Pointblank
DOLE and the workers
Coordination among different agencies is now commonly done to ensure efficiency of service. One example is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Recently, BIR has tied up with the Social Security System (SSS) to validate if companies indeed declare and pay the proper taxes. Using the data from SSS, the BIR could, in a way, crack down on firms that do not remit income taxes withheld from their employees. Another is the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which is tapped by the SSS, PhilHealth and the Pag-IBIG Fund to ensure that workers' welfare and protection are promoted. We commend DOLE in this aspect, only that it should not impose compulsorily the Pag-IBIG deductions on workers.
By requiring private firms to put their employees under compulsory coverage of Pag-IBIG Fund, the DOLE is actually not helping the workers. Instead, it aggravates their poor situation. You may ask why. Well, majority of our workers earn only an average salary. By average I mean minimum wage (some even below minimum). Just imagine what remains of the worker's salary if aside from deductions for SSS and PhilHealth contributions, Pag-IBIG Fund will be added. Take note, the contribution for Pag-IBIG Fund is higher (actually triple) than that of the SSS and PhilHealth. Compared with other private housing finance institutions, Pag-IBIG Fund also charges much higher interest rates which ordinary employees can hardly afford!
Another thing, not all employees actually need a house. There are those who already have a house and deducting their salaries the Pag-IBIG Fund contributions would only render useless for them. Worse, their money would only be used by the Pag-ibig Fund for their executive's own aggrandizement. Who then benefits from the people's contributions? Mind you it is the top government officials and even the politicians through the so-called behest loans.
This is not to say that Pag-IBIG Fund is useless. Indeed, it has helped a lot of employees own a house, which for the majority is already a luxury. But it should not be made compulsory on all employees. Those who have minimal income and cannot afford to pay the monthly contributions should be spared because the money intended for it could still be used by the employees concerned for their daily living. Simply said it should only be imposed on employees who have the capacity to pay the premium or those who want to be covered by the Pag-IBIG Fund.
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Still, on the DOLE. It seems that DOLE is having double standards in conducting inspections of commercial establishments in the city. While it regularly conducts inspections on some establishments, a minimum of twice a year at that, it ignores other establishments for dubious reasons. Take for example one chain of supermarkets in the city. It glaringly violates the Labor Code of the Philippines by paying their workers below minimum, letting them work more than eight hours without overtime and not giving them good working conditions. Unfortunately, these glaring violations simply escape the eyes of the DOLE people. What could be the reason why this establishment does not undergo regular inspection? Is it because the owner of this establishment is “untouchable”? DOLE regional director Atty. Carlos Boteros should correct this, otherwise other establishments would lose respect on your agency.
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It's good to know that one mall in the city finally stopped tolerating the open selling of pirated VCDs and DVDs to the public. Before, the third level of this mall was full of stalls selling fake copies of films and music mostly owned by Muslim traders. After several raids conducted by authorities in the area, management finally closed down the area from sellers of pirated VCDs and DVDs. Anyway the move is long overdue considering that one of the mall's owners is a government official. It's just insulting to see the open selling of pirated VCDs and DVDs in the sidewalks and malls in violation of the law. Hopefully, the authorities would continue monitoring the area from the possible resurgence of stalls selling pirated VCDs and DVDs. And to be fair they should also close down the other remaining sellers of pirated materials in the sidewalks and in other commercial establishments.