Convene wage boards, Arroyo tells Sto. Tomas. (2024)

Byline: FERDIE MAGLALANG, JOEL ATENCIO, CHITO CHAVEZ, ELENA ABEN, RICO NAVARRO, & BERT JAVIER

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered yesterday Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to convene the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) and hear in 30 days the labor sectors incessant clamor for a wage increase.

The President issued the directive as she paid homage to the great Filipino workers whom she said deserve a new place under the sun where there are good jobs and good salaries, better education, cleaner environment and social justice for all.

Every day of the year should be dedicated as Labor Day, not just today. Every day should be a day we celebrate the working man and woman of our great country. Labor Day should be a day of rest not work, she said.

I hope every Filipino, rich and poor alike, takes time to reflect today on our God-given talents and the hardwork our friends, neighbors and citizens do every single day, to help themselves and help this nation, she added.

In the observance of Labor Day, President Arroyo met with leaders and representatives of various labor groups in Malacanang where she issued several directives to various department heads aimed at finding ways to alleviate the plight of Filipino workers.

The President told Sto. Tomas to push the various RTWPBs in resolving the clamor for a wage increase without waiting for the actual filing of petitions by labor groups. The latter have been pressing the government for an across-the-board increase of either P78 or P125 a day.

President Arroyo also issued the following directives to concerned officials:

1. Immediately conduct a study on the proposal reducing the withholding tax imposed on the wage earners;

2. Hold a tripartite (government-labor-employer) consultation and review on the proposals to amend the countrys Labor Code;

3. Include a labor sector representative in the committee reviewing the 1995 Oil Deregulation Law as well as the Price Coordinating Council;

4. Deploy more rolling stores nationwide, expand the coverage of the Philippine Health Insurance, and double the scholarship grants to families of overseas Filipino workers;

5. Improve the 50-hectare housing facility owned by the Employees Compensation Commission, push for the advancement of Filipino workers with disabilities, the accessibility

of loans and credits to workers union;

6. Hold job fairs for local and foreign employment; set up a R2-million fund for projects and programs initiated by organized labor groups, and swiftly resolve labor disputes.

The Chief Executive also asked Congress to pass a measure banning the importation of second-hand vehicles, except for trucks, buses and other special vehicles, like ambulances, and another measure increasing the salaries of government workers.

She also asked the business sector to secure the jobs of their employees who are overly burdened by the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities fueled by the recent successive increases in the prices of crude oil and other petroleum products.

I call on you to honor this day and every day the sweat of the brow of your employees who help give you a good life. In return, we must insure your workers have a decent wage, a decent workplace, and a decent quality of life, she said.

Mrs. Arroyo asked Sto. Tomas and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director Romulo Neri to conduct a regular dialogue between the governments economic team and labor sector starting this week to look at the sectors clamors.

Cops clash with militants

Police clashed with militant trade unionists in Quezon City yesterday afternoon while other worker groups staged peaceful rallies elsewhere in Metro Manila and other key cities of the country.

Tensions run high at the May Day event, fuelled by complaints about rising prices and pervasive corruption. There were some scuffles with baton-wielding police and a few arrests. The protesters were demanding wage increases. They were also protesting higher oil and power prices and the planned increase in the value-added tax.

At 3:00 p.m. yesterday at the Mabuhay Rotunda in Quezon City, militant labor groups accompanied by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes reportedly lost their temper and began throwing stones and other debris at elements of the Central Police District (CPD) Crowd Dispersal Team (CDT) because they were not allowed to join other protesters at the Luneta Park and Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.

CPD station 1 (La Loma) commander Supt. Allan Parreno identified one of those injured as Joseph Dago, 29, a resident of Road 3, Project 6, Quezon City. Dago suffered head injuries due to beatings by truncheon-wielding policemen.

Some 1,500 uniformed policemen were fielded by CPD director Chief Supt. Nicasio Radovan in Quezon City to ensure peace and order in yesterdays Labor Day rallies in Quezon City. Among those who were stopped at the boundary of Quezon City and Manila were protesters from the Peoples Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), Anakpawis, Gabriela, Bayan Muna, and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). They were wearing red t-shirts and black headbands.

Rallies went on until early night in other parts of the country as the 115,000-strong PNP observed the highest state of alert and vowed to thwart any attempt at violence.

All approaches to Malacanang were blocked with container vans, cyclone wires and checkpoints to prevent militants from marching towards the country's seat of power. Troopers from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying guns, as well as police anti-riot teams, were deployed.

"We are monitoring closely the events within and outside Metro Manila," PNP spokesman Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil said. "So far, it's generally peaceful," he said

A special security task force has been created in Metro Manila, and the 115,000-member national police force, including 18,000 in the National Capital Region, have been placed

on "red alert," officials said.

Philippine National Police-National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO) director Avelino Razon said labor rallies in Eastern Police District (EPD) and Southern Police District (SPD) were generally peaceful. No mass actions were reported over there, he said in a text message.

At least 10,000 pro-Arroyo and anti-government rallyists were held in simultaneous rallies at the Liwasang Bonifacio and Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

Some 6,000 rallyists gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park in Manila to express their support for the Arroyo administration. They called for a peaceful observance of the Labor Day.

The WPD-District Tactical Operations Center said around 4,000 protesters gathered at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Lawton. They lambasted Mrs. Arroyo's government as ''anti-poor and anti-workers.''

