If Petilla can offer his head, why can’t Ducut and Ocampo do the same?

The news of Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Jericho Petilla tendering his resignation in the wake of failure to meet his self-imposed deadline in bringing back electricity to areas ravaged by typhoon Yolanda is all over the air.  Whether the President will accept his resignation or not can be part of a ploy. But nevertheless, Petilla had the guts to place his head on the chopping board.

We wonder, however, if other inept officials in the energy family – particularly Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Zenaida Ducut and Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) head Mel Ocampo can do the same.

Petilla who heads the DoE is equally responsible for the government's failure to stop the P4.15/kWh rate increase imposed by Meralco.  But Ducut and Ocampo who are in the frontline and supposed to be the first persons to detect market failure and protect consumers' welfare stood idle before the coming tsunami of power hikes. They therefore should go.

Truth is, throughout their tenures, they have consistently failed to discharge their duties of regulating the power industry properly. The latest fiasco is just the culmination of years of ineptitude and incompetence.

As early as 2012, they were aware of scheduled maintenance shutdown and yet they did nothing to prevent the largest market failure in the power sector to date. In the process they unduly enriched Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to the tune of 10 billion pesos for a month's worth of power outages!

They should go based on the principle of command responsibility. At the least, they allowed the electricity market to be gamed, and at the most, they are a party to the reported collusion among power firms.

Ducut and Ocampo should be investigated for possible charges of economic sabotage.

It's also the time for the regime of Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to go.

- NAGKAISA! Statement

Lawmakers, activists want collusion in power firms investigated by DOJ

Citing possible cartelization or combination by several power firms which led to Meralco’s sharp increase in generation charge this month, a group of lawmakers and social activists filed before the Department of Justice (DoJ) this morning, a petition asking the Office for Competition to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

Executive Order No. 45 series of 2011 has designated the Department of Justice as the Competition Authority in the country. Created under this EO was the Office for Competition which can receive any form of complaint as a basis for inquiry or further study on possible violations of laws prohibiting cartelization, monopolies, or combinations in restraint of trade as defined in competition laws.

The petitioners availed of this remedy after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), with neither public hearings nor conduct of probe into allegations of market abuse, approved en toto the amount of P4.15/kWh that Meralco can recover from its purchase of power this month due to the scheduled shutdown of Malampaya natural gas platform.

Signatories to the letter/petition include Akbayan Representatives Walden Bello and Barry Gutierrez, Representative Raymond Mendoza of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, economist Maitet Diokno of the Center for Power Issues and Initiatives, Wilson Fortaleza of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and NAGKAISA, and Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) President Ricardo Reyes.

These groups and individuals were involved in campaigns on the power issue prior to and after the passage of the Electric Power Reform Act or EPIRA. They maintain that the unabated increase in power rates, market concentration and the threat of another power crisis were the results of EPIRA which for the past eleven years produced nothing but escalating rates and diminishing power supply.

In particular, the petitioners pointed to possible collusions by Meralco, First Gas Power Corporation, San Miguel Corporation, Kepco Philippines, Aboitiz Power, Team Energy Corporation, AES Philippines and DMCI Holdings, Incorporated when their plants went into simultaneous and unscheduled shutdown resulting to more load deficits in the Luzon grid and which forced Meralco to buy a more expensive power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market or WESM.

“The expected and scheduled maintenance of Malampaya notwithstanding—an event Meralco was aware of more than six months before its occurrence—and Meralco’s claim that such was not anticipated, and the unscheduled shutdown of several power plants that resulted to Meralco’s recourse to expensive electricity from the WESM, are information that point to a contrived scenario of extreme short-term shortage of electricity for the purpose of raising the price of electricity beyond what it would cost to generate it,” said the petitioners.

The petitioners bewailed that the increase in electricity costs can only add to the economic burden of end-users and consumers who, at a time when the whole nation is reeling from the brunt of Typhoon Yolanda and in anxious anticipation of the holiday season, face increases in prices of basic commodities like liquefied petroleum gas, Metro Rail Transit fares and the like.

