WAGE HIKE SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO WORKERS-EMPLOYERS NEGOTIATIONS

August 5, 2007

WAGE HIKE SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO WORKERS-EMPLOYERS

NEGOTIATIONS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,

Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said any hike in the minimum

daily wage should be the product of negotiations

between workers and management.

Pimentel said it may be useless for Congress to pass a

law raising the pay of workers if employers will not

comply with it because of financial incapability and

because it would force them to lay off workers or

close shop.

“I think wage increases should be the subject of

negotiations by the labor unions in the case of

companies with organized workers; by the regional wage

boards if there are no unions,” he said.

Pimentel said it is not wise to impose a uniform,

across-the-board wage hike because the economic

conditions and cost of living vary among the various

regions.

“The cost of living is not the same all over the

country. Some areas are cheaper while the others are

more expensive. How much increase should be granted to

workers? Enough to sustain the needs of the family

with extra for leisure,” he said.

-o0o-

========================

Friday, November 04, 2005

Arroyo asks Congress to fix workers’ pay

MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo acknowledged Thursday that the Reformed Value-Added Tax Law has raised the prices of goods and urged Congress to enact a “reasonable” minimum wage law to ease workers’ burdens.

However, she also refused to suggest an amount, and said the wage increases given to private workers by the regional wage boards starting last June were in anticipation of the RVAT Law’s scheduled implementation last July 1.

Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said it is up to Congress to balance the interests of labor and employers in coming up with an “acceptable” and “well-deserved” legislated wage rate.

However, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other business groups objected to Malacañang’s proposal and warned that businesses will close with the added labor costs.

Labor unions in Cebu are considering asking for a wage increase, as workers start feeling the effects of the RVAT on their cost of living.

After being earlier delayed by the Supreme Court, the RVAT took effect last Nov. 1.

Contradictory

Bunye declined to say whether Arroyo will certify as urgent the House bills seeking a P125 per day across-the-board wage increase and the bill fixing a minimum wage rate. He said figures should be negotiated by the stakeholders and the lawmakers.

He also did not answer queries on whether Arroyo discussed the matter with her Cabinet, because Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and Budget Secretary Romulo Neri told separate radio interviews that a legislated wage increase would not be good for the country.

“The President is really after the welfare of the average Filipino and the labor sector comprises a big sector of our citizenry. This is something that all administrations would like to push, and the President is particularly interested this time because of the conditions we are facing,” Bunye said.

Since the RVAT Law took effect last Nov. 1, Arroyo said the country is “already reaping the gains of fiscal stability,” citing the peso’s rise to a five-month high against the dollar this week and a surge in Philippine share prices to a three-month high.

“Further down the road, we expect our credit ratings to improve as the world looks towards a new vibrancy in our economy,” the President said.

No controls

Right now, though, the more immediate concern of consumers are the rising costs of goods and services.

Without a law mandating price controls and imposing penalties for traders who overprice their goods, the Cebu City Government can only monitor the prices of goods to guide the consumers.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said Thursday that unless a price control law is passed or a state of emergency is declared, City Hall cannot close erring establishments.

Since the City’s immediate response is limited to price monitoring, the mayor appealed to traders to do business fairly to help consumers cope with the effects of the RVAT Law.

“I would like to ask establishments here to demonstrate solidarity with the community. Can you please sell one of your products at cost? Can you please put one basic commodity on sale to at least cushion the shock? I think that’s not too much to ask,” he said.

In a news conference Thursday, Osmeña said there is no such thing as overpricing at this time and the City cannot run after establishments accused of overpricing.

Silent laws

“We are not under a price control, so technically, there’s no such thing as overpricing. Overpricing means no one wants to buy it because the price is too high and we can’t run after traders on that basis alone,” he said.

Much as they want to apprehend traders who will overprice their goods, the local price monitoring council also found out that local laws are silent on penalties.

City Planning Officer Nigel Paul Villarete also lamented that the City has no basis in saying that some goods are overpriced, since the price ceilings of basic commodities have not been set.

