ALLWIES conducted orientation seminar on Exclusive Breastfeeding in Imus..

         ALLWIES President Susanita "Babes" Tesiorna conducted Seminar Orientation on Exclusive Breastfeeding in coordination with the Barangay Health Center, Buhay na Tubig, Imus, Cavite. It was participated by 22 participants, mostly were pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and two (2) males carrying a baby also.

          She introduced the MDG-F _ Ensuring Food Security and Nutrition for Children 0-24 months in the Philippines. The members of the Sub-Committee on Breastfeeding in Workplaces were also introduced briefly as she focused more on gathering myths and practices from the participants, the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding from 0-6 months old, what can be done to preserve mother's milk, and the community support to the breastfeeding mother.  Proper nutrition and feeding after 6 months old were also presented.

Barangay Health Center Midwife for the Opening Remarks

         From the testimonies of the breastfeeding mothers, the one who delivered at Fabella Hospital was more aware of the advantages of EBF than those who delivered babies in hospitals.  After explaining also the Milk Code of the Philippines, there was committment from the participants to help report the violators and perhaps, ALLWIES can follow-up it by organizing reporting mechanism to encourage more to report violations.

         The Midwife of the Barangay Center also requested Ms. Tesiorna to give brief orientation on the PhilHealth Benefits to encourage enrolment.  It was agreed that the Brgy. Health Center will help facilitate the enrolment. 

         Another participant (mother with 2 kids) , testified that until now that her older daughter is three (3) years old is still breastfeeding.  Her health is good and so with the two (2) kids. 

A baby and sister sharing Mommy's milk.





  
         
           

Tesiorna represented TUCP to the NSCB-Tehnical Committee on Poverty Statistics

          Susanita Tesiorna, by virtue of NSCB Memorandum No. 5, Series of 2009, represented TUCP to the Technical Committee on Poverty Statistics. The Technical Committee (TC-Pov Stats) was on its 25th meeting yesterday (Jan. 28, 2011) and was proud to present that after more than two-years work, it is almost done on the "Proposed Improvements in the Official Provincial Poverty Estimation Methodology" ready for recommendation for approval by the NSCB Board in its meeting on Feb. 1, 2011. There will be Press Conference comes Feb. 7 on this.

          The TC-PovStats is chaired by Dr. Celia M.  Reyes.  The Committee is vice-chaired by Ms. Carmelita Ericta of NSO and Dr. Romulo A.  Virola, the Secretary General of the National Statistics and Coordiantion Board.

          In the afternoon, at the 5th Floor of NSCB, a "Consultative Forum on the Proposed Improvements In The Official Poverty Estimation Methodology was held"  to solicit comments, reaction and suggestions to enhance the methodology if deemed necessary.  Among the panel of reactors were Usec. Jude Esqguerra of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Ms. Myrna Clara B.  Asuncion of NEDA, Ms. Rhodora Alday of DSWD NHTS-PR.  Usec. Bala closed the Forum with much hope to improve the Philippine Poverty Statistics.
     

HOR Committee on Poverty Alleviation on Magna Carta of the Poor, 15th Congress

Fr left :  Art of KILUSAN-TUCP, Florencia Cabatingan of
TUCP-DAWN, Susanita "Babes" Tesiorna of
ALLWIES, other ladie are MITSUMI Union
Representatives and Hon. PL Representative
Raymond Mendoza for TUCP.

          The House of Representatives Committee on Poverty Alleviation held its 3rd Regular Meeting on January 19, 2011 at the Rms. 3 & 4, R.V. Mitra Bldg, Batasan, Quezon City.

          Among the Resource Speakers from the Basic Sectors were Rafael Mapalo for TUCP, Florencia Cabatingan of NAPC-Women Sector, 

Susanita Tesiorna  of ALLWIES, Vic Fabe for the farmers, Ric Domingo for the urban poor, Josephine Parilla for PATAMABA, etc....  It was a very consultative process the Committee did since all of the sectors represented were given enough time to express their concerns and inputs on the Magna Carta. Everybody were also given the chances to respond to reactions and query of the other members of the Committee,  mostly are Party List Representatives.  Two Party List Representatives from NATTCO were present and another highligt was the addition as Co-Author of PL Paez of NATTCO after he manifested.  Further, the Committee Chair instructed all the resource persons to submit position papers as it intends to pass the HB in June, 2011.

 

  

 

    

 

  

TUCP-JILAF-WDFI conducted National Pilot Seminar on Productivity and Industrial Relations

           The TUCP, Japan International Labour Foundation (JILAF) and the Workers' Development Foundation, Inc. conducted a high level activity, "National Pilot Seminar on Industrial Relations and Productivity" in Eurotel EDSA North on Jan. 18-21



From right : Bro.Yasuhiko Inoue, Rosalina Funtanares, Bro.
Kenichi Kumagai, Mr. Jess Villamor and Nida
during graduation exercise.