The group vowed to escalate their campaign for the overhaul of EPIRA next year.

Predatory MERALCO price hike slammed by NAGKAISA

Meralco already insured against maintenance shutdowns, Power Supply Agreements cover Meralco risk with power providers

The NAGKAISA labor coalition denounced the December P3.50 per kWh rate increase as an immoral imposition and an unconscionable predatory move in the face of our massive national suffering and despair. Instead of moderating its greed, MERALCO and the generating companies First Gas (Sta. Rita), South Premier Power Corporation (Ilijan) and Therma Mobile, Inc. (San Lorenzo) – which are its cohorts – chose to further impoverish hardworking Filipinos and complicate the already difficult road to national recovery.

MERALCO residential rates currently pegged at Php12.46 per kWh will now be hiked to Php15.96 per kWh, representing a 28% increase. The new rate is equivalent to US$ 37 cents per kWh. That is the highest residential rate, bar none, in the WORLD. Its consequences for families coping with the triple whammy of NAPOLES-scale corruption, spiralling oil and LPG prices, and natural calamities are immense.

For industry, where power rates already constitute 45% to 55% of operational costs, particularly for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and BPOs, the rate increase will greatly affect their business viability. For the national economy, it compromises our regional competitiveness in the ASEAN and will be a disincentive to locators remaining and to the entry of foreign direct investments.

NAGKAISA pointed out that before a new tariff formula called Performance-Based Rate-making (PBR) was implemented by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), MERALCO only made an annual net profit ranging from Php3 to Php6 billion. Under PBR in 2012, MERALCO declared a net income of Php16.25 billion. For 2013 MERALCO expects a consolidated net income of Php17 billion. NAGKAISA decried this overly-generous rate of return allowed by ERC which allowed MERALCO to earn in just one year what it used to take them 3 years to earn.

NAGKAISA also countered the MERALCO assertion that the maintenance work on Malampaya and resorting to the more expensive sources of WESM would result in a power rate increase of anywhere from Php2 per kWh to Php3.50 per kWh. NAGKAISA argues the following:

• · The scheduled maintenance of Malampaya and other plants should or was already imputed in the MERALCO rate. If MERALCO management did not prudently build this into their rate then the owners and management of MERALCO should bear the loss, not the consumers. The maintenance was scheduled way ahead of time and the cost consequences should already have been placed in the power supply agreements which MERALCO entered into.

• If there is a forced outage, MERALCO and the power producers First Gas (Santa Rita), Therma Mobile (San Lorenzo) and SPPC (Ilijan) from which MERALCO buys its power are insured against possible spikes in costs. Why is MERALCO passing the burden to consumers when there is insurance for forced outages. Again, if MERALCO did not enter into any form of insurance or contract stipulation as to who will pay for the alternative supply in case of an outage (the alternative supply in this case is WESM), then MERALCO again has acted imprudently and should bear the cost of its imprudence.

• MALAMPAYA is providing only a certain percentage of the power needs of MERALCO. Why are the entire costs of the downtime of Malampaya being borne by MERALCO consumers? How did it amount to a possible P3.50 per kWh increase?

• Why has the ERC as regulator not stepped-in to validate the current claims of MERALCO when there are Commission on Audit findings of overcollection in 2004 and 2007 in the generation charges of MERALCO? Does ERC take the manifestations of MERALCO and the generation players as gospel truth?

• Why has the DOE – or the Palace for that matter – not addressed the possibility of resorting to the MALAMPAYA FUND to reduce rates and to cushion the impact if indeed there is a problem not anticipated in the power supply contracts entered into between MERALCO and the generators?

THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT CONSUMERS ARE BEING MADE TO ADVANCE WHAT THE MERALCO WILL BE COLLECTING FROM ITS INSURERS EVENTUALLY. When MERALCO entered into its supply contracts, it inputted and covered against all projected events and the cost consequences. These costs were built into the original power supply agreement and are therefore built into the rate. Further, MERALCO insured against all risks. MERALCO IS TRYING TO COLLECT FROM ITS CUSTOMERS BECAUSE IT THINKS IT CAN FOOL THEM. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

NAGKAISA has warned that the Wholesale Electricity Supply Market (WESM) does not and cannot work where you have insufficient supply. Given inadequate power supply, there will be no competition to drive down rates because it will be a sellers market. NAGKAISA, as a disinterested party, had already warned the government of this in its meetings with the economic cluster of the Cabinet in April and May 2013. NAGKAISA notes that notwithstanding the notable failure of WESM to bring down electricity prices in Luzon and Visayas, the DOE is currently piloting it in Mindanao where power supply is also inadequate.

NAGKAISA warns that the general public are beginning to realize that the Palace is a defender of MERALCO by its statements that there is “regularity” to the rate increase because it was “in accordance with the law.” NAGKAISA reminds the Palace that it is not for the NAGKAISA or the Palace nor the DOE to determine regularity. That is a function that clearly lies with the ERC. It is the ERC which must determine the course of action to be taken: to set the increase aside or to cushion its impact through rate increases staggered over a longer period of time.

NAGKAISA also reminds the Palace that perhaps something is deadly wrong with the EPIRA Law and that it is time to take a second hard look on how to ensure affordable power and supply that is reliable. We reiterate our call for the creation of a Presidential Task Force to bring down power rates. The Palace should talk to disinterested parties – not the power cartel.

Finally, NAGKAISA reminds the Palace that if in its fight against corruption, it brought down an Ombudsman and a Chief Justice, it can certainly do something about a certain ERC Chairperson named Ducut. Consumer and labor representation in the ERC is long overdue.

On 150th Day of Bonifacio: Broad Labor vows to carry on with the Fight against Poverty, Corruption, Climate Crisis

Marching under the theme “Kalayaan Mula sa Pulitikong Kawatan, Delubyong Kahirapan, Trahedyang mula sa Kalikasan”, some 5,000 members of the broad labor coalition NAGKAISA (United) took to the streets today to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the plebeian hero Andres Bonifacio.

The protest, which assembled in the morning at the Mehan Garden for a short program and wreath-laying, marched to Mendiola at noon to call on President Aquino to urgently address corruption, poverty and climate crisis.

The group also demanded that their hero be declared as the first president of the Philippine republic.

Turning in his grave

Josua Mata, NAGKAISA convenor and Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL-SENTRO) Secretary-General, said the miserable state of Filipino workers and the dark clouds of hopelessness hovering above the nation are enough for Bonifacio to be turning in his grave.

“NAGKAISA thus call on the Aquino administration to address the problems of low wages, contractualization, spiraling electricity and water rates, uncontrolled oil prices, forcible demolition of informal settlers and, political patronage and corruption,” said Mata.

He added that the State not only has the duty of providing full protection but also of raising the dignity of labor. “One step to dignify labor’s role in our struggle for independence is to rectify historical errors and proclaim the late Supremo as the first president of the Philippine republic,” he said.

Corruption and elite rule

Among the issues highlighted at the protest was the controversial pork barrel scam. Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) president Leody de Guzman said, “Workers are being made to believe the so-called ‘tuwid na daan’ of the Aquino regime. Yet, despite the all-too familiar critique against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for breeding political patronage, this seemingly anti-corrupt administration doubled it in 2010”. The Supreme Court declared the PDAF unconstitutional last November 19.

De Guzman added, “We owe this victory against the PDAF to the thousands that participated in the anti-pork barrel protests since the August 26 Million People March in Luneta. Although we welcome the recent decision of the Court, we call on the people to remain vigilant. Traditional and elitist politicians like senate president Drilon and budget secretary Abad are now seeking loopholes to retain the legislative largesse and the entire pork barrel system. Don’t expect political dynasties to go down without a fight”.

