Traders urged: Share your blessings with workers

MANILA, Philippines - He’s pushing economic growth without raising taxes, and the private sector should do its part, President Aquino said yesterday.

Apart from reiterating his call on Chinese-Filipino businessmen to pay correct taxes, Aquino urged them to raise the wages of employees.

This would improve purchasing power and workers’ productivity, which would help drive the economy and benefit businesses, he said.

The President spoke at the opening ceremony of the 30th Biennial Convention of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Aquino said that before the idea of maximizing profits was all about cutting costs, but since a lot of locally manufactured products have labor as primary value added component, cutting down costs meant keeping wages as low as possible.

“I submit, however, that this has the net effect of keeping the economy very small. After all workers in large part are also consumers, and by limiting their wages one also limits the purchasing power of the market,” Aquino said.

“The true path to sustained profit and growth lies in empowering our workers. Increasing their disposable income increases demand, and therefore increases competition. It logically follows that this pushes companies to strive for greater productivity and efficiency, allowing them to become even more competitive, especially beyond our borders, which leads to growth for the economy at large,” Aquino said.

The President said this was the approach that would allow a situation where everybody would win.

Aquino said this was also the reason why the administration had always been promoting inclusive growth, and a big part of its economic strategy was intersecting with its social strategy.

Over the course of the administration, Aquino said they nearly doubled the budget of the Department of Education, increased the budget of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) by 84 percent and that of the Department of Social Welfare and Development sevenfold and tripled the infrastructure budget. 

“Might I note that we did this without raising taxes, apart from the sin tax. But of course, the appeal continues: Please pay the correct taxes,” the President said.

Aquino said it was true that the primary goal of these programs was to provide opportunities to each and every Filipino willing to devote their time and energy to improving their lot in life.

“But there is an added bonus: an increase in empowered consumers, which bodes well for businesses like yours and the economy at large,” the President said.

Aquino said members of the FFCCCII had always reached out to help their communities, whether through scholarship funds or medical missions.

“Today, however, I am inviting you to do even more to help us empower the Filipino people,” Aquino said.

The President said when he was in the legislature, he proposed a measure that called for businesses to share part of their net profits with their employees.

“The thinking behind this was simple: Our business environment had reached a point where management and labor had become too adversarial. Where labor wanted more benefits, management wanted to minimize costs, leading to a seemingly endless tug-of-war, often at the expense of potentially lucrative opportunities for all,” Aquino said.