For his part, Chester Cokaliong, chief operating officer of Cokaliong Shipping Lines, said that at first, the new tax measure was an additional burden only to passengers because shipping companies just pass on to them the 10 percent RVAT.

However, ship operators began to suffer an increase in operating costs after their suppliers, especially for fuel, added 10 percent RVAT to their billings.

Tax holiday

Florentino Palacio, president and general manager of FJP Shipping Lines, earlier urged the government to provide shipping operators a tax holiday on imported vessel parts and access to credit facilities with minimal interest rates.

He said they got no response from their call.

Lawyer Democrito Barcenas, a member of the board of directors of the Gloria Step Down Movement, said the revenues that will be earned from RVAT will not necessarily go to social services.

“We all know that around 56 to 90 percent of the RVAT will go to the payment of foreign debt,” he said in an interview with GMA 7.

To guide consumers where they can buy goods at a lower price, the monitoring council set up a hotline where consumers can report complaints of drastic price increases.

Through hotline number 253-9904, the public may also report any activity of traders that tends to take advantage of the RVAT Law.

Blackboards will also be put up in the north and south bus terminals, SM City terminal, Fuente Osmeña area and Plaza Independencia to inform the public where goods are sold at a lower price and the prevailing prices of consumer products.

According to the Oct. 25 to Nov. 2 price monitoring of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), there is no abnormal increase yet on the prices of basic commodities in the supermarkets and some construction materials.

City Administrator Francisco Fernandez asked DTI and other members of the council for a weekly report of their monitoring. (LCR/EOB/AIV of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)

====================

Date: November 3, 2005

Ref: Omeng / (02) 5526731

http://www.nenepimentel.org

ARROYO-RAMOS-DE VENECIA DEAL A MOCKERY OF

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS — PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,

Jr. (PDP-Laban) today accused President Gloria

Macapagal-Arroyo, former President Fidel Ramos and

Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. of making a mockery of

the constitutional amendment process by forging a

shameful agreement in which the President will be

allowed to stay in power until 2010 if a parliamentary

system is adopted and an election under the new system

of government is held in 2007.

Pimentel said the Arroyo-Ramos-De Venecia deal in

effect, pre-empted the Citizens Consultative

Commission and even Congress on the issue of whether

the position of president will be retained and whether

Ms. Arroyo’s term will be shortened in case of a shift

from presidential to a parliamentary system.

“Now the cat is out of the bag. President Arroyo is

really not in favor of any cut in her term. Now that

Mrs. Arroyo has spoken her about stand on the issue,

do you think the Con-Com, which is a creation of the

President, will defy her on her wish to leave her term

of office undisturbed?” he said.

The minority leader said the President’s self-serving

posture against any diminution of her term confirms

his suspicion that she is merely using Charter Change

to prolong her stay in office and divert the public

attention away from the ouster and resignation calls

of a citizenry outraged over her abuse of the powers

of the presidency.

It also unmasks the deceit and double talk of Messrs.

Ramos and De Venecia in publicly declaring that the

President must cut short her term only to make a

complete turnaround later, perhaps upon realizing that

they have so much to lose if President Arroyo is eased

out of office.

Pimentel also criticized Speaker De Venecia and

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita for asserting that

the President’s term will not be affected if election

for members of parliament is held in 2007.

He said they have conveniently forgotten that in a

parliamentary system, the prime minister is head of

government who wields both executive and legislative

powers while the president is usually only a titular

or ceremonial head.

“Or are they trying to foist upon the people the

bastardized parliamentary system that we witnessed

during the Marcos authoritarian rule in which then

President Ferdinand Marcos continued to control the

government while the prime minister was reduced to

being a mere presiding officer of parliament?”

Pimentel said.

The lone senator from Mindanao maintained that there

could be no genuine moves for constitutional reforms

for as long as Mrs. Arroyo is in office because she is

using Charter Change for her own political survival at

the expense of the long-term interest of the Filipino

people.

