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Aquino urged to stop introducing another wage freeze scheme

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Aquino urged to stop introducing another wage freeze scheme
“Under the new wage system, companies get more freedom to tinker with workers’ wages in the guise of raising productivity levels.” – EILER
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – In a country where the working people’s real minimum pay has flattened over the past decade (see chart from Ibon Phils.), a new wage system about to be introduced by the government is currently spooking labor advocates.

Given that the Philippines already has hundreds of minimum wage levels nationwide, not to mention that a fifth or more of inspected establishments are, on the average, reported as not paying the prescribed minimum wages, plus, there are exemptions granted for some establishments in paying the minimum wages, more wage levels seem to be still in the works.

In another looming wage system, another tier will be added to regional (and sometimes provincial) minimum wages, which also differentiate rates between agricultural and non-agricultural workers, plantation and non-plantation.

The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER), a labor think tank, cautioned the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and business groups against pushing the two-tiered wage system, saying it could pull down the already meager incomes of Filipino workers instead of raising compensation levels.


Chart courtesy of Ibon Phils.

The Region IV-A wage board has recently granted a P2 to P90 ($2.13) wage increase with “productivity allowance,” a mode which EILER warns as a “transition to the new wage system that is primarily based on productivity.”.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/04/aquino-urged-to-stop-introducing-another-wage-freeze-scheme/

‘Trillion Dollar Debt Day:’ US students write off unbearable dues in protest (PHOTOS)

‘Trillion Dollar Debt Day:’ US students write off unbearable dues in protest (PHOTOS)


Hundreds of American students have protested the financial plight brought about by student debts across the country, as the total US student debt topped $1 trillion. The protesters burned their loan documents demanding a right to “debt-free degrees.”

­In New York, hundreds of students gathered at Union Square Park holding placards reading “Debt free degrees” and “Education in America: Don’t Bank on It.” They also compared the sprawling student loan debt to the home loan bubble that sparked the 2008 economic crisis.

Hadi Nassar, a 31-year old dental resident, who was left with a $186,000 debt after eight years of undergraduate and dental school education, said he would not be able to make ends meet if he was to work at a community clinic..... MORE
SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/student-loan-protest-usa-004/

Hundreds arrested as violence spreads in Egypt

Hundreds arrested as violence spreads in Egypt


Egypt’s ruling military council has arrested 300 people and introduced an overnight curfew for the second night in a row following violent clashes in Cairo. Meanwhile, public anger has overflowed from Cairo into the city of Suez.

­Military prosecutors say 300 demonstrators, including nine journalists, will be held for 15 days pending investigation into the clashes in the Abbasiya district on Friday.

After hours of questioning, the arrested were charged with assaulting army officers, assembling in a military zone and preventing members of the security forces from carrying out their work. The accused denied all charges.... MORE
SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/egypt-elections-islamists-clashes-664/

Forgotten student files $20-million lawsuit

Forgotten student files $20-million lawsuit


A 23-year-old college student is asking the US Drug Enforcement Agency to compensate him with $20 million after federal agents abandoned him in an empty jail cell for nearly five days without food or water — and without filing charges.

Daniel Chong from the University of California, San Diego, has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the DEA after he was handcuffed and forgotten in a small, 5-by-10-foot holding cell. For four-and-a-half days, Chong was left in shackles to fend for himself and tells reporters that he drank his own urine to try and survive.
"I pretty much lost my mind," he tells the Associated Press..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/student-chong-cell-dea-548/

It ain’t over until it’s over VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 05/06/2012

It ain’t over until it’s over

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
05/06/2012
This is along the line of the jest and spirit of the saying “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.” But there is one thing certain about operas, viz., they may be rather long but endings they infallibly have. Sad to say, it is neither the matter nor the reality about the infamous Hacienda Luisita. The Supreme Court (SC) has clearly and loudly spoken. But will Malacañang listen and act accordingly?

The highest body in the Judicial Branch of government has issued a definite and defining decision. But will the Chief Executive accept and implement the final and executor judgment?

Another way of putting it goes this way: Can it be realistically presumed that no less than the Commander-in-Chief as a party with huge family interests in the issue, would willingly and readily act on the verdict rendered on the Hacienda Luisita Case? Is it reasonable to assume that the same Chief-in-Command — who is nothing less than an heir of the Hacienda Luisita immense assets and immense profits — would heartily and gallantly comply with the sentence officially rendered on the case? And can it be reasonably taken for granted that DAR — that remains under the patronage and shadow of Malacañang no matter all arguments to the contrary — would eagerly and faithfully act on the judicial pronouncement made on hacienda?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120506com7.html

Dangerous liaisons TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 05/06/2012

Dangerous liaisons

TABLETS OF STONE
Larry Faraon, OP
05/06/2012
China is provoking us of course, very obviously by rowing in additional fishing and naval military escort vessels in the contested Scarborough Shoal. But is China provoking us to fire the first shot, drawing us into a lopsided war, where easily the Chinese could win without batting an eyelash and the Filipinos dying in self-effacement as heroes in a country where heroism and patriotism have fainted? Will P-Noy sound the war alarm? No, China is not provoking us into a war because it knows perfectly that we cannot draw first blood from our anemic blood streams.

