Labor Day protest in PH goes online for the first time

There might be a global pandemic roaming outside but this won’t stop Filipinos in celebrating the sacrifices, efforts, and acts of the working class. On May 1, for the very first time in history, protests and rallies are done via livestreams online to voice out the rights of our workers.

Due to the ongoing implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon, progressive movements have taken social media as their platform instead of going to the streets in adherence to the guidelines set by healthcare experts and risk contracting the lethal virus. Veering away from their usual mass assemblies, activists made use of the cyberspace to

The theme and chant “Kalusugan, kabuhayan, karapatan, ipaglaban! Sugpuin ang COVID-19! Singilin si Duterte!” focuses on the demands for the government to adopt a medical-based solution instead of the highly-militarized stance, as well as providing the health and financial needs of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Labor rights group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) conducted a virtual rally for workers and people’s solidarity via Facebook Live where leaders and speakers of various organizations air their concerns and messages.

According to KMU chairperson Elmer Labog, “We can’t emphasize enough the urgency of government to provide immediate relief to all workers. From the President’s report on the 5th week of ECQ, only about 300,000 were given financial aid out of 2 million displaced workers.”

Moreover, they also conducted noise barrages in their respective homes in observance of the ECQ’s travel restrictions.

Since the start of the lockdown, work for all sectors except those in the essential and frontline services have been suspended with the ECQ.  In fact, this has forced workers relying on their daily wages, whose cannot adopt a work-from-home setup settle for no income through the lockdown.