(Updated 3:42 p.m.) While
labor groups held protests near Malacañang Palace in Manila, President
Benigno Aquino III chose to spend Labor Day in his home province of
Tarlac.
Aquino traveled to Tarlac City on
Tuesday afternoon, right after his dialogue with representatives from
the labor sector inside the Palace, to witness a job fair in the area.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the President spent the
morning of Labor Day to get some rest to recuperate from colds and
cough.
"This is an opportunity for him na
magpahinga. Alam niyo naman he got colds and cough sa kampanya pa lang.
He is taking medications for that," Lacierda said in a phone patch
interview with reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
But Lacierda quickly clarified that the President is not trying to evade Labor Day protests in Manila.
"This was scheduled weeks ago. The recommendation for activities came
from DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment]. Hindi naman umiiwas,"
Lacierda said.
He added that Aquino is expected to hold a meeting with local leaders in Victoria town later in the day.
Last year, Aquino held his dialogue with labor groups on Labor Day
itself. He also inspected a government-sponsored job fair in Pasay City.
In last year's Labor Day protests, Lacierda--along
with Budget chief Florencio Abad and presidential political adviser
Ronald Llamas--faced militant workers who protested on Mendiola Bridge near the Palace to assure them of the government's action to their concerns.
'Empty promises'
Meanwhile, labor groups which held protests outside Malacañang
criticized the Aquino administration for its supposed "empty promises"
to Filipino workers.
Leody de Guzman,
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) president, lamented the
government's supposed inability to raise wages in the country.
"Workers will go home empty handed on this year’s Labor Day. Noynoy is
halfway through his six-year term in office, but he could not even
raise wages so as to prove that the much publicized economic growth
could trickle down to the workers and the poor," De Guzman said in a
statement issued Wednesday.
The labor leader
also described the non-wage benefits offered by the Aquino government
to workers this year as "next to nothing."
On Tuesday,
Aquino rejected calls from the labor sector to prioritize a proposed
legislation against contractualization, and to grant tax exemptions to
minimum wage earners.
Instead, the President offered to equalize compensation benefits of government employees and workers from the private sector, and to amend the social security pension scheme.
Instead, the President offered to equalize compensation benefits of government employees and workers from the private sector, and to amend the social security pension scheme.
But
Ferdinand Gaite of the Confederation for Unity, Advancement and
Recognition of Government Employees (COURAGE), said Aquino's non-wage
benefits package was "a big disappointment and amounts to nothing."
“For President Aquino, the workers either have to be retired or be
disabled from an accident before they can benefit from his nonwage
benefits pronouncements... What we need is a wage hike right here, right
now," Gaite said in a separate statement. — RSJ, GMA News
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