-o0o-

========================

MUSLIM TERRORISTS ARE BRUTISH CRIMINALS

By Menardo Wenceslao

It is a common theme among the Muslim terrorists in the Philippines that they espouse religious fervor but quickly turn to crime of the vilest sort. Members of Abu Sayyaf and other such bands engage in kidnapping, thievery and drug trafficking. In a recent example, Philippine soldiers on September 13 captured the Muslim rebel gangster responsible for the abduction of an Italian priest and five Chinese engineers. Nurham Ali, also known as “Commander Ramsey,” was a leader of the so-called Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang. Soldiers caught him late that night at an army checkpoint in Leon Postigo town in the southern island of Mindanao. Army Lieutenant-General Hermogenes Esperon said Ali was one of the most wanted fugitives in the Philippines and had a bounty of 500,000 pesos on his head.

Ali’s gang consists entirely of former Muslim separatist rebels who turned to crime. The gang made its nefarious reputation mainly for kidnapping Christians and foreigners and holding them for ransom in Mindanao. General Esperon said operations would continue against both the Pentagon and the Abu Sayyaf, the other Muslim kidnapping gang active in the south.

Ali abducted Italian priest Giuseppe Pierantoni from his convent in Dimataling town in October 2001 and held the cleric hostage for six months. The Pentagon group also took five Chinese engineers working on a government irrigation project in Carmen town in 2001. Two of the Chinese died during a rescue attempt.

In another criminal case, a former Abu Sayyaf field commander went on to form a cattle rustling gang. In early September, army troops killed him and wounded several of his followers during a gun battle on the outskirts of Tuburan town. The dead man is Ala Kahal, alias Commander Alkal, leader of an Abu Sayyaf unit that used to operate in the towns of Tuburan, Tipo-Tipo and Maluso. Troops of the army’s 18th Infantry Battalion were on a patrol mission when they discovered Kahal and 15 armed companions stealing cattle. The exchange of gunfire lasted 20 minutes. Kahal was the subject of a number of arrest warrants for cattle rustling.

Abu Sayyaf members are also engaged in illegal drug trafficking. This became evident to authorities over a year ago when, in the Muslim community in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, police arrested 12 of the terrorists with packages of shabu, the local name for methamphetamine hydrochloride. The group began trafficking in drugs to finance its operations in Mindanao, but went on with the crime for the sake of personal wealth. Not only do the terrorists smuggle drugs for the profits, but many of them use the drugs as well. In this way they bolster their courage to conduct murderous attacks.

As older terrorists are arrested for one crime or another, a new generation emerges as Abu Sayyaf and its Indonesian comrades in Jemaah Islamiyah look for recruits. A captured suspect in the August 29 bomb attack at Kabacan, North Cotabato, admitted that students are being used by the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group in their violent operations. Army Major Lao Lucas, chief of the 42nd Civil Relations Unit, said Jemaah Islamiyah recruits young schoolchildren to be trained in bomb making and as future bombers in Mindanao.

According to Lucas, the new recruits are students from the towns of Kabacan, Midsayap and Carmen in North Cotabato and Esperanza municipality in Sultan Kudarat province. The JI recruiters pretended to be members of an agriculture organization and told the students they would be taught to plant mangoes. “But instead of sowing mangoes,” Lucas said, “the recruits were trained in planting home-made explosives.”

Even in this case the real intent is criminal, as Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah turned to extortion. The terrorist-criminal plan is to send messages to their targeted victims, asking for protection money under threat of the bomb attacks. Firm evidence was found the week of September 5, when police arrested Abas Calim and Michael Yap while the two opened an account with a bank in Midsayap town. Lucas said the officers found copies of several messages sent by Calim to Mayor Tan and some businessmen in Kabacan. The messages, besides warning of the attacks if demands were not met, carried Calim’s bank account number where the payments should be made.

