The Philippine Online Chronicles

Labor groups and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) have been pushing for decent labor conditions in the country, as unsatisfactory local opportunities reportedly lead at least 4,500 Filipinos daily to leave the country to look for jobs abroad. Others continue to dialogue with their employers, not always to a good outcome, such as the dispute between the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the PAL Employees Association, where DOLE has resumed jurisdiction.

During the campaign period, labor groups and workforces wondered about the labor issues from the Presidential candidates. Labor goups sent their questions to DOLE, which in turn asked the Philippine Online Chronicles and Blog Watch to determine what the presidential candidates have planned, labor-wise. These were the response of presidential candidates on the labor groups' platform queries. The first presidential candidate to submit an answer was President-elect Noynoy Aquino. Here are his answers to the labor groups' questions.

1. How will you create jobs and promote decent work? Are you going to actively promote overseas employment?

Filipinos are hardworking, productive and creative, and all we need is the opportunity to work. But jobless growth has denied a fourth of our people the dignity of work. More Filipinos are jobless today than nine years ago – about 11 million in 2008 or 27.9 percent of our people (SWS). Jobs are urgently needed now to stop the worsening of poverty, but we must also invest for the future by making sure we have a healthy and well-educated citizenry who are capable of working in today’s global knowledge based economy.

JOB GENERATION IS A PRIORITY IN MY PLATFORM. To address hunger and poverty, we need an Emergency Community Employment Program (ECEP) to create jobs immediately so our people can have income to spend for their basic needs. We shall do this by building and repairing barangay roads, schools, health centers, irrigation and other labor intensive projects.

We will increase investments to provide quality jobs for Filipinos by lowering the costs of doing business in our country by leveling the playing field for businesses and streamlining business procedures on a national as well as the local level.

We will also strategically target assistance to small and medium enterprises, and key industries where we have a competitive advantage to maximize our potential for job generation and directly target industries with the greatest potential for growth and where the Philippines has a competitive advantage, industries that have already been identified by domestic and foreign business groups and include agribusiness, business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, sociallyresponsible mining and tourism and retirement.

Finally, we will invest in our country’s top resource, our human resource, to make us more competitive and employable by overhauling basic education and strengthening our basic education.

Concerning overseas employment, there is nothing wrong with seeking opportunities abroad to improve one’s life, but when our people are left with no other choice but to leave their spouses and children just to find a decent paying job, then there is something fundamentally wrong in our economy. Government’s strategic employment policy should be to create jobs at home so that working abroad will be a choice and not a necessity.

2. How do you view contractualization of labor vis-a-vis security of tenure?

“Contractualization” is made possible because of the state of the economy, which does not produce enough jobs for our growing work force and the loopholes in the Labor Code. The solution is to grow the economy, generate more jobs, enforce the Labor Code and plug these loopholes that some employers use and abuse to circumvent the spirit if not the letter of the law.

3. A lot of trade unionists get fired for union activities. Some even get threatened or killed. How will you protect the rights of trade union leaders and their organizations?

First, we must promote not only the constitutionally protected rights of workers but also their right to participate in the policymaking process.

Second, government, the private sector and labor must strengthen tripartite cooperation so we can promote industrial peace. That is the only way we can attract investments to generate jobs and boost economic growth. We must arrive at a new consensus or a new partnership based on mutual respect and trust that will bring stability and nurture an environment for sustainable development.

Third, we will reform labor arbitration and adjudication systems by streamlining procedures, removing red tape, and at the same time, restore integrity and fairness in the system.

Finally, we will have to align our country’s policies with international treaties and ILO conventions in a sound and realistic manner.

4. How do you view wages:

a. Should the minimum wage be increased now? If yes, by how much?

