Retrieve 'stolen' gov't funds for workers' benefits —Leody de Guzman

Presidential candidate Leody de Guzman on Tuesday said government funds "stolen" by the previous administrations should be retrieved and be used to help support the workers.

A labor leader, de Guzman made the proposal when asked during the PiliPinas Forum of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas on how he could lift the Philippines out of its current challenges and crises.

“‘Yung mga yamang ninakaw ng mga administrasyon — hindi lamang si Marcos kundi ng lahat, kasi lahat naman ng pumuwesto naging administrasyon ng puro magnanakaw — bawiin natin ‘yun at gamitin natin sa pagtulong sa ating mga manggagawang nawalan ng ng trabaho, sa ating mga health workers, suportahan natin sila,” he said.

(We must take back the stolen wealth by past administrations — not only of Ferdinand Marcos but all of them — and use it to help the workers who lost their jobs and to support our health workers.)

De Guzman previously slammed the Marcos family for their P203.819 billion estate tax debt, while stressing his call to tax the billionaires and recover the wealth of the corrupt politicians.

He then suggested that taking the funds directly from the rich or those who have the capacity to pay would be among the solutions to the plight of the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“Ang pera ay nasa kamay ng mga malalaking negosyante. It’s time na ‘yun namang mga negosyanteng ‘yan ang pumasan ng tulong para sa pagbangon ng ating ekonomiya [the money is in the hands of big businessmen. It’s time for them to help in the recovery of our economy],” he told the forum.

Further, de Guzman reiterated his call to increase the national minimum wage to P750, to abolish the regional wage boards, and to dissolve manpower agencies to end contractualization in the country.

Education

For his part, De Guzman’s running mate, Professor Walden Bello, said to improve the country’s education system, they will allocate over P1 trillion in the education sector for the next fiscal year if they win in the May 9 polls.

In this budget, P300 billion will be devoted to improving the quality of education at all levels, Bello said.

De Guzman agreed that the budget alloted for education is "very small."

“Napakaliit ng budget na inilaan ng gobyerno diyan, mas malaki pa ‘yung ipinambabayad sa utang, bagama't sa ating Konstitusyon, ang malaking budget dapat ay edukasyon. Kinakailangan nating itaas ‘yung budget ng edukasyon natin – ’yung 6%, kahit lagpas pa ng 6% ng GDP natin gawin natin dahil ang laki ng ating hahabulin para punuan ‘yung pangangailan natin,” he said.

(The budget allocated by the government for education is very small. The debt that we pay is even bigger. In our Constitution, education should get a big budget. We need to raise our education budget by using 6% or even bigger of our gross domestic product because we have so much to work on to meet our needs.)

The Partido Lakas ng Masa standard bearer also said that once the budget for the education sector increases, schools should be brought closer to the communities and the children. He said aiding students with special needs should also be given priority by the government.

In his policy platforms for youth issues focusing on education reform, and students' rights, de Guzman underscored policies for the COVID-19 situation, including public funding of schools’ retrofitting costs for a safe return to face-to-face classes, and subsidizing the required utilities for distance learning such as gadgets and Internet connections.

It also includes sweeping reforms to school curricula to include sexual health education, labor rights, and climate science, as well as a general reorientation from global marketability to national development. —KBK, GMA News