Such corruption by Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf discourage development aid from foreign investors. It is the people that suffer the most from these criminal networks. It is imperative that our government seek to root out these foreign extremists who only seek to destroy our country for their illicit gains.

=====================

Date: November 2, 2005

Ref: Omeng / (02) 5526731

http://www.nenepimentel.org

GMA CLUTCHING AT THE STRAWS – PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,

Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the reported decision of

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during a “secret”

meeting with Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and former

President Fidel Ramos, to agree on a parliamentary

election in 2007 while allowing herself to stay in

office until 2010 showed that she is out of touch with

reality and she is insensitive to the overwhelming

public clamor for her resignation or ouster.

“President Arroyo is clutching at the straws. Hoping

to escape public opprobrium for palpable misdeeds,”

Pimentel said.

The minority leader said the insistence of Mrs. Arroyo

to stay in power until 2010, despite having lost her

credibility and moral right to govern, also exposes

her continuing deception of the people in the light of

her previously recanted statements on vital issues of

the day.

“Such harebrained scheme won’t pass the legislative

scrutiny,” Pimentel said.

He advised the President to heed the popular call for

her immediate resignation, together with Vice

President Noli de Castro, so that a snap presidential

election can be held.

Pimentel also said the President’s self-serving plan

further showed that she is exploiting Charter Change

to prolong her stay in office while giving the false

impression that she is pursuing constitutional

reforms.

-o0o-

=====================

Snap election?

First posted 00:34am (Mla time) Oct 31, 2005

By Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J.

Inquirer News Service

THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE 1973 CONSTITUTION which said that you could

have a snap election for the presidency during the term of a sitting

president. Yet we had it, and with the full blessing of the Supreme

Court. How did it happen?

There is nothing in the 1987 Constitution which says we can have a

snap election during the term of a sitting president, even if the

legitimacy of the sitting president should be under fire. Can we have

it nonetheless, and with the full blessing of the Supreme Court? Does

the silence of the Constitution mean consent?

It should be instructive to review how the 1986 election happened.

It may be recalled that in 1985, President Ferdinand Marcos, probably

exasperated by the continuing attacks coming from the opposition,

issued a dare. He was willing to submit himself to a snap election

before the end of his term. Responding to that dare, the Batasang

Pambansa enacted BP 883 calling for special national elections on Feb.

7, 1986 for the offices of president and vice president of the

Philippines.

As would be expected, petitions, 11 of them, were filed before the

Supreme Court, asking that BP 883 be declared unconstitutional.

On Jan. 7, 1986, seven justices-Chief Justice Ramon Aquino, Justices

Claudio Teehankee, Hermogenes Concepcion Jr., Vicente Abad Santos,

Efren Plana, Venicio Escolin and Lorenzo Relova-voted to dismiss the

petitions. Former Chief Justice Enrique Fernando and former Sen.

Ambrosio Padilla, acting as amici curiae, both urged the Supreme Court

not to prevent the people from expressing their sovereign will.

For their part, five justices-Hugo Gutierrez Jr., B.S. de la Fuente,

Serafin Cuevas, Nestor B. Alampay and Lino M. Patajo-voted to declare

BP 883 unconstitutional.

Under the 1973 Constitution, eight votes were needed to declare a law

unconstitutional. Thus, the 7-5 vote was not enough to nullify BP 883

and the election was allowed to proceed. Can something similar happen

again today?

While indeed neither the 1973 Constitution nor the 1987 Constitution

has a provision on mid-term presidential election, there were factors

obtaining in 1986 which do not exist today.

The first important factor, of course, was that President Marcos had

expressed his willingness to resign. His resignation, however, was

prospective and conditional. He said that his resignation would take

effect only if he should lose in a snap election. Was that a valid

resignation? As Justice Plana put it, “Not being prohibited, a

presidential resignation in futuro is allowed.”

The glaring fact today is that the incumbent President has no desire

whatsoever to resign, not now or in some future date.

