Citing the study conducted by independent think tank Ibon Foundation Inc., the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the number of Filipinos jobless or otherwise not earning enough from their jobs and seeking additional work increased by 645,000 from the year before to reach 11.6 million in April 2011.
Fernando Hicap, the group’s national chairman, said there is a large increase in the number of Filipinos jobless or in poor quality work because the small drop in the number of unemployed was more than offset by the huge 829,000 increase in the number of underemployed.
The militant group also noted the poor performance of the Aquino administration in providing decent wages to Filipino workers. Pamalakaya said the Aquino administration gave less to workers compared with the previous Arroyo government, with just a P22 wage hike for Metro Manila in May 2011.
According to Ibon, the previous administration was able to give higher P25 wage increases in June 2005 and July 2006. The real wage, or taking inflation into account, also reached higher during the previous administration and was worth P258 in February 2008 (in 2000 prices) compared with the P245 under Mr. Aquino in June 2011. The mandated minimum wage of P426 is also P572 less than or just 43 percent of the family living wage of P998 for a family of six in Metro Manila.
No usual promises please
FOR Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. of Cagayan, more than usual promises, the people want to hear from President Aquino’s Sona the actual vision on where he plans to bring the country.
“The people want to know what should be happening in the next six years and the key indicators by which we can measure the President’s performance by. Will it be poverty reduction by 80 percent, the construction of 113,000 classrooms needed to address the current shortage, or increasing rice yield per hectare by 30 percent?” said Enrile.
He said Mr. Aquino needs to put in place economic policies that are “predictable, stable and sustainable” so that local and foreign investors would have stronger business confidence in the country.
The legislator said that while the administration claimed that the country has gained back business confidence, figures such as the foreign direct investments (FDI) indicate otherwise.
Latest figures from the Bangko Sentral show that FDI in 2010 indicate that the Philippines received $1.71 billion, which pales in comparison to Vietnam’s $11 billion and Indonesia’s $13 billion during the same year.
Also, Enrile urged Mr. Aquino to lay down specific plans, assign timelines and identify yardsticks for his performance in his Sona as various sectors are waiting for concrete indications of the President’s direction for the country in the coming years, and on specific programs that are aimed at fulfilling his campaign promises.
Security preparations
THE Quezon City Police District will deploy at least 12 tow trucks near the Sandiganbayan on Monday to ensure that traffic will still move on the Commonwealth Avenue as President Aquino delivers his Sona.
Chief Supt. George Regis, Quezon City police chief, said the trucks, coming from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Quezon City government’s public order and safety department, will ensure that no stalled vehicles will cause heavy traffic during the President’s address.
He said the traffic aides will be deployed also and appropriate signages will be installed to guide the motoring public of the alternate routes.
The tow trucks and traffic aides will support the more than 7,000 policemen who will be deployed for security and crowd dispersal operations during the Sona. Most of the policemen will be stationed near and around the Batasang Pambansa.
Regis also said that pro-Aquino rallyers are designated to hold their activities along Commonwealth Avenue in front of the Commission on Audit Building, while anti-Aquino protesters will gather at the Quezon Memorial Circle as allowed by their rally permit.
Director General Raul Bacalzo, National Police chief, has placed almost all police units under full alert for today’s Sona.
Bacalzo ordered all National Police regional command, the Special Action Force, Intelligence Group, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Maritime Group, Legal Service, Headquarters Support Service, Health Service, Crime Laboratory Group, Aviation Security Group and the National Operations Center (NOC) to observe full alert status.
He also put the National Police National Headquarters and the rest of the national support units under heightened alert.
Meanwhile, the military’s National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) will support the police in Monday’s security operations, but will observe its ordinary alert status.
Maj. Gen. Tristan Kison, NCRcom chief, said he had also deployed 700 soldiers near Batasan to augment the police in crowd-dispersal operations.
“Here in headquarters, we still have one company of soldiers that is on a standby along with a number of armored vehicles,” Kison said.
(With R. Acosta)
