INTRODUCTION
Ang pagdiriwang natin ng Araw ng mga Manggagawa sa taong ito ay isang hamon sa ating pagkakaisa. Unti-unti nang nakaka-ahon ang ating ekonomiya at nagsisimula nang malasap ng ating kapwa pilipino ang mga biyaya nito, subalit mayroon pa ring nais ibalik ang ating di-pagkakaunawaan. Gayunpaman, matibay ang aking paniniwala na patuloy tayong magkakapit-bisig para sa kabutihan nating lahat sa panahong hinaharap.

For four years now, we have managed to overcome major crises and put our society on the sustainable path to development through the democratic process of consultation and consensus-building. And so, together, we must ponder this crucial question: do we want immediate redistribution of wealth for short-term satisfaction of needs, or do we want to have sustainable progress now and in the long term?

The integration of our country to the global economy is a reality we must grapple with rationally and consistently if we are to successfully pursue our development goals. We must not falter nor fail to make our local industries and our workforce internationally competitive.

The rapid changes taking place today tend to yield distortions and labor market inefficiencies. As such, we are constantly beset with problems and issues on employment and human resources development.

The lack of accessible marketable skills results in mismatches between jobs and opportunities. Our college graduates often encounter difficulties in finding employment compatible with their academic attainment or training. Thus, many accept jobs below their skills qualifications or opt for better-paying but sometimes more vulnerable work opportunities abroad.

As for our industries, they are also shortchanged by a workforce whose skills are not up to par with the demands of new technologies and industrial innovations that will enable them to compete internationally.
THE HRD STRATEGY
Because of the urgent need for a comprehensive and integrated human resources development plan, the Committee on Human Resource Development (HRD) at the national tripartite conference passed a resolution calling for the development of such a plan before the last quarter of this year.

From this, two vital activities are being pursued: the development of a labor market information (LMI) network and the mutual recognition of skills qualifications of the various economies. Through the LMI network, labor market trends may be obtained so as to make sound forecasting and planning demands of industries. A common benchmark basis for minimum skills qualifications and standards will propel mobility for work of qualified persons in the Asia-Pacific region.

Our social partners in production, the private business sector, likewise recognize the importance of improving the quality of our human capital. The recently-held national conference of employers, for example, adopted as their theme “harnessing human resources as the ultimate strategy for growth and development.”

The two important factors in the creation of a world-class workforce are labor productivity and labor flexibility. The latter refers to the ability of workers to move across sectors of the economy and between industries as the structure of the economy changes.

The higher we increase both our labor productivity and labor flexibility; the more will our economy acquire and adapt the technology needed to produce better quality goods and services at lower costs. This, in turn, will provide better-paying job opportunities.

We in government recognize the need to improve our present educational system, as well as training institutions. But I also challenge the private sector to invest and get involved in implementing their own training and skills programs. The objective is to build a new learning environment where the people’s zeal for education and skills improvement can be adequately met with institutions and systems that can transform our workforce into becoming world-responsive.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION
We have embarked on a national employment plan to realize our goals by the year 1998 or soon thereafter. Its strategies center on two areas. The first is to reduce unemployment and underemployment, thereby increasing productivity in the countryside and improving income levels. The second is to improve the quality of employment.

The National Employment Summit held last year resulted in the formulation of a Comprehensive Employment Strategy Program (CESP).

Notwithstanding the already extensive employment and HRD strategies currently in use, we still have to contend with problems of unemployment and poverty which hamper our efforts towards accelerated economic growth.

In opening up to the global economy, a developing economy like ours must cope with and adapt to the costs of structural adjustments. These include temporary displacement of some workers and perhaps a slight, temporary erosion of real wages as industries restructure for fiercer competition. These costs are inevitable because the economy must become more efficient in order to survive and grow.

However, positive developments in the labor market have paralleled the strong economic growth we have achieved in the last three years.

In January of this year, our active labor force increased by 4.5 percent, higher than the 2.3 percent in growth last year and the 3.2 percent growth the year before that.

In absolute terms, this translates to approximately 1.345 million new entrants to the labor force this year compared to only 622,000 in 1995 and 848,000 in 1994.

This marked increase can be partly explained by the positive impact of the economy’s growth in 1995 on individuals who were previously out of the labor force but were encouraged to seek employment when they observed an improvement in business activities.

The total number of employed persons grew by 5.0 percent from 25.2 million in 1995 to 26.5 million in January of this year. This increase brought down the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent from 8.8 percent last year and 8.6 percent in 1994.

It can only mean two things: one, that more of our people are working today than in the previous years; and, two, that there has been general improvement in the quality of jobs generated.
REFORMS IN INCOMES POLICY
If the call for a legislated wage increase needs a closer look now, it is precisely because there is not yet any consensus of the social partners. Government has to assume an essentially non-deterministic but facilitative role in fixing the minimum wage in order to enable all factors to come into full play.

Consider the effects of having another batch of across-the-board wage increases, nationwide. The small companies may not be able to comply with the minimum wage increases. On the other hand, large corporations which are more capable of granting additional pay to the workers may just pay the workers close to what is mandated by law.

These will make collective bargaining more difficult and some employers could use as excuse their dependence on legislated increases. The worst that may happen is that some of these companies would resort to retrenchment to cut on operating costs, or to close shop and transfer the business to wherever labor is cheap.