Poverty, low wages and contractualization

At the NAGKAISA mass action, speakers tackled gut-issues such as contractualization, starvation, wages and high power rates. Gerry Rivera, president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) stated, “PALEA has lifted our picket lines because we have won the battle at PAL through the collective solidarity of NAGKAISA and the entire labor movement. But the fight for regular jobs is not yet over, the scourge of contractualization remains as the number one threat to workers’ rights and welfare”.

Last November 14, PAL management settled with PALEA which members have daringly fought and resisted the company’s outsourcing, contractualization program for 26 months. The settlement wins back the union and its members’ status as regular employees. Renato Magtubo of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), meanwhile, criticized the Aquino administration for preserving starvation wages.

“Wage Order 18 of the NCR wage board is the lowest pay hike for minimum wages in its entire history. Last May 2012, after Labor Day, Noynoy echoed the capitalist blackmail line against wage increases by threatening us with retrenchment and closures. This yellow government maintains wages far below the cost of living in adherence to its tacit policy of cheap labor,” Magtubo avowed.

Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesperson added that the purchasing power of current wages is falling due to spiraling commodity prices and electricity rates. He said, “Electricity rates in the country are among the highest in Asia, causing not only the unabated increase in prices and the decrease in real wages. High power rates are the single most deterrent to investments thereby preventing job creation that is essential to genuine inclusive growth”.

Climate change and man-made calamities

Nagkaisa bewailed that a century and half hence the birth of Gat Andres Bonifacio and the nation is still in shambles. Super typhoons have become the new normal due to climate change and global warming. The recent disasters brought by earthquakes and storms revealed the government’s ineptitude to respond to natural calamities.

“Unless the Aquino administration becomes an active player in the global campaign for climate justice, for lower carbon emissions from advanced countries and for reparations to devastated Third World countries, it will be forever remembered in history as the worst man-made calamity to hit the nation,” Mata concluded.

Broad labor vows to carry on with the fight against poverty, corruption, climate crisis

On 150th Day of Bonifacio:

Marching under the theme "Kalayaan Mula sa Pulitikong Kawatan, Delubyong Kahirapan, Trahedyang mula sa Kalikasan", some 5,000 members of the broad labor coalition NAGKAISA (United) took to the streets today to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the plebeian hero Andres Bonifacio.

The protest, which assembled in the morning at the Mehan Garden for a short program and wreath-laying, marched to Mendiola at noon to call on President Aquino to urgently address corruption, poverty and climate crisis.

The group also demanded that their hero be declared as the first president of the Philippine republic.

Turning in his grave

Josua Mata, NAGKAISA convenor and Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL-SENTRO) Secretary-General, said the miserable state of Filipino workers and the dark clouds of hopelessness hovering above the nation are enough for Bonifacio to be turning in his grave.

“NAGKAISA thus call on the Aquino administration to address the problems of low wages, contractualization, spiraling electricity and water rates, uncontrolled oil prices, forcible demolition of informal settlers and, political patronage and corruption,” said Mata.

He added that the State not only has the duty of providing full protection but also of raising the dignity of labor. “One step to dignify labor’s role in our struggle for independence is to rectify historical errors and proclaim the late Supremo as the first president of the Philippine republic,” he said.

Corruption and elite rule

Among the issues highlighted at the protest was the controversial pork barrel scam. Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) president Leody de Guzman said, “Workers are being made to believe the so-called ‘tuwid na daan’ of the Aquino regime. Yet, despite the all-too familiar critique against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for breeding political patronage, this seemingly anti-corrupt administration doubled it in 2010”. The Supreme Court declared the PDAF unconstitutional last November 19.

De Guzman added, “We owe this victory against the PDAF to the thousands that participated in the anti-pork barrel protests since the August 26 Million People March in Luneta. Although we welcome the recent decision of the Court, we call on the people to remain vigilant. Traditional and elitist politicians like senate president Drilon and budget secretary Abad are now seeking loopholes to retain the legislative largesse and the entire pork barrel system. Don’t expect political dynasties to go down without a fight”.

