Gov’t Employees Take to Streets for Higher Pay

Marcial Araba has been a street sweeper for 18 years. He works eight hours a day, five times a week for a monthly salary of P5,800 (US$106.74 at P54.34 = $1). To survive, he constantly borrows money at 20 percent interest, plunging him even deeper in poverty.

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat

Marcial Araba has been a street sweeper for 18 years. He works eight hours a day, five times a week for a monthly salary of P5,800 (US$106.74 at P54.34 = $1). To survive, he constantly borrows money at 20 percent interest, plunging him even deeper in poverty. Araba joined the rally of government employees last March 16 in the hope that this time, government will listen to their demand for a P3,000 across-the-board salary increase.

Low pay

Araba listed their usual expenses: “Upa sa kwarto P3,000, tubig P500,  ilaw P1,600.  P3,000 inaawas sa sweldo, P1,500 lang ang take home pay.”  (Room rent costs P3,000, water bill is P500, electricity bill is P1,600.  Three thousand pesos is deducted from my salary. My take home pay is only P1,500.)

His wife is also a Metro aide. To survive, he said they constantly borrow money.  “Nakasanla lagi ang [ATM] card namin sa 5-6.” (Our ATM cards are always pawned to creditors who get high interest rates.)  They also sell plastic materials gathered from sweeping to earn extra income.

Araba has three children. He said two of them will graduate this month, one from elementary and another from high school.  “[Kaso] Wala nga kaming pambayad ng diploma, P300 din iyon.”  (Only, we cannot pay for their diploma which costs P300 each.)

Araba added, “’Di ko alam kung makakapag-aral pa sa kolehiyo ang mga anak ko.  Hirap na hirap na kami.”  (I don’t know if we will be able to send them to college.  We are already in a deep crisis.)

Cora Manansala is a public school teacher at Maligaya High School in Fairview, Quezon City. Like most of her co-teachers, she receives the salary grade 2 of P10,180.    

She said their monthly expenses reach P20,000. “Pahirap sa akin yung Meralco.” (Meralco is a burden to me). Manansala’s electricity bill amounts to P3,500 a month, the telephone bill more than P1,000.  “Tipid pa kami niyan sa pagkain dahil vegatarian kami. Tipid ako sa pamasahe dahil sumasabay ako sa company service ng mister ko. Pambayad pa ng insurance, medical allowance...Updated din ako sa loans.”

Manansala said, “Kulang talaga sweldo. Kung iyon lang, baka kahit bagoong araw-araw, hindi matugunan.” (The salary is really not enough. Even if we eat shrimp paste everyday, it would still no be enough.)   

Manansala has two children.  Her youngest is enrolled at a private pre-school.  She said she pays P26,000 a year for tuition and other fees.  The eldest goes to a public elementary school.

She said it was good her husband, also a former teacher, is a project engineer and earns extra income as an agent.

Remedios Maltu, on the other hand, has been a nursing attendant at the San Lazaro Hospital for 19 years.  She earns P7,000 a month. 

She said they spend P250 a day for food, P1,000 for electricity and P500 for water.  “Kulang talaga ang sweldo. Sa mahal na bilihin, hindi aabot.  Pamasahe, tumataas din.”  To augment their income, she would sometimes sell viands to her co-workers.

Maltu, president of the San Lazaro Hospital Employees Association, an affiliate of the Alliance of Health Workers revealed that at least 20 percent of their members have a sideline. 

Maltu said one of her three children is a nursing student.  They spend P20,000 each semester for tuition and other fees.  “Nangungutang ako sa mga government agencies.”  (I get loans from different government agencies.)

She said, “Sweldo namin, hindi kayang umagapay sa pag-aaral ng aming mga anak.  Paano pa iyong may mga anak sa elementary at high school?” (Our pay is not enough for our children’s education. How much more those who have children in elementary and high school?)

Utility workers in government hospitals receive P5,082 a month.  Nurses are paid P9,939.30 while resident doctors get only P15, 841.35.

According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), a family of six needs P17,820 a month in order to survive.

Debt servicing over salary hike

Antonio Tinio, chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said, “The Macapagal-Arroyo government’s 2005 budget, signed into law March 15, has no provisions for salary increases of state workers while it authorizes the P646 billion for debt payments.”

The government needs P56.4 billion to respond to the demand of 1.4 million government employees for a P3,000 salary increase. 

Ferdinand Gaite, president of the Confederation for the Unity, Advancement and Recognition of Government Employees (COURAGE), said, “Our just demand for the immediate passage of a supplemental budget for P3,000 salary increase will provide some relief amid the skyrocketing prices of oil, utilities and basic goods.” 

Since 2001, the salaries of government employees have been frozen.  In 2000, they received a ten-percent (P440) and five percent in 2001 (P242). 

The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), meanwhile, lambasted Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order 366 for the retrenchment of 30 percent of 420,000 government employees.

Health workers from the Jose Memorial Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Tondo Medical Center, National Center for Mental Health, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Children’s Medical Center also joined the protest.

Nationwide protest

The National Day of Protest reverberated across the country.  Protest actions were also staged in Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan, Cabanatuan, Iloilo, Bacolod, Ilocos Sur, Bontoc, Isabela,  Baguio, Albay, Masbate, Cebu City, Tacloban, Butuan City, Kidapawan, Davao City and General Santos City.

In Maguindanao and Lanao provinces, some 4,000 public school teachers boycotted their classes against the delay of their salary for three months.  Bulatlat 

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