On Labor Day and the Labor Code

The nation celebrates today the day for the working class amidst the hullabaloo and the noises in politics. But we are forgetting something very, very important. Why are there no single senator or congressman, or candidate who discusses the Labor Code? This major law impacts directly on the lives of ninety-nine percent of Filipinos, and indirectly affects all the rest of the 117 million people?

Today, the whole nation celebrates the Labor Day to honor the millions of working men and women, who toil day in and day out to put food on the table, provide shelter and clothing to family and send children to school, pay for medicines and hospitalization for the sick, the elderly and the infirm, and pay taxes to the government. But as we celebrate Labor Day, have we forgotten the 51-year-old Labor Code, which was promulgated by a Martial Law dictator, with too many undemocratic provisions?

Indeed, today, we pay tribute to our farmers who produce rice, corn, vegetables and fruits, till our lands and cultivate our farms amid harsh and extreme weather conditions. We also honor our fisher folks, especially the marginalized ones who are constantly being harassed both by domestic owners of huge fish pens but also by Chinese militia men and coast guards who intrude into our exclusive maritime zones in the West Philippine Sea.

We salute the factory workers, those who are compelled to work in unsafe, unhealthy and insecure workplaces just to earn minimum wages and pittance benefits. We salute the BPO and call center agents who are working days and nights for foreign employers who choose the Philippines as sites because of cheap labor. We express admiration for our seafarers both here and abroad for manning our vessels, transporting people and goods and maintaining the stability and predictability of our supply chain within and outside the country.

We also honor our domestic servants, the housemaids, the drivers and the gardeners, the security guards, the messengers, the janitors and the repairmen. We give due recognition to the riders and drivers who pick up and deliver passengers and goods and keep the economy moving. We salute the members of the police who keep our streets safe and crime-free. We honor our traffic enforcers and street sweepers. We pay tribute to the garbage men and the scavengers, those who toil to pick up garbage and manage to get leftovers and foods thrown away by the rich.

We give special recognition to teachers, both those in private schools and in the public basic and secondary as well as tertiary education. We honor the doctors, the nurses, dentists, medical technologists and other hospital and clinic workers and assistants. With special mention, we salute our twelve million overseas workers, both in land-based foreign employers as well as in foreign and ocean-going vessels. We express fond wishes to the household service workers especially those in the Middle East in Asia and in Europe and the Americas/.

As we celebrate Labor Day, we need to remember that the Labor Code is already 51 years old. It is a presidential decree promulgated by a Martial law dictator. It is high time for Congress to repeal, revise, amend or modify it at the very least. More than 110 million Filipinos are directly impacted by the Labor Code and the rest of more than 117 million are indirectly affected by its outmoded, anachronistic and incoherent provisions. When the Labor Code was promulgated with no Congress under a Martial law dictator, the world was too different from what it is today.

In 1974, when Marcos Sr. decreed the Labor Code, cell phones, ATMs, wifi, internet, social media were all unknown and not yet invented. Today, the world has progressed by quantum leaps. Yet, our government persists on holding on to a Code made by a dictator whereby the workers and the employers are both being subjected to an overwhelming stranglehold of controls imposed by a domineering government.

While declaring that free collective bargaining should be the preferred labor relations system, the government continues to maintain the NLRC which is the purveyor of compulsory arbitration or state control of labor-management relations. The present Congress, it appears to me, with due respect, does not seem to fully understand the Labor Code and thus refuses to touch it. The Senate is too fixated on less important and less urgent statutes and investigations. The legislators ignore this law which directly impacts on no less than 90 million out of the 117 million Filipinos.

We should thus elect senators who understand labor laws and who know the Labor Code. We should choose Kiko Pangilinan instead of Philip Salvador, Bam Aquino instead of Willy Revillame, Sonny Matula instead of Bong Revilla, Heidi Mendoza instead of Camille Villar, Luke Espiritu instead of Lito Lapid. We should know who are experts in making laws and not just those who insult people and bribe them with politicized ayuda and dance the budot.

That is how to celebrate Labor Day: make a final list of candidates to vote for. Let us stop sending jokers and boxers to the Senate. If we want to honor the working men and women, we should choose competent legislators who understand the function of legislation for both the working class, the employers and the nation and people

Above all, let us elect senators and congressmen who understand the Labor Code and are poised to amend it in order to make labor laws responsive to the compelling needs of the times. Let us honor our working class by electing men and women who are prepared to serve the nation and the people with competence, integrity and honor.