Kilusang Mayo Uno

pinilak ang pakikibaka ng mga manggagawa sa pangunguna ng Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)

NEWS RELEASE

February 14, 2006

Massive migration of private school studes blamed on indecent wages

The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said that the yearly massive migration of students from private to public schools stemmed from inhumane wages and the government’s disregard of the workers’ call for a decent wage hike.

“Our children are the victims of this heartless government because it has continued to deny them their decent meals and even their future through education,” says KMU Women’s Department Secretary Nenita Gonzaga.

The veteran woman labor leader said this in response to the statement by Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas citing study by the Department of Education (DepEd) that approximately 160,000 elementary and high school students are driven out of private schools each year due to spiraling costs of education, the need to survive and to help earn a living for their families.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES), the employment participation of Filipinos with ages 15-19 years reaches 2.46 million in January 2005.

Gonzaga explained that workers cannot anymore afford their children’s education with P275 minimum wage in National Capital Region (NCR), “Budgeting that amount among the necessary daily necessities in these times when prices and rates of basic goods and services shoot up is no easy feat. Children dropping out of school is the saddest face of the government’s inutility to help the people out of poverty.”

Gonzaga also held the government culpable for the downtrend in Philippine education because of its continued support of deregulation in the education sector. Deregulation, according to the labor leader, allows private schools to raise their tuition fees unhampered.

She also mocked Malacañang’s elation over the Fitch Ratings upgrade in its credit outlook on the , “Can we feed and send our children to school with credit ratings and peso appreciations?  If Mrs. Arroyo is so boastful of these so-called economic growth indicators, then why deny us the little workers who make the real wealth of the nation certain economic relief through wage hikes?”

The KMU also supports the government employees mass actions set today saying that the P3000 wage relief should be given to government employees. The labor group is geared for a mass mobilization on February 17 on Mendiola to push for a P125 wage hike across the country.

KMU Spokesperson Presto Suyat meanwhile asks Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla to have a tougher stance against oil companies in face of rising domestic prices of oil despite the downtrend in global oil prices.

Suyat said that a rollback should be carried out to ease the burden of the little jeepney drivers and operators as well as the ordinary people. He also urged the Department of Energy (DoE) to investigate these oil companies for overpricing, “these companies together with the government’s policy of a no-wage hike is pushing the people to hunger and poverty.”

Suyat also expressed amusement over Lotilla’s excitement over 2.7-kilo gasulitos priced at P164 per tank, “Ordinary Filipinos and workers know for a fact that “tingi”(commodities in small quantities or packaging) can really provide us with our needs especially with our depleted purchasing power. But like shampoos, toothpastes and deodorants sold in sachets, you still need to buy them frequently because it is used out easily. This is not sustainable way to address the issue of rising prices. ” ###

posted by: KMU at 08:49 | link | comments |

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