This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 15, May 22-28, 2005
Only a miracle
can save President’s image - KMU No makeover can save
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s image, said the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU,
May First Movement) last week. Gil Cua of the Philippine
Association of National Advertisers had earlier said that a major campaign
entitled “Galing Pilipino: Save Energy, Save our Future” would be launched to
tell people that the government has no power over internationally-controlled oil
prices. “People will not believe
this information drive because they know why they are poor,” said Nitz Gonzaga,
secretary of the KMU women’s department. The proposed ad that would
be placed in major television and radio stations and newspapers is supported by
media moguls Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco of ABC 5, Eugenio Lopez III of ABS CBN
and Felipe Gozon of GMA 7, along with real estate magnate Jaime Augusto Zobel de
Ayala of Ayala Corporation.
* * * Beer workers call
businessman Cojuangco as country’s worst employer Workers of the San Miguel
Corporation Group of Companies trooped to the company’s complex during its
annual stockholders’ meeting this week to denounce owner Eduardo Cojuangco’s
unjust labor practices. “Danding is the worst when
it comes to labor policies. We regard [him] as 'the boss from hell.’ He made the
working conditions of SMC employees a living hell – overworked and underpaid,"
they said. Romy Balatbat, president of
the workers union, said more than 10,000 regular workers were retrenched since
Cojuangco, a Marcos crony, became president and chief executive officer in
1998. Balatbat added that while
SMC earned P23 billion from 2001 to 2003, Cojuangco is also hell-bent in
contractualizing employees so they would receive lower wages and could not be
covered by benefits and Collective Bargaining Agreements.
* * * OFWs warned of
remittance agents linked to jueteng The Department of Labor and
Employment (DoLE) this week urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be
cautious in dealing with remittance agents following reports that jueteng lords
use these remittances in their operations. OFWs are made to believe
that their money is sent directly to their family, when it is actually being
kept by jueteng lords in foreign banks, acting Labor Secretary Manuel G. Imson
said. Imson said he is issuing a
directive to the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) to immediately inform
OFWs of the scheme. He also called on legitimate remittance agents to help curb
this illegal activity.
* * * Solon says $40 million
for AFP modernization will intensify war in Mindanao Bayan Muna Party-list Rep.
Satur Ocampo this week questioned the $40 million Washington fund intended to
modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National
Police. Ocampo said that the fund
will further fan the flame of the President’s all-out “war on terrorism” but
will undermine all attempts for peace talks between the government and groups
that are now branded as “terrorists” such as the Communist Party of the
Philippines. Ocampo, who is also chair
of the House Committee on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation, said this would not
resolve the Mindanao crisis.
© 2004 Bulatlat
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