Workers stage May Day marches nationwide

TWO IN ONE Antiriot police block protesters on their way to Mendiola from getting too close to the United States embassy in Manila on Tuesday. The militants condemn last week’s Philippine-US joint military exercises even as they also take to the streets to demand wage increases and better benefits on May Day which is observed almost universally as Labor Day. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Tens of thousands of workers staged rallies across the country to demand jobs and higher wages, as the labor department conducted job fairs in a number of urban centers.

Hundreds of workers and members of militant groups turned up at Monumento Circle in Caloocan City early Tuesday morning, catching the police by surprise and snarling traffic in the area.

By 7:30 a.m., the protesters, who included members from  organizations such as Sikap-Buhay, had left the monument and were making their way to Samson Road toward Manila.

Clutching their red flags, they demanded that they be given more protection from employers who do not remit their contributions to PhilHealth and the Social Security System.

At the Chino Roces Bridge near Malacañang, some 15,000 members of Nagka1sa, a newly formed coalition of labor groups, gathered to press for their demands, including a wage increase and a stop to contractualization.

In Baguio City, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), accompanied by workers wearing G-strings, held a program at Malcolm Square to voice out complaints about the poor state of employment in the Cordillera, the unresolved issues over labor contractualization and the government’s failure to stop oil price increases.

About 100 KMU members marched down the city’s main streets, their activity watched by policemen.

“We have had enough of lower wages, almost absence of benefits, lack of job security and denial of labor rights,” the KMU Cordillera said in a statement.

In Cabanatuan City, Rachelle Layugan, a new information technology graduate, joined hundreds of fresh graduates to look for jobs at a job fair sponsored by DOLE and the Nueva Ecija government.

In Cagayan Valley, DOLE and the Department of Trade and Industry also organized job fairs in the cities of Tuguegarao, Cauayan and Santiago.

But some workers in the region said the P10 wage hike approved recently by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board was not enough.

“It is a small increase to cover our [rising] expenses for food, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses,” said Jessica Caragan, who works for a small firm in Ilagan, Isabela.

In Calamba, labor unions under the militant workers’ alliance Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagulgan (Pamantik) massed up in the city for the annual “salubungan” or convergence in observance of Labor Day.

Pamantik spokesperson Hermie Marasigan said four wings, each composed of around 500 protesters, converged at the Calamba crossing, a major junction in the city, for the afternoon program.

He said they expected 5,000 to join the labor rally in Laguna as well as the simultaneous protests held in Batangas City, Lucena City in Quezon, and at the Rosario economic zone in Cavite.

Pamantik, the regional ally of the KMU, pushed for legislation of the P125 across the board wage hike.

Marasigan slammed the government’s P18 minimum wage increase in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) as a “pittance,” saying it is not enough to support the workers’ basic needs.

Protesters also raised issues against massive contractualization and layoffs, particularly in Carina Apparel Inc., a garments factory located in Biñan City, Laguna.

Around 100 students and employees from the University of the Philippines Los Baños also joined the rally in Calamba.

Ma. Fatima Carla Bertulfo, a fresh graduate of BS Biology, said the most pressing labor issue besetting the youth was unemployment. “I’m just afraid I cannot land a job easily despite being a degree holder,” she said.

In Cavite, 1,632 workers from the electronics and garments factory staged a rally at the  gate of the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite, on May 1.

In Albay, close to a thousand members of the KMU, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and Gabriela converged at around 8 a.m. at Ninoy Aquino Park in Daraga town.

The contingent marched their way to Camp Simeon Ola, headquarters of the Bicol regional police, before proceeding to Pinaglabanan Monument in Legazpi City.

In Cebu City, some 5,000 workers from the different labor organizations here marched on the office of DOLE in front of Plaza Independencia to demand a wage increase.

The workers belonging to the different labor organizations under the coalition called Nagkaisa also called for a stop to labor contractualization and child labor.

In Western Visayas, around 3,900 protesters on Tuesday joined Labor Day rallies in Iloilo, Capiz and Aklan.

About 2,000 protesters led by KMU and Bayan braved the scorching heat and then rain as they marched in the main streets of Iloilo City calling for a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage.

The protesters converged at the grounds of the Iloilo provincial capitol where a rally was held.

Another group of around 400 protesters led by Alab-Katipunan also marched from Jaro District Plaza to the main streets in the city.

In Capiz, around 800 protesters joined the Bayan-led rally at Roxas City Bandstand. Seven hundred protesters led by Bayan also joined a caravan from Makato town to the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan which culminated in a rally at Pastrana Park in Kalibo.

In Tacloban City, 50 people joined in a march-rally organized by the KMU, which started at Santo Niño Shrine on Real Street and ended at the city old bus terminal in Rizal Street.

Cherry Orendain, Anakbayan spokesperson for Southern Mindanao, said the Aquino administration had not done much to address the rising prices of basic commodities.

Romualdo Basilio, chair of KMU Southern Mindanao, said President Aquino’s Labor Day statement turning down the workers’ decadeslong demand for a 125-legislated wage increase disappointed thousands of workers all over the country.

“His statement is antiworker. It only goes to show that President Aquino favors the interest of capitalists over those of the workers,” Basilio said.  Reports from  Kristine Felisse Mangunay in Manila; Vincent Cabreza, Desiree Caluza, Yolanda Sotelo and Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Robert Gonzaga and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon; Maricar Cinco, Romulo Ponte and Mar Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Jhunnex Napallacan and Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and Germelina Lacorte and Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao