MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 01 May) – Thousands of workers and members of progressive groups have staged street rallies Tuesday to mark the celebration of the International Labor Day.
”May Day is an occasion for us to celebrate the fruits of our battle against oppression, the butchery of free-market globalization and the US imperialist-led war of terror.”
“In the same breath, we celebrate our hard earned victories and further intensify the struggle of the working-class against the isolated and much-hated U.S.-Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime,” said Elmer Labog, chairman of the militant group, Kilusang Mayo Uno party, which led the rallies in Manila.
"Arroyo's isolation from the masses is heightening. She will soon find her proper place and the May 14 election is just the beginning of her political annihilation,” Labog said.
KMU is opposed to trade agreements between the Philippines and the United States. It said the U.S. is exploiting the Philippines and other poor countries in Asia to advance its own interests.
In southern Philippines, around 10,000 workers from the provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Davao City also joined street protests and demanded more labor benefits.
"Today is a significant day to the Filipino people. In times of great crisis, the workers and the toiling masses shall exhibit its unceasing and unbreakable spirit of defiance against the attacks of the Arroyo regime," said Omar Bantayan, secretary general of KMU in Southern Mindanao and also vice president of the Anakpawis party list group for Mindanao.
Bantayan said the Arroyo regime is culpable of the destruction of the lives of the Filipino people, as it permitted large-scale capital to exploit labor power and siphon all possible super-profits and consistently denied the workers a significant and reasonable increase in wages.
“Arroyo and her cohorts have sabotaged the passage of the HB345 (Beltran P125 Bill) which would give significant relief to the workers by approximating the depressed wage levels with the projected family living wage. At present, the daily minimum wage in Region XI is pegged at P228 while the daily cost of living is P621.”
“There is no truth to the claim of the Arroyo administration and big business that the P125 wage increase will cause destruction of the people's livelihood," Bantayan said. "A constricted market, unfair competition, lack of finances and regressive taxation are the main causes of retrenchments and closures of small and medium-scale enterprises.”
While militant political groups denounced Arroyo, the President inaugurated on Labor Day a four-storey "workers’ inn" in Manila for “urban workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance from Metro Manila.”
Called “Gwapotel: Tulugan sa Bayan,” the dormitory-style bed and bath facility is a joint project of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor), a government statement said.
Strategically located at the former Napocor Building along Bonifacio Drive in Port Area in Manila, the temporary living facility, also dubbed "PGMA’s Workers’ Inn," provides transients affordable rooms to stay.
The President was joined by Metro-Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, National Power Corporation (Napocor) chief Cyril del Callar and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro in the ceremonial unveiling of the marker and ribbon-cutting activities formally opening to the public the sleeping and bathing facility.
According to Fernando, the 700-bed Gwapotel was conceptualized under the President's pro-poor program of providing clean and affordable living quarters to every Filipino, particularly provincial residents who work in Metro Manila.
Fernando said that under PGMA's Worker's Inn program, the Gwapotel is designed to provide an affordable albeit temporary sleeping and bathing facility for workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance to their places of work in Metro Manila.
“Gwapotel will provide relief and added rest time to workers who need to commute daily to and from their residences in the provinces,” Fernando said, adding that it was among the wage benefits the President gave to the Filipino workers this Labor Day.
The dormitory-style Gwapotel is divided as follows: the third and fourth floors are allocated to provide sleeping and bathing facilities for male customers while the second floor is allocated for women clients. (Mindanao Examiner)
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