Duterte dismisses left-leaning labor undersecretary

President Duterte has fired Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod in the wake of what Malacañang calls a growing number of illegal workers’ strikes.

“I am asking Joel Maglunsod to leave,” the President said.

Top labor groups assailed his decision to sack Maglunsod, whom they described as their “closest ally” in the administration in addressing long-standing workers’ concerns, such as contractualization.

The President announced the dismissal on Tuesday in a speech at Camp Juan Ponce Sumoroy in Catarman, Samar province, following the presentation of former members of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

He declared that the solution to the insurgency in urban areas was to arrest CPP members who infiltrate labor groups. If they would stage strikes, the groups could paralyze the economy, he said.

“If the workers have no more money and there would be chaos, I may be forced [to do something], but I do not want to do so. But if they would be infiltrated, I will arrest them, that [Kilusang] Mayo Uno [KMU], the [labor] undersecretary,” the President said.

Maglunsod, who was appointed in June 2016, is the last former militant leader in the Duterte administration.

Illegal strikes

Other leaders identified with the Left who had served as Cabinet members were Rafael Mariano (Department of Agrarian Reform), Judy Taguiwalo (Department of Social Welfare and Development) and Liza Maza (National Anti-Poverty Commission).

The President fired Maglunsod because of the illegal strikes, his spokesperson, Harry Roque, said on Wednesday.

“The President did not want illegal strikes that are happening” during his crackdown, Roque said.

Asked whether Maglunsod was involved in the military’s revelation of a “Red October” plot to destabilize the administration, Roque said he did not know.

Nagkaisa labor coalition chair Sonny Matula said the President had no one to blame but himself for the strikes as contractualization, low wages, inadequate benefits and the high cost of basic commodities continued to be problems for workers.

“Workers have been suffering from indecent conditions at work. Workers have had enough that’s why they are resorting to strikes,” Matula said.

Sentro secretary general Josua Mata said it was unfortunate that Maglunsod, the workers’ “closest ally,” was “sacrificed to prop up the sagging image of Mr. Duterte.”

‘Fair to employers’

“He delivered genuine service to workers and despite his trade union background, he was fair to employers,” the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said of the dismissed official.

“More importantly, he was fulfilling his mandate as prescribed by the Constitution and the Labor Code, not merely to the appointing power. He stuck it out with the Duterte administration,” the FFW added.

With Maglunsod out of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), workers doubt if the administration could fulfill its promise of ending contractualization and providing workers with better wages, KMU said.

“The Dole totally lost its credibility and returned to its nature of being an antiworker agency and an institution for big businesses and capitalists,” KMU Metro Manila chair Ed Cubelo said.

‘Major mistake’

Partido Manggagawa chair Rene Magtubo said that Mr. Duterte “made a major mistake” in sacking Maglunsod, especially that he was instrumental in helping “bridge the ‘gap of trust’ between organized labor and the department by personally acting on complaints.”

“He also painstakingly conducted dialogues between employers and organized labor, relaying to them the department’s effort in enforcing laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting with the end in view of respecting the rights of both the workers and employers,” he said.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino noted that Maglunsod’s firing “wouldn’t dampen the fighting spirit and militance of workers because the exploitative and oppressive [labor] policies remain intact.” —Reports from Christine O. Avendaño and Jovic Yee