As much as possible, we should aim for the best wages that can provide a better quality of life for all Filipinos. But increasing the amount of wages will take into consideration all the indices set by law, which include, among others, regional indicators. However, wages are not the only element in our strategy to improve the quality of life. Our health program, for instance, aims for universal health insurance coverage for all Filipinos. We also have a concrete program to improve basic education in the country. These are critical factors for improving the lot of workers.

b. How should wages be set?

According to the law, the following are considerations in setting wages:

a) The demand for living wages;

(b) Wage adjustment vis-a-vis the consumer price index;

(c) The cost of living and changes or increases therein;

(d) The needs of workers and their families;

(e) The need to induce industries to invest in the countryside;

(f) Improvements in standards of living;

(g) The prevailing wage levels;

(h) Fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers;

(i) Effects on employment generation and family income; and

(j) The equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development.³

5. Are you in favor of Unemployment Insurance? How should this be established and managed?

It is something we have to look into and study more closely. As an alternative, we will strengthen social protection programs such as social security, workmen’s compensation, health insurance and housing for these laid off workers to enable their families to survive situations, which would otherwise force them into significant debt and lowered standards of living. We shall also strengthen the Emergency Community Employment Program (ECEP) to create jobs immediately so people can still have income to spend for their basic needs.

6. Many labor cases are still lodged at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) without being acted upon. Including the appeals process, some cases take seven years before being resolved. How do you plan to speed up the disposition of labor cases. Would you consider abolishing the NLRC?

No. There has to be a venue for labor adjudication and arbitration. The expertise is there. We will also reform labor arbitration and adjudication systems towards its streamlining and full efficiency. We will also invest in continuous capacity building programs for their personnel.

The NLRC, together with other government offices will be streamlined and rationalized so that agencies have clear-cut and distinct mandates in order to spur greater efficiency and accountability.

Consistent with out good governance platform, performances of government agencies and civil servants will be evaluated rationally and systematically through an effective and measurable performance management system to be approved by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) Performance Management System-Office Performance Evaluation System (PMS-OPES) will be linked with the DBM Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF) to ensure accountability of government agencies and officials.

7. How will you prepare workers for climate change? How will you promote green jobs?

An Aquino Administration will encourage and support the growth of the Greening Industry and Business. We will strengthen government-industry partnership for environmental protection and promote waste reduction and the adoption of resource-saving environmental protection technologies.

We will also encourage green policies and processes in the industry sector and provide incentives for such actions and create green jobs – jobs in renewable energy projects, upland and organic farming, ecotourism, transport drivers using LPG- and electric- fueled vehicles.

Finally, it is vital to launch a broad information and education campaign about climate change and our environment so our people and key decision makers in public and private sector can get involved in addressing this phenomenon effectively and in a sustained manner.

8. Do you think workers should get more tax exemptions? Is it time to revert the Value Added Tax to 10 percent?

Workers have already been granted tax exemptions recently. We will not be raising taxes but instead we will increase our revenues to refrain from imposing additional taxes and burdens on our people.

To increase revenues, we will plug revenue leakages by having competent and trustworthy tax collectors and broadening the tax base. We’ll target raising the tax collection efficiency rate by at least 2% from the present 12 to 13. Two percentage points translates to P 150 Billion in new revenue without raising taxes. We can collect more taxes at the BIR and higher duties at Customs if we seriously clamp down on tax evasion in curbing tax evasion and smuggling.

9. Should Domestic Workers enjoy the same rights as other types of workers like those in manufacturing and services, i.e. rate of wages, occupational safety and health, overtime pay, etc.?

No. The rights of each worker will depend on the services rendered and the occupational hazards and risks they are exposed to.

10. What is the role of the labor movement in national development?

Labor movements have a significant role to play in formulating our labor laws and policies, they are the ones who uphold and protect the rights of workers and look after their welfare. However, we believe that a tripartite system composed of the government, labor and the private sector partnership will and effectively implement our labor laws and regulations. It is through a strong tripartism based on mutual respect and trust that we can attain industrial peace and stability necessary to create jobs in the country.