Poverty, low wages and contractualization

At the NAGKAISA mass action, speakers tackled gut-issues such as contractualization, starvation, wages and high power rates.

Gerry Rivera, president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) stated, “PALEA has lifted our picket lines because we have won the battle at PAL through the collective solidarity of NAGKAISA and the entire labor movement. But the fight for regular jobs is not yet over, the scourge of contractualization remains as the number one threat to workers’ rights and welfare”.

Last November 14, PAL management settled with PALEA which members have daringly fought and resisted the company’s outsourcing/contractualization program for 26 months. The settlement wins back the union and its members' status as regular employees.

Renato Magtubo of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), meanwhile, criticized the Aquino administration for preserving starvation wages.

“Wage Order 18 of the NCR wage board is the lowest pay hike for minimum wages in its entire history. Last May 2012, after Labor Day, Noynoy echoed the capitalist blackmail line against wage increases by threatening us with retrenchment and closures. This yellow government maintains wages far below the cost of living in adherence to its tacit policy of cheap labor,” Magtubo avowed.

Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesperson added that the purchasing power of current wages is falling due to spiraling commodity prices and electricity rates. He said, “Electricity rates in the country are among the highest in Asia, causing not only the unabated increase in prices and the decrease in real wages. High power rates are the single most deterrent to investments thereby preventing job creation that is essential to genuine inclusive growth”.

Climate change and man-made calamities

Nagkaisa bewailed that a century and half hence the birth of Gat Andres Bonifacio and the nation is still in shambles. Super typhoons have become the new normal due to climate change and global warming. The recent disasters brought by earthquakes and storms revealed the government’s ineptitude to respond to natural calamities.

“Unless the Aquino administration becomes an active player in the global campaign for climate justice, for lower carbon emissions from advanced countries and for reparations to devastated Third World countries, it will be forever remembered in history as the worst man-made calamity to hit the nation,” Mata concluded.

NAGKAISA! lauds settlement of PAL-PALEA dispute

We welcome with great enthusiasm the amicable resolution of the PAL-PALEA labor dispute this afternoon. We congratulate both the new management of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the leadership of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) for coming into an agreement that finally settled the country’s biggest labor dispute in recent years.

The labor movement that we represent considers this as one positive news amid the harrowing devastations brought upon us by typhoon Yolanda. It can be recalled that PALEA members were locked out and outsourced at the height of typhoon Pedring on September 27, 2011. Now after Yolanda and with this final agreement, PALEAns are assured of re-employment as regular workers and getting a much improved financial package than what was granted to them by the labor department and the Office of the President (OP). This is sweet victory, indeed.

Yet this is not just a victory for PALEA. This is likewise victory for Nagkaisa!, in fact the first for the coalition’s campaign against precarious work and contractualization. When we embraced PALEA’s call, “Ang laban ng PALEA ay laban ng lahat!”, we thereby considered this struggle as our own. This is victory to all Filipinos who continue to struggle for decent work.

Nagkaisa! regards this victory as an inspiration in pushing further for the enactment of the security of tenure bill, reforms in wage fixing mechanisms, and other agenda that promote the interest and welfare of Filipino workers.

