The most significant legislative development in recent months is of course the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, whose ceremonial signing was done yesterday. As I told a colleague who is familiar with Mindanao issue, the success in enacting this controversial but necessary law is a sign of hope that we can rise above our bickering and petty politics.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law, formerly known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (contrary to what some think, there is no difference between “organic” and “basic”) is a product of four administrations (Ramos, Arroyo, Aquino, and Duterte), of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Transition Committee, and the indigenous peoples inside and outside the Bangsamoro that sought to have their voices heard. It is a product of a bipartisan group of senators and representatives from the administration and opposition—Zubiri, Drilon, Angara, Fariñas, Sema, Dimaporo, and Lobregat, etc. who worked together to forge a consensus even as they represented diverse, conflicting interests. The President himself got involved at the right time and resolve an important legal issue, in my view in the right way.
I have no reservations praising the President, the leaders of the House of the Representatives, and the Senate, the administration coalition, and the opposition in pulling this whole of country project. We pulled it off. This is not to say that the law has no problems. There are still a few legal and political issues left, including non compliance by the government of some of its commitments in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. But from the seriously flawed versions that came out of the House and the Senate, with potentially dozens of big gaps and problems, we have a law with less than five major issues. That’s an achievement and the country should celebrate that.
I hope the government will also be able to do the same for big issues facing the country like land use, disaster management, climate change, and labor-only contracting. These issues are beyond partisan politics and it is time to find solutions for them.
On the issue of labor-only contracting, lines are being drawn as the labor movement flexes its muscles to compel the Duterte administration to comply with its promise to end this terrible and unjust practice that denies workers their basic rights.
Unfortunately, companies have responded aggressively to the just demands of labor.
Last week, we saw the striking workers of NutriAsia and their supporters attacked by police and goons. Right now, there is a protest camp of workers from Leyte in the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment; they too are protesting their illegal dismissal. Just last week, the Court of Appeals came out with a controversial decision on this issue in the dispute between workers and PLDT.
Nearer to home for me, because I teach in the Bonifacio Global City campuses of the De La Salle University College of Law and the University of the Philippines College of Law, workers of Pacific Plaza Towers in BGC went on strike yesterday because the company refused to regularize employees despite performing core functions in the operations of the condominium. The workers who were employed as electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters, and air conditioning technicians have been retrenched by the Polystar Manpower Agency and were asking to be reinstated by PPT who is the real employer.
The workers, who were prevented by the BGC security force to express their legitimate demands by picketing the premises of PPT, is appealing to the unit owners who the Pacific Plaza workers have served faithfully for patience while the labor dispute remains unresolved. They also seek their sympathy by pressuring the building management into granting the employees’ demands so that the condominium’s operations return to normal.
In a press statement, “Enough is enough,” Judy Pastorpede, leader of the retrenched employees, said: “Our employer has pushed us against the wall. They have not only violated our rights as employees but have done everything in their power to discredit us.” She explained that, “we have patiently observed all legal procedures and requirements to bring our case to an immediate resolution but they continued in denying our constitutionally guaranteed rights. This is the last straw. The homeowners association must understand that this strike was never our intention but was forced upon us by management.”
According to the press statement of the union, the PPT management is also accused of union-busting after two of its officers were included among those retrenched. Among the other violations committed include the non-remittance of SSS, Pag-Ibig, and PhilHealth contributions despite being deducted from workers’ semi-monthly pay; delayed salaries and undisclosed deductions by Polystar; failure to meet Occupational Health and Safety Standards; failure to fully apply the P21/day wage increase issued by the Regional Wage Board on October 2017; and many others.
Luke Espiritu of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (disclosure: A close relative is a volunteer at BMP) to which the union was affiliated has pointed out that the strike at Pacific Plaza is a testament to the worthlessness of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 51 which supposedly addressed endo. According to Espiritu, Duterte’s tough talk against employers on endo is “hogwash.” “The employers are simply ignoring it and continue in their shameless and dastardly practice of contractualization. Labor disputes will inevitably arise left and right in the pursuit of regularization,” Espiritu said.
It does not take rocket science to solve the endo problem. A new law is not even necessary. If the country can move forward on the Mindanao conflict, we should be able to find just solutions to this problem.
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