A look at our retail sector: Socialize the malls!

An article from Nextshark reveals the condition of workers at The Landmark, as narrated by an applicant on Facebook. Original article here. The applicant has since made some of her personal posts private, apparently due to intimidation from some.

Landmark is quite a sneaky entity. It functions as the department store section of other malls like Ayala, which only has "boutique" sections. It is far from "high end" as the article suggests, but it sits just close to places like Greenbelt. For Ayala malls, it also functions as the "food court" section.

Ayala apparently "outsources" all the dirty work to a provider like Landmark, to cut costs and pass on operational risks. It's no wonder their employees are neglected -- it appears to be their owners' exact business model. But Landmark is not the only culprit here.

Retail trade accounts for around P2 trillion in value in the Philippine economy, or some 13% of the GDP, but their workers get low pay. "Contractualization" is probably still rampant. And as seen here, they also get very bad treatment.

All of this is just a reflection of the trajectory that was designed by our economic managers who bought into the "globalization" hype -- neglect your own agriculture and manufacturing/industrial sector, turn your vast lands into malls, force the displaced farmers and industrial workers to become sales personnel, import the food and goods you no longer make at home, and sell them in the malls you built. If you really want out, you can leave your family and become an OFW, and your government will only be too happy to export you instead in return for the dollars. Note that this is the exact same policy that Rodrigo Duterte continues to uphold.

Meanwhile, the mall owners -- the Ayalas, Sys and Gokongweis -- are cream of the crop of the Philippine upper class elites. It is wealth that is founded on their own country's lack of an independent economic policy, deceit and workers' despair.

There may be several ways to address this whole problem. (The only real solution, really, is to rethink humanity's love affair with Capitalism, but since that probably won't happen anytime soon, let's look at more immediate options.)

In the very near term, if the retail elites think that the trajectory of global economy is now irreversible, they should at least make an effort to treat their workers decently as human beings. But if they won't do that, it's time we socialized the malls. The workers -- salesladies, food crew, haulers, etc. -- work their assess off for them. Why shouldn't they get a fair share based on what they contribute?

 

 

Mas mayaman sa iyo si Henry Sy ng 1,492,863 beses

Maraming salamat sa sistemang Kapitalismo, ang pinakamayamang tao sa Pilipinas ay may yamang nagkakahalaga suma-tutal ng $13.7 billion. Dolyar! Ito ay ayon sa "Philippines' 50 Richest" na inilabas ngayong buwan ng Forbes magazine. Listahan ito ng 50 pinakamayayamang Pilipino, na kinokompyut sa pamamagitan ng pagsusuma ng lahat ng ari-arian (asset na gusali o painting o kotse, atbp.) ng isang tao, menos mga utang. Kasama rin sa pagtala ng yaman ang mga posisyon ng mga nasabing indibidwal sa "stock market," kung saan may shares ang mga ito sa pag-aari ng mga publicly listed na kumpanya.

Hindi na bago sa listahan si Sy. Makailang ulit na siyang No. 1 sa Forbest List. Kasama niya sa listahan ang mga klase ng tao na ang naging pangunahing tanong lang sa buong buhay nila ay, "Paano ba ako yayaman nang yayaman?"

Samantala, walang masyadong statistic na puwede nating paghalawan ng kung magkano naman ang average wealth ng mga tipikal na Pilipino -- ikaw at ako -- maliban na lamang sa isang pag-aaral na inilalabas ng Credit Suisse. Ayon sa "Global Wealth Databook 2015" ng Credit Suisse, isang kumpanyang naghahatid ng mga serbisyong pampinansiya, ang average na adult na Pilipino ay may yaman na nagkakahalaga ng $9,177 noong mid-2015, o P431,319 sa kasalukuyang palitan. Pero, sa parehong pag-aaral sinabing ang "median wealth per adult" ay nasa $1,856 o P87,232 lang.

Ngunit samakatuwid, kung kukunin ang "average," (kahit pa karamihan ng mga Pilipino ay wala naman talagang pag-aari na aabot ang halaga sa halos kalahating milyon), si Henry Sy ay 1,492,863 beses* na mas mayaman kaysa sa kahit sino man sa atin. Another way to put it is, sa bawat piso mo, mayroon siyang halos isa't kalahating milyong piso.

Ano ang mayroon si Henry Sy na wala sa ating lahat? Nakatulong siguro kahit paano na okey sa olrayt magpasweldo ito si Mr. Sy. Ayon sa mga organisasyon ng manggagawa, No. 1 na Endo Lord ang SM. Ngunit dahil malaking bilang naman ng mga negosyong pag-aari ng Forbes Listers ay gumagamit ng kontraktwal -- kabilang na ang Universal Robina, San Miguel, Jollibee, atbp. -- applicable rin sa kanila ang ganitong "meme":

Nangsamantala ng Lakas-Paggawa.
Naging Bilyonaryo.
Lumabas sa Forbes List.

Sa Pilipinas, habang may milyon-milyong Pilipino na pagod at halos walang makain (o kaya'y kumakain ng pagpag na pinulot sa mga basurahan malapit sa Jollibee), may iilang mayayaman na marangyang nabubuhay mismong sa dugo at pawis ng nakararami. Ito ang hatid sa iyo ng sistemang Capitalism.

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*gaya ng sinabi sa unahang bahagi, dahil sa kakulangan ng datos, mapipilitang paghambingin ang statistic ng magkaibang panahon at magkaibang paraan o "methodology." Ngunit halos ganon din naman ang halaga ng yaman ni Henry noong 2015, at No. 1 din siya sa taon na yon. At gaya ng nabanggit, masyadong galante ang $9,177 na average wealth. Ang inyong lingkod, halimbawa, ay mayroon lang na isang bulok na cellphone, limang pantalon (yung iba galing sa ukay), at mga T-shirt. Mayroon din akong pusa, pero sabi nga ni Dong Abay, "mamahalin [siya], pero 'di nabibili" :D.