Government workers call for national tax holiday

A national convention of Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa GOCCs (Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations) and GFIs (Government Financial Institutions), or KAMGGFI, ended Saturday with a vow to push for a "tax holiday."

Held at the Tieza Multipurpose Hall of Double Dragon Plaza on Macapagal Avenue from 14 to 15 November, representatives from 13 GOCCs and GFIs, including the Peoples Television Employees Association (PTEA), "strongly call for a tax holiday."

Congressman Eli San Fernando of the Kamanggawa Partylist, the guest speaker, promised to file a bill on it and vowed to work on its passage "hopefully with Sen. Raffy Tulfo for the Senate version." Fernando was given the group’s manifesto, which he said will be his basis for filing the bill.

The GOCCs and GFIs workers united in their manifesto, stating that they have long carried the weight of essential national services — from health insurance to banking, finance, utilities, development programs, and social protection — serving millions of Filipinos every day.

"But today, these workers stand at a breaking point. Behind the counters, in regional offices, in financial systems, in claims desks, in regulatory units, in IT rooms, and in frontline branches nationwide, a silent crisis has been growing — a crisis of instability, inconsistency, and erosion of trust in systems meant to protect both public servants and the public they serve. The question workers now raise echoes across all institutions," KAMGGFI said.

“Hanggang kailan kami magiging matatag kung ang mismong sistema ang hindi?” they asked. (“How long can we remain strong if the system itself does not?”)

The KAMGGFI manifesto also listed four agendas to push for: end corruption in all forms, stop contractualization and casualization, stop privatization of government agencies, and stop the false narratives of standardization and the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS).

"The plight of workers is a mirror reflecting the country we are becoming — and the country we refuse to allow ourselves to become. This is a national crisis! Integrity, accountability and justice cannot wait. President Bongbong Marcos, the Filipinos deserve a tax holiday!" the manifesto read.