to specialty hospitals, it should also give an equal if not higher increase to medical centers that cater to the general public and indigent Filipinos.

In contrast to specialty hospitals, the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, the flagship hospital of the DOH, is only getting P359 million for its 2009 budget, without any substantial increase. This is the case for other public hospitals under the DOH.

“The Arroyo gov’t and the DOH should explain their skewed priorities in terms of health.” concluded Dr. Rivera. “They should explain why healthcare is being transformed into a business venture and why there is money for foreign medical tourists but none for the health and lives of ordinary Filipinos.”###

References:
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712

Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos
Vice-Chairperson, 0916 214 5724

Sugurin na Ang DBM, Malacañang Para Maipatupad ang 10% Salary Increase

Sa meeting ng Manila Chapter Council ngayong araw, Huwebes, ika-2 ng Oktubre 2008, nagkaisa ang lahat na pagod na ang mga kawani sa paghihintay sa kaukulang aksyon ng UP Administration sa Department of Budget and Management (DBM) para maipatupad ang matagal nang inaasahang 10% salary increase, kaya panahon na upang kumilos ang Unyon upang singilin ang DBM at Malacañang. Anumang pagbali-baligtad ng mga argumento walang nakikitang dahilan ang Unyon para sabihin o ideklara ng DBM na hindi tayo kasali sa nasabing 10% across the board salary increase; na naibigay na sa lahat na mga kawani ng iba't-ibang sangay ng Pambansang Pamahalaan, maliban na lang sa U.P.

Sa tingin ng Unyon, kaya tayo pinapahihirapan ng DBM ay dahil maraming bilang ng mga kawani at mga Professor ng U.P. ang kritikal sa Pamahalaang GMA bunsod na rin ng malawakang korupsiyon at pagpapatupad ng mga kontra mamamayang polisiya kabilang na ang patuloy na pagbaba ng budget pangkalusugan at edukasyon.

At upang gulantangin ang mga nagdidiyos-diyosan sa DBM at Malacañang ay sismulan natin ito sa isang picket-prayer rally sa harapan mismo ng DBM sa ika-14 ng Oktubre 2008, simula ika-9 ng umaga. Inatasan ang mga kumite ng Public Affairs, at Special Projects para sa kaukulang mga public statements, press releases, posters at placards para sa gaganaping pagkilos ng Unyon. Muling binuo ang mga Campaign Groups na unang binuo noong kampanya sa Certification Election noong 2007 upang mangasiwa sa pag-ikot sa lahat na mga opisina at clinical areas ng U.P. Manila at Philippine General Hospital. Inaasahan natin na sasama sa nasabing pagkilos ang hindi bababa sa 300 mga kawani.

Dahil na rin sa patuloy na pagtaas ng mga presyo ng bilihin at serbisyo, patuloy na dumadausdos ang kalidad ng ating kabuhayan kung kaya't matagal nang inaasahan ng mga kawani ang nasabing pagtaas ng sahod. Maliit man ito sa ating ipinaglalabang P3,000 buwanang pagtaas ng sahod ay malaking tulong na rin upang maibsan ang kahirapan.

Singilin and DBM at si GMA sa ating kaukulang pagtaas ng sahod! Ipaglaban ang ating karapatan sa nakakabuhay na sahod!

Update Sa Naganap Na CNA Negotiation

Ika-6 na Miting ng CNA/UMCB
Noong Setyembre 22, 2008 na Ginawa sa UP SOLAIR
Mula ika-2:00 Hanggang ika-5:00 ng Hapon

