Tone-deaf, irrelevant, self-serving

(Due to its timeliness, we yield this space to the statement of the Gabriela Women’s party-list. – Ed.)

IN A TIME of economic crisis — joblessness, record-breaking inflation, and shrinking incomes — what Filipinos need most today is an adjustment to our wage system and a strengthening of our social services to keep families afloat. It is against this backdrop that Charter Change—currently being pushed via Constitutional Convention — is exposed for what it is: tone-deaf, irrelevant and self-serving. It is a complete lie to claim that what we need to address the rampant poverty we face today are constitutional amendments simply to extend their terms in office and lift limits for the ownership of foreigners in the Philippines.

The Marcos administration’s narrative of sugarcoating this Cha-Cha, a Trojan horse for further liberalization and the opening of our country for foreign domination, is the same, tired tune presidents then and now have used to justify such neoliberal policies — policies which over the past four decades have only led to worsened hunger, worsened poverty, and deeper and deeper crises for Filipinos, especially Filipino women.

Instead of the pro-trapo, pro-foreigner and anti-people Cha-Cha, we express our support for a suitable legislative alternative: Gabriela Women’s Party’s (GWP) bill for a P750 wage increase across the board. This bill is a product of nationwide consultations of Filipino workers in different sectors, and has been submitted in Congress right as the House of Representatives is headset in prioritizing the impertinent and opportunistic Cha-Cha.

The P750 wage increase bill is a concrete means to narrow the gap between the family living wage (presently calculated to be over P1,100) and the present minimum wage (amounting to P350 to P570).

In a time when prices are soaring and the real value of our salaries is depreciating, the solution is clear: we need a change and an increase in our wages, not a change in Constitution.