This was in reaction to news that the NCR wage board could only grant to more than a P20 wage increase, following the wishes of big business groups. KMU is spearheading nationally - coordinated protest actions all over the country today to demand the immediate legislation of a p125 across-the-board wage increase.

"We will not be satisfied nor pacified who the crumbs the regional wage boards are condescending to give to us. We can barely contain our outrage over this government's allegations that it's incapable of granting a just and substantial wage and salary increase because at the same time we are witness to its profligate spending; corruption; and subsidizing of its officials 'useless trips abroad, and their shameless, extravagant vices. Serious remedies must be made because the people are in great need for economic relief, and now that we think about it, a wage increase is not enough to give this. Either the government begins to rethink its economic program and policies or the next few months it will contend with giant protests simultaneously erupting in all major cities nationwide," said KMU chairperson Crispin Beltran.

"The US-Estrada regime is pushing the limits of our patience. Workers can only go so long without relief from the burgeoning crisis of high prices and exorbitant rates of basic services. KMU has no choice but to command its membership nationwide to strengthen the defense of their ranks by launching strikes and other forms of militant mass actions. We warn the government that if it insists on ignoring the demands of the working people, it may have to face the militant manifestations of great public disapproval - wave after wave of demonstrations," he said.

Beltran said that the wage hike issue has brought other issues to the fore, such as the perpetual oil price increases and the results of the deregulation of the oil industry. "The first was a result of the other, the way the clamor for a wage increase is the result of the deepening immiseration of the workers. All are effects of the government's continued implementation of neoliberal, anti-nationalist and pro-monopoly capitalist policies. It's time that the issues of the day be tied up and explained as intermeshed matters, the way they actually are."

The labor leader added that it was time that the government's macro-economic policies should be seriously analyzed because it was very apparent that they were at the root of the spiralling crisis. "The price hikes are merely symptoms of the crisis. Connect it with the growing rates of inflation; peso value depreciation; costs of living and unemployment; and to the conversely falling levels of food security; and standards of living, then you have the over-all picture of the economy, devastated and most determinedly heading for disaster. KMU's demand for a P125 wage increase is primarily an effort to ease the effects of the crisis on workers," he said.

Finally, Beltran said that coordinated actions of labor, transport and other sectors will no longer be confined in the Mindanao region, "They will soon spread to the national capital region and surrounding provinces in Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon. This callous, heartless government will have to contend with the people's rising anger. KMU will widen the scope of its 'Friday Protest,' the weekly noise barrages from 5:30 to 7:00 pm to more areas, including residential and worker's communities, and other regions outside Metro Manila.

Betran clarified that though KMU still refrains from issuing the call for a 'welgang bayan' or nationwide coordinated strikes, it may have to consolidate its ranks for this very purpose in the not-so-distant future.

 KMU TO ESTRADE: NO, MR. PRESIDENT, WE WILL NOT STAY CALM

"The US-Estrade regime is sitting right under a social volcano waiting to explode. The worsening economic conditions cannot but feed the people's rising discontent with a government that heartlessly and obstinately refuses to listen to their justified and immediate need for relief. No, Mr. President, the workers will not clam. We are not satisfied with your excuses, and we will not be pacified by the crumbs you condescend to give us."

This was the statement of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairperson Crispin Beltran in response to Pres. Joseph Estrada's plea that labor remains calm over the wage issue. The NCR-regional wage board has announced that there will be a P25.50 increase in the NCR.

The KMU chairperson said that Estrada's request comes too late. "He has consistently conspired with big local and foreign business to keep workers wage down, and to maintain the perpetual immesiration of the rest of the Filipino people. We feel tremendous outrage this government's allegations that it's incapable of granting a just and substantial wage and salary increase because at the same time we are witness to its profligate spending; corruption; and subsidizing of its officials 'useless trips abroad, and their shameless, extravagant vices," he said.

"The US-Estrada regime has pushed the limits of our patience. Workers can only go so long without relief from the burgeoning crisis of high prices and exorbitant rates of basic services. The increases being doled out by the wage boards are too insignificant, too insultingly small that they're essentially useless. KMU has no choice but to command its membership nationwide to strengthen the defense of their ranks by launching strikes and other forms of militant mass actions. We warn the government that from this onward, it will contend with our militant indignation in the form of wave after wave of demonstrations," he said.

Beltran said that KMU will intensify the strike movement and launch bigger protest actions - such as noise barrages, mass demonstrations, work slowdowns and stoppages, factory - wide paralyzations and strikes - before the end of the year.

Meanwhile KMU political and external affairs secretary and National Democratic Front (NDF) adviser for economic and social reforms said that Estrada's apathy and antipathy towards the workers' and peoples' plight, his banality, and his virulent corruption will ultimately be his undoing. "Estrade lies and he believes in his own lies. No one, however, is taken in by his deviousness and trickery. We guarantee him that the first six months of the new millenium will witness a groundswell of the workers and the people's protest, a groundswell that will grow into a furious storm. Estrada better prepare a raincoat," Baylosis said.