The second glaring difference is that in 1986 there was no incumbent

vice president. Today, we have Vice President Noli de Castro waiting

to step in should a vacancy occur by resignation. And he himself has

no desire to resign. Constitutionally, the presidency is his should Ms

Arroyo resign.

Why was there no vice president in 1986? As former Vice President

Emmanuel Pelaez pointed out as amicus curiae, the 1984 constitutional

amendment which had restored the Office of the Vice President did not

make such restoration immediately effective. It would take effect only

after the end of the term of the incumbent president on June 30, 1987.

Pelaez had helped in the drafting of the 1984 amendment. He said that

Marcos was “allergic to vice presidents.”

A third glaring difference is that in 1986 the legislature was in

favor of a snap election. They passed BP 883. Today, while I have my

doubts whether the Senate would favor a snap election, I have no doubt

whatsoever that the supporters of Ms Arroyo, who hold a majority in

the House of Representatives, will not risk losing their heroine and

patroness.

In 1986, therefore, there was an agreement between the executive and

legislative departments. Also, some of the petitions against BP 883

were expressly withdrawn or impliedly abandoned. Arturo Tolentino

himself, the foremost opponent of BP 883 put aside his “personal

objections” and accepted the KBL’s nomination as vice-presidential

candidate to run with Mr. Marcos.

The united opposition likewise realized the urgency of obtaining a

popular mandate and rallied behind the candidacy of Cory C. Aquino.

In the face of all these, what was the Supreme Court to do? As Justice

Teehankee put it: “The real issue at bar has thus veered from the

purely justiciable issue of the questioned constitutionality of the

Act due to the lack of an actual vacancy in the Office of [the]

President and transferred itself into a political question that can

only be truly decided by the people in their sovereign capacity in a

fair, clean and honest election.”

Thus the stage was set for the event which culminated in the

catapulting of Aquino to the presidency.

We are far from having a similar scenario today. The Supreme Court

would be hard put justifying a snap election today by recourse to the

political question doctrine.

There is another factor yet, which the advocates of a snap election

will have to confront. If it should happen, who would be their

candidate? They would have to defuse a ticking fragmentation bomb. In

1985-1986, I was a member of the Convenor Group, later dubbed as the

Council of Trent, which worked to find a suitable candidate to run

against President Marcos. We scoured the field for a suitable

candidate, but none of the known political figures in the opposition

could get the united support of the various segments of the

opposition. It was only Cory Aquino who could get that support.

Who among the would-be-presidents can command that kind of unified

support today? No one.

=====================Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Passenger motor groups won’t seek fare hike

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

MOTORELA organizations leaders here in the city said they are not going to file any petition for an increase on the motorela minimum fare from P5.00 to P6.00 yet.

Federation of Motorela Operators and Drivers of Cagayan de Oro-Solidarity Transportation Alliance in Region X (Fedmoco-Starex) secretary general Francisco Ocay said several motorela groups would not be submitting any petition for a motorela fare hike to the City Government of Cagayan de Oro.

Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo

And in a TV interview opposition Councilor Zaldy Ocon said he favors an increase in motorela fare rates if only to level the earnings of the motorela drivers and operators.

The councilor was also quoted as having said that there shouldn’t even be a hearing on a fare rate petition for motorela drivers.

Meanwhile Ocay who is the chairman of the Kagayha-an Samahan ng Maralitang Tsuper (Kasama Tsui) told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro that a meeting with the leaders of motorela organizations was held early this month.

“Nagkasabot mi nga dili usa mangayo ug increase sa pletehan (We have agreed not to ask for any fare rate increase),” he said.

Ocay said the following motorela groups joined in the agreement not to ask for a fare hike: Among those who joined the Femeco-Starex meeting were Godsvaco president Moises dela Pena, GFMOD-MPC president Kag. Robert Bolong, Cocamoda president Edgar Tutor, Ocamoda president Kagawad Celso delos Santos and Dumper president Ely Valduhuesa.

