Workers versus Heat: Demanding Hazard Pay for Health
Kiko, a platform rider, worker aged 42, lamented, “Summer in Manila has never been this hot.” With temperatures soaring to an off-the-charts 47 degrees Celsius, this past summer is not just a record-breaker; it’s a sign of even hotter days ahead, as scientists warn that this could be the “coldest” we will experience.
As the planet warms and technology reshapes our lives, it is the workers in the gig (or platform) economy feeling the heat. Kiko is among the 400,000 platform workers in the country, as reported by Fairwork Philippines. Most of platform workers do not have social insurance (SSS or Philhealth) because of the nature of their employment. They earn their living on a day-to-day basis. Hence, they can’t hit pause or seek shelter just because it’s a scorching 47 degrees outside.
Photo Courtesy of RIDERS-SENTRO
The Heat Index: More Than Just Numbers
When asked about the heat index, Kiko said “It might be 36? But it feels like 47!”, yet it matters to who? Work does not stop at 36 or 47.
The impact of heat varies, inversely tied to social class. The working class bears the brunt under the blazing sun, while the middle class can seek refuge with SPF 50 and a cool drink. As for the elites, they fly out to milder climates at will.
To announce suspensions due to extreme heat indicates intolerable conditions that disrupts daily tasks. For schools with roofs and AC units, they have suspended classes multiple times in the past dry season, prompting some cities to consider heatwave signals akin to typhoon warnings.
Yet, heat, like storms, doesn’t discriminate. Extreme weather affects everyone’s physiology, regardless of social standing—and this is a basic argument for workers to demand better working conditions.
A study on risk perception of heat among workers even warningly says that workers perceive heat stress lowly, that contributes to occupational heat stress as a risk factor for serious medical conditions.1 In July 2023, five people died in Italy while working under the heatwave. This forms part of the 61,000 deaths due to the European heatwave that is projected to dial up year after year.2
Kiko says, “to pause and seek some shade to cool down helps a little, but to do work stoppage and not seek delivery orders does not help us at all.” Like a planet that heats up, jobs for delivery riders like Kiko has no option B.
Climate Crisis as Work Hazard
Heatwaves, along with other extreme weather conditions, signify a climate emergency and justify demands for hazard pay. Just as frontline workers were compensated during Covid-19 crisis, those enduring the climate crisis’ extreme heat deserve recognition and compensation. But who foots the bill?
Some companies provide basic relief, like cold water for transport workers and shaded rest areas for construction crews. However, the costs of heat-related illnesses (like heat rash, spasms, and heat stroke) aren’t put into paychecks.
Other countries have set-up compensation measures for work interruptions during dangerous levels of heat. The Austrian government has approved a collective bargaining agreement with its federation of construction workers to allow work stoppage for heat of above 32.5ºC with 60% compensation during the work stoppage period.3 France has an inclement weather leave fund for workers in the construction industry;4 Germany’s IG BAU—in a CBA with roofing industry workers—compensates up to 53 hours of salary if roofing workers are unable to work due to weather conditions such as extreme heat;5 In Italy, when employers declare perceived heat more than 35ºC, they can avail of their unemployment scheme protection, and is also applicable if a worker is laid-off due to inclement weather.6
The Costs Have Escaped, The Heat Will Not
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Department of Labor has issued a guideline for private sector workers on work suspension due to bad weather.7 But for platforms workers like Kiko, the private sector has none or minimal interventions due to its informal type of agreement with its workers. For farmers and other agricultural workers, they could literally farm to death with this dangerous heat, and no business intervention would be there to save them.
While the mentioned countries are developed economies, a climate finance scheme is actually available for developing countries, especially for informal and platform workers.8 The Philippine government, in Kiko’s behalf, can argue that workers incur loss and damages due to heat and that corporations are liable to this.
Absent of this loss and damage framework, corporations would only charge the health hazard pay to consumers and escape their cost of heating up the planet. The alt-right would then blame workers for higher cost of goods—a time-tested cost-escaping strategy of corporations. All this happening while the heat they have produced does not escape the atmosphere and only goes back to us. To put a house on fire and then walk away like nothing happened is arson. Those who contributed to this global arson should actually pay its price and not add more fuel to this burning planet.
US Senator Bernie Sanders rightly pointed out how the alt-right propaganda puts the battle among workers vs consumers instead of uniting the people versus corporate greed and the climate crisis. Workers should not be afraid to demand a health hazard pay for taking the heat. Consumers should not blame workers who deliver their lunch in their air-conditioned buildings. Instead, consumers should take on this heat with workers and demand for a health hazard pay.
Whether in the perspective of suspensions or heat-indices, this heat is an occupational hazard. Workers deserve a compensation to this health hazard—and carbon corporations should pay for it. Not Kiko, not you.
Notes
1 Bonafede, M., Levi, M., Pietrafesa, E., Binazzi, A., Marinaccio, A., Morabito, M., Pinto, I., de’ Donato, F., Grasso, V., Costantini, T., & Messeri, A. (2022). Workers’ perception heat stress: Results from a pilot study conducted in italy during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), 8196.
