MANILA, Philippines—A worker, who claims that he has been fighting on the streets for workers’ rights most of his life, slammed the ongoing government policy of contractualization.
“What’s the future of Filipinos with contractualization employment?” Pedro “Tata Pido” Gonzales, a fisherman and militant, told INQUIRER.net at the Labor Day protest in Liwasang Bonifacio.
“What the Filipino workers need is a P500 minimum wage considering their living condition,” he said.
“Noong ang nangangalkal ng basura aso, ngayon tao na,” the septuagenarian militant added.
(Before, only stray dogs scavenge for food. Now, even the people scavenge for food [on the streets]).”
In 2004, when Gonzales was the Anakpawis Quezon Chapter chairperson, he was shot by suspected military in front of the Anakpawis office in Gumaca, Quezon province.
“They wanted to silence me… Maingay kasi ako. Pero malas nila, buhay pa rin ako [I’m noisy. But that’s their misfortune because I’m still alive],” he quipped.
A wound Gonzales sustained in a shooting incident at the height of local elections at that time has left him a cripple. But despite his disability, Gonzales vowed to fight for the Filipino workers’ rights, especially in the rural sector.
As of posting time, Gonzales and the rest of the demonstrators are holding a short program before marching to their last stop to Mendiola Bridge.
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