The December 2025 Labor Force Survey confirms what workers already feel every day: the economy is failing to generate the jobs people desperately need—and this collapse happened during the Christmas season, when employment should have peaked. If jobs can’t grow at Christmas, when will they?

The problem is not just unemployment, but the quality of jobs being created. While wage and salary employment inched up slightly, 35.8% of all jobs remain low-quality—self-employment, unpaid family labor, or work in family-run farms and businesses. This is an economy creating work without dignity.

Despite excuses from Malacañang’s economic team, the data is clear. The corruption scandal and the government’s bungled response played a major role in this outcome. Construction alone suffered massive job losses after the administration froze projects instead of decisively addressing corruption. Once again, workers paid the price for government indecision.

Even more alarming, manufacturing also shed jobs—deepening the country’s de-industrialization. A nation that cannot sustain manufacturing employment is a nation giving up on stable, long-term work. No factories, no future.

Global disruptions—from wars to trade turbulence triggered by Trump-era protectionism—have certainly intensified the crisis. But these shocks merely expose a deeper failure at home: the absence of a coherent industrial policy and the government’s refusal to take the lead in rebuilding manufacturing. This failure is underscored by the President’s veto of the CARS and RACE programs, which further endangers workers in the automotive and auto-parts industries and threatens the entire supply chain. This is bad leadership.

Breaking this pattern requires urgent action: a strong industrial policy anchored on manufacturing revival, combined with a large-scale public employment program. Jobs will not appear by magic—government must build them.

Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), together with the NAGKAISA Labor Coalition, expresses its support for the filing of the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte.

As labor organizations rooted in the struggles of working people, we assert that no public official—regardless of position or power—is above the Constitution. Workers demand accountability, especially when serious allegations involve abuse of authority and the misuse of public resources that should serve jobs, education, and social protection.

“Public office is a public trust—and when that trust is gravely violated, accountability is not optional; it is imperative,” Josua Mata, secretary general of SENTRO and one of the 17 complainants, declared.

Impeachment is a constitutional mechanism to defend public trust and protect institutions that working people rely on for dignity, fairness, and justice.

“Every peso stolen, every abuse ignored, is a burden carried by workers and their families,” Mata added.

The Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) affirming that former President Rodrigo Duterte is fit to participate in pre-trial proceedings in the crimes against humanity case arising from the so-called “war on drugs.”

This decision honors the voices of families who refused to be silenced. Behind every case number is a life taken, a family broken, and a community left to live with fear and loss. For them, justice has been delayed for far too long.

Accountability is not revenge—it is part of healing. Justice begins by listening to the pain of ordinary people, especially the poor and working communities who bore the brunt of violence and impunity. This ruling brings hope to families who endured quietly and persisted bravely in demanding truth.

The ICC’s decision also affirms a fundamental principle: no amount of power should outweigh the value of a human life. Human rights violations are not policy choices; they are crimes that demand accountability.

SENTRO recognizes the courage of victims, their families, and human rights defenders who continued to seek justice despite intimidation, denial, and the absence of effective domestic remedies. When national institutions fail to protect their people, international justice becomes necessary—not optional.

We call on the Philippine government to respect international legal processes and to recommit to protecting human dignity, civil liberties, and the rights of workers and communities.

Justice may be slow, but it remains possible. The ICC’s decision is a step toward dignity, accountability, and an end to impunity.

The Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) raises the alarm over reports that ₱43.24 billion intended for government salaries, pensions, and personnel benefits has been moved to unprogrammed funds in the proposed 2026 national budget.
If confirmed, this means government workers’ pay is no longer guaranteed.

“You do not place workers’ salaries on standby. You do not gamble with livelihoods,” said Abdulani Lakibul, Chairperson of SENTRO.

Funds placed under unprogrammed appropriations are contingent and uncertain, released only if excess revenues materialize. Shifting salaries and benefits into this category effectively tells public servants that their pay depends on chance, not obligation.

It should be noted that Congress has done this before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Emergency Allowances (HEA) for healthcare workers were likewise subjected to uncertain and delayed funding. Up to now, many healthcare workers have yet to receive what the government still owes them. This painful precedent shows that once workers’ compensation is made contingent, delays and nonpayment become the norm rather than the exception.

Even more troubling is that the questioned item—labeled ‘For Payment of Personnel Services Requirements’—was absent from both the House and Senate versions of the budget and reportedly appeared only at the bicameral conference committee stage.
“When billions for salaries suddenly surface at the bicam level, workers have every reason to fear,” Lakibul said.

“This reeks of a backdoor maneuver that puts workers last.”

Such a move, if true, undermines the Constitution’s mandate to protect labor and threatens the timely payment of salaries, pensions, and legally mandated benefits—particularly for retirees and frontline public servants delivering essential services.
SENTRO is calling on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to immediately clarify the veracity of the report and to fully disclose how this line item entered the final budget.

“The President must veto any budget provision that turns salaries into IOUs,” Lakibul said.
SENTRO is also demanding that the administration prepare a supplemental budget to restore all personnel services funding to fully programmed and guaranteed appropriations.

“A government that cannot guarantee its workers’ pay is a government failing its most basic duty,” Lakibul stressed.
SENTRO urges swift, transparent, and decisive action to ensure that public servants are not made to bear the cost of budgetary manipulation.

Workers deserve certainty, not suspense.