NEWS AT GLANCE 

MIGRANT WATCH
25 Filipino minors maltreated in Malaysia

Kabataan ng Migranteng Pilipino para sa Bayan (Kamiyan or Filipino Migrant Youth for the People) condemned Oct. 6 the reported inhumane treatment of Filipinos in Sabah, Malaysia, including the maltreatment and detention of 25 Filipino minors.

Mac Ramirez, Kamiyan secretary general said, “We are enraged that while Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed is in the country and the Royal Malaysian Airforce is freely holding military exercises on our soil, our poor kababayans (countrymen) are being treated like rags and garbage.”

At the same time, Ramirez also said that the increasing number of Filipinos choosing to enter Sabah illegally “is a clear testament of the utter failure of President [Gloria Macapagal-] Arroyo’s job creation program.” The escalating militarization by the government forces in Mindanao also drives thousand of Filipinos to flee and seek refuge in Sabah, he said.

Ramirez also reminded the Malaysian government “that their skyscrapers, roads and bridges were built by Filipino workers who they are now deporting and treating like animals.”

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Food coupons: A palliative solution

Bayan Muna Rep. Joel Virador said Oct. 6 that Malacañang’s food coupon scheme is a palliative and knee-jerk response to the recent Social Weather Station’s (SWS) survey showing that 15 percent of Filipinos are hungry.

Virador said that food rationing tends to mislead the people from the real issues which have led to the present economic crisis. He attributed the country’s economic woes to the wrong economic policies of the past and present administrations.

Instead of food coupons, he said, government should address food security by “breaking free from liberalization policies especially in agriculture.” He added that it should institute genuine price control mechanisms to protect consumers and generate jobs that will provide decent living wages to the people.

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LABOR  WATCH
No strike, no retrenchment policy favors employers ─ Maza

Gabriela Women’s Party-list Rep. Liza Maza said Oct. 5 that the no strike, no retrenchment pact between the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and other moderate labor groups and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) “curtails workers’ rights and is condemning them to the mercy of their employers.”

“It is naïve to think that workers and the employers can work out a pact on equal terms,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Elmer Calob, chair of the militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) said that the agreement was just an affirmation of TUCP’s pro-government, pro-capitalist orientation, and “formalization of its long tradition of yellow unionism.”

Maza also said that the government should stop using the current fiscal crisis “to cut through the people’s defense against further erosion of their right to a decent wage living. In seasons of crisis, the poor, who comprises the majority of the population should instead receive the highest protection from the government,” she said.

KMU encouraged TUCP member unions to oppose the strike moratorium agreement. Labog said that even TUCP members are launching strikes to assert their rights, like the one staged by militant seafarers at Sulpicio Lines.

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LABOR  WATCH
Labor chief: Employers’ spokesperson?

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) last week said that Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, in a desperate move to attract investors to the Philippines, has made clear her policy of protecting the interests of foreign investors over Filipino workers at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

APMM cited Taiwanese newspaper reports quoting Sto. Tomas as saying, “I will try everything legally and morally to protect the employers’ interests in labor disputes.”

She reportedly said, “the laws are clear. If the workers violate these laws, terminate them, and we will uphold the termination.”

APMM also cited cases where Sto. Tomas acted against the workers, including migrant workers. Among these was the imposition of fees on Filipino workers by Taiwanese brokers and the deduction of NT$2500 from the NT$4000 wages of Filipinos working in factories and constructions in Taiwan both in 2001.

“For everything she has done, Sec. Sto. Tomas must immediately give up her labor position and instead assume the position of being the employer’s group spokesperson,” said the APMM statement.

Bulatlat

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