MANILA, Philippines?There will be ?good news? for workers on Labor Day, Malacañang said Tuesday.

According to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, the government?s economic team will be firming up on Wednesday the recommendations it would be making to President Benigno Aquino III on measures the government could undertake to help the people, including workers, cope with the high oil prices.

Lacierda acknowledged that some of the measures had already been announced, like the P450-million fuel assistance program, or the ?Pantawid Pasada? for tricycle and jeepney drivers, which will start on May 2, the day after Labor Day.

Under the program, tricycle and jeepney operators will be given a fuel subsidy for one month, after which the government will review whether it should be continued.

Malacañang also earlier said the economic team was looking into the possibility of extending the fuel subsidy to farmers and fishermen, who are also heavy users of fuel.

Lacierda told a Palace briefing that one of the options being considered was a wage increase, citing what Trade Secretary Gregorio Domingo recently said that ?there is a certain level [where] the economy can afford a wage hike.?

?But if it?s considered, it will be up to the [regional] wage boards to decide at what level the wage hike [will] be,? Lacierda said.

The wage board for Metro Manila is expected to convene on May 2.

Malacañang earlier rejected a proposal to grant workers a P125 legislated daily wage hike, saying it would cause inflation.

Lacierda, meanwhile, said the economic managers were not too keen on the proposal that Mr. Aquino consider imposing price controls as part of the workers? package of benefits for Labor Day.

?There is some hesitation with respect to imposing price controls because it will cause hoarding, it will cause temporary shortages,? he said, stressing that the government was closely monitoring the prices of commodities, including the price of rice.

?We?re making sure that the prices are reasonable but in terms of price control it is something that we would not do because it would create more problems for us. And that?s the reason why we are looking at other options which would not further strain the economy,? he said.

Don?t just criticize

Meanwhile, Lacierda urged the left-leaning Bayan Muna to help the government find ways to soften the impact of high oil prices rather than criticize its officials.

Bayan Muna has accused government officials of being the protectors of oil companies because the government supposedly was not going after the oil firms for pricing abuse.

Lacierda said the Department of Energy had already asked the oil firms to explain why they raised their prices beyond the DoE?s computations, and that transport groups like Piston were being given information on what makes oil prices go up and down.

?The leftists will always take the most extreme position just to rile the government. All of us are in a crisis, so let?s just help each other rather than criticize,? Lacierda said.

Small but determined

A small but determined group of about 30 protesters marched up to the gates outside Malacañang Tuesday, demanding a P125 across-the-board wage increase.

They tied some 50 braided black-and-yellow ribbons to the gates to dramatize their clamor, which they said represented how Mr. Aquino was slowly killing the Filipinos.

The members of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Anakpawis called their protest a small victory for workers after they were able to get near Gate 7, some 150 meters from the Don Chino (formerly Mendiola) Bridge, and tie the ribbons to the closed Mendiola peace arch gates.

The protesters unfurled streamers and brandished placards with the words ?Sahod itaas, presyo ibaba (Raise wages, lower prices),? and a picture of Mr. Aquino in a bull?s eye.

Broken promises

They said the President was doing nothing for the poor and accused him of favoring the rich, contrary to the promises he made at his inauguration.

?This is the first time ever that we got this close to Malacañang,? said Nenita Gonzaga, KMU vice chair for women, as the group was stopped by police 10 feet away from Gate 7.

Gonzaga warned that Tuesday?s demonstration was just a taste of what is to come on May 1 when, she said, more than 20,000 disgruntled workers will take to Metro Manila?s streets.

After a 30-minute tirade against Mr. Aquino, during which the police pushed them back with their shields, the protesters voluntarily dispersed.

With no wage hike expected for workers on Labor Day, Mr. Aquino should instead certify as urgent the proposed security of tenure bill in Congress, the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) said Tuesday.

?If this will be given priority, it will be one of the best gifts [the President] can give to workers. It will be a good signal that he is pro-labor,? said APL secretary general Joshua Mata.

Mata said the bill, if passed into law, would plug the loopholes in the Labor Code and help prevent the spreading practice of hiring contractual workers in the private sector.

He said these loopholes had allowed employers to abuse subcontracting arrangements to intimidate workers and keep from exercising their rights, including their right to form unions.

Mata said the APL had been trying to bring up the matter with Mr. Aquino but had never had the chance to get a meeting with him.

?But we have been asking him to include this among his priority bills. Unfortunately, he has yet to do this,? he said.

Fortunately, Congress itself has set this as a priority bill, Mata said.

The bill, authored by Akbayan party-list Representatives Walden Bello and Arlene Bag-ao, recognizes subcontracting as a ?valid business practice but also protects workers from unscrupulous and unnecessary subcontracting.? With a report from Helen Hoddinott