LABOR

(SENTRO), one of the local labor groups affiliated with the ITUC, said this was the seventh consecutive year the country was included in the list. “ This should shake the government into action as it could seriously undermine the government’s efforts to invite more investors into the country,” SENTRO secretary Josua Mata told BusinessMirror in an SMS.

T he data showed total subsidies reached P37.654 billion in the first five months of 2023, lower than the P39.359 billion posted in the same period last year.

I n May, government subsidies reached P7.388 billion in 2023, a 7.28-percent contraction from the P7.968 billion posted in the same period in 2022.

Data showed the top three recipients of subsidies in May were the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), the National Food Authority (NFA), and the National Housing Administration (NHA).

N IA received subsidies worth P4.224 billion in May 2023, bringing its total received subsidies for the first five months of the year to P18.286 billion.

L ast year, NIA received higher subsidies, which reached P6.262 billion in May 2022 and P15.263 in the January to May period last year.

T he NFA’s subsidies amounted to P849 million in May 2023 and total subsidies in the January to May period to P4.101 billion.

L ast year, NFA did not receive any subsidies in May and brought its five-month subsidies to P3.243 billion in 2023.

T he NHA, meanwhile, received P363 million worth of subsidies this year, bringing its total subsidies to P1.199 billion for the first five months of 2023.

L ike the NFA, NHA did not receive any subsidies in May 2022; its total subsidies for the January to May period was P3.194 billion in 2022.

T he BTr data showed Major Non-Financial Government Corp. received subsidies of P5.54 billion in May 2023, bringing its total subsidies to P25.154 billion in the January to May period this year.

L ast year, the subsidies it received in May was at P6.498 billion, higher compared to the same period this year. However, its total subsidies for the January to May period was lower at P22.905 billion in 2022.

O ther Government Corporations received a total of P1.643 billion in subsidies in May 2023, bringing the total of that class to P12.151 billion in January to May 2023.

B Tr data showed subsidies for these public corporations reached P1.470 billion in May 2022 and P16.455 billion in January to May 2022. For the Government Financial Institutions (GFIs), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) received subsidies worth P205 million in May, bringing the total subsidies received in the first five months of the year to P349 million.

L ast year, the GFIs did not receive any subsidies from the government in May, and in the January to May period of 2022.

T he Philippines, together with Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, Tunisia, and Turkey were among the countries with the lowest rating.

I TUC noted there was still no guarantee of labor rights in the country due to local incidents of violence and arrest of trade unionists as well as union busting.

Workers and their representatives in the Philippines remained particularly vulnerable to red-tagging, violent attacks, abductions and arbitrary arrests. Workers across many sectors still faced significant obstacles when attempting to form trade unions,” the 64page report said. S entro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa

T he country is negotiating for the reauthorization of its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) with the United States and the European Union.

B oth parties will consider the country’s compliance with international labor conventions in their decision for the reauthorization.

Laguesma: Let observers be judge SOUGHT for comment on the new ITUC report, Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message he will just let observers be the judge of whether the country deserves to be included in the list despite the current administration’s ongoing efforts to address the reported Freedom of Association (FOA) violations.

See “PHL,” A2

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng