Parañaque moves forward

Happy Labor Day to everyone, if there is such a thing.

The meaning of Labor Day is lost on most everyone except for the workers’ unions who have belabored the term and taken it to far, far stretches. Ask any ordinary employee about the relevance of this national holiday and they will tell you that it’s traditionally the day when mandatory increases are officially announced. Other than that, Labor Day has no significance to them, just another rest day to add to our numerous holidays.

Well, Malacañang has already officially announced that there will be no proclamations of mandatory wage increases today. Some workers’ unions have taken a hard stance on wage increases in recent years, but employers’ groups have likewise been adamantly against any kind of increase in economic benefits, at least for now—the sector just cannot take it anymore. It’s either comply with the wage increases or face the realities and just close shop. For many small and medium entrepreneurs, only these two options are available. Of course, some may resort to underpaying their employees or withholding benefits like SSS, Medicare or even overtime pay, but for many established companies, this is not an option. For big corporations, the option is to cut down on the work force and stop hiring, which is bad news for our new graduates (and those who have graduated two, three years ago and are still walking the streets.) No matter the claim of many of our economists about our improved GDP and our buffer policies that have somehow softened the blow of the global financial meltdown on our shores, these are still challenging times, and the answer does not always lie on mandatory wage increases.

In the South, the kind mayor of Parañaque, Florencio Bernabe Jr., has opted to lend more meaning to the national holiday we are observing today, a more pro-active move that hurts neither camp—employer or employee. The Parañaque City Government, under his leadership, launched this year’s edition of the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES).

Running from for a full month, from April 19 to May 19, 2010, the city government is coordinating with the Department of Labor and Employment (through the efforts of the Paranaque Livelihood Resource Management Office through its Public Employment Service Office (PESO). Under the program, some 200 students will be selected from low-income families. The students’ ages will range from 15 to 25, and they should not have any failing grade.

These young people learn office skills and procedures under the program, and earn a decent income which they could use to augment their tuition for the coming school year. A laudable program indeed that is productive and pro-poor.

It was also nice to know that the city government facilitated a one-day job hiring for the different branches of SM Supermarket, SM City Sucat and D.M. Consunji for both college graduates and undergraduates. Hundreds of young people responded to the call, submitting their applications and pre-employment requirements for the positions of clerk-cashiers, sales clerks, utility/stock clerks, office assistants, inventory assistants and gift-wrapping staff for the SM group.  

For D.M. Consunji Inc., several hopefuls lined up for office and supervisory positions. The deadlines were from April 26 – 29, so by early May, many of these young people will have new jobs, thanks to the efforts of the kind mayor and the PESO-PLRMO (with offices at Simplicio Cruz compound, Barangay San isidro, Paranaque, beside Uniwide Sucat) offices headed by Ms. Doris Marquez. We need tireless government officials like them to steer the city to success. Every year, we have new graduates, and the ranks of the unemployed just keep rising. If our students can look forward to this every summer, they have hope. It would be nice if more corporations can join forces with the Mayor for projects like this.

The city government has been steadily gaining grounds. The City of Paranaque Multi-Purpose Employees Cooperative (CPMEC) has been posting improvements in their credit services. Last year, its financial assets rose from P6,004,504 to P7,629,001. The lending rose from P7,828,644 to P9,469,427 as more and more coop members availed of the credit services. CPMEC was recognized for its efforts when it was declared as Best in Capital Build-up and Membership Education and 2nd Runner Up in the Micro Category during the PLRMO and PCDC Search for Most Outstanding Cooperative of Paranaque. It has also supported the Dept. of Health Blood Program for five bloodletting sorties. Kudos, and our heartfelt thanks for these tireless efforts for the residents of Paranaque.

Only one issue has been resolved

A reader, Paolo Almeda of Silang, Cavite e-mailed us his comments on our column last week in appreciation of our “balanced discussion on Turkish flour”. He wrote to say: “I can’t get over a tacit admission made by Turkish Ambassador Adnan Basaga that they cannot guarantee that Turkish flour would not end up contaminated with cancer-causing mycotoxins once it leaves their ports of origin.”

In the interest of fairness, reader Mr. Almeda may have misunderstood this part. What the Ambassador said was, “They have unconditional guarantees of good condition (safe for human consumption) for their Turkish flour leaving their ports as they observe strict standards, but once these are unloaded into the local warehouses, they can no longer guarantee the integrity of the product as to hygiene for instance due to handling.”

Also in the spirit of fairness, I am printing some of your comments which may be of interest to our readers.

“Basaga as well as the FDA and the Department of health are not being level with us, Filipinos. For in their press conferences, they did not even bother coming out with the actual test figures. Worse, the FDA gave the Turkish Embassy an advance copy of its result on March 30 before releasing its blanket statement exonerating Turkish flour on April 6. Hmmm. Mighty suspicious, don’t you think, considering the behind-the-scene maneuverings of a powerful lobby group from Turkey that may have “gotten” into our health officials.”

With the health concerns of Turkish flour set aside by the FDA’s pronouncements of its acceptance, the issue about its coming in to the country without paying the legally required tariffs remains. It’s an issue that needs to be resolved soon as it directly affects the country’s revenue potentials and so with our local flour producers. 

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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