Customer service representatives and technical support workers of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) today held a ‘Kalampagan’ protest in front of the company’s office on España Boulevard in Manila after the telecommunication giant terminated its service contracts with different manpower agencies across the country on June 30. The move placed thousands of workers in ‘floating’ status.

Led by the PLDT Organization of Workers and Employees for Rights (POWER) and Defend Job Philippines, protesters mostly coming from outsourcing agency SPi CRM Global urged the PLDT management to implement the regularization compliance order issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The labor department ordered PLDT to regularize the company’s 8,000 contractual workers.

POWER and Defend Job Philippines slammed the said termination of agency contracts and saw this as move of the PLDT to circumvent the said compliance order on regularization.

“We are deeply enraged over what PLDT did to our jobs. PLDT’s decision to junk the agencies is clear proof that it is avoiding the DOLE’s ruling to regularize us. PLDT is our principal employer,” said Dan Joshua Nazario, POWER president.

Nazario added that as PLDT has been “desperately trying to resort to all possible means to circumvent the DOLE rulings.” In response, the group said they will be intensifying their protests to pressure the company into granting them regular status in the soonest possible time.

Cycle of orders and appeals

On January 10, 2018, DOLE released an order for PLDT to regularize its 7,306 contractual workers and settle over P66,000,000.00 in unpaid benefits.

POWER and Defend Job Philippines explained that DOLE came up with a new decision on April 2018 which upheld its January 10 ruling and in effect denied PLDT’s reversal appeal of its earlier decision and reiterated its prior order to grant regular status to its nearly 8,000 contractual workers.

As in DOLE’s earlier decision over PLDT, Bello said that it found no merits to the appeal of PLDT and 35 of its contractors. In response, PLDT elevated its contractual case to the Court of Appeals (CA) through a petition for certiorari on May 2018.

As of press time, according to the groups, PLDT’s appeal is still pending and is awaiting the CA decision.

DOLE recently included PLDT among the top three companies suspected to be engaged in labor-only contracting.

PLDT workers seek dialogue with DOLE

After the ‘Kalampagan sa PLDT España’, protesting workers trooped to the DOLE Main Office in Intramuros, Manila to seek dialogue with DOLE officials. The groups aired their complaints to the DOLE regarding their disputes with the PLDT management. Dressed in black shirts, members of POWER and Defend Job Philippines also challenged DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III to intervene on their issue and push PLDT to implement DOLE’s regularization order.

“We have high hopes that the Labor Department and President Rodrigo Duterte will answer our calls in the soonest possible time. We hope that they will be true to their words until all of PLDT workers will enjoy the benefits of being regular employees,” said Nazario.

In a dialogue with Bello and DOLE Usec Joel Maglungsod, Maglunsod stood firm on their compliance order and assured that PLDT workers must be regularized by PLDT.

Labor officials vowed to call for a mandatory conference between DOLE, SPi, PLDT and POWER in the coming days to discuss the issue of regularization of PLDT workers and implementation of its compliance order.

The post #SavePLDTContractuals: Telecom workers enraged over agency contract terminations appeared first on Manila Today.

Metro Manila-based youth group, Youth Movement Against Tyranny (YMAT) conducted another Black Friday Protest on June 29, in various schools and protest centers to vigorously condemn the Duterte administration’s continuous implementation of the Martial Law and Oplan Tokhang as well as the newly-added Oplan Galugad or more commonly known as Oplan Tambay.

ymat1

Photos by Ryan Valiente and Revy Marata

ymat2

ymat2

ymat3

ymat3

ymat4

ymat4

ymat5

ymat5

Fascist and anti-poor

The Black Friday Protest showed photos of the victims, particularly youth victims, who bore the brunt of Duterte administration’s policies Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Galugad.

Students mobilized and continued to call for justice for the likes of Kian Delos Santos, who felled at the hands of the Caloocan City Police during the onslaught of the administration’s anti-drug war operations as well as for Genesis ‘Tisoy’ Argoncillo, the latest victim of alleged police operations. Argoncillo was one of the 7,000 nabbed during the onslaught of Oplan Galugad. Meanwhile, the students also remembered the death of 19-year-old Obello Bay-ao, a lumad student who was killed by members of paramilitary group Alamara during the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao.

“We continue to call for justice for the victims of the Duterte regime’s continuous fascist attacks against the people. Duterte thought that he could instill discipline through his tactics and policies, but in reality these operations are used to curtail the rights of the Filipino people,” said Paco Royan Perez, the regional convener of YMAT, during the main program held at the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital (UP – PGH) Plaza.

“As if it is not enough for the Filipino people to struggle through Duterte’s economic policies, through his implementation of the TRAIN Law and massive contractualization, he had to devise a scheme to attack the ordinary people, the tambays, even in the confines of their homes in his Oplan Galugad. This Oplan Galugad sets a precedent for an undeclared Martial Law,” Perez continued.

The students also staged a candle-light protest in the UP – PGH Plaza to signal the continuous fight for justice for the youth caught during the Duterte administration’s police operations.

Meanwhile, the photo wall protest was also conducted by students in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), as part of the metro-wide protest set by YMAT.

Resisting repression

“In Duterte’s two years of presidency, we have seen that he is not with the people he says he is inclined to serve. Instead of standing with the poor, he continues to repress and attack them with his policies and his fascist tactics,” said Pat Cierva, the spokesperson of Kabataan Party-list – Metro Manila (KPL – MM). Cierva is also a convener of YMAT.

“The youth will not settle in complacency with the current political situation. We will continue to mobilize and register our dissent and our rights to this administration,” Cierva continued.

YMAT and other youth groups are set to conduct more mobilizations and actions in light with Duterte’s nearing State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 23.

On July 5, YMAT is set to conduct another assembly which aims to discuss the current political situation under the Duterte administration as well as the youth’s role in being at the forefront of the current movement.

On July 20, along with other youth organizations, the anti-tyranny youth group is geared to conduct its State of the Youth Address (SOYA). Likened to the State of the Nation Address (SONA), according to the group, SOYA aims to paint the real current condition faced by the youth under the two-year Duterte administration.

“With the administration falling deaf to the people’s demands, we are resolved to take our initiatives even further by continuing to invite everyone to our cause, by uniting with all the youth to resist this tyrannical rule, and by marching out on the streets in the People’s SONA to register our rights. We will not let ourselves be silenced by Duterte’s fascist rule and his undeclared Martial Law against the people.” Cierva said.

The post Anti-tyranny youth group slams Duterte’s escalating attacks on the people appeared first on Manila Today.