2 Limb, L. (2023, July 24). Heat stress: How can we save workers from a ‘silent killer’? Euronews.
3 Building and Wood Workers’ International. (2024). Adapting to the Heat: Existing Global Responses for Workers in Construction, Building Materials, Wood, and Forestry Industries (p. 44). Building and Wood Workers’ International.
4 Proposition de loi, 1587, 16e législature (2023).
5 Building and Wood Workers’ International. (2018, November 9). New agreement gives wage increase to German roofing workers. Building and Wood Workers’ International.
6 Italy readies special furlough scheme to save workers from heatwave. (2023, July 25). Reuters.
7 Patinio, F. (2022, August 25). DOLE issues guidelines on work suspension due to bad weather. Philippine News Agency; Philippine News Agency.
8 Protecting People from Extreme Heat: 10 Steps for Governments to Address Human Rights Impact of Climate Crisis. (2022, July 21). Human Rights Watch.
Why is essential domestic and care work so disregarded? (Part 1 of 3)
Every Filipino home has someone looking after the children’s needs, nursing an ill or elderly relative, doing the cooking, cleaning, and other usually undervalued but crucial activities needed for any household to function.
In lower to middle-income households, these care responsibilities are performed usually unpaid by a woman member of the family. If the female household head is employed, the work is mostly delegated to a paid carer or domestic worker. For rich households, the burden of care work is shared by many paid domestic workers.
Many domestic worker recruits are internal migrants, usually from poor families who want to go to school or to simply escape rural poverty. Or they could be longtime residents in urban areas but lack the required education or other employment criteria.
According to a 2018 internal migration survey by the Department of labor and Employment, 55 percent of Filipinos aged 15 up have moved out of their birthplaces once since birth.1 The survey also found that 49 percent were internal migrants, three percent moved to/from another country (international migrants). Those who never left were estimated to be 45 percent. Women migrants are slightly older than their male counterparts, while more than half of the migrants were less than 30 years old.
These internal migrants are also better educated, having reached college or tertiary level, and those who migrated overseas were even more educated. Also, most of them moved from rural areas to urban cities, with Metro Manila being the top destination.
An earlier study in 20062 also found that the number of female internal migrants were 53.1 percent higher than their male counterparts’ 37.8 percent. For moving into rural from urban areas, the main reason for a male migrant is finding a new job followed by getting married, while it is the reverse for a female migrant. Meanwhile, the main reason for both male and female migrants moving from rural to urban was job security and better schools.
Domestic work is therefore interwoven into poverty and migration.3 And this is one of the reasons why wages for domestic workers4 have been historically low, weighed down by a culture that is yet to recognize household work as critical to the functioning of individual families and society as a whole. This situation, however, is also true in many countries.5
The flip side of this affordability of domestic work, however, is that it has allowed people both in lower and middle-income classes to work and leave their household duties and join the workforce, helping the economy.6
Recent developments however have stalled this progress. In August 2023, Dr. Jonna Estudillo of the University of the Philippines School of Economics presented her study titled: On Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) globally, in Asia, and in the Philippines. Analyzing available past and most recent literature, she found that first, the stage of economic development has a significant impact on women joining the labor force. Second, the decline in the number of children and the rise in women’s education significantly increased women’s participation in the labor force, and finally, the FLFP remains low and has been declining since the mid-2010s in the Philippines despite improving education and wage levels for women. The trend was also accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and importantly, by the prevailing Filipino cultural practice of having women do most of the care work.
Also, domestic work is a largely invisible labor7—workers live and work inside private homes, making abuse and labor-related violations easier to commit.
But how critical is care and domestic work, to warrant such concern?
1 Mapa, C.D., (2020). More than half of Filipinos 15 years and over have ever migrated [2020-019]. Philippine Statistics Authority.
2 Quisumbing, A.R. & McNiven, S., (2007). Migration and the Rural-Urban Continuum: Evidence from Bukidnon, Philippines, Philippine Journal of Development.
3 De Guzman, M.R.T, (2014). Yaya: Philippine Domestic Care Workers, the Children They Care for, and the Children They Leave Behind, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
4The Philippine government prefers using Household Service Workers (HSWs) in referring to Domestic Workers.
5 Sedacca, N. (2022). Domestic Workers, the ‘Family Worker’ Exemption from Minimum Wage, and Gendered Devaluation of Women’s Work, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 51, Issue 4, Pages 771–801.
6 Buchhave, H., Belghith, N.B.H., (2022). Overcoming barriers to women’s work in the Philippines. World Bank.
7 Sayres, N.J., (2007). An Analysis of the Situation of Filipino Domestic Workers. International Labor Organization. Retrieved on June 15, 2023.
Ano’ng pwede natin gawin? AI is coming for your job
When the network giant GMA-7 presented to the public their newest sportscasters Marco and Maia, the Internet was all abuzz. Why? They look normal for sports reporters except for one thing—they are not humans.
