CL gov’t men set ‘protest day’

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Classes in public schools across Central Luzon may be disrupted this coming Wednesday when the region’s 46,000 public school teachers, along with 30,000 other government employees, take to the streets to demand a P3,000 across-the-board salary hike, among other issues.

Leaders of the Public Sector Employees Forum (PSEF) said the protest action, dubbed "All Government Employees’ National Day of Protest" will also raise issues such as the proposed 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) and the government’s other "regressive" tax plans and the toll hike on the North Luzon Expressway.

The PSEF is an umbrella organization composed of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Central Luzon (ACT-CL), Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees-Central Luzon, the Alliance of Health Workers-Central Luzon and other groups of government employees in the region.

"Over the last four years, the government has turned a deaf ear to our demand for salary increases and left us at the mercy of skyrocketing prices of oil, basic commodities and water and electricity rates. Now it is killing us," said Fabian Hallig, PSEF overall coordinator and ACT-CL secretary general.

During the mass action, the government workers will wear protest ribbons, armbands and T-shirts, and carry placards and streamers in their places of work.

At noon, they will hold noise barrages and protest marches in various parts of Central Luzon.

The PSEF is asking the government to rechannel 10 percent of P646 billion allotted for debt payments to personal services.

This, it said would be "more than enough" to grant the government’s 1.4 million employees a P3,000 salary increase.

"All that is needed is for President Arroyo to exercise her political will to effect such a reduction, if she were true to her vaunted concern for the welfare of the government employees," the PSEF said.

Hallig said thousands of public school teachers in the region are ready to leave their classes to join their fellow government workers in the rallies.