Local pols may use youth jobs program for early campaigning
Written by Jesus F. Llanto
Monday, 22 June 2009
Citizens urged to monitor LGUs that will implement $6-million program funded by Spain.
National government officials on Monday urged citizens and civil society groups to keep an eye on local government officials who may take advantage of a foreign-funded vocational training program for the youth to boost their popularity among the voters for next year’s elections.
The Spanish government is providing US$6 million to train young people in four provinces, namely Masbate in the Bicol Region, Antique in Western Visayas, Agusan del Sur in Caraga, and Maguindanao in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The project funded by Spain’s Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) targets 10,000 men and women, aged 15 to 24 years, in these provinces where there is high incidence of poverty, out-migration, low enrolment rates, and huge number of out-of-school youth.
More girls to work, stop schooling due to crisis
Written by Jesus F. Llanto
Monday, 15 June 2009
Their parents lost jobs in massive layoffs
The global financial crisis is expected to push a huge number of children, particularly girls, to drop out of school and become laborers, according to a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) released Monday.
This development could erode the progress in fighting child labor in the past decade, said the report, called “Give Girls A Chance: Tackling Child Labor, A Key to the Future?”
These prospective child-laborers are children of parents who lost their livelihood due to the massive layoffs in companies worldwide.
“Although processes has been made in reducing child labor during the course of the past ten years, the onset of the global financial crisis threatens to erode recent advances,” said Michele Jankanish, director of the ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, in his foreword on the study.
Opposition ‘presidentiables’ push for modern family planning
By Jesus Llanto
Newsbreak
June 6, 2009
Couples should be allowed to make an informed choice, say Estrada, Legarda, Binay
Three declared presidential aspirants from the ranks of the Opposition on Friday night showed their inclination to adopt a policy promoting reproductive health and responsible parenthood, and funding it, when they become President. They went directly against the position of President Arroyo, who, despite her admission of having used contraceptives as a young mother, refuses to push artificial methods in the government’s family planning program.
Speaking at the leadership forum organized by the ABS-CBN News Channel at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Loren Legarda, and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay expressed their support for an information campaign on reproductive health that give families informed choices in deciding their family sizes.
Excess gov’t execs cost taxpayers P58 M a year
Written by Jesus Llanto
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
The Office of the President has the most number of excess—unqualified—undersecretaries and assistant secretaries
The government could save as much as P58 million a year if it would remove all the redundant executives from the bureaucracy, a study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed.
The 2008/2009 Philippine Human Development Report (PHDR), which was launched Wednesday in Quezon City, counted as many as 81 unneeded undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, most of them with the Office of the President.
More than half of these excess executives are unqualified for their positions, the study sa(id.
New party-list reps aid RH bill passage
By Jesus F. Llanto
Thursday, 07 May 2009
The entry of new party-list representatives in Congress is expected to give a boost to the passage of the reproductive health (RH) bill, lawmakers said.
In a forum on the reproductive health bill held Thursday in Quezon City, two lawmakers said the number of legislators supporting the RH bill is expected to increase as a result of the entry of additional sectoral representatives in Congress.
The Supreme Court on April 21 allowed the entry of an additional 32 sectoral representatives to fill up all the available seats for the party-list system. The 1987 Constitution states that 20 percent of the members of the House of Representatives should come from the marginalized or under-represented sectors.
Creation of 20 districts unconstitutional?
By Jesus F. Llanto
May 5, 2009
If House stuck to its initial interpretation of maximum number of seats, district congressmen would have been limited to 200.
When Speaker Prospero Nograles recently asked the Supreme Court to clarify the number of members that the House of Representatives can have, he may have unwittingly raised questions on the legitimacy of 20 congressional districts created since the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.
Citing the “constitutionally mandated maximum of 250” seats for the lower chamber, Nograles filed on April 28 a petition asking the High Tribunal to clarify its new formula in computing the number of allocated seats for party-list representatives. A week before that, the SC allowed 32 additional party-list nominees to be proclaimed, bringing the total membership of the House to 263.
“Considering that this is the first time that the number of members will actually exceed the constitutionally mandated maximum of 250, clarification is sought whether a prior act of increasing the number of members of the House of Representatives is necessary in order that the 32 named party-list representatives may be accommodated or whether it should enrol only such number that will complete the 250 maximum membership prescribed by the 1987 Constitution,” the petition read.
Article VI, Section 5, of the Constitution states that the number of House members should not exceed 250, and that 20 percent of that—or 50—should be the party-list representatives. That leaves only 200 seats for district representatives, which was the number of districts when the 1987 Constitution was ratified.
Since 1987, however, several laws were passed that created 20 additional legislative districts. Nineteen have elected congressmen, while the newest district will elect its first representative in 2010.
TOIL AND TROUBLE: How Jobs and Decent Work Are Faring Amid the Crisis
Newsbreak Special Issue
Newsbreak magazine’s special edition on decent work is now off the press.
Called “Toil and Trouble,” the collection of in-depth articles examines current trends and explores various issues on labor and employment.
Made all the more timely and relevant by the current financial crisis, the special issue looks into layoffs at export processing zones, the call center phenomenon, contractualization in the retail industry, safety at work, the fading appeal of workers’ unions, the killing of labor leaders, among other issues.
Copies are available at bookstores and at the Newsbreak office. Call 920-0997 for bulk orders.
CONTENTS
By the Numbers
Facts and figures on labor and employment
OVERVIEW
The Hidden Jobs Crisis
By Roel Landingin
The government is reporting just a small number of jobs lost as the economy slows down, but the impact on workers lives is devastating.
CONTRACTUAL LABOR
A Nation of Casuals
By Clarence Pascual
Non-standard work is on the rise among wage earners, diminishing the gains from the steady shift from self-employment to higher quality jobs.
OVERSEAS WORKERS
Uncertain Future
By Prime Sarmiento
Overseas work has become a riskier and less rewarding proposition, but most Filipinos still prefer it to domestic alternatives.
ECONOMIC ZONES
Enclaves of Sorrow
By Jesus Llanto
Factories in special economic zones allegedly ignore labor standards, but there are no of few alternatives for laid-off workers but to return to these employers.
CALL CENTERS
Hello and Goodbye
By Clarence Pascual
Call centers still offer high-paying jobs amid the global slowdown, but work-related stress and ill-health are rife among workers.
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
From Shipyard to Graveyard
By Raymund Antonio
The growing number of fatalities at the Hanjin shipyard reveals problems both with investors and the government.
FARMING
Hard Labor
By Earl Parreno
Farming remains backbreaking work with few rewards.
DEEP-SEA FISHING
Nowhere to Fish
By Criselda Yabes
Dwindling tuna catches are turning deep-sea fishing from a decent livelihood into a game of chance for the proud fishermen of Kiamba in Southern Mindanao.
SOCIAL INSURANCE
Protection Racket
By Roel Landingin
Social security institutions have mixed feelings about expanding or introducing new benefits for troubled members.
LABOR UNIONS
Losing Ground
By Carmela Fonbuena
Labor unions fight an uphill battle to maintain relevance amid corporate controls and worker
apathy.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Collateral Victims
By Aries Rufo
Labor leaders and organizers are turning up dead or missing in the course of the government’s counterinsurgency drive.
THE WORKPLACE
Who Moved My Office?
By Jesse Edep
Technology and new business models radically transform the Philippine workplace.
FIRST PERSON
Nighttimer
Why a call center agent decided to keep his job.
A photo essay by Luis Liwanag
For orders and inquiries regarding the special issue: email admin[at]newsbreak.com.phcall (632) 9200997. fax (632) 9203611