GMA-7 calls the move “innovation in journalism” and reassured the public that the AI human models will not replace warm bodies in media. Many were not appeased and quick to voice out their fears—will these AI reporters replace their human counterparts?
4th Industrial revolution
Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to the computer simulation of human intelligence processes. This involves programming machines to imitate human thought patterns by exposing them to diverse datasets. The goal is to replicate how the human brain works and apply it to the specific tasks the machine is designed for. The development of computer algorithms approximating human intelligence is made possible by the increasing computational power of machines.
The rise of AI is part of the ongoing fourth wave of industrial revolution that is taking over many aspects of our lives. We, as individuals and as part of society, are increasingly dependent on the internet due to easier access to information and services. AI products such as AI-generated images, videos, songs, and applications are becoming common. In the physical world, AI has allowed the development of self-driving cars, which used to exist only in sci-fi films.
Industrial applications of AI have also been on the rise. In the oil and energy industry, AI is used to predict the demand and needs for future use; in aviation, to plot more economical flight routes; in marketing, finance, e-commerce, and education, for predictive data analysis.
Among the most recent advancements in the field of AI are the large language models (LLM). These models are built on artificial neural networks—algorithms that mimic the structure of a human brain—and trained on a big data set of information. The result is a computer software that can carry out sophisticated conversations with human users, who may likely mistake it as a normal person.
Applications of these LLMs can be seen in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and in Meta’s Llama, as well as in conversational AIs such as chatbots, virtual agents, virtual assistants, and even content-generation for SEO (search engine optimization) that are commonly used to assist in research, learning, or even for mundane tasks such as turning home appliances on and off (e.g. Siri, Alexa), or when you need someone to talk to in boredom (e.g. Simsimi).
Because of the language proficiency exhibited by these platforms, and the sheer volume of information that they can access and process, many think that these AI platforms can replace humans in some tasks. After all, AI integration has made work easier, and for some sectors, safer and cheaper.
And the tasks that can be delegated to AI has been growing. Even in the arts, AI has made its footprints. Image, music, and video generation can already be enhanced—if not completely and totally done—by AI. It can even write a full article! (This write-up, by the way, is not generated by AI.)
AI vs humans
Since new technology also impacts the way people work, it also brought disruptions to society and the economy. On the positive side, it improved productivity. On the negative side, it destroyed old ways of doing things where things are normally done more slowly, and more deliberately.
The advent of the internet and e-mail is why traditional postal service declined. In car factories, manufacturers opted for automation and replaced car painters with workers who know how to operate automated car body painting equipment; this raised production outputs, and cut the number of employees to be compensated.
The postal service example depicts direct displacement of economic activities, and in effect quite a number of workers. In auto manufacturing, the number for workers was reduced. New technology requires a new set of skills. Workers who were able to acquire these skills would remain on the assembly lines; those who failed to skill up were laid off.
However, despite the lay-offs and disruptions, it is important to note that automation has provided a much safer workplace for employees. It has reduced if not removed workers’ direct exposure to hazards, improving their health and welfare.
In the past, workers assigned to repetitive and routine-based tasks were deemed to be easily replaceable by machines. Many of these tasks can be observed in manufacturing (e.g. filling, canning, sealing) and agriculture (e.g. planting, harvesting, sorting), although some are also present in high-value added service activities such as BPO and finance (e.g. customer service and accounting tasks).
Cognitive and artistic work were thought hard to automate. But that was the view some years ago. Currently, even workers engaged in creative writing fear that they are as replaceable as machine parts. In fact, this is one of the grounds why the emergence of AI tools such as ChatGPT worries creative workers and has sent unions such as the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) striking in May 2023.
Alienation of labor
Creative writing is not the only one threatened. The performing arts is also now disrupted. The means to produce images and performance in films through AI already exists.
In the US, film producers want to take advantage of this opportunity by “capturing” the likeness and performance of actors to train generative AI, which will then be used later in lieu of real actors.
Currently, CGI is being used to capture and replicate actors, where a body double is used in place of the original actor, and their faces to be placed with tracking dots to enable easier overlay of the original actor’s face. In the AI version, there would be no need for a body double.
Surely, the actors will get paid for their performance and whenever a production uses their likeness, right? Not necessarily. It all depends on who owns the captured performance and likeness of actors. Film producers assert their ownership of the captured likeness and performances of actors. As soon as images and motion have been transformed into data, it is now the AI taking over acting. Actors lose both jobs and earnings.
The use of AI is one of the issues that caused bargaining between film producers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), and actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), to break down.
SAG-AFTRA was forced to launch a strike in July 2023 to protect the interest of actors and secure work for them. On 9 November 2023 after more than 100 days, the union announced that it is calling off the strike after securing a better package for workers in the film industry. This includes "unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI".
Regardless of the arguments, one thing is certain: Whoever owns the technology also tends to capture the most returns from it—unless workers take collective action.
