From the Office of Rep. Crispin Beltran
South Wing Room 602 House of Representatives
Constitution Hills 1126 Quezon City , Philippines
Reference: Rep.Crispin Beltran (+63)9278711080
Ina Alleco R. Silverio, chief of staff  931.6615, 09195065269
 
 News Release   Wednesday, January 10, 2007
 
Macapagal-Arroyo’s plans to veto P125 wage hike bill will ricochet on her and contribute to the defeat of her candidates in the upcoming midterm polls
 
Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran today said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s intent to veto the  P125 across-the-board wage hike bill will contribute to what already appears to be the sound defeat of Macapagal-Arroyo’s slate in the upcoming midterm elections in May. He said that workers will not take the news lightly.
 
Beltran said that Filipino workers all over the country are behind the wage hike bill and have long been demanding a substantial and legislated wage increase, and Mrs. Arroyo’s plans to thumb it down in favor of big business will ricochet on her, and the immediate casualties will be the candidates she will field in the May polls.
 
“Malacanang is yet again betraying  its mandate to improve the lives of the members of the marginalized sectors who, ironically, comprise part of the majority of the government’s constituents,” he said. “Macapagal-Arroyo has long before earned the ire of Filipino workers when she has consistently favored employers and big businesses against calls for wage increases, lower commodity prices and lower rates of electricity and water. This anger directed against Macapagal-Arroyo spills over her allies and the candidates who will risk their careers and reputations by aligning themselves with Malacanang in the  upcoming elections.”
 
Beltran said that the alternatives being presented by the various spokespersons of Malacang such as Gabriel Claudio and Ignacio Bunye are useless. “A wage hike processed through the regional wage boards will end up either in the waste basket, or if there’s a wage increase, it will be only a little more than crumbs. We filed the bill for a legislated wage increase also with the intent to trip the regional wages boards of their function and authority. Part and parcel of the campaign for the legislation of a wage increase is the abolition of these useless offices that have done nothing but put roadblocks in the way of substantial wage increases for workers,” he said.
 
“So long as Macapagal-Arroyo remains in office, no genuinely pro-people economic or political reform can be implemented. The interest of workers and other poor sectors will always be sacrificed at the altar of big business and their greed for profit,” he said.
 
“Macapagal-Arroyo is using the wage hike issue to curry favor with the big business groups, many of whom and whose members have already stated their dissatisfaction with the state of the economy and how the turbulent political atmosphere is impacting on businesses.”
 
“Malacanang’s determination to veto the wage hike bill proves how hard-hearted and anti-poor Macapagal-Arroyo is. All her declarations that she strives to alleviate the plight of the poor and bring progress to the country are again exposed as outright lies. She is, in truth deaf and blind to the poverty being suffered by majority of Filipinos including workers, and her first response is always to listen to opinion and demands of employers and capitalists. Together they undermine the welfare of workers and ensure that the working people will never rise above poverty, want and degradation.”
 
Beltran said that in the upcoming polls, voters will be made sharply aware that Arroyo has stood against the wage increase bill from the beginning. He said that the veto Macapagal-Arroyo plans to lay down against the P125 wage hike bill will boomerang on her. #