Matapos maideklara ng Bureau of Labor Relations-DOLE ang All UP Workers Union noong ika-14 ng Pebrero 2008 bilang panalo sa naganap na CE noong Oktubre 24, 2007 ay naganap ang ika-6 na negotiation meeting sa pagitan ng UP at All UP Workers Union kahapon ika-22 ng Setyembre sa UP SOLAIR. Si Vice-President Theodore Te (abogado ito) at Vice-President Arlene Samaniego (Doctor of Medicine) ang nanguna sa UP Panel, samantalang ang All UP Workers Union panel naman ay binubuo nina: Arnulfo Anoos ang ating kasalukuyang National President, Jossel Ebesate (National Executive Vice President), Benjamin Santos (President ng Manila Chapter), Francisca vera Cruz (Vice-Pres. ng Diliman Chapter) Fredie Sambrano (President ng Los Baños Chapter) Jesusa Besido (National Chairperson, Grievance and Negotiation Committee), Jonathan Beldia (Member, CNA Secretariat) at Clodualdo Cabrera (National Treasurer).

Sa panimula ay inihapag natin ang mga ilang isyu katulad ng update sa ating 10% dagdag sahod, pangalawang P5,000 incentive at pagpapaalala sa ground rules para sa negotiation, partikular na ang tagal ng negotiation (dapat kasi sa loob ng 4 na buwan ay tapos na ito), dahil nga sa lampas na ito sa 4 na buwan.

Sa isyu ng 10 %, ipinahayag ni VP Te na hiningan sila ng MOA ng DBM at ito naman ay naisubmit na nila sa DBM noon pang Agosto 26, 2008, subalit wala pang katugunan ang DBM hinggil dito. Sa usapin naman ng 2nd P 5,000 hiniling ng unyon na maibigay na ito sa Nobyembre 2008, bagay na sinabi naman ni VP Samaniego na pinag-uusapan na ito ng UP Admn at kasama na din ang malaking posibilidad na makakuha pa tayo ng 3rd rice subsidy ngayong taon.

Sa pag-uusap sa laman ng CNA, binalikan muna ang mga deklarasyon ng mga prinsipyo, sa puntong ito hinihiling natin na mapalitan ang katagang consultation ng involvement upang mas lalo tayong magkaroon ng direktang partisipasyon sa mga polisiya at patakaran na pinaiiral ng UP sa usapin ng may kinalaman sa ating trabaho, promosyon atpb., subalit matindi ang pagtanggi dito ng UP panel, maraming sinabing dahilan dito si VP Te, tulad ng wala daw ganitong probisyon sa ibang CNA, at kahit daw sa ruling ng Supreme Court sa kaso ng PAL, ay hindi pinayagan ng korte ang paglalagay ng salitang involvement, dahil ito daw ay para lamang sa management at ito daw ang pag-iiba natin sa management.

Bagama’t matindi ang kanilang pagtutol dito, hindi natin inatras ang ating laban na dapat mula sa consultation ay maitaas ang ating participation na tayo ay direktang maging kabahagi sa mga pagdedesisyon sa mga patakaran at polisiyang ipapairal ng UP na may kaugnayan sa ating pagiging empleyado, kasi kung titingnan natin kala mo ang ilan sa ating mga opisyal ay mga hari o naghahariharian dito sa UP. Dapat nating tandaan na tayo sa UP ay pare-pareho lamang na pinasusuweldo sa pera ng mamamayan at dapat ibalik ang paglilingkod sa mamamayan.

Ipinaliban na lang ng dalawang panig ang pagresolba sa isyung ito sa susunod na mga pagpupulong.

Subalit, kahit medyo matindi ang naging balitaktakan sa simula ng ika-6 Meeting ng CNA Negotiation, marami pa din naming napagka-isahan ang UP at All UP Workers Panel. Ito ang mga sumusunod:

1. 2 days nursing leave for nursing mothers (wala ito sa dating CNA natin)

2. 3 days additional job related sickness leave,non-cumulative at non-commutative – bagama’t ito’y nakapaloob na sa dating CNA natin, mas magiging maluwag ang implementasyon nito, sa dating probisyon kasi kailangan ng medical certificate na pinili ng dalawang panig, kaya halos bihira ang nakakapag-avail nito. Ngayon kailangan mo lamang mag-submit ng medical certificate kung 3 days consecutive mo itong gagamitin, pero kung dalawa o paisa-isa ang gamit hindi na kailangan na mag-attached ka ng medical certificate

3. Rice Subsidy - bukas sila na maging 3 ang ating rice subsidy na may halagang P1500.00 bawat isang sakong bigas, subalit ang proposal natin ay quarterly rice subsidy na minimum 50kg bawat sako ng bigas na mahusay ang kalidad.