The future of work
The encroachment of AI in the world of work is just getting started, and technological advancement will continue. Although the impact on workers especially in developing countries such as the Philippines is not yet felt significantly, it will eventually.
In more advanced countries such as in the US, the possible impact of generative AI is already being considered as millions of jobs are aimed to be automated – which probably means that workers may be displaced.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, has declared that “there will be an impact on jobs”. After all, in the event of mass automation, who shall be responsible to protect workers from possible displacement? While automation guarantees higher productivity, it will also create new types of jobs as it replaces existing ones.
Historically, automation is known to cause a decline in employment as displaced workers are not always readily equipped to take on the tasks demanded by the newly generated jobs. What can be done to address these concerns?
Alongside its goal to increase AI integration, Germany has put in place policies to aid workers from possible displacement due to AI. Some of the safeguards they have put in place are: Workers may be given paid leaves to attend educational courses; displacement tax are imposed on companies refusing to retrain their employees for AI-skill up; government offers financial incentives to companies that would enhance existing jobs to accommodate both AI and non-AI tasks.
In a recent discussion, Germany’s Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger says that for 2024, additional AI skill centers and professorships shall be added to fortify their goal to boost AI integration in the country, as well as improve existing AI-infrastructure and worker training.
Which still begs the question: Who shall be responsible for the protection of workers?
As everyone is affected, everyone shares accountability. But most of the weight is on employers and government, as they hold this new means of production and regulate its use respectively.
This employer-government cooperation should identify pros and cons of such change; lay out long-term goals to achieve higher productivity, advancement, and economic improvement without sacrificing the welfare of the workers; and create and implement programs that would help them adapt to the fast-changing labor landscape.
What about us workers? We need to remind ourselves that we who provide either physical or intellectual or creative labor give things value. Our labor creates value. And the new machines should remain tools that make our labor less back-breaking.
References
Emeritus. 2023. Examples of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 7 Industries.
New York Times. May 23, 2023. A.I.’s Threat to Jobs Prompts Question of Who Protects Workers.
What does high food prices mean for Filipino working-class families?
Most Filipino workers, especially those in the informal sector, live on low-paying insecure jobs. So as food prices go up and wages remain low, more Filipino working-class families are unable to meet basic food needs.
Official government figures corroborate this statement. The 2022 Family Income and Expenditure Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that about three in five (58.4%) among those in the low-income class are most vulnerable to the twin problems of falling income and rising food prices.
What does this mean for the Filipino working-class family?
Most Filipino households did not achieve the 100% estimated average requirement (EAR) in energy, according to the 2018-2019 Philippine Nutrition Facts and Figures of the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI).
Rural households were slightly better off than their urban counterparts, as 23.1% in rural and 20% in urban met the 100% EAR in energy. Only about 3 in 50 (5.8%) met the requirements for iron and vitamin A; only 12.4% for calcium; only 16% for vitamin C.
(Remember: Iron is needed for growth and development; vitamin A for normal vision, the immune system, reproduction, and growth and development; calcium is needed for muscles to move and for nerves to carry messages between the brain and every part of the body; and vitamin c is crucial in the healing process.)
By age group, less than 1 in 5 (18.4%) of infants and preschool-age children met the daily recommended energy intake (REI). A high prevalence of vitamin B3 inadequacy was observed among children aged 6 to 11 months, and 1 to 2 years old, and also for vitamin B1 (57.1%), vitamin B2 (60.0%), vitamin A (68.2%), and iron (86.6%).
(Remember: Vitamins B1, B2, and B3 help the body produce energy.)
Inadequacy in vitamin C among Filipino school-age children is staggering, with over 90% not meeting the daily requirement. The same go for vitamin B1 (94.9%), vitamin B2 (75.4%), vitamin A (76.7%), iron (97.1%), and calcium (93.3%).
The problem persists as children grow older. Only 9.1% of adolescents, said the report, met the daily REI.
For pregnant women, only 15.1% have met the daily REI. About 1 in every 5 (or 17.2%) pregnant women met the EAR for protein.
But the link is more than that as extreme poverty and bad policies make life more unbearable for most Filipinos. In short and in fact, malnutrition kills.
According to the UNICEF, malnutrition kills 95 Filipino children every day. Twenty-seven out of 1,000 babies and toddlers do not get past their fifth birthday.
What about the adults in the family? Do the surviving adults fare better? Unfortunately, adults have the highest prevalence of nutrients and vitamins inadequacy. Only 15.2% of elderly met the daily REI.
Yet, the PSA in 2021 estimated that the average food threshold was at P8,000 per month or 66% of the P12,000 poverty threshold. The Philippine government is effectively saying that a Filipino family of five can live on P266 per day, P89 per meal, or P18 per head.
But the social cost of food deprivation is not only immediate but far-reaching. From capitalism’s perspective, if this gross malnutrition (due to high food prices and low wages) continues among the working class, capitalism won’t be able to reproduce the next generation of workers it needs to survive.
