Two rallies will be staged for the international labor day by two workers group at the Bacolod City Public Plaza today with 3,000 laborers expected to join.

Policemen will also be on alert and will deploy a crowd dispersal management unit composed of 36 policemen to ensure that the labor day rallies will be held peacefully.

Kilusang Mayo Uno Regional Coordinator Ronald Ian Evidente said about 2,000 of their members will converge at the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol Lagoon before marching towards the Bacolod Public plaza where they will hold a short program.

Evidente said they will issue a “notice of termination” to President Benigno Aquino III for his failure to address labor problems since he became the head of the country in 2010.

He said they will also slam the immediate signing of the of the enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the United States during the visit of US President Barack Obama on Monday without the concurrence of congress while it took years before salary increases for workers in the Philippines are approved.

Evidente said Aquino does not care about the workers' welfare because he is busy defending the interests of the US.

KMU members and their allied organization will also express today their discontent over the proposed eradication of the minimum wage law.

About 1,000 members of the General Alliance of Workers Association will also hold a rally at the Welcome Rotonda of the Bacolod Public Plaza after a protest march from the area in front of the Metrodome Plaza at the Araneta highway of Brgy. Singcang-Airport.

GAWA spokesperson and Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity labor representative Wennie Sancho said they will read their manifesto during the rally at the public plaza.

Part of their manifesto distributed to the media yesterday states that the workers nowadays are subjects of exploitation and it is unfortunate that until today, the plight of the majority of poor workers remain the same.

GAWA also slammed the Aquino administration for the continued increase in the number of the unemployed in the Philippines.

Data gathered by the group showed that the unemployment rate during the first few months of Aquino's term in 2010 was 23.5 percent, then it increased to 24 percent the following year, 24.6 in 2012 and 27.5 percent last year.

Meanwhile, Bacolod City Police Officer-in-charge Senior Supt. Larry Decena appealed to the protestors to police their own ranks and not to hamper the traffic flow.

He said the Bacolod Bureau of Fire Protection will send fire trucks at the public plaza where the rallies will be held while ambulances will also be on standby in the area to give first aid to protestors in case of emergency.

He said the police will ensure maximum tolerance but reiterated that protestors must police their own ranks.*APN

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