On Aquino-Binay proclamation: Make unemployment top agenda, says group

NEWS RELEASE
09 Jun 2010

Unemployment and underemployment should be at the top of the new administration's agenda, the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) said as Sen. Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay are expected to be proclaimed today as the nation's President- and Vice President-elect.

"Ang lahat ng problema sa kahirapan ay nagsisimula sa kawalan ng trabaho. Ang tatlong dapat pakatutukan ng bagong administrasyon: job generation, regularization, at wage increase," said Carlito Badion, Kadamay vice chair.

Added Badion, these three things must be the first issues discussed between Aquino and Binay, the moment they get through with their oathtaking on June 30. "Malamang naman, tapos na silang mag-'congratulations' sa isa't isa," he quipped.

"Active support and promotion" must be given local small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to develop these into legitimate industries, while outgoing President Arroyo's 'emergency employment' program should be revisited and revised into providing "sustainable jobs with decent pay", suggested the group.

Labor flexibilization must be stopped and all contractual and casual workers should be regularized, and measures to improve the livelihood of the country's large informal sector should be implemented.

The long-pending House Bill 1722, written by the late Anakpawis representative Crispin 'Ka Bel' Beltran and providing for a nationwide P125 wage increase, should be deemed 'urgent' and immediately passed, added the group.

"Masugid naming susubaybayan ang direksyon na tatahakin ng bagong administrasyon sa mga panukalang ito, lalo sa unang '100 days' ni Aquino," said Badion.

The group is also set to lead a massive 'urban poor march' on Malacanang (or wherever Aquino chooses to make his official residence) to lay out their demands on the new administration, on July 10, also marking the 10th year anniversary of the Payatas Tragedy and as a testament to the urban poor's "unchanged conditions" for the past decade.##

Reference Carlito Badion, Kadamay Vice Chair | 0939.387.3736
For further details, please contact Jon Vincent Marin, Kadamay PIO, at 0910.975.7660.