CEBU CITY — Demonstrators were disallowed to go near the venue where President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday led the Labor Day celebration here highlighted by the signing of an executive order (EO) ending the practice of “endo” in the country.
Being barred did not stop a group of protesters from expressing their satisfaction over the news.
Jaime Paglinawan, chairman of Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo – Kilusang Mayo Uno (Ama Sugbo-KMU) and Bayan-Central Visayas, said they were very much elated after learning about this development.
This is an initial victory for the workers,” Paglinawan told reporters in an interview.
Paglinawan, however, said they were dismayed as police blocked them from going to the IC3 Convention Center where they could also have joined the Labor Day celebration.
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), on the other hand, said the EO signed by the President was for the employers and not for workers.
“We felt we were taken for a ride,” PM-Cebu spokesperson Dennis Derige said in a statement.
“There was no consultation with our fifth draft submitted to the Office of the President through the labor secretary last April 13. The EO that was signed definitely is an EO for the employers, not for the workers.”
“If Digong wanted to fulfil his promise of ending ‘endo’ he should have signed the fifth draft of the workers’ EO that would make direct hiring of workers to principal employers a norm in employment relations of his administration,” Derige said.
Cebu City Police Office Director, Sr. Supt. Joel Doria, said they did not allow the protesters to go near the venue as they would disrupt the traffic flow in the area.
Doria said they have deployed more than 400 policemen to secure the venue and to deal with the rallyists and protesters without giving the estimated number of those who joined the rally. (Luel Galarpe/PNA)