4. Hazard Pay para sa mga hazardous ang trabaho – bukas silang tukuyin ang mga empleyadong hazardous talaga ang trabaho, kaya napagkasunduan na magbuo ng komite para dito.

5. Comprehensive Medical Insurance – bukas silang pag-usapan ito, kaya napagkasunduan na magbuo ng komite upang masusing pag-aralan ito at ibigay ang rekomendasyon kay Pangulong Roman.

Natapos ang Meeting dakong ika-5 ng hapon at itinakda ng dalawang panig ang susunod na CNA Negotiation (7th Meeting) sa ika-16 ng Oktubre 2008, ika-2:00 din ng hapon.

The U.S. Financial Crisis and the Philippines’ Economic Debacle

Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

By the Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 14 Series of 2008
September 29, 2008

The opposing views proliferating in the media on whether the U.S. financial meltdown will have an extensive impact on the Philippine economy are expected and time may help settle this debate. By zeroing on the element of “impact”, however, these divergent views – voiced largely by economic authorities, bankers, and financial analysts – only miss the truth about the country’s economic anchors, a core issue that is hardly touched every time a financial crisis in the U.S. happens. They forget that neo-liberalism, enforced in most parts of the world by U.S.-led global capitalism, has left billions of people more marginalized and their lives more miserable by the day.

The Philippine economy has been fettered by prolonged unequal ties with its former colonial master – the U.S. - and by being made an appendage to global capitalism. This imbalanced relationship takes its roots, among others, in post-war onerous impositions, one-sided trade agreements, bitter debt payment programs, and unilaterally-enforced credit arrangements.

At the heart of this historical imposition is the Philippine presidency and its economic generals who have perpetuated this unequal relationship for decades, keeping the Philippines always at the receiving end of global capitalism’s periodic crisis. The current U.S. financial crisis - a result of the unregulated speculative financial sector leading to a housing mortgage mess and credit crunch - should compel everyone to reject this inherently disastrous economic model and work toward an independent, people-oriented economic policy.

“Dark age”

To begin with, the Arroyo government is lying through its teeth when it assures the business community not to fear as the country will ride out America’s financial meltdown even if this has all the makings of a second Great Depression or what European groups call a modern “dark age.” However, as early as January this year, even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresaw the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia – and other developing regions - as bearing the brunt of the global impact from a major economic slowdown in the U.S. The recession, the Fund said, will trigger a stiffer export competition from China at the expense of the Philippines and other export-driven countries in the region such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Making a similar forecast, the economic intelligence center Euromonitor projected that the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia heavily dependent on exports to the U.S. will be hit by the economic slowdown as the export demand by the world’s biggest economy declines.

Indeed, the U.S. remains a major destination for Philippine exports. About 20 percent of the country’s exports go directly to the U.S. Another 50 percent of the exports go to Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia but these are actually components assembled into products that end up in the U.S. market. All these mean that cuts on the U.S. export demand could be potentially devastating to 70 percent of the country’s exports.

Aside from export manufacturing, highly dependent on the U.S. market are the information technology-enabled industry and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. In 2005 these accounted for 90 percent of BPO export revenues and over two-thirds of foreign equity.

At the receiving end

Each time the U.S. economy tumbles, the Philippines and the rest of the world are bumped aside. Being in the clutches of the U.S. economic hegemony since colonial times, however, the Philippines is at the receiving end of the crisis of capitalism that America passes on to small, developing countries and emerging economies.