We do not want this to happen. What we want, instead, is for entrepreneurship to grow to create more employment opportunities, and for workers themselves to increase their incomes through entrepreneurship activities.

That is why today we groundbreak the Helping Foundation Livelihood and Productivity Center at Sapang Palay, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan close to the Workers’ Village I. This combination of low-cost housing area plus a “Go-NGO” training, livelihood and productivity center is the third of its kind after Smokey Mountain and Dasmarinas, Cavite. I have earmarked and authorized to be released p75 million from the president’s social fund for the establishment of similar capabilities-building facilities under the partnership of the government and the private sector in 15 other regional areas throughout the Philippines.

What we also want to happen is for the more capable enterprises to pay their workers more than the minimum wage and improve workers’ welfare based on the employers’ real capacity to pay. Skills and entrepreneurship training should be the employers’ concern for their workers.

Such a holistic approach based on self-reliance, capabilities building and sharing is necessary and this should be done on a tri-partite basis by government, labor and employers.
TRIPARTISM AND LABOR RELATIONS
I have always believed that tripartism is the linchpin of our industrial democracy. My administration strongly supports this principle where both employers and workers are given the equal opportunity to determine ways of resolving labor disputes. This also nurtures respect for and confidence in our common approach of working together for a common goal.

I am aware that the labor movement is undergoing some strategic realignments at present. However, I would like to believe that these are positive indications that the trade union movement is responding to the changes in the socio-economic and political environment. We trust that our labor leaders will continue to act and pro-act always with the view of unifying the trade union movement.

We in government have consistently supported measures empowering and strengthening labor by promoting the right to self-organization. The total number of active unions, including those in the public sector, grew from 5,710 with at least 3.0 million members at the beginning of my term in 1992 to 7,882 with membership of about 3.6 million at end of 1995.

Likewise, we continue to institutionalize workers’ participation in policy and decision-making by ensuring their representation in various groups, such as in Congress, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and regional wage boards and industry boards.

As the Migrant Workers Act of 1955 stipulated, there will be three additional workers seats in the governing boards of the Overseas Workers Welfare Authority (OWWA) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). This we are implementing, moreover, to ensure that workers will have a direct hand in development efforts at the regional level, I have directed the regional development councils in our 16 regions to designate at least one representative from the labor sector.
PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG WORKERS
The Workers’ Organization and Development Program (WODP) has continued to help encourage entrepreneurship among labor groups and provide them with relevant technical skills and assistance. Under this program, around 37,500 workers of seven federations and 143 independent unions benefited in setting up income-generating projects and relending programs. In terms of grants, around 524 projects were funded in the regions benefiting 524 unions and 1,679 members. Teachers’ unions also received assistance.

With government support, you have also been able to set up the workers’ fund, which has now made possible the construction of the Workers’ Village I in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. Meanwhile, plans are under way for the construction of the Workers’ Village II in Antipolo, Rizal.

I support the resolution reached in the tripartite conference on the need to further strengthen the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) in carrying out its function of reviewing and evaluating critical labor, economic and social policies and in formulating recommendations and courses of action towards enhancing employment promotion, workers’ welfare and industrial peace.

I also support the creation of the Philippine Association of Voluntary Arbitrators (PAVA) Foundation, Inc., which was organized as the funding arm of the PAVA. I am directing the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to recommend possible means of assisting the foundation, for which I have approved a p100,000-grant as seed money for the p5-million endowment fund of the PAVA Foundation.

Meantime, I have tasked the budget, health and labor secretaries to review the proposed health workers benefits and to report their recommendations to me without delay.
EMPOWERING THE FILIPINO WORKER
Let me reiterate that our development strategy is premised on the idea of people empowerment which means helping our countrymen help themselves. This is the underlying basis of our comprehensive human resources development plan.

Another strategy that we wish to push is the promotion of strategic bargaining among the organized workers. The purpose of this is for workers to demand not only wage increases or monetary benefits but also stakes in their companies. I encourage the unions to negotiate with the employers to give workers the opportunity to own shares of stocks, win scholarships for dependents, participate in decision-making processes especially on matters of welfare, and gain support to projects like workers’ cooperatives and enterprises.

You have also been able to bargain strategically with government over the past 3 years, given the access labor now enjoy with the president and his administration. Our regular dialogs are proof of this.

You will recall that some time ago, I certified House Bill Numbered 6060 granting tax credits and tax relief to workers within a certain threshold in order to benefit those at the lowest income levels. Let us support this proposed bill, the details of which are attached hereto.

Many challenges have been posed on all of us and each one has responsively addressed them thus far. We must, however, do much more for the future of our children and those after them. How we act on the challenges around us now would make a world of difference as to the future that they shall have. Unity, solidarity and teamwork continue to be our most essential values. Under the new economic order, let us translate these qualities in to self-reliance, productivity and quality performance in the workplace.

Naniniwala ako na lahat tayo — mahirap man o mayaman, manggagawa man o may-ari ng negosyo, pinuno man o karaniwang tao — ay nagkakaisa na ang lahat ng ating pagsisikap ay para sa ating pamilya at sa kanilang magandang kinabukasan. Ito ang dahilan upang ipagpatuloy natin ang sama-samang pagtutulungan tungo sa tagumpay ng sambayanang Pilipino at ng bansang Pilipinas.

Mabuhay ang Manggagawang Pilipino!

Mabuhay ang bansang Pilipinas!

Mabuhay tayong lahat!