It’s not too much, therefore, to declare that the prevailing economic and political system in the country punishes the working class even more when it deprives them of the most basic and most essential need to sustain life: food.
Over the past several months, as food prices soared, the Filipino working-class family has lost at least P89 to inflation. In real terms, it means workers have also been losing three individual meals per day while lavish parties and fashion shows are served regularly in Malacañang.
Wilson Fortaleza is a fellow at Center for Power Issues and Initiatives (CPII), and LEARN. He is also the deputy secretary general of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).
Wages and (₱)rice Control
Mainstream economists and opinion writers were quick to sense a boo-boo on the issuance by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. of Executive Order No. 39 which imposes mandatory caps or price ceilings on rice prices, purportedly to protect consumers against hoarding, profiteering, and cartels.
They are one in pointing to supply as the main problem why rice inflation is up, consistent with the basic law of economics that the Palace, said a columnist from one of the leading newspapers in the country, is trying to repeal under this EO. The President, he quipped, may have skipped his Econ 101 classes in Oxford to miss out on this textbook rule.
Professor Winnie Monsod, on her part, sees the issuance of EO 39 as ill-timed because September is the start of the harvest season. Combine the volume of projected harvests this season with the stock inventory of imported rice and there will be more than enough rice supply to cover the projected consumption of 14.75 million metric tons of rice for the rest of the year. And seeing no smugglers or hoarders in jail prior to the issuance of this EO to justify both the existence of an emergency and market manipulation, this price control measure, she said, makes no sense at all.
But whether the premises and numbers laid down in the formulation of this EO were truthful or not, the situation now awaits the response of a confused market where a miss may lead to disastrous consequences. There might be something the government is hiding from us for it to wager on price control.
Effective September 5, EO 39 capped the price of regular and well-milled rice to ₱41-₱45 per kilogram respectively, to the shock of millers and retailers who, a few days before the issuance of said order, were selling these staple grains higher by ₱10.
The impact of this price cap on the side of consumers is easier to figure out. An average Filipino, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), consumes 9.9 kilograms of rice per month. That means a sack of rice (at 50 kg) is needed per month by a family of five. In short, the price cap may reward that household with a savings of ₱125 per week or another 2.78 kilograms extra supply of rice at ₱45.
But this will only be possible if compliance in the market is high. Initial reports, however, suggest a wide range of passivity and defiance on the part of rice retailers who were hurting from the imposed cap. This prompted the government to extend assistance to cover their losses and to prevent them from opting out of the market.
Retailers, of course, will have to suffer the reverse impact of the sudden price rollback and run the risk of supply problems once dealers control their stocks in the face of a government crackdown. But worse off will be the palay farmers who need to cut down on their farmgate prices when traders force them to sell low because of the price cap.
Is it a case of unintended consequences? No. EO 39 speaks of hoarders and cartels, but government officials know certainly that the ax would fall harder on rice farmers and retailers for only their prices are most visible in the market and thus, can be effectively controlled. But who says, in a most certain term, that the ₱41 and ₱45 caps are the correct punishment rice cartels should pay for the market they gamed? Why not ₱20 as promised by BBM? Perhaps the only way to uncover the correct cartel prices is to seek its justice equivalent in prison terms.
Now let’s dig deeper into the wisdom of price controls. Based on what they said sharply against EO 39, pundits all agree that price control doesn’t work in agreement with textbooks and years of practical experience. Except for the single commodity that escaped fierce scrutiny from their brilliant minds: the correct price for labor.
Isn’t labor power, of all the commodities that are being sold in the market, suffering the most systemic and unjust form of price control?
The minimum wage is price control. It is a mandatory price tag that penalizes the seller of labor power similar to what’s going to happen to rice farmers, retailers, and traders. But unlike rice and other commodities where final prices are determined by the owners’ costs of producing and distributing their products, the price of labor is governed arbitrarily by an amount called wages which minimum are set not by the sellers of labor power but by the State through the regional wage boards. Wages are also not set in uniform amounts nationwide (unlike the ₱41 - ₱45/kg in the case of rice) to serve justice to the principle of equal pay for equal work. Thus, it's ₱610 in NCR, ₱355 in MIMAROPA, and ₱341 in BARMM!
Accordingly, there are no hoarders, smugglers, or cartels in the labor market to talk about (except in cases of agency hires) to justify price control the way EO 39 does for rice. On the contrary, it is the buyers of labor power who exercise control over how workers are to be priced in the market. In fact, the minimum wage is not even comparable to the suggested retail price (SRP) for other products where the seller may still squeeze for a higher markup than what is being suggested by the DTI. The absence of CBAs in unorganized firms only makes this desire for higher wages close to impossible.
This economic anomaly, in short, made labor the most regulated commodity in the free market where the law of supply and demand perfectly operates. But where is the big boo from mainstream economists when the same NEDA Chief who justifies price control now declared at a Congressional hearing that “forced wage hikes” are more harmful to the economy?