It is actually provoking us to rush to the United States of America so that the latter would reveal its plans or at least to get a glimpse of Uncle Sam’s possible reaction and course of action to such aggression toward an ally.

The strategic battle is on between the US and China as the regional control of the Asia Pacific region remains an obsession for both giant hegemonist nations..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120506com5.html

Noynoy hit for distorting history, state of poverty By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

WALLS, GLORIA BASHING ALL DONE TO IMPRESS ADB DELEGATES

Noynoy hit for distorting history, state of poverty

By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

President Aquino was accused yesterday of distorting history and was criticized over his administration’s hypocrisy in building a wall to hide the country’s slum communities, all meant to impress the delegates to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting that ended yesterday.

Aquino’s description of the country’s economy having improved before the annual meeting of the ADB board of governors was 100 percent accurate and happened not during his watch and the reality is that a slowdown in growth didn’t happen during the time of his predecessor, but is currently happening now under his watch, Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay said.

She scored Aquino for distorting history by claiming in his ADB speech that the Filipinos during the term of former President, now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “were trapped in a downward spiral: no education, no work, no chance to improve their lot in life.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120506hea1.html

Luisita workers nix DSWD doleouts 05/06/2012

Luisita workers nix DSWD doleouts

05/06/2012
Two militant farmworkers’ groups of Hacienda Luisita have rejected the “band-aid” solutions the Aquino administration is offering to the farmworker-beneficiaries to address “the pressing needs brought about by new developments in Hacienda Luisita.”

The Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) earlier had said it would implement its doleout program in the hacienda.

But the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) opposed the DSWD’s intervention, saying the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K), the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Social Pension for senior citizens and the Cash for Work Program all under the DSWD was aimed at further delaying the transfer of ownership of the hacienda to the farmworkers..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120506hea6.html

Solon: Overhaul RP banking policies By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

Solon: Overhaul RP banking policies

By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

Government should conduct a comprehensive review of its policies and the laws governing the banking sector, House committee on good government and public accountability chairman, Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treas, said Saturday.

Both the Executive and the Congress should coordinate a cleansing process to determine the integrity and financial viability of the existing banking institutions in the country, Treas said as he noted that the closure of the Export and Industry Bank (EIB) has ruined the lives of its depositors, many of them small and struggling businessmen.

Treas said the EIB fiasco only underlines the necessity for a policy overhaul, especially concerning the role of bank officials and their limitations in the conduct of the various business transactions that affect the integrity of the entire banking industry..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120506nat3.html

Binay: OVP has no text promos 05/06/2012

Binay: OVP has no text promos

05/06/2012
Vice President Jejomar Binay has cautioned the public against falling prey to text messages claiming that the recipients have won in a raffle sponsored by or has become a beneficiary of a cash assistance program of his office.

“The Office of the Vice President (OVP) neither engages in raffle games nor has a cash assistance program. Text messages saying otherwise are bogus and should be ignored,” Binay said.

He added that those who receive such messages may contact his office at 832-6791 local 105 or 106 or at visit vp@ovp.gov.ph for verification..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120506nat4.html

Six heavily-armed men abduct shipping firm’s manager in Las Piñas 05/06/2012

Six heavily-armed men abduct shipping firm’s manager in Las Piñas

05/06/2012
Six heavily-armed men abducted the manager of Shogun Shipping Corp. Inc. along Daang Hari, in front of Versailles Subdivision, Almanza 2, Las Piñas City yesterday morning.

Supt. Jenny Tecson, Southern Police District spokesman, identified the victim as Vicente Cordero III, 27, manager of Shogun Shipping Corp. Inc. and a resident of Unit 3711, Joya Tower, Rockwell, Makati City.

Tecson said Cordero was biking in the area at around 7:30 a.m. when a white Mitsubishi Adventure (WBF-237) appeared out of nowhere and blocked the victim’s path..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120506met2.html

Solons file bill allowing prisoners to work in jail to indemnify victims By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

Solons file bill allowing prisoners to work in jail to indemnify victims

By Charlie V. Manalo 05/06/2012

Two party-list solons have filed a bill aimed at giving prisoners the chance work for them to indemnify their victims while earning for their families and preparing for eventual return to society.

In filing House Bill No. 4622, also known as “Prisoner’s Contrition and Contribution to Society Act of 2011,” Buhay party-list Reps. Irwin Tieng and Mariano Michael Velarde want to make it a policy of the State to provide work to prisoners “in order to prepare them to become productive members of society upon their release from prison and jails.”

“Correction and rehabilitation are the basic reasons why offenders are kept in prisons. The introduction of work programs has been found to be an effective means for rehabilitating prisoner and reducing recidivism,” the Buhay solons said in the bill’s explanatory note..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/

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