To recall, America bought the Philippines from Spain at the end of the 19th century in the period of U.S. capitalist expansion and its conquests for market, cheap labor, and raw materials in Asia Pacific. A strong lobby mounted by U.S. producers against Philippine exports during the Great Depression of the 1930s led to the transition that ended with the granting of independence.

But the grant of independence in 1946 was conditioned upon onerous agreements that tied the Philippines to a “free trade” allowing the unrestricted entry of U.S. exports with parity rights for American citizens to exploit the country’s natural wealth, and own properties and strategic industries. Emerging from the war in control of more than half of the global wealth and awash with trade surpluses, America had to keep the Philippines and other countries in its grip where it could dump its excess commodities, exploit their cheap raw materials, expand finance capital operations, and extend a new-found military hegemony. Accordingly, national security doctrines during the period emphasized the importance of maintaining a pro-U.S. government in the Philippines that would guarantee America’s over-arching economic and military objectives.

Over the next 60 years, the Philippines’ economic dependence on the U.S. gave birth to treaties and policies allowing the entrenchment of U.S. strategic enterprises and investments, the export of raw commodities, heavy reliance on foreign investments, and the elimination of protectionism. This neo-colonial structure maintained the system of landlordism and a bourgeoisie that depended on the plunder of natural resources and export of cheap raw commodities. As a result, the local economy became lethargic and generally backward, unable to shield itself from the rise and fall of an increasingly globalized economy where modern agriculture, a strong industrial base, and protective barriers are the keys to survival.

Bitter prescriptions

Imbalanced trade, a weak manufacturing base, and heavy borrowings further resulted in the accumulation of foreign debt that made successive and corrupt administrations accommodating to bitter economic pills prescribed by the IMF and World Bank. Under the regime of the structural adjustment program (SAP), up to 50 percent of the national budget went to automatic debt servicing, regressive taxes were increased while social services were reduced, and strategic public corporations went to private hands many of them TNCs.

The government’s commitment to globalization and World Trade Organization (WTO) led to the deregulation of the oil industry. Import liberalization displaced the country’s small producers while tens of thousands of workers lost their regular jobs due to labor-only contract system.

These economic policies took shape in the midst of the periodic crisis of contemporary capitalism battering the U.S. and other capitalist countries. Holding neo-liberalism with a sacred aura, the country’s economic strategists laughed off criticisms from progressive groups that this “new” capitalist paradigm was designed to bring relief to the leading capitalist economies at the expense of the Philippines along with other emerging economies.

Champions of neo-liberal globalization have shown no empirical evidence to support their claim of “equal playing field” and economic growth. On the contrary, neo-liberalism has lost its appeal as it has only widened the gap between rich and poor the world over. Today, nearly three billion people - half the world's population - are living on less than two dollars a day. Conversely, the richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth.

Poverty and unemployment

Here at home, claims of economic growth based on GDP cannot hide the unprecedented increase in the number of poor Filipinos by three million (2003-2006), with the total conservative number of poor now 27 million. Current increases in the prices of oil and food products aggravated by the adverse impact of the U.S. meltdown will likely increase the number of poor several times in the coming years. Meantime, about 4.1 million people are jobless with the country facing a 10.8 percent underemployment record in 2007. At least 3,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday in search of jobs abroad. There are other grim statistics about the Philippines human development rating that will make it hard to see any positive signs of success attributed to government’s neo-liberal policies.

The management of the country’s economy is a serious responsibility that should be grounded on the people’s rights and well-being, above all else. Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

Clearly, the most recent financial crisis in the U.S. has dealt a mortal blow to the failed but deadly practices of neo-liberalism the world over and undoubtedly lays the groundwork for the crafting of alternative policies more responsive to the needs of the powerless and marginalized in our societies. We can start right here in our country by working for the end of the destructive and rapacious rule by the elite and building people-centered democratic governance.

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.