I hear none, and we should ask them why. In the meantime, we rather continue fighting for our assertion that the economy gets healthier when millions of workers get the opportunity to spend more beyond rice due to higher wages.
Wilson Fortaleza is a fellow at Center for Power Issues and Initiatives (CPII), and LEARN. He is also the deputy secretary general of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).
#SONA2023: Mataas pa rin ang presyo ng mga bilihin
“The state of the nation is sound, and is improving. Dumating na po ang Bagong Pilipinas,” declared Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24, 2023.
It seemed deliberate on his part to end his speech with the “Bagong Pilipinas” (New Philippines) pitch because the intention was to promote a new brand rather than present a report on how well the nation is doing. Clearly, we’re not doing well. With the new logo, the SONA climax was more of a “re-branding.”
His father’s dream for a “New Society” never materialized, as the late dictator only made sure that the wealth of the nation be swept into the hands of the first family and their cronies. In 1986, Marcos Sr. fled the Philippines—one of the most advanced countries in Asia before his rule—deep in debt, its economy and institutions in shambles, and its people divided.
That New Society left no golden age. Marcos Sr. left only 21 years of badly and autocratically ruled nation.
Today, the “Bagong Pilipinas” pitch does not look back to that old era to convey a new brand. The new branding is based on a misplaced belief that something great happened in the first year of the second Marcos—something that doesn’t ring true for ordinary Filipinos.
“Napatunayan natin na kayang maipababa ang presyo ng bigas, karne, isda, gulay, at asukal,” the President claimed.
The people, through social media, exploded in disbelief: “Sana all, where in the world is that!”
Expectedly, the reaction was spontaneous because most of the people—the 45% who consider themselves poor in the recent SWS survey—experienced the opposite. The President himself reported that only 1.3 million Filipinos benefited from the subsidized operations of Kadiwa centers. In other words, the cost-of-living crisis in the Philippines is harsher outside of Kadiwa, a sharp contrast to what is being portrayed by the Marcos government.
Marcos Jr. also left out any mention of a wage hike or some other form of relief for workers in the second SONA. This means that the current minimum wage levels will stay in the face of the announcement by manufacturers that they are planning to raise the prices of at least 43 products. Oil prices rose at least P6/liter in just a matter of two weeks two weeks after SONA, while millers in Bulacan bared steep hikes in rice prices as a kilo of palay is expected to increase further to P36-P38/kg. Likewise, spikes in the prices of imported rice are expected this year due to supply problems in the rice exporting countries. Prices of vegetables also escalated after floods from typhoon Egay left agriculture devastated, particularly in the Central and Northern Luzon regions.
In terms of another basic human right, that is the right to decent shelter, the President promised that by the end of his term, six million homeless Filipinos will get their own houses under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino or 4PH. But the price tag of P1.2 million-P1.5 million per unit is significantly higher from the current loanable amount for socialized housing of P750,000; this will therefore translate to higher amortization rates as government subsidy only covers 1 percent of the interest rates. For the poorest of the poor and the minimum wage earners whose take-home pay is below the poverty threshold of P12,000 per month, a housing amortization of P4,000 to P6,000 will be unaffordable.
The West may regard the Philippine economy with optimism. It may look at the country as not only surviving the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic but also as having the best chance of recovering fast and achieving more in the ASEAN region.
The Philippines’ economic managers are flaunting the country’s 6-percent economic growth rate as a major achievement in the time of pandemic hangover and growing inflation. And in his many travels, Marcos Jr. repeats this piece of good news before world leaders and investors in the hope of drawing in foreign capital.
Foreign capital has become very cautious about investing their money in Europe, where they see no end to the Ukraine war, or in the US, where investment opportunity is overcrowded. So to draw foreign investments, the Philippines needs to sell incentives other than GDP numbers; it needs to tack in freebies such as a free investment regime, a vibrant market, lower power cost, flexible labor market, high level of infrastructure, and good governance.
Absent these, the Philippines’ remaining selling points are cheap, flexible, and English-savvy labor and extractable minerals from land and forests for mining money. But apparently, these are apparently not enough to attract more capital to our shores.
On July 5, the United Nation’s World Investment Report 2023 shows that the 2022 flow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) to the Philippines fell by 23 percent. FDI flows to Malaysia grew by 39 percent, Vietnam by 14 percent, Singapore by 8 percent, and Indonesia by 4 percent. Inflow to the Philippines also dropped almost 20 percent (19.6 percent) in the first quarter of 2023. In short, the best economy in the world is not the best FDI destination in the ASEAN region.
A frequent flyer since his term began on June 30, 2022, Marcos Jr. has already made 12 international trips to 11 countries. In fact, he flew to another country right after his SONA. And for the year 2024, the Office of the President has proposed a P3.8-million-a-day budget for travel; meaning, he will travel more.
A year has passed since the Philippines’ new chief executive was sworn into office, but the high prices of goods and the low salaries have barely moved—unlike the President na makati ang paa.
