MANILA, August 23, 2011—Anakpawis partylist has assailed the Aquino administration for allegedly permitting the contractualization scheme in the Philippine Airlines, the country’s flag-carrier.
Former Anakpawis Rep. Joel B. Maglunsod said that the aforementioned decision by Malacañang to uphold the spin-off in the PAL’s key departments would endanger the security of tenure of 2,600 employees since they have already lost their permanent status with Lucio Tan’s company.
“Aquino may not have used his power to evade traffic jams and disturb other motorists but he surely uses his power to back these capitalists in enjoying the spoils of cheaper labor and lesser benefits through contractualization schemes and disturb workers’ rights to be organized in a union,” said Maglunsod in a statement. The former legislator even called President Benigno C. Aquino III’s decision a “wang-wang” decision.
President Aquino, during his latest State of the Nation Address (SONA) had called those government officials who abuse their powers or use their position for their own end, “utak wang-wang”, but now it seems that the President had become one, Maglunsod said as he “connives” with Tan’s “profiteering schemes.”
“He proved once again that he would abuse his power to forever favor the interests of his big businessmen buddies over the people’s clamor for job security, higher wages and rights to self-organization. Isn’t that an example of what he himself call as utak wang-wang?” said Maglunsod.
On the other hand, Maglunsod had called all workers in the country, unionized and not yet have joined any union, to support the House Bill 5110 or the Anti-Contractualization Bill filed by Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano.
“Our workers’ job security has long been threatened and their rights have been further abused by these contractualization schemes perpetrated by big businessmen such as Lucio Tan under the protection of pro-capitalist and anti-worker governments. That is why it is high time to make a law that would protect our workers from such schemes,” said Maglunsod. (Noel Sales Barcelona/CBCPNews)