2011.  The participants included Vice-Presidents of

TUCP, union presidents and informal sector

Association, the ALLWIES. 

         
 The four-days activity was very full of lessons and experience sharing by participants on new approaches on gain sharing, negotiations, constructive industrial relations and social dialogue towards decent work for all workers.

          Rafael Mapalo, Director for Education of TUCP , replaced Mr. Cedric Bagtas, in presenting  
the "Changing Society and Role of Trade  Unions".  

          Susanita Tesiorna attended in order to be able to draw lessons for policy development on how teachings in this Seminar can be applied to informal economy workers, whether own account, atypical workers or vulnerable workers. The 3rd day of the
activity was a plant visit to KAWASAKI Plant to
be able to visualize lessons in the seminar, after which, discussions by the participants were centered on the 5S, Kaizen and KPS disciplines of the company. There was also exercise by the participants in four (4) groups on CBA negotiations.

HOR Committee on Poverty Alleviation on its 3rd Regular Meeting

     The House of Representatives, Committee on Poverty Alleviation, held its 3rd Regular Meeting on January 19, 2011.  The main agenda is the briefing by Sec. Joel Rocamora, Lead Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.  The Honorable Secretary focused on the functions and mandates of NAPC and stressed the importance of the participation of the Basic Sectors towards a community needs-based driven agenda.

     Other guests invited were Hon. Marietta Goco, one of the lead authority in the crafting of the Social Reform Agenda, Dr. Roger Birosel of the Earthsavers Philippines and Susanita Tesiorna, President of ALLWIES.  Majority of the members of the committee particiopated and asked clarificatory questions to Sec. Rocamora.

     Susanita  Tesiorna, as three (3) termers in the NAPC-Workers in the Informal Sector, was surprised to hear from Hon. Marcoleta, Party List Alagad, that there are no links between the basic sectors like urban poor he is representing and congress.

    Susanita Tesiorna, shared briefly how important NAPC are for the fourteen (14) Basic Sectors in pushing for reforms to alleviate poverty.  However, she asked Sec. Rocamora, who are now the Basic Sector Representatives to carry the mandate. The Basic Sector Agenda has been jeopardized because of the alleged suspension of all  the  sectoral council members.      

Salve Gaytano in Provincial Local Council for the Protection of Children

       Salve Gaytano, Vice-President of ALLWIES for Luzon, reported that she has been participating to the activities initiated by the government agencies such as DOLE Region 4-A to address the child labor issue in the province of Quezon, among others.

       Regional representations of ALLWIES in different provinces advocating for the protection and development of the workers in the informal sector has been notably recognized.  Susanita Tesiorna, has been assisting and guiding the Regional Representatives of ALLWIES on local advocacy work to be able to meet its organizational goals consistent with the Millenium Development Goals of our country. 

      Inspite of all the limitations of ALLWIES, its members and officers has become social entrepreneurs,  spending even their own resources just to meet requirements of local advocacy.

      Mabuhay ka Salve!

TUCP-ALLWIES-WDFI and ITUC-AP on the go for the Informal Economy and Atypical Workers



Participants and Speakers



     The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Alliance of Workers in the Informal Economy/Sector, Workers Development Foundation, Inc. (WDFI) and the International Tade Union Confederation-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP) joint efforts to conduct "National Seminar Workshop On Policies and Actions on Informal Economy and Atypical Workers in the Philippines" participated by trade union leaders, educators, representatives from Indigenous People, youth representatives, representative of HOA organization, officers and affiliates of ALLWIES.  The two (2) day activity was conducted at Eurotel, North EDSA, Quezon City on Jan. 11-12, 2010.  The speakers were :  1)  ITUC-AP Divisional Director P. Haridasan, Mr. Lawrence Jef Johnson, Country Director of the International Labor Organization, Mr. Cielo Cabalatungan of the Bureau of Workers of Special Concerns-DOLE and Susanita "Babes" G.  Tesiorna, President of ALLWIE/S and Ms. Gloria Madayag who represented ALLWIES-TUCP in Jakarta, Indonesia last October on this topic.    



Susanita Tesiorna, sharing experiences of the Informal
Sector Coalition of the Philippines (ISP) in the advocacy
for the protection and development of the informal sector
and organizing strategies developed from experience.



     According to Rafael Mapalo, Director for TUCP Education Department, the 2-day seminar workshop aimed to provide trade union leaders and workers in the informal 

economy with updated information on policies, programs, activities, and initiatives in relation to promoting decent work for informal economy and atypical workers.  It also aimed to develop an action agenda to further advocacies and implement strategies towards organizing informal economy and atypical workers. 