Punishing brethren

Also, Cococamoda president Alejandro Carreon, Nazroda president Rodrigo Deloy, CMODA officers Orlando Limpot and Zaldy Pinalba, Butimoda pres Manuel Baclayo, Modca president Romeo Lura among others.

Ocay said their group members have made a consensus that they want the salaries and wages of the workers to increase first in the region before they would ask the city government of Cagayan de Oro to raise their fare rates.

“Kay kami nagdepende man sa among mga pasahero kung dili na makabayad sa plete ang mga pasahero labi na ang mga mamumuo maglisud naman usab mi ug pangayo ug usbaw (For we depend much on our passengers for if they could no longer pay the fare it would be difficult for us to ask for an increase then),” he said. “Mora’g gisilotan na namo ang among igsoon niana (It would be punishing our fellow brethren).”

Also, this transport leader said what they want is for the Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to lift the oil deregularization law and scrap the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on oil among others.

Earlier, there were mixed reactions from the motorela drivers on whether they too want an increase from the current P5.00 to P6.00 minimum fare rate as the P6.50 minimum fare rate for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) is now being fully implemented.

There were several drivers who they also would also want to have a fare increase to P6.00 minimum rate due to the galloping price of oil, spare parts and basic commodities.

Other motorela drivers who are merely renting units said it would give them at least additional income as the operators/owners of their have also increased their rent.

No petition

Also, several PUJ drivers contend that the P5.00 motorela minimum fare should also be increase to P6.00 at least.

“Alkansi kaayo mi kay ang sa amoa P6.50 naman ang minimum fare ang mga motorela P5.00 ra dako kaayo ang deperensya mao ang mga tao mag-rela nalang kaysa magjeep,” one of them said.

Committee for public utilities chairman Ian Mark Nacaya, vice-chairman City Councilor Alexander Dacer and City Councilor Ian Acenas said they have yet to receive a petition from any motorela association for any fare rate increase.

“Not one that I know of – thank God and thanks to our motorela drivers,” Nacaya said.

Dacer for his part said if these motorela drivers would be filing a petition they would have to take them up after the fiesta celebration this month. (With a report from SC)

==========================

Capitol monitors bird flu hotspots

MIGRATORY birds have started flocking Misamis Oriental’s marshlands this week, raising fears anew of the dreaded avian flu virus that has ravaged neighboring Asian countries.

Provincial Veterinarian Alfonso Ramosa said in a radio interview Friday that his office was tasked to monitor the movements of migratory birds in the province.

The towns of Opol and Alubijid were among the areas in Northern Mindanao earlier identified as favorite nesting grounds of migratory birds that are being closely watched nationwide for being possible carriers of the virus.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 10 said it has been monitoring the movements of egret and heron birds, two species that are visible in the region.

“We are appealing to the residents in those places to refrain from capturing and eating those birds,” Dr. Ramosa said.

He said blood samples would be collected from the migratory birds to ensure that they had not been infected with the virus.

Aside from the two towns, Balingasag town in Misamis Oriental and the component city of Gingoog are also being monitored.

The Philippines remains free of the bird flu virus among all other South Asian countries.

Earlier in Caraga, a team tasked to monitor avian flu for migratory birds at the 140,000 hectares Agusan Marsh was formed by the Animal Health quarantine of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and the Agusan del Sur Provincial Veterinary office.

Agusan del Sur Board member Santiago Cane confirmed this saying the team would get blood samples of migratory birds from the Agusan Marsh.

Cane, who chairs the committees on health and agriculture of the Agusan del Sur Provincial Board told Sun.Star the tests would determine if there are “bird flu” cases following reports that some of the birds have shown signs of weakness.

Cane said the discovery came after a visit at the Agusan Marsh in April 2004 by representatives from the US based “Book for the Barrios Foundation” headed by a certain Dr. Nancy Harrington. (Annabelle Ricalde of Sun.Star Superbalita with a report from Ben Serrano)

===============

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