Conference-Workshop on “Social Protection for All: Paano Isasabatas?”

Conference-Workshop on “Social Protection for All: Paano Isasabatas?”

27-28 June 2013, 8:00am onwards Isabelo Delos Reyes Auditorium SOLAIR, Bonifacio Hall, UP Diliman

               “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets or steal bread.” 
 – Anatole France

               “The State shall afford full protection to labor local and overseas, organized and unorganized…” 
 – Sec. 3, Art. XIII, Philippine Constitution

With the recent election of new and old Senators and House Representatives, the Philippine Congress is once again faced with the awesome task of fleshing out a social and economic legislative agenda that promotes the general welfare of the Filipino people. We hope our legislators shall put “Social Protection for All” on top of the agenda.

Why Social Protection for All? Because this is the right of every citizen. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948) explicitly declares that every member of society “has the right to social security”, generally defined as an individual’s protection from risks associated with sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age, death, unaffordable health care and insufficient family support. The 1987 Constitution repeatedly echoes this UN Declaration under Article II (State Policies), Article III (Bill of Rights), Article XIII (Social Justice and Human Rights) and Article XV (The Family).

And yet, majority of the Filipino working population do not enjoy this right. This is especially true for the informal workers, who constitute over half of the labor force and are not enrolled in the SSS/GSIS. This is also true for the displaced, the unemployed and the “atypical” or casual workers, who shift from one short-term job to another without any clear social protection.

It is in this context that the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR), with the cooperation of the Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC) and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), is holding a two-day Conference-Workshop on “Social Protection for All: Paano Isasabatas?”, June 27-28, 2013.

The culminating activity for the Conference-Workshop is a proposed dialogue on the unified position of invited trade union centers/federations/national unions and informal sector organizations/alliances of the country on the conference’s theme – Social Protection for All: Paano Isasabatas.

For any inquiry, please call Jerowin/Fina (920-7717 Dean’s Office), Leian Marasigan (leianmara@gmail.com; 09199979008) or Eileen Pupos (e.pupos@yahoo.com; 09177047319).