By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A local labor group, General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) hopes President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will give preference to the issues hounding the sugar industry and the labor sector in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) today.

GAWA secretary-general Wennie Sancho said the labor sector currently needs stable and decent jobs and a wage increase.

Sancho added that private sector workers in Western Visayas need a wage increase amounting to P500 per day to prevent the continuing erosion of their purchasing power and to cope with the high cost of living.

He said workers should also have quality jobs and better salaries for them to be more productive.

Meanwhile, huge volumes of sugar imported without proper consultation from stakeholders, particularly farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries, will weaken and kill the industry.

Sancho also warned that the proposed sugar import liberalization will displace thousands of workers in the local sugar industry, as the proposal would only benefit the sugar traders and smugglers.

GAWA said they anticipate Marcos’ approval for the International Criminal Court to conduct an investigation into the cases of judicial killings in the country.

According to the labor group, if Marcos wants to be recognized as someone who delivers justice to the poor and marginalized, he should demonstrate actions that reflect the concerns of the majority sector of the community./DGB, WDJ