2 faces of Labor Day: Job fairs, protests vs gov’t
TACLOBAN CITY—Single mother Mary Perido gave her resume to 10 agencies, crossing her fingers that she would be hired by any of them.
Perido, 39, said she has not found a permanent job since the company she was working for closed shop in November 2013 after Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Without any steady source of income, she has left her house, damaged by Yolanda, in a state of disrepair for more than a year now.
As part of the government’s Labor Day gimmick, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) put together a job fair and Perido was one of more than 5,000 who went to the fair venue, Tacloban City Convention Center.
At least 85 agencies, private and government, took part in the fair.
According to the DOLE Eastern Visayas office, 70 local establishments, 12 overseas agencies and three government agencies offered more than 5,000 jobs at the fair.
The DOLE wanted at least 15 percent of the job seekers who came to the fair to be hired on the spot.
Outside the fair venue, at least 100 members of militant groups were holding a rally assailing government failure to provide stable jobs and its continuing policy allowing contractualization, or the practice of companies to provide only six-month employment.
The protesters also continued to denounce the delay in government help for Yolanda victims.
One of those protesting the delay in government help for victims of Yolanda, Vincent Basiano, said he and his family have been forced to leave their village in Tacloban City but have not been given a place to stay.
“They have declared our barangay as an unsafe area and yet they have yet to give us houses where we can relocate,” he said.
On Panay Island, at least 13,000 people joined Labor Day rallies in Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Leyte.
In Roxas City in Capiz, at least 4,000 protesters led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) assembled in four areas and converged at the Roxas City plaza bandstand.
The protesters demanded decent jobs, salary increases and release of government funding for Yolanda victims.
In Iloilo City, at least 2,500 protesters led by Bayan and Kilusang Mayo Uno marched on the city’s main streets before holding a protest rally at the grounds of the Iloilo provincial capitol.
Employees of the University of the Philippines Visayas under the All UP Workers Union called for a P16,000 minimum monthly salary for government employees.
In Aklan, protesters joined separate caravans from Tangalan and New Washington towns that converged at the Pastrana Park in the capital town of Kalibo where a protest rally was held. About 1,500 protesters joined the rally. With Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas
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