The NAGKAISA Convenors: Alliance of Free Workers (AFW), All Filipino Workers Confederation (AFWC), Automobile Industry Workers’ Alliance (AIWA), Associated Labor Unions (ALU), Associated Labor Unions – Association of Professional Supervisory Officers Technical Employees Union (ALU-APSOTEU), ALU-Metal, Associated Labor Unions-Philippine Seafarers’ Union (ALU-PSU), ALU-Textile, ALU-Transport, Associated Labor Unions-Visayas Mindanao Confederation of Trade Unions (ALU-VIMCOMTU), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Association of Trade Unions (ATU), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), Confederation of Labor and Allied Social Services (CLASS), Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS), Federation of Coca-Cola Unions (FCCU), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Kapisanan ng Maralitang Obrero (KAMAO), Katipunan, Pambansang Kilusan sa Paggawa (KILUSAN), Kapisanan ng mga Kawani sa Koreo sa Pilipinas (KKKP), League of Independent Bank Organizations (LIBO), Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN), MARINO, National Association of Broadcast Unions (NABU), National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU), National Association of Trade Unions (NATU), National Confederation of Labor (NCL), National Confederation of Transportworkers’ Union (NCTU), National Union of Portworkers in the Philippines (NUPP), National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries (NUWHRAIN), Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), Postal Employees Union of the Philippines (PEUP), Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA), Pinag-isang Tinig at Lakas ng Anakpawis (PIGLAS), Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PILLU), Philippine Independent Public Sector Employees Association (PIPSEA), Partido Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), Philippine Transport and General Workers Organization (PTGWO), Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and, Workers Solidarity Network (WSN)

SONA 2013 July 22

Pre-SONA rally at Makati July 18, 2013

Filipino workers join international action on Turkey; Calls on Turkish PM to yield to people’s demand

Filipino workers held a rally near the Turkish Embassy inside a plush village in Makati this morning to call on the government in Ankara to stop the violence against protesters and yield to its citizens’ legitimate demands.

A group of workers belonging to the NAGKAISA!, the largest coalition of trade unions and workers organizations, briefly scuffled with the security guards of Forbes Park and Dasmariñas Village gates in EDSA, Makati City, after the former attempted to enter the exclusive neighborhood to get to the Embassy of Turkey.

NAGKAISA!, thru a scathing letter to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, called for an end to the brutal repression of the Ankara government against its protesters in Gezi Park and other parts of Turkey.

“Together with the global labor movement, we are concerned at the use of brutal and excessive violence by government security forces against people peacefully exercising their rights of freedom of assembly, an essential part of freedom of expression… We are concerned that your Government engages in such repression as a regular practice based on earlier episodes. Still fresh in our minds is this year’s May Day Celebrations, which were supposed to take place in Taksim Square in Istanbul. “

The letter also demanded for the following:

The Government in Ankara should put an end to state violence against peaceful demonstrators and ensure that the right of freedom of expression and assembly is guaranteed in all public areas of Turkey.
Those responsible for the thousands of injured people and the deaths of Mehmet Ayval?ta?, Abdullah Cömert, Ethem Sar?sülük and Mustafa Sar? should be held accountable, dismissed from their posts and prosecuted before the law.

Detained citizens who attended the protests across the country should be immediately released with an official statement declaring that there will not be any investigations pursued into them.
All the legal and practical barriers against the exercise of trade union rights are removed and the right to strike is respected

KESK trade unionists, detained journalists and all others unjustly held for legitimate acts of protests and opposition should be released immediately.

“We are all Turks!,” stated Edwn Bustillos, Deputy Secretary-General of the Alliance of Progressive Labor-NAGKAISA. Bustillos, a speaker at the rally, condemned the corporate grab of parks in Turkey and other parts of the world, and the criminalization of those who protest against it.

” ‘Good Job’ means a Regular Job with Good Pay “

25,000 WORKERS MARCH TO MENDIOLA ON LABOR DAY;
SENATORIABLES VOW TO FIGHT FOR SECURITY OF TENURE

Chiding President Aquino’s pronouncement that Labor Day should be celebratory with both labor and capitalists greeting each other for “doing a good job” for the past year, workers renewed the call for government to create “not just jobs” but “more regular jobs with living wage.”

Some 25,000 workers under NAGKAISA labor coalition marched from UST to Chino Roces bridge in Manila.

They were joined by senatorial candidates Risa Hontiveros, Ricardo Penson, Allan Peter Cayetano, and Eddie Villanueva, who also signed a pact with the workers vowing to fight for security of tenure, adoption of a living wage, cheaper electric rates, promotion of labor rights in the public sector.

