Light and funny, but sharp and insightful information video about the oil price hikes in the Philippines.
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May 1, 2011. By past 5 in the afternoon, the protest march had reached the gates of Mendiola, the road that leads to the Presidential palace. The “Peace Arch” gates had been shut, and thousands of police from across Metro Manila and soldiers deployed from Southern Tagalog were ordered assembled behind barbed wires and barricades. An over-reaction and an exaggeration it was.
President Aquino refused to appear before the thousands of workers and supporters that day, even if he had earlier sat down with “moderate” labor groups and promised them some crumbs in consolation. In an insulting display of his real biases, a few days later, President Aquino indulged the national employers’ confederation and attended their banquet (similarly attended by representatives form the foreign chambers of commerce) and assured them that he will not support a substantial legislated nationwide across-the-board wage hike. In short, the President vowed to protect big businessmen’s greed for profits through the pressing down of wages.
Minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) is stunted at a mere P404 a day. On the other hand, the daily cost of living for an ordinary family is pegged at almost P1,000 a day, making it barely possible for an ordinary family in NCR to make ends meet even when both parents are working. In the provinces, minimum wages are even lower, and even much lower for those working in the agriculture sector, even if the prices of many goods including processed foods and petroleum are more expensive in the provinces. In a blatantly ironic and tragic manifestation of the grave inequalities that pervade in the Philippines, the government, through the social welfare department, announced two days later that it will dole out rice subsidies–to farmers!
A recent survey showed that incidence of hunger in the country is at its highest in twelve years, and that more than half of the population rated themselves as poor.
Meanwhile, the productivity rate of Filipino workers actually increased over the past years, creating wealth for investors and capitalists. Business papers consistently report record billions in profits for companies the past years. Government reported that the economy grew by more than 7% in 2010. A research group had earlier correctly debunked the retrenchment and closure threats of companies saying that “Government data show that establishments in the country with total employment of 20 and over had combined profits of Php895.2 billion” and that a P125 nationwide wage hike will only cause a mere 15% cut in profits.
The demand for higher wages is thus not merely a whim of workers, but a just and timely demand for social justice that has been consistently denied them for decades under the ruling system. A P125 wage increase will not be sufficient to equitably distribute the wealth that the country collectively creates, but it will at least provide economic relief to millions of Filipinos. The present government’s rejection, even just of this simple demand, is a manifestation of its real character as merely an institution that preserves the status quo that serves the interests of a few, and thus justifies the people’s struggle for genuine social change.
More reading:
* Filipino workers must unite to expose and oppose the anti-worker US-Aquino regime
* Labor day outrage and paranoia
* Biggest show of protesters in May 1 ‘Day of Outrage’
* Mayo Uno: Hudyat ng mas matindi pang paglaban
* P13.35 too small a wage hike, employers should fight oil price hikes – KMU
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May 8, 2011
Kabataan Party-List “Larong Pinoy” Festival at Brgy. Old Capitol Site, Quezon City
May 1, 2011. As many as 25,000 people joined the Mayo Uno mobilization in the National Capital Region. Protests in other cities in the regions were also held and joined in by thousands more. Kilusang Mayo Uno reported that more than 65,000 Filipinos joined various protests and mobilizations across the country. 5,000 reportedly joined in Calamba City, Laguna; 15,000 in Masbate, Bicol; 5,000 in Davao City; 1,000 in Cagayan de Oro City; 3,500 in Caraga provinces; 3,000 in Bacolod City, and thousands more in other cities and urban centers.
At past 4 PM, the people began their march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola, at the crossroads that lead to the gates of Malacañang Palace. The protest march snaked through Lawton and Manila City Hall, across Pasig River via McArthur Bridge, through Avenida Rizal and into Recto Avenue until they reached Mendiola.
Chants of “Walang pagbabago sa ilalim ni Aquino!” “Sahod itaas! Presyo ibaba!” reverberated on the streets below the elevated trains of LRT’s 1 and 2, to the cheers of pedestrians and ordinary folk on the sidewalks.
May 1, 2011. From España Avenue, Manila, one of the contingents of the Mayo Uno mobilization marched towards Plaza Miranda where thousands of workers and supporters had a brief program and lunch break before converging with the other contingents in Liwasang Bonifacio.
By 1 PM, all contingents from across the National Capital Region converged on Liwasang Bonifacio and began the afternoon program where speakers from various labor organizations and unions, along with speakers from sectoral organizations took turns verbalizing the collective sentiment and the demands of the people for substantial higher wages.
President Aquino had earlier rejected the proposed P125 legislated wage hike towing the employers’ propaganda line that such significant wage hike would cause large scale retrenchments, closures and runaway inflation. In reality, businesses have been earning record profits the past decade and can actually afford a P125 across the board wage hike–only that they want to maintain their wide profit margins. Speakers during the program correctly criticized the Aquino administration for blatantly protecting and serving the interests of the local ruling elite and foreign capitalists running the big businesses in the Philippines.
Rapidly increasing prices of basic goods and services have pushed many millions of Filipinos to the thresholds of poverty and starvation. A recent survey showed that incidence of hunger in the country is at its highest in twelve years, and that more than half of the population rated themselves as poor. This, even if the poverty threshold has been lowered from a decade ago.
May 1, 2011. Thousands of Filipinos in the National Capital Region marched on the streets of Manila on Labor Day demanding for a nationwide hike in wages. Rising costs of goods, from petroleum products to food and other basic commodities and a regime of stunted wages to protect greedy investor and capitalist profits have been pushing millions of Filipino families into the threshold of poverty and starvation.
