BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Workers, peasants, youth, church leaders and civil society advocates marked Labor Day in Bacolod City with calls for a PHP1,200 legislated wage hike, a rollback in oil prices, and justice for those killed in the April 19 military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental.

The May 1st protest brought together a broad alliance of labor and peasant group including Kilusang Mayo Uno, Bagong  Alyansang Makabayan, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Bunyog Partylist, and Partido Manggagawa alongside youth, religious, and civil society leaders. 

Call for corruption to be held accountable and wages to be increased during May 1st protest

The groups said rising prices of fuel, food, transport, electricity and water have deepened the hardship of workers already surviving on low wages and unstable jobs.

KMU spokesperson Noli Rosales remarked that workers continue to carry the burden of the economic crisis, with oil price hikes pushing up the cost of basic goods and services. 

“The Marcos administration has failed to act on calls for a substantial wage increase while drivers and small operators of public utility jeepneys face mounting fuel costs and inadequate assistance,” Rosales said.

Call to junk oil deregulation law during May 1st protest

Labor groups said a rollback in oil prices is urgently needed to ease the pressure on workers, commuters and transport workers. They also reiterated their demand for a P1,200 legislated wage hike, saying current regional wages remain far below what families need to survive.

Fr. Melvin Pajardo of the One Negros Ecumenical Council said Labor Day should remind the public of the workers who produce goods and keep the economy running.

“The people working hard are the ones that become victims of injustice through low salary and benefits, but capitalists and corporations are reaping the overflowing profits,” Pajardo said. “If there are no workers in the fast food restaurants, small businesses, and banks, there is no economy.”

Call for accountability for the killing of RJ Ledesma during the May 1st protest

Progressive groups also used the protest to press for justice for the 19 people killed in the April 19 military operation in Toboso. Hundreds of civil society organizations along with families of the deceased have called for an independent investigation into the incident, while the military has maintained that those killed were combatants in an encounter.

Mario Tapi-on, spokesperson of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, said protesters should honor those killed and continue the struggles they carried, including the fight for land, living wages, and genuine peace and justice.

“We should also honor the sacrifices of our comrades last April 19 where their lives were taken through a massacre by the Philippine army in Toboso,” Tapi-on said.

Tapi-on said many peasants in Negros still earn only P200 to P300 a day as casual workers or cane cutters, far below the regional minimum wage and without retirement benefits because of irregular work arrangements.

“Instead of implementing genuine agrarian reform or raising wages, the government has responded to organizing with red-tagging and threats,” Tapi-on added.

Human Rights Advocates Negros Island calls for the release of labor organizer Julie Ann Balora

KMU also cited continuing attacks on labor rights, including surveillance, intimidation and the arrest of agricultural worker organizer Julie Ann Balora on April 22. Rosales said workers will continue to organize for wages, job security and basic rights.

The Bacolod protest formed part of nationwide Labor Day mobilizations demanding higher wages, oil price relief, secure jobs, agrarian reform, and accountability for the Toboso killings.