Other candidates have also expressed their willingness to fight for the cause, but have not confirmed for the march are Loren Legarda, Grace Poe – Llamanzares, Jamby Madrigal and JV Ejercito.

Edwin Bustillos, deputy secretary-general of the Alliance of Progressive Labor and co-convenor of NAGKAISA: “Yes, the President listened to our grievances yesterday,” referring to Pres Aquino’s dialogue with labor leaders in Malacanang, “but his mind was set on turning down most of our demands.”

The President has said that he can’t push for the passage of the Security of Tenure bill now pending in Congress because it would negatively affect more workers.

“(Pres Aquino) must be thinking that most Filipino workers are happy with their condition in the workplace — they are not. Most employees are under short term contracts, they are considered casuals or contractuals, whose jobs can be terminated at the whim of their employers and not given any benefits,” says Renato Magtubo, chairperson of Partido Manggagawa coalition.

Vic Balais, President of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines – PTGWO and co-convenor of NAGKAISA: “We call on all Filipino workers to begin the push of expanding the number of regular workers. The labor code has been bastardized by capitalists to the detriment of the workers, by promoting casualization and contractualization.”

The 250,000-strong NAGKAISA, is the largest nation-wide coalition of various labor organizations in the Philippines.

NAGKAISA encompasses the widest spectrum of colors and persuasions — from the leftist Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Partido Manggagawa (PM), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan) to the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and Federation of Filipino Workers (FFW), the labor centers National Confederation of Labor (NCL) and SENTRO, to the public sector unions Caucus of Independent Unions (CIU), Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), ang many other federations.

NAGKAISA FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nagkaisa/421413561266645

Labor groups to Senate: Defer passage of NEA Reform Bill

With barely 4 session-days left, workers belonging to labor coalition Nagakaisa! trooped to the Senate this afternoon to urge feuding senators to defer passage of Senate Bill 3389 or the National Electrification Reform Bill authored by Sen. Serge Osmena on grounds that the proposed “step-in rights” to be granted to NEA is anti-democratic and anti-labor.

Nagkaisa! members like the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines have organized unions in the country’s 119 electric cooperatives.

Josua Mata, one of Nagkaisa! convenors and the secretary general of APL denounced the Senate Bill as a Draconian measure as it grants NEA martial law powers to take over ailing ECs, replace the general manager, the entire board and even employees, appoint third persons in the board or a management team, and convert cooperatives into stock corporations. This measure, he said, usurped the powers of the General Assembly – the highest policy-making body of the coop to decide on what options to take to make their utilities financially-viable and democratically-managed.

Leody De Guzman, Chairperson of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilino (BMP) said that, “NEA Bill is a bad bill that clearly tramples on our constitutional right to security of tenure and severely undermines our fundamental right to self-organize”.

Louie Corral of TUCP said a close reading of the measure shows that it seeks to clothe the NEA with the same draconian powers, which for the past thirty years it has exercised over the country’s electric cooperatives.

Section 4-B of SB 3389 states that the NEA shall have immediately step-in and take over from its Board the operations of any ailing electric cooperative, within a reasonable period after take-over, the NEA may convert the ailing cooperative to either a stock cooperative registered with the CDA or a stock corporation registered with the SEC.

“This is privatization in the guise of reform,” said Mata, adding that with 90 percent of generation already privatized under EPIRA, big private powers now set their eyes on 9 million households connected with electric cooperatives. Meralco has 5.5 million customer-base.

PM chair Renato Magtubo echoed the same as the both the House and Senate versions aim at making electric cooperatives EPIRA-compliant. “Reform NEA is nothing but a privatization agenda of Osmena in the coops as explicitly provided under his bill,” said Magtubo.

Osmena was also the author of EPIRA which for the past 10 years resulted to escalating rates and diminishing supply.

NAGKAISA believes that any moves to amend the charter of NEA should first be informed by a comprehensive assessment of what really went wrong in the electric cooperative sector and how the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 or EPIRA has exacerbated the situation.