#BoycottJollibee. Today, terminated workers of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) under the Samahan ng Manggagawa sa JFC (SM-JFC) called on the public to refrain from eating at Jollibee and its subsidiaries after their management remained silent to their demands for reinstatement and regularization.

Protesting workers were camping outside JFC’s main warehouse along the West Service Road in Parañaque City since June 28 after JFC terminated its agency contracts with Toplis Solutions and Staff Search Agency, service contractors in the said warehouse, that resulted to the mass lay-off of workers.

“We humbly ask the public and loyal customers of JFC across the country and even overseas not to support its products for the meantime until Tony Tan Caktiong will have a heart and will listen to our demands and until JFC will learn how to follow orders of the Labor Department and our government regarding the regularization of its workers,” said Rogelio Magistrado, president of SM-JFC.

The SM-JFC and pro-labor group Defend Job Philippines said the #BoycottJollibee is a global campaign to support to the thousands of JFC workers’ call for regularization. They also clarified that they are calling for regularization directly to JFC, the primary company, and not to the agency.

The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) compliance order to the Caktiong-owned.

named JFC as the top Philippine company engaged in illegal labor-only contracting (LOC) and ordered the company to regularize almost 7,000 service crew.

The results of the inspection conducted by DOLE of the JFC main warehouse was initially expected to come out this week, but would now be expected any day this month. The dismissed workers said that DOLE findings should be similar to JFC crew and should also order their regularization.

According to the SM-JFC and Defend Job Philippines, their boycott campaign cuts across JFC and all of its subsidiaries and affiliates here and abroad including Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Yong He King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Mang Inasal, Burger King, Highlands Coffee, Pho24, 12 Hotpot, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Smashburger.

“We also urge the public to look for other options as form of a strong pressure to JFC to look after the welfare and concerns of its workers, who were the main reason for the growth of the company for the longest time now. This boycott campaign must teach JFC an important lesson of taking care of its workers and not just treat us as its slaves,” Magistrado added.

DOLE should see through its own compliance order  

The SM-JFC and Defend Job Philippines also called on President Rodrigo Duterte and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to intervene on their disputes with the JFC management.

According to Magistrado, the national government must do something significant in pushing through the implementation of its prior compliance order against JFC’s LOC practices.

Magistrado insisted, “We hope that the DOLE order will not just stay in papers and that the Duterte government will not remain mute spectator while termination of thousands of workers and agency contracts continue.”

The group said that they are planning to bring their issues closer to President Duterte in the days to come leading to his third State of the Nation Address (SONA). Magistrado said that Duterte must not let the issue of regularization of workers be plain talk.

“We challenge President Duterte to show his decisiveness and push JFC to implement the government’s own ruling for regularization of its workers. President Duterte must strongly enforce the law against capitalists like Tony Tan Caktiong for the benefit of the Filipino workers.” Magistrado ended.

The post Dismissed Jollibee workers call for public support through #BoycottJollibee campaign appeared first on Manila Today.

She is a woman one could not forget. She is fairly small, barely reaching five feet in height, but is armed with a bright, toothy smile, a sharp sense of humor, and a tender “Sige, anak,” to every young person she meets.

Carmelita Abaya, 53, is one of the famers of Katipunan ng mga Lehitimong Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Lupang Ramos (KASAMA – LR), a farmer’s organization fighting for the distribution of the 372-hectare Lupang Ramos in Dasmariñas, Cavite to farmers who have occupied and tilled the land for the past century.

Nanay Carmelita, as she is fondly called, recounts her childhood living in Lupang Ramos. She, like many other farmers in the organization, had been born and raised in that land.

“Mula sa mga ninuno ko, mga lolo at lola ko, mga magulang ko, hanggang sa ako na at mga kapatid at pinsan ko, dito na kami nabuhay. Nabuhay talaga kami sa pagsasaka dito,” she says.

She joined KASAMA-LR in 2010, upon seeing their efforts towards attaining genuine land reform, as opposed to the people they called ‘kontras’, who already have agreements with land developers such as the Ayalas, who are willing to pay a hefty sum in exchange for the land they know to be home. Even the police seem to be in on it, she says, pointing towards the kontras’ camp, which was visible from theirs.

“Kita niyo yung police mobile? Kahit noong nagkagulo dito, wala talagang ginawa ang mga pulis, pinanood lang nila yung karahasang ginawa ng kontras sa amin,” she says.

The 372-hectare land, now called Lupang Ramos, was formerly owned by Spanish friars. When U.S. colonizers replaced the Spanish at the turn of the 20th century, the land was called ‘Lupang Kano’ and was subjected to the Land Registration Act of 1903. But tenants, including Nanay Carmelita’s relatives, didn’t have the resources or assistance by the government to list down the land as theirs. Rich Dasmariñas-based families did so instead. Original owners became kasamá or was forced to share parcels of land with the new owners on basis of rent. In 1965, Emerito Ramos claimed the property and started planting sugarcane. The tenants were evicted from the vast farmlands and settled on the margins — at the riverbanks, where they planted vegetables and banana to subsist on. From farmers who tilled their own land, they became farmworkers inside the Ramos’ hacienda. Several bogus land reform programs and court struggles later, members now under the banner of KASAMA-LR still assert their rightful ownership to Lupang Ramos. An ironic name for the estate, really.

Nanay Carmelita says there is nothing left to do but fight. She shares her relation to Nanay Masang, an icon of the Lupang Ramos struggle in the 90s. Nanay Masang, Nanay Carmelita’s aunt, was known for using a Good Morning towel as a weapon of resistance, when she used it to threaten to strangle the tractor driver tasked to destroy the famers’ crops which were fruits of their land occupation movement.

Their organization is strong and steadfast, she says, so she does not worry. She knows that what they are fighting for is not just a piece of land, but their families, their history, their livelihood, and their lives.

“Ang panawagan lang namin, sana matapos na ang gulo, nang makapaghanapbuhay na kami nang maayos. Mahirap, pero andito na tayo, wala nang atrasan. Laban kung laban.”

The post #LupangRamos | Nanay Carmelita appeared first on Manila Today.