San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza yesterday issued a statement challenging President Rodrigo Duterte to use the remaining months of his presidency “exerting efforts to do better in providing a dignified life to the common Filipino workers.”
Alminaza, who represents the Church People- Workers Solidarity, said they are saddened by the miserable situation of workers in the country as the president marked his 5th year in office.
In his statement, Alminaza said Duterte’s campaign slogan of “change is coming” never happened, stressing that five years would have been enough to fulfill that promise.
The Negros bishop claimed that the land reform is a failure, with most farmland in the country still concentrated in the hands of large corporations and wealthy families, killings of industrial, farm workers and fisherfolk, labor rights violations, and unemployment.
President Duterte’s campaign promise to end the practice of “contractualization” or “endo” and to improve labor conditions for all have not been fulfilled, he added.
With 2022 elections fast approaching, Alminaza said the challenge is for citizens, including church people and workers, and most of all, the individual voter — to choose good leaders and to make sure that the coming election will be Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, and Peaceful (CHAMP).
Alminaza believes that President Duterte can still redeem himself if he takes the challenge to put dignity of the human labor at the center of his efforts, in his last year as president. – GB