     Director P. Haridasan nad Mr. Lawrence Jef Johnson talked about macro-information on the tranformation of labor and its international programs running for all affiliates/constituencies. Mr. Cielo Cabalatungan talked about the current interventions of the Department of Labor and Employment for the informal sector while Ms. Tesiorna presented the ISP initiatives.  She also emphasized the Conference Instruction during the Founding congress held in Bangaloroo, India of ITUC-AP in Sept. 2007 to all its affiliates on Informal Economy and Atypical Workers as important inputs to the action planning.   She facilitated the action planning and made sure that in the             

group workshops, ALLWIES leaders are distributed as more informed experienced in the issue-based ++ organizing strategy.

     A special participation of PESHAI (Primarosa East Subd. Homeowners Asso., Inc. herein represented by Delia Campo was for the purpose of advocacy on domestic work (kasambahay).

     At the end of the activity, Dir. P. Haridasan, expressed that the activity was productive and enjoyable.  He committed to be back in December, 2011 to monitor and evaluate action plan implementation.

                                                                                      

ALLWIE/S Participated the Conference on :Advancing Decent Work Through the Global Jobs Pact and the Social Protection Floor

     On Dec. 11-12, 2010, the TUCP (Trade Union Congress of the Philippines) conducted conference on "Advancing Decent Work Through the Global Jobs Pact and the Social Protection Floor" at the Eurotel Hotel, North Edsa, Queson City.

     Topics presented were :  1)  Globalization, Labor Market and Decent Works, 2) Review of the Philippines Decent Work Common Agenda, 3) Advancing Decent Work Through the Global Jobs Pact and the Social Protection Floor, and 4) Climate Change, Green Jobs and Decent Work.

     After the discussions of the above-mentioned topics, on the 2nd day, a workshop was done to surface constraints and difficulties confronting national and local unions, including identification of good practices on implementing Decent Work.

     The Informal Sector through the Alliance of Workers in the Informal Economy/Sector was represented by youth leaders :  Romiel R.  Abraham and Agustin Virtudazo.  The two ALLWIE/S youth representatives
reported positive appraisal of the said conference.
    
  

ILO Led Component on Joint Program-MDG conducted National Consultation



Mr. Eduardo Lacson, President of Employers

Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP)  delivered

Solidarity Message. . 



Seated from right are:  1) James Mante, Consultant for this
component, 2) Susanita Tesiorna, President of ALLWIE/S,
3) Ms. Keiko Niimi of the International Labour Organization,
and 4) Mrs. Florencia Cabatingan of TUCP-DAWN. 

     The International Labour Organization led one of the components of the Joint Program-Millenium Development Goals, specifically on "Exclusive Breasfeeding in the Workplaces ".  It conducted a National Consultation on Interventions to Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding in the Workplace (Formal and Informal) to present the result of Phase 1 of the Joint Program piloted in three (3) cities namely, Naga City, Iloilo City and Zamboanga City in Nov. 18 -19, 2010 at the Bayview Hotel, Manila.

     The activity was started with Solidarity Messages from key partners such as ECOP, TUCP, ILO, DOLE who was represented by Asec. Ma. Theresa Soriano.  Among the presenters were UNICEF, UP-National Institute of Health, DOH as the lead organization, TUCP-DAWN for  salient features of RA 10028, Dang Buenaventura of ECOP for the result of three-city consultation workshops for the formal workplaces.  Susanita Tesiorna, presented also the result of the three-city consultation workshops on informal workplaces.

     Susanita Tesiorna included in her presentation the profile of the informal sector workers/participants, the perceptions and current practices on breastfeeding in communities, the identified areas where to have breastfeeding stations and identified potential local development partners.

     On the second day of the activity was a planning workshop where the informal sector worked together to craft a plan to be advocated to the three pilot cities of the JP-MDG.

   

TUCPgathered in a Forum members 0f ALNI/P on CLS Compliance in the Water Utilities Sector

     The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) gathered the members/partners of the Asian Labor Network for the International Financing Institutions-Philippines (ALNI/P) in a Forum on Sept. 20, 2010 at the Fersal Hotel, Quezon City.

     It aimed to discuss the Core Labour Standards (CLS) Compliance of the government and private projects on water utilities funded by the international financing institutions such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), and the International Financing Corporation (IFC).

      ALNI/P was organized with the funding and institutional support from the American Center for the International Labor Soidarity (Solidarity Center in short) with the following organizations:  TUCP, FFW, AFW, APEC, FUZE, ISP which is now subsumed by the ALLWIE/S, NUBE, PAKISAMA, PGEA, POLU, NUBE, TUPAS, YES, IPG and an NGO on environment.

     Representing the ALLWIES were Pres. Susanita Tesiorna, Vice-President for NCR Roserel Virtudazo and Secretary Rosalina Funtananres.