As this developed, the Western Police District Office (WPDO) raised the alert status of the police force with the deployment of additional policemen at the vicinity of Mendiola and Malacanang Palace in Manila.

''All entry and exit points in Malacanang were heavily-guarded. They cannot hold protest actions in the city except in the Liwasang Bonifacio,'' said Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong, WPDO director.

Personnel from WPDO, Philippine Marines, Presidential Security Group (PSG) and Philippine Army had been deployed to Mendiola to stop protesters from entering the Palace.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza warned the protesters not to provoke the police forces guarding the palace as the government is implementing a very tight security cordon there.

Leftist groups held an overnight vigil in a slum area along a railroad track in Manila as they prepared their streamers and other materials to be used in the protests.

Two alleged Philippine Army (PA) intelligence operatives were seriously injured after they were ganged up and mauled by rallyists at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Lawton, Manila, yesterday afternoon.

Beaten black and blue were Private First Class John Francis Fiesta, a member of Philippine Army - Military Intelligence 21, and Pvt. Henry Carumay, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reservist. They were identified through identification cards found in their possession.

The protesters bodily searched them and took the cameras and their IDs. The cameras were not recovered but the protesters turned over the duo's IDs to police.

The two who were in civilian clothes were allegedly gathering intelligence information at the rally in Liwasang Bonifacio when protesters approached them and then jointly mauled them.

The two injured intelligence operatives were reportedly taking pictures of the various militant groups' leaders using digital cameras at 1 p.m. yesterday. The two were brought by some officials of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), to the Western Police District Office.

Protesters paralyze traffic

In Manila, protesters calling for the Presidents ouster paralyzed traffic, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said.

The MMDA-Metrobase said the westbound lane of Quezon Ave. towards Quiapo was closed to traffic as an estimated 15,000 protesters converged at Welcome Rotunda at around 1 p.m.

Heavy traffic was also monitored along E. Rodriguez Avenue leading to and from Welcome Rotunda.

Traffic was heavy in Quiapo area, from Plaza Miranda towards Espana and Quezon Avenue because of the dozens of militant protesters vehicles parked along the roads.

Metrobase also reported heavy traffic in and around Liwasang Bonifacio, Welcome Rotunda, Mendiola and Luneta, the converging areas of the protesters.

The pro-Estrada group Peoples Movement Against Poverty, backed up by supporters of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., gathered at Plaza Miranda and moved to Liwasang Bonifacio at around 3 p.m., paralyzing traffic.

A crowd of protesters also gathered at Quirino Grandstand, Metrobase reported.

At around 3:30 p.m., Metrobase also cited a report from the Western Police District about the recovery of a Colt. 45 pistol at the Quirino Grandstand.

Well managed Labor Day observance

Authorities reported that yesterdays observance of Labor Day had beenwell managed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) saying everything went generally peaceful except for some minor incidents particularly at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City.

The PNP National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) said everything went well as they have expected with all the security preparations laid in place.

Earlier, Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes along with PNP Chief, Director General Arturo Lomibao and NCRPO Chief, DeputyDirector General Avelino Razon Jr., said they are anticipating a generally peaceful Labor Day celebration even as they directed police personnel in the field to exercise maximum tolerance.

Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. of the NCRPO said the biggest bulk of rallyists were PRO-GMA groups who converged at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.Their number reached more than 20,000.

Before converging at the Quirino Grandstand, the PRO-GMA rallyists first met at certain points as Welcome Rotunda, Ramon Magsaysay Highschool in Espana, and in front of Isetann in Quiapo. From there, they marched towards Quirino Grandstand where they held a peaceful rally. The crowd voluntarily dispersed at around 4:30 p.m.

On the other hand,various militant and labor groups also staged their mass actions in areas such as the Liwasan Bonifacio where the number of rallyists reached its peak at about 5,000 as estimated by the police around 1:30 p.m. The rallyists also peacefully voluntarily dispersed afterwards.

Some militant groups likewise staged protest rallies at Plaza Miranda, Monumento in Caloocan City and Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.

Some 500 members of militant and labor group also conducted a rally at the Rotunda in Quezon City which was marred when the protesters attempted to push their way through the barricade put up by the police.

Radovan said it was the rallyists who provoked the disorder as they (policemen) were merely implementing orders given to them not to allow the protesters to go to Manila.

The NCRPO said while it has declareda generally peaceful observance of Labor Day, they are still continuously monitoring the situation.

At the same time, the NCRPO disclosed that security had been tightened especially invital installations in the metropolis following the discoveryof a powerful bomb at the

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) building in Quezon City.

Among those being closely guarded include embassies, government officies, power plants,oil depot, and communication facilities.

Security forces in the metropolis were augmented by a contingent from the Armed Forces of thePhilippines (AFP), and police personnel from nearby regions as part of the preparations for the May 1 celebration.

Peaceful rally in Marikina

MARIKINA CITY About 2,000 members of the Manila Bay and Coats Labor Union held a peaceful rally yesterday in celebration of Labor Day at the ground floor of the Marikina City Hall and on the quadrangle calling for the government to stop supporting the doctrine of globalization and trade liberalization which they said was the root of mass poverty. They also called for a stop to widespread corruption in the government and in the private sector.

The Manila Bay and Coats Labor Union affiliated under the Buklurang Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), president Ruel Sadiau explained to his members the government does not have any safety nets to impose against the doctrine of globalization and liberalization on the investment of the capitalists in every country.

On their circulated newsletter the BMP lambasted the Arroyo government for the continuing increases in the prices of oil among other complaints.