On Labour Day in Manila this year, workers marched to Morayta near the Malacañan Palace, where President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr resides, to call for legislation to increase wages amid skyrocketing living costs. The daily minimum wage across different regions in the country averages at a measly 441 Philippine pesos ($7.50), less than the official poverty threshold.1 This is barely a third of the estimated family living wage of 1,200 pesos ($20.40), according to independent research institution IBON Foundation.
Protest chants shifted to more militant calls, ‘Imperyalismo, ibagsak! Burukrata kapitalismo, ibagsak! Pyudalismo, ibagsak!’ – meaning ‘Down with imperialism! Down with bureaucrat capitalism! Down with feudalism!’ – as trade union confederation Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) led the march to the US embassy to oppose its increasing militarist interventionism, and US warmongering in East Asia.
