Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Fiesta is temporary, work must be permanent




On Labor Day, thousands or perhaps millions of workers will march on city streets to press for the ending of contractualization of labor. May 1, as I have pointed out time and again, falls on the Feast Day of my hometown’s patron, St. Joseph the Worker. The merriment appears to be endless like our working class’ demand to end contractualization commonly called as “endo”, slang for end-of-contract. The issue is not even part of political discourses in the whole non-industrial province of Occidental Mindoro much more mobilizations as such. The weeklong fiesta celebration starts today.

Endo just became the President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s presidential campaign promise showing that this administration who assured change remains under control of the capitalists. Philippines is controlled by the elite for the prominent legislators and politicians are also business tycoons and industry leaders demonstrating the link with wealth and power, politics and capital. The oligarchs remain strong and influential in this impoverished nation, then and now. What can one expect? Change, it appears, is still at the end of the dark tunnel.

The labor department’s DO 174 just institutionalized contractualization for it is a watered-down, weak and pro-capitalists order coming from the executive branch. The president tossed it to Congress for legislative action. Truth is, labor secretary Silvestre Bello III could easily end contractualization upon orders of his principal. It is crystal clear in Article 106 of the Labor Code that, “The Secretary of Labor and Employment may, by appropriate regulations, restrict or prohibit the contracting-out of labor to protect the rights of workers established under this Code.” For more than two decades, the labor department has adopted the weak approach and has chosen to restrict contracting arrangements instead of prohibiting “endo”. Since the beginning, the department’s method has been demonstrated to be a total letdown.

Truth to tell, festivities, like society in general, cannot exist without work. For work produces the vegetables and plants the farmers display and sell at the trade fair, the fishes and meats and all the food commodities that are abundant in the public market as the fiesta comes near. Work makes us taste and be nourished by the food that the service providers and caterers offer during banquets and boodle fights. Work makes the event organizers, make-up artists and dance instructors or choreographers in a beauty pageant show their crafts to gain respect. Work makes possible the aesthetic value of the floats, stages and all the physical preparations in all the fiesta’s activity venues. Let the contractual employees and the job orders of a certain local government unit and private companies not work in preparation and during fiestas, what kind of fiesta we will have?  For labor is an activity of a human person, physical and intellectual where s/he produces something different for perfection, to say the least, achievements. Work is dynamic and cannot be static. Work is a right and not just a privilege. Work must be permanent and not just temporary.

This blog entry is a humble tribute to those lowly clerks and employees at the Gaisano Mall, Jollibee and Mang Inasal and all the business establishments in San Jose. Including the kasambahays, the labanderas, the security guards, job orders and casual employees of the government especially those who are under the fangs and claws of contractualization. How many San Jose Fiestas will come before they finally enjoy the security of tenure, the living wage and all other rights assured by the Constitution?

This is the very day where the Latin words ora and labora are subdued by festivus. Many roamed in the streets for the grand festival but only a few hears novena masses honoring in prayers their patron saint. A time when only few Catholic workers are aware that Joseph is their patron saint, of the working class and the workers in general.

The existence of human being is for lasting work for creating what is valuable, useful, beneficial, noble, decent and beautiful, 24/7 and this can be truly manifested if the government, especially the executive branch, act on the end of the “endo” now!

Contractualization is the modern-day social leukemia creeping at the very veins of our society.  There is great deal of injustice arrogated by the elite and the value of work is adulterated seriously by way of contractualization of labor. But this reality can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution of yore where work has been reduced to mere commodity or merchandise, bought by the capitalists at the cheapest price and can be discarded when no longer needed like a used adult diaper. It appears that elite globalization or contractualization in particular, is anchored on this reef. Nonetheless, our work should not be something external or alien to ourselves.

Joseph, the foster parent of Jesus, is a Jewish carpenter, ergo, a laborer. Joseph, in nurturing Jesus throughout His years, reminds us that work is naturally inter-related with the work of the Divine and be given meaning through faith. Like Joseph’s parenting, work is doing something for someone else. And in Joseph's case, it is God's.We work not only for ourselves but also for others. We need to honor Joseph and the social class where he belong.

Truly I say to you, Fiesta is a fleeting thing while the dignity of labor isn’t. So, end "endo" now!
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Photo: GMA Network

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