Official Gazette for June 17, 1970: President Marcos said the enactment of the Industrial Peace Act of 1953, otherwise known as the Magna Carta of Labor, marked “the end of an oppressive” era of compulsory arbitration and the beginning of a new age of freedom in labor-management relations.”
The President made this observation in a speech before the nation’s labor leaders at a luncheon held at the Manila Hotel this noon commemorating the 17th anniversary of the Magna Carta of Labor.
“We celebrate today the freedom of Philippine Labor,” the President said. “It is this freedom, above all, that makes the Industrial Peace Act of 1953 a vital document, no less than a magna carta of organized labor.”
The President stated that in a democratic society, “we find it abhorrent to impose peace by flat.” He said that peace obtained by compulsion “is bound to be fragile” and that the kind of industrial peace that endures is that which is established by mutual agreement and mutual consent.
“It is for this reason that the Magna Carta of Labor gives labor and management the widest possible latitude of freedom in settling their own differences without government intervention,” he said.
He began the day as usual with a long session with official papers in his study, among which was the enrolled new minimum wage bill, which he signed. Later he reenacted the signing of the bill at the luncheon given by labor leaders at the Manila Hotel to mark the passage of the Magna Carta of Labor.
The minimum wage bill which increases the daily wage from ₱6 to ₱8 for industrial workers, and ₱3.50 to ₱4.75 for agricultural workers, was one of the two bills certified by the President to Congress during the current special session, the other being the General Appropriations Bill.
The new law which takes effect upon approval, fixes the minimum basic daily wage for each type of workers as follows:
1) ₱8 in all enterprises other than agricultural, including” the national government and all government-owned and/or controlled corporations. 2) ₱6 in retail or service enterprises employing regularly not more than five employees. 3) ₱4.75 in all farming enterprises. 4) ₱5 or the minimum wage being paid at the time of approval of the Act, whichever is higher, in city, provincial and municipal governments. Exempted from these rates are farm tenants, workers doing household services, persons working in their respective houses in “needlework or in any cottage industry registered under the provisions of Republic Act No. 3470. The law also provides for the creation of a five-man Wage Commission under the Department of Labor, and appropriates ₱500,000 for the initial expenses of the Commission.
His visitors, today included:
1) The delegates to the Asian Development Center conference, held recently in Manila. The ADC is a creation of the Asian Parliamentary Union and has China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines as members. Those who called on the President were ADC Chairman Niehwen Ya and Wuta Yu, Charles Z. Woo and Tuyang Chun of China; Uichi Noda and Hideo Nakajima of Japan; Kimchang Keum of Korea; Pheng Sananikone and Sisouphanh Dhounpradit of Laos; Panit Sampawakoop and Tavich Klinpratoom of Thailand; Tran-Ngoc Canh and Nguyen Hoang of Vietnam; and Rep. Rogaciano Mercado of Bulacan and ADC Secretary General Emmanuel Yap, representing Sen. Dominador Aytona mid Rep. Lorenzo Sarmiento of Davao del Norte.
2) Capt. Odom Bannawel of Panupdupan, Kiangan-Ifugao, supply officer of the President’s guerilla unit during the war. Capt. Bannawel had come to Manila to attend the USAFIP-NL convention. The President expressed appreciation for the captain’s call and reminisced with him on their experiences in the resistance.
3) Mrs. Ester Sinsuat who was accompanied by Mayor Michael Sinsuat. The visitors took up with the President local problems, particularly those relating to peace and order. 4) Carmen Basa, retired librarian of the Dinalupihan Elementary School in Bataan, who presented the President with three scrap books of clippings on the President’s public life (1962 to 1967). 5) Reps Lamberto Macias of Negros Oriental. Joaquin Ortega of La Union, Vicente Cerilles of Zamboauga del Snr; Amado D. Cope of Albay and Gov. Juvenal Guerrero of La Union, all of whom discussed problems of their constituencies.
The President asked for a re-examination of curricula in existing state vocational schools, emphasizing the priority given to the establishment, maintenance and upgrading of vocational schools.
Minimum Wage Act signed before the National Labor Unity Committee celebration of the 17th Anniversary of the Magna Carta of Labor at Winston Garden.
In a memorandum to Secretary of Education Onofre D. Corpuz, the President also ordered that a survey be immediately conducted to determine where more vocational schools car, be set up as soon as possible, with national and local needs and capabilities as the primary criteria.
The reexamination of curricula in state vocational schools is aimed at effecting a more vigorous implementation of the government’s program of accelerating employment, developing out-of-school youths, and relating vocational education to national development.
The President devoted the rest of his working day to state papers.
In his speech read for him by Education Undersecretary Juan Manuel at the opening of the mid-year seminar commemorating the 109th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, held at the Girl Scouts of the Philippines building on Padre Faura street, the President reiterated his given pledge that “the right of any citizen of this Republic to criticize or disagree shall never be suppressed or stifled.” The President said that “every citizen shall enjoy every opportunity to express his views.”
He declared that the “government will accommodate every political action except the attempt to overthrow the government.”
The President stated, “I shall not hesitate to defend and lend support to any individual whose right to freedom of speech has been curtailed by a government official.”
The right to disagree is “one of the bulwarks of our society,” he asserted, adding that “that right cannot be diminished without impairing the strength of our system.”
He stressed, however, that “we shall draw the line between right and license, between the exercise of freedom and abuse of liberties.” There is a line that “divides reform and subversion, and that line is called the national interest,” he pointed out.