Society's failure on social responsibility for workers

The State is mandated by the Philippine Constitution to promote social justice in all phases of national development and to afford full protection to labor, local or overseas, organized or unorganized.

In fact, the sovereign Filipino people make it a duty on the part of the State to guarantee the rights of all workers and to promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities.

The State is directed to promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation, and free the people from poverty.

Not only that, it has been boldly postulated in the fundamental law of the land, that the goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth, a sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced by the nation, for the benefit of the people.

However, all these promises are broken. There is a prevalence of social injustice. Almost all the wealth of the nation and the resources and assets are in the hands of a few taipans, tycoons and cartels. Among the working class, there are three millions who are unemployed and more than ten million who are underemployed. Millions of families have no decent housing, with no access to medical care and quality education. And the government promotes mendicancy by giving cash to the poor, instead of solving the unemployment problem on a long-term and strategic basis.

Education is allowed to be controlled by greedy businessmen whose only motivation is profit and not the molding of the youth's character and building competencies for the future. Thus, both the government and civil society has failed miserably in its social responsibility to the poor.

The schools are no longer centers of excellence to prepare the future generation's readiness to face the rapid pace of rapid technological changes and massive socio-economic and political challenges in an increasingly globalized economy. Instead, educational institutions become profit-centered whose main objective is to increase revenue without corresponding enhancement of the quality of education.

Teachers are underpaid, overworked and denied security of tenure. The Church had been teaching the gospel of preferential option for the poor since Pope Leo XIII released his famous RERUM NOVARUM. And yet, many schools run by religious orders are well known to be blatantly anti-labor, anti-union and are committing unfair labor practices and illegal dismissals without any concern for the dignity of teachers and the fundamental rights of labor.

Trade unions and labor federations have lost their fervor to defend the rights and interests of the working class. Many labor leaders have enriched themselves in power and have succeeded in perpetuating themselves in top leadership positions at the expense of the laborers. They have forgotten their mission and have instead used their influence to corner juicy government positions, portraying themselves as tripartite representative of labor in many powerful agencies. And yet, all their decisions are perceived to be promoting only the interests of their groups. Many of our union leaders treat their unions as family corporations, where leadership positions are shared by cousins and inherited by wives and sons. There are many unions represented in Congress since the start of the sectoral representation and yet the Labor Code has remained archaic, disjointed and irrelevant in a globalized economy.

Society has failed labor miserably in its social and moral responsibility to be compassionate and just to the workers. The powerful has remained impervious to the pains of the powerless. Everything seems to be a charade, a series of posturing and simulations. The workers' pay is pittance, not enough to qualify as a living wage.

In fact, there is a tripartite board mandated to keep wages at the minimum. Government does not want to rock the boat by raising wages to a level that shall protect the workers' purchasing power. And yet, the same government confesses that it is powerless to stop giant power distributor from raising the cost of electricity, water and telecommunication. Government has failed miserably. So is the civil society. So are the unions. So are the Church and the schools, the civic leaders and the powerful elements of Philippine society.

Many politicians plunder the coffers of government, launder billions abroad, and deprive the poor of affordable foods and decent shelter. Many businessmen carry on their operations while cheating their workers of wages and labor standards. Some church leaders, like modern Pharisees and scribes, pontificate on social justice while exploiting their own workers. School administrators have metamorphosed into money changers in the temples of the Lords. Everything is a sham and only for show.

The social cancer is still afflicting the Philippine society, Kapitan Tiago, Padre Damaso, Dona Victorina, Sisa, Crispin and Basilio are still with us. It's still the same old story - the fight for bread and glory. The case (of social injustice) is still the case. And, baby, nothing's gonna change. Evil is winning. Good men is doing nothing. Pagkapait gayod!