Freedom Run for FOI

PSLINK alongside other FOI advocates joined the Freedom Run held on November 2011 at the UP Academic Oval.

Messages during the Freedom Run: PNOY, WTF!? (Where’s the Freedom of Information?)

                                                                         No FOI , NO FREEDOM !

We would like to thank our local affiliates from NAPEMA, DPWH NCR EU, FMMED, QCFED and NMED Chapters for joining the event. Mabuhay kayo!!!

PSLINK during the Nationwide Roll-out of Bayanihang Eskwela

PSLINK joined the formal launching of the Nationwide Roll-out of Bayanihang Eskwela – A Joint Public-Private Monitoring Initiation of Government School Building Programs on August 18, 2011 in the DepEd National Office. 

Bayanihang Eskwela (BayEsk) is a landmark initiative involving the Department of Education (DepED), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Office of the Ombudsman (OMB), Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) and G-Watch. The program aims to ensure quality school buildings in the public basic education sector by preventing corruption in school building construction programs.

Bro. Gil Orallo, National Executive Board member of PSLINK attended the event and delivered a message in behalf of PSLINK. A copy of the speech has been posted below.

PSLINK Message during the Formal Launching of the Nationwide Roll-Outof Bayanihang Eskwela

(Speech delivered by Bro. Gil Orallo, National Executive Board member, PSLINK)

Warm greetings to all of you from the public sector unions!

We wish to express our sincerest thanks to the Department of Education, G-Watch, the Girl Scouts Department of Public Works and Highways, Girl Scouts of the Philippines, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, National Confederation of PTCA/PTAs, INC., and the other members of the Bayanihang Eskwela CSO Coordinating Group who are here in this very important occasion to formally launch the Nationwide Roll-Out of Bayanihang Eskwela – A Joint Public-Private Monitoring Initiation of Government School Building Programs.

We are very thrilled about this exciting opportunity once again to partner with the Department of Education! And we are also very thrilled to work among such passionate education advocates such as G-Watch, the Education Network (which we are also a member of), the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts, and the PTA.

For nearly a decade, we in PSLINK, a national confederation of government workers and their unions and associations in national government agencies, state universities and colleges, local government units, government owned and controlled corporations, has been in partnership with the Department of Education on several projects—all of which seek to promote transparency and accountability in school governance, strong government-civil society partnership, and of course, quality public education for all our youth—the hope of our future.  

Since 2003 we have worked in partnership with the DepEd and Civil Service Commission on Institutionalizing Social Dialogue in the national, regional and division offices of the former, and in local public schools. We have seen best practices come out of this project which builds on trust between management and rank and file, on transparency in policy-making and implementation, and regular dialogue structures and mechanisms to address workplace issues that impact on the quality of education services. 

Due to our positive engagement with the DepEd and the considerable advancements we have made through the Social Dialogue project, we in PSLINK sought to expand the scope of our collaboration with them. Moreover, we sought to make school governance more participatory. When the DepEd launched its landmark Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA), the most comprehensive and progressive reform program of the DepEd, PSLINK was one of the many civil society groups that supported it.

BESRA is a landmark initiative as it recognizes that the institutional culture of the DepEd needed to change–that it had to move from being highly centralized and bureaucratized, to being decentralized and empowering. BESRA institutionalized School Governing Councils made up of various key school community stakeholders–the teachers union/association, the PTA, the local government unit, alumni, youth groups, the girl and boy scouts, retirees, professional associations, NGOs, and peoples organizations, to develop, implement and monitor school improvement plans. In short, BESRA acknowledged the reality, especially in our resource-stricken public schools, that it is not just the school’s responsibility to educate a child. It is everybody’s responsibility. Indeed, “It takes a whole community to educate a child.”

We see the Bayanihang Eskwela initiative as part of these ongoing and wider efforts of the DepEd, and the DPWH as well, to institutionalize civil society engagement in governance and we are truly grateful to become part of such an important undertaking. PSLINK looks forward to implementing this project with high enthusiasm, optimum energy and rigor in the hope of achieving quality education for all.

Thank you very much!

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Protest vs. Anti-Union DBM Budget Circular

PSLINK held a protest action in front of the Civil Service Commission on Friday (Feb. 10, 2011) during the first quarterly meeting of the Public Sector Labor-Management Council (PSLMC) to oppose the recent DBM Budget Circular No. 2011-5 curtailing the right of government employees to collective negotiations.

The circular otherwise known as the Supplemental Guidelines on the Grant of Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) Incentive for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 issued last December 2011 by DBM is anti-union and anti-labor threatening the right to self-organization and collective negotiations of all government workers in the country. It imposes excessive restrictions that prevent government workers to negotiate for CNA incentives. PSLINK calls for this issuance and all other anti-union DBM issuances to be revoked. The confederation has also asked the PSLMC to release a position countering DBM’s insolence and its unjust budget circular.

PSLINK affiliates (from NAPEMA and DPWH-NCR Employees Union Federation) trooped to the Civil Service Commission where the PSLMC held its meeting for the year to protest the issuance of DBM Budget Circular 2011-5 curtailing the right to collective negotiations of government workers.