Wilson Fortaleza is a fellow at Center for Power Issues and Initiatives (CPII), and LEARN. He is also the deputy secretary general of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).
Gig delivery riders: Workers or independent contractors?
The Covid-19 pandemic saw the rise of digital platform workers who were mostly invisible in normal times. The new workers in the digital economic universe -- commonly called platform or gig economy -- became essential workers providing the needed services when the pandemic locked down people inside their homes.
“Gig” work has come to mean small, temporary, and time-bound service jobs based on digital software applications. With the increasing technological advances, platform-based labor emerged from the practice of outsourcing, in which businesses decreased in-house labor by assigning tasks to service providers.
Businesses operating within the gig economy manages three components:
(1) platform labor, termed as “independent contractors”,2 paid by the gig (i.e., tasks, services, projects);
(2) consumers who have specific service needs (a ride or delivery of items); and
(3) companies with app-based technology platforms connecting workers and consumers.1 Prominent platform-based companies include Food Panda (German), Uber (US), Grab (Singapore), and Lalamove (Malaysia), to name a few.
Unlike workers who are legally entitled to mandatory statutory benefits provided in the Philippine Labor Code and other labor regulations, platform-based workers are generally classified as “independent contractors”. The lack of employer-employee relationship is a bone of contention between platform workers and platform-based companies.
However, many gig workers have defied and resisted the non-recognition of employment relations and won battles for labor rights and benefits in other countries. The most celebrated was the UK Supreme Court ruling recognizing Uber drivers as “workers” of Uber entitled to employment rights including minimum wages and vacations.3
In the Philippines, Food Panda and Lalamove delivery riders have since 2020 organized gig riders’ protests, including “wildcat protest rides”, against inhumane work conditions, low wages, and lack of benefits, and protection particularly during the pandemic. Working at the frontlines, delivery riders are directly exposed to health risks, amplifying their vulnerabilities due to lack of social protection, job security, and labor rights.
The rising protests from delivery riders pressured the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to issue the Labor Advisory No. 14 series of 2021, entitled “Working Conditions of Delivery Riders in Food Delivery and Courier Activities”. The advisory, however, was non-committal whether delivery riders and/or gig workers are employees or independent contractors.
DOLE instead advised the application of the “four-fold test”, a sort of economic reality check, to determine if an employer-employee relationship exists.4 The four-fold test are: (1) selection/hiring of worker; (2) payment of wages; (3) the power of dismissal; and (4) control test. Control test is the most crucial in determining employment relationship -- whether the employer/company has the power to control the result of the work, as well as the means and methods to accomplish the work.
More contentions around these issues are bound to emerge in the next years.
Gig workers seeking recognition as employees rather than independent contractors are thus advised to bring their demands to labor courts. The successful case of Food Panda delivery workers in Davao may become a positive precedent in establishing employment relations for delivery riders and gig workers.
In this case, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Regional Arbitration Branch in Davao ruled that Food Panda Philippines committed illegal dismissal and ordered the company to pay the dismissed workers Php 2.24 million. The amount covers back wages, including 13th-month pay, leave pays, and separation pays for the affected delivery riders.5 These are guaranteed labor benefits for workers under the Labor Code.
The next step is to push for a law that clarifies and regulates the terms and conditions of employment of delivery riders and gig workers. Ultimately, of course, this legislative pathway will still rely on how far platform workers can consistently collectively organize and mobilize.
Verna Dinah Q. Viajar is currently a Postdoctoral Doctoral Research Fellow of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Berlin and Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also a research fellow at LEARN.
1See Istrate, E.& Hariss, J. (2017). The future of work the rise of the gig economy. Retrieved from https://www.naco.org/featured-resources/future-work-rise-gig-economy
2See Samson, M. (2021). “Workers’ Rights in the Philippine Gig Economy”. Asia Business Law Journal. Retrieved from Workers’ rights in the Philippine gig economy. Asia Business Law Journal.
3See Frantz, E. & Cuk, R. (2021). “Why Uber’s Loss is a Win for Labour Rights”. Open Society Foundations. Retrieved from Why Uber’s Loss Is a Win for Labor Rights - Open Society Foundations.
4See Samson, M. (2021). “Workers’ Rights in the Philippine Gig Economy”. Asia Business Law Journal. Retrieved from Workers’ rights in the Philippine gig economy. Asia Business Law Journal.
5See Cantal-Albasin, G. (2022). “NLRC orders foodpanda to pay 7 dismissed delivery riders in Davao”. Rappler. Retrieved from NLRC orders foodpanda to pay 7 dismissed delivery riders in Davao (rappler.com).
The party-list system in the Philippines: Mangled and twisted beyond recognition
In the recently held Philippine national elections on 9 May 2022, a total of 55 party-list groups1 filled up 62 seats in the House of Representatives. Joining the party-list representatives are 253 district representatives elected in the same elections. The ACT-CIS or the Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support Group is the only party-list group to have garnered three seats while five party-list groups (1-Rider Party-list, Tingog, 4PS, Ako Bicol, and Sagip) got two seats each and the rest obtained a seat each. This is a clear upset for the 11 incumbent party-list groups such as Bayan Muna, Anak Mindanao, Magdalo, Buhay, and others that failed to win seats.2
Most of the winning party-list groups relied on and derived their votes from bailiwick regions through the support of political families who were former district representatives.3 The results have become a far-cry from the original intention of the party-list system which is to deepen democratization through representation of marginalized and vulnerable groups and sectors in the House of Representatives.
But not all good intentions lead to good results. The 1987 Philippine Constitution provided for the enactment of a party-list system to broaden democratic representation of marginalized sectors in the highest policy-making body in the country, the Philippine Congress. The ‘marginalized’ sectors were defined as under-represented communities or groups such as “labor, peasant, and urban poor, indigenous cultural, women, youth, and other such sectors as may be defined by law (with the exception of the religious sector).”4
Crafted with the intention to facilitate the inclusion of disadvantaged sectors to have a voice and access to the resources of the parliament, the party-list system was supposed to deepen democratization after the era of Marcos dictatorship. However, after almost thirty years, the party-list system today is beyond recognition. Majority of the party-list parties contending in the elections are either controlled by big political parties, wealthy political clans, and famous political personalities. Instead of dramatically democratizing the Philippine electoral terrain, the party-list system has been captured by elite politics dominated by the wealthy and powerful traditional politicians.
The party-list system replaced the sectoral representation of 50 underrepresented sectors in the Philippine parliament which are appointment by the president during the Marcos regime. After the Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act was enacted in 1995, the first party-list system elections were held during the 1998 national elections. Party-list representatives comprise one-fifth of the 250 seats allotted for district representatives. Participating party-list groups must secure two percent of the total votes cast for party-list elections to earn one seat.
The two percent threshold increases as the votes cast for party-list increases. Based on the 2019 national elections, more than 27 million votes were cast for the party-list system. This requires party-list groups to get about 500,000 votes to pass the two percent threshold or obtain a seat in the parliament.
An innovation from the proportional representation system,5 the party-list system is unique in the Philippines due to the 3-seat limit. For those party-list groups that exceeded the two percent threshold and could have more seats due to the number of votes achieved, the solution is to spin-off their organizations, which later resulted in the fragmentation of these party-list groups to maximize the seats that can be obtain. The classic example would be the Bayan Muna party-list who obtained 11 percent (or 17 million) of the party-list votes but can only have three seats in the 2001 Philippine Congress.6 They then formed separate party-list groups representing sectors for labor, women, youth, and peasants, and secured a maximum of seven seats in the 2016 national elections. There are about 63 party-list representatives currently sitting in the Philippine Congress today.
In the 2019 party-list elections, 177 party-list groups registered in the Commission of Elections, but only 134 party-list groups were accredited. The top party-list that garnered the most votes was the ACT-CIS. The name itself suggests that it does not represent any marginalized sector but possibly from the security sector. Bordering on the absurd, many party-list groups run for elections based on popular names such as the “Ang Probinsyano,” in reference to a popular TV show; 1Pacman, in reference to the boxing champ and supported by Manny Pacquiao; and the “Duterte Youth” party-list lifted from the current president’s name.
Likewise, during the 2019 party-list elections, poll-watchdog Kontra-Daya reported that of the 177 party-list groups, 62 groups have links to powerful interest groups, 44 groups are controlled by political clans, 21 groups were connected with big business, 32 groups connected to the military or government, and 34 groups have unclear advocacies or representations.7
For the progressive and leftist groups, the party-list system promised an alternative and more democratic electoral system to provide equal representation for the poor and the disadvantaged. The party-list system is an experiment towards proportional representation that would in time challenge the dynastic and elitist multi-party electoral system in the country. However, the elite political structures in the country instead captured and twisted the democratic possibilities of the party-list electoral system.
To conclude, there is a need to revisit, review and reform the party-list system to bring it closer to its original intent in deepening democratic elections in the country. It will take the united resolve of progressive groups and peoples’ movements, including the trade union movement, who put their hopes on the party-list system to broaden and include the vulnerable and disadvantaged sectors in the Philippine society.
Verna Dinah Q. Viajar is currently a Postdoctoral Doctoral Research Fellow of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Berlin and Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also a research fellow at LEARN.
1See Comelec proclaims party-list winners. The Manila Times.
2See Bayan Muna, Buhay, 9 others lose reelection bids in 2022 party-list race. Rappler.
3See 20 winning party-list groups in 2022 got majority of votes from bailiwick regions. Rappler.
4See the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article 6, Section 5.
5The proportional representation system is a voting system wherein the number of seats of representation is based on the proportion of votes received for the political party.
6See The party-list system in the Philippines: Is it better or worse for democracy? Asia Dialogue.
7See ‘Party list system stolen from poor. Inquirer.