(In the picture above), one of four contingents set to converge at Liwasang Bonifacio marched along España carrying banners demanding for a nationwide hike in wages and a rollback of prices.
Towing the employers confederation’s line, the Aquino government earlier announced that it is not considering to support a P125 nationwide legislated wage hike, as it will allegedly cause runaway inflation, lay-offs and closures among businesses. A research group had earlier debunked such myth saying that a P125 wage hike will only cause a 15% cut in profits, which employers can very well afford. Militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno called such threats as mere blackmail.
(In the picture above) a banner in the rally reads, “Trabaho sa sariling bayan, hindi labor export policy!” (Jobs in our own country, not labor export policy!). The government’s failure to create jobs in the country through a policy of genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization has created a massive number of unemployed Filipinos whom the government effectively forces to seek precarious overseas employment to feed their families, through a policy of labor export. Such oversupply of labor also justifies the government’s rejection of any demand to substantially increase the minimum wage. Almost 10 million Filipinos, ten percent of the population, are currently working overseas.
Most instances or forms of violence against Filipino children are attributed to poverty. The increasing reported cases of violence against children are the social manifestations of a long history of poverty, characterized by a chronic or cyclical condition of deprivation of basic services that include basic education, health and nutrition services, livelihood or employment opportunities, durable housing and clothing. Poverty has affected several generations of a lot of Filipino families that has resulted in inadequate parental capabilities, strained family relationship and corrupted values.
In Congress a few months ago, a bill was being discussed in one House committee, something about penalizing corporal punishment on children. I didn’t quite follow the deliberations or how it had progressed. I just remember being told that we have to be cautious in supporting the bill in its present form, being a penal law, because it may become another poor man’s crime (the same way theft or vagrancy are).
Rampant forms of child abuse can never be eliminated unless the socio-economic conditions of families are addressed. The same way you can never address the problem of petty theft on the streets or the vagrancy of beggars unless you address the socio-economic issue of poverty in urban areas, we can never effectively prevent the abuse and exploitation of children in the Philippines unless we address the root causes of such exploitation. It is not merely a question of psychology, morality or the choice of means to discipline one’s children.
Workers unload bags of cement from a truck at a construction site. Photo by A. Chris Fernandez, from The News Today - Iloilo City
The matter is quite simple for millions of ordinary wage earners. The minimum wage (P404 at the National Capital Region/NCR, much lower in other regions) is a wage that is far from enough to meet the basic demands of the family (average cost of living for a family of six in NCR is almost P1,000 a day), not even when both parents are working. It is a wage of starvation.
But since dogmatic neoliberal economists and the present government insist on harping bankrupt economic doctrines to frustrate any demand for wage hike, let us indulge in them in some rebuttals and statistics:
(1) Businesses in the Philippines can afford a P125 wage hike without going bankrupt nor having to resort to lay-offs or shutdowns
You only have to read the business section of newspapers to see how profitable big businesses in the Philippines have become the past years, earning record billions of pesos year after year. You only have to read the papers to realize how the government harps on economic growth and progress every quarter (Government even claimed that the economy grew by more than 7% last year). If such is the case, why are the masses getting poorer and hungrier (read: Hunger incidence up – SWS)? Where is the wealth going? Your guess is as good as mine.
Here are some facts from research group IBON:
IBON noted that the economy actually has more than enough profits to support workers’ call for a Php125 wage increase. Government data show that establishments in the country with total employment of 20 and over had combined profits of Php895.2 billion and 2.74 million employees, according to the preliminary results of the 2008 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). (from: IBON: Wage increase justifiable, possible)
Here are another set of facts from former Presidential economic adviser Joey Salceda:
[The Philippines' top 1,000 corporations'] total earnings amounted to P3.1 trillion of which P2.1 trillion were pocketed as dividends or earnings of the stockholders and only P1 trillion were re-invested (from: Economic growth in 9 years did not touch poor)
Economic growth is not immediately felt because the proceeds are held by corporations, [Salceda] said… “Whew! They never had it so good. All the while I thought the primal reason for business is to provide for the nation” (from: Salceda cites GMA term as most pro-business)
Companies are, indeed, far from being bankrupt. It is their excuses which are bankrupt!
(2) Companies only have to yield a cut in their profits to avoid the imagined threat of runaway or spiraling inflation
Granting an across the board wage hike of Php125 means workers will receive an additional PhP3,802 per month, and that employers will spend an additional Php49,427 per employee per year (assuming 13 months of pay). The total cost of the proposed wage hike will only be Php135.6 billion which, subtracted from total profits, will still leave establishments with Php759.6 billion in profits. This is only a 15.1% cut in their profits. (from: IBON: Wage increase justifiable, possible)
All businesses have to do is to accept a meager 15% cut in profits to prevent inflation. Inflation will only be caused if capitalists pass on to consumers the wage hike and the cut in their profits. There is no need for them to increase the prices of their products or services if they simply yield. (It’s not as if they will go hungry. Probably one less overseas vacation for their families, but it definitely won’t hurt them.)
This is essentially giving back to the workers the wealth that they create. No Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gimmick can beat the just and equitable distribution of the wealth. Workers are not even asking for the dismantling of the capitalist exploitation inherent in the privatization of the collective mode of production. The immediate demand is simply a P125 across the board nationwide minimum wage hike which will provide economic relief to millions of families and which employers can very well afford.
Victor Villanueva
law student, leftist, national democratic, film school graduate, photography hobbyist