President Benigno “PNoy” S. Aquino III said in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2010 that “creating jobs is foremost in our agenda”. Last July 25, 2011, in his second SONA, he declared that the government was able to decrease the unemployment rate by 0.8%.
Now, why did the Kilusang Mayo Uno, a labor-centered organization, slammed the President and said that the scheme of labor is getting worse in the Aquino administration therefore giving his second SONA and the performance of his administration a failing grade of 5? What happened to the social transformation objective of PNoy? What is the real state of the labor industry?
First, the Aquino government allowed the contractualization plan of Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines via outsourcing scheme which resulted to a cut back of more than 2, 600 regular workers who were re-hired as contractual workers. Second, the government failed to charge ABS-CBN, a Lopez-owned company, for illegally terminating its more than 100 workers. Third, PNoy retained Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular No. 268 which outsourced all banking functions and forced its regular employees to lose their jobs and instead, be re-hired as contractuals.
In short, labor contractualization is being acknowledged by PNoy; hence, sooner or later, “this country will be a nation of contractuals”, according to Rogelio Soluta, KMU Secretary-General.
Hostage and Hold-up Victims
Contractual workers are sufferers of contractualization. They are victims of hostage and hold-up of criminal companies. In the latter case, the hold-uppers would kick them out the company and leave them with nothing; likewise, in the former, these workers are forced to choose whether to lose their jobs or stay in the company not as regular employees but as contractuals who are subject to less pay and less benefits.
These workers, through contractualization, are robbed of their rights. For the Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon, contractualization is viewed as “a practice and an unofficial policy, (which) undermines internally recognized rights of labor, especially security of tenure, right to self-organization and the right to bargain collectively”.
It’s like a “with or nothing situation”. Not even an “all or nothing scenario”. Worst, the current government fails to make these criminal companies accountable to the victims. In contrast to his promise in his first SONA, PNoy is obviously prioritizing those big foreign companies and capitalists, which proves that “the Aquino government does not at all value the Filipino workers and people”, Soluta said.
Challenge for PNOY
Different questions were left unanswered in the second SONA of PNoy. Labor organizations were unsatisfied with his claim in relation to improved job opportunities for this year. Yes, there are job opportunities but most are just temporary so he cannot brag about his administration’s accomplishment regarding the 0.8% decrease in unemployment.
Unless otherwise he plans to establish a new institution that will promote labor contractualization and unemployment that will continuously rob and deprive the rights of the country’s laborers, the President, together with the Congress, should make substantive reforms and fulfill his promise. Judy Ann Miranda, the Secretary-General of Partido ng Manggagawa, insisted that PNoy should “jumpstart his so-called social transformation agenda by reversing the Office of the President decision on PAL, declaring the security of tenure bill as a priority agenda and implement a massive public employment program”.
Good governance is not only achieved by the eradication of the “wang-wang” system. PNoy’s administration should associate his accountability measures with responsiveness. To be responsive is to be able to provide for the people’s needs, one is a permanent and not a contractual job. The government can only generate more jobs not by accountability alone nor by being just responsive. It is by way of mastering the art of combining the two elements of good governance: accountability and responsiveness.
Kat Ongoco
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