MANILA, Philippines—Cries for food, justice and freedom marked the protest actions held nationwide to mark Labor Day Thursday.
More than 1,500 members of the Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan) and the Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid picketed the regional offices of the National Labor Relations Commission and Department of Agrarian Reform in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga to decry the low wages of factory and farm workers.
The daily minimum wages in the region range from P160 to P280, a fraction of the P800 required by a family of six to meet basic needs, according to Makabayan Central Luzon spokesperson Lourdes Hamor.
The protesters wore sack cloth bearing the words "Justice," "Food," "Job Security" and "Freedom."
In Bataan, some 200 Makabayan members, mostly women, marched on the major streets of Balanga City with plates of boiled sweet potato – their families' daily fare.
Farmers and fishermen who joined the march assailed the government for its purported failure to implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
"The government's failure to address the concerns of farmers and fishermen has resulted in the food crisis plaguing the country," said Levi Canares, president of the Samahang Magsasaka at Bantay-Palaisdaan ng Abucay.
Labor contracting
In Mariveles, also in Bataan, site of the country's first economic zone, more than 200 Makabayan members and workers gathered at People's Park to assail the labor contracting policy (or the hiring of workers for short work periods).
In Subic, Zambales, some 500 workers assembled at the Manggahan covered court for a forum and a noise barrage organized by Makabayan.
Among the issues raised at the forum were the deaths and accidents at the shipyard of the Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Phil. Inc. and the labor contracting policy.
Hamor said Makabayan wanted the government to grant "tactical economic relief" in the form of an across-the-board wage increase, rice subsidy for workers and increased palay subsidy for farmers, tax exemptions for minimum wage earners, health care and low-cost housing.
The Workers Alliance in Region 3 (WAR 3) said the government had ignored its demand for a P125 across-the-board wage increase for the last 10 years.
WAR 3 held a labor conference of more than 500 leaders in Angeles City and led a caravan of more than 1,000 workers and farmers to the Clark Freeport at 1 p.m.
Latecomers
Some 100 unionists of mining firms in Benguet province, as well as jeepney drivers, workers and activists, joined the Labor Day rally in Baguio City, but not before being criticized by an official of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) for showing up late.
"What would the father of Philippine unionized labor say about the state of the country today?" said Nenita Gonzaga, who had worked with the late Felixberto Olalia Sr., one of the founders of the KMU.
For one thing, Gonzaga said, Olalia would demand that Labor Day marchers arrive on time.
Gonzaga, KMU vice president for women, took the occasion to launch a mobile clinic named after Olalia, which offers short-term seminars on trade laws.
Addressing KMU Baguio members, she said Olalia's most important message was that workers' unions should fight, not for money, but for dignity.
The marchers demanded that Malacañang certify as urgent the bill granting workers a P125 wage increase.
KMU Cordillera spokesperson Leonida Tundagui said regional wage boards and the Department of Labor and Employment had failed to monitor the implementation of wage increases in the regions, and to punish business establishments defying government wage orders.
The Visayas
In urban centers across the Visayas, workers and activists demanded higher wages amid the soaring prices of fuel, rice and other basic goods.
In downtown Cebu City, some 2,000 members of the 17-group Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) marched from Plaza Independencia toward Colon Street to demand the approval of a P150 increase in the minimum daily wage.
Another 1,000 workers belonging to the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) did not join the march but attended a morning Mass at St. Joseph The Workers' chapel in the ALU compound. (The union's top officials were in Manila.)
In Negros Occidental, about 4,000 laborers and activists gathered at three separate venues in Bacolod City to also demand wage hikes.
About 2,000 KMU members gathered at the Bacolod public plaza to renew the workers' call for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and for a P125 daily wage increase.
The protest action was backed by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), National Federation of Sugar Workers, United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, and Confederation for the Unity and Recognition of Government Employees.
Protest marches and rallies were also held by some 1,000 members of the Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan-Negros, who converged at the Rotonda near the Bacolod Public Plaza, and by another 1,000 members of the Lumaya Ka and Democratic Association of Labor Organizations at the Fountain of Justice at the Bacolod City Hall.
In Iloilo City, around 3,000 workers, farmers and government employees led by Bayan and KMU assembled at the public plaza of Molo and Jaro districts before marching toward the provincial capitol to demand higher wages.
In Roxas City, around 800 protesters led by Bayan marched on the main streets before holding a protest rally at the Band Stand.
In Aklan's capital town of Kalibo, Bayan and Bayan Muna led some 400 protesters in a march and a symbolic "lunch of the poor" – consisting of shrimp paste, dried fish and chopped broiled jackfruit – in front of the provincial capitol.
'Pigheaded'
In Cagayan de Oro City, more than 2,000 workers as well as members of youth and church groups held a march-rally that highlighted the laborers' plight.
They demanded the immediate passage of a P125 legislated wage hike, which, according to KMU Northern Mindanao spokesperson Wildon Barros, was being "pigheadedly resisted by the government."
The protesters also criticized the privatization and labor contracting policies, which, they said, were resulting in the retrenchment of thousands of workers.
In South Cotabato, laborers held rallies in General Santos City and in Polomolok town, led by the APL and KMU, respectively.
The APL reiterated its demand for a P150 increase in the daily wage for private workers and a P3,000 across-the-board increase for government employees.
It also called for a P1 fare hike for jeepneys and tricycles and the rollback of rice prices to P24 per kilo.
The KMU sought a P150 daily wage hike and an end to labor contracting.
In Cotabato City, APL members also took center stage, but unlike in the General Santos rally, they batted for the P125 legislated wage hike.
"Labor, the most abused sector, must be given just pay in the face of rising prices of food," said Jojo Cortez, APL spokesperson in Cotabato City.
'Dilly-dallying'
"The President has been dilly-dallying not only in the peace process with the Moro fronts but also in the wage increase that the labor sector has been asking for," said Bobby Benito, head of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society.
Antonio Mariano, acting labor secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, also joined the rally in Cotabato City.
In a speech, Mariano called on the labor sector to give Ms Arroyo and the wage board time to come up with a reasonable wage increase.
As an economist, the President "knows what's best," he said. Reports from Vincent Cabreza and Eunice Samson, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Tonette Orejas and Greg Refraccion; Inquirer Central Luzon; Jhunnex Napallacan, Carla Gomez, Joey Gabieta and Nestor Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas; Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez, Edwin O. Fernandez, Charlie C. Señase, Aquiles Z. Zonio and Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao
