Makabayan bloc pushes for P750 national minimum wage
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ Makabayan Bloc on Monday filed a measure seeking to increase the national minimum wage amid rising prices of basic commodities.
The bloc, consisting of seven party-list lawmakers, filed House Bill 7787 or the National Minimum Wage Bill, which aims to allow workers from all regions of the country to have equal wage and to achieve substantial wage increases based on a P750 daily rate.
One of the features of the proposed bill is the abolition of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards, which adjust the minimum wage per region.
Minimum wage earners in the non-agriculture sector in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao earn P256 compared to the minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila, which is pegged at P512.
The Makabayan solons called the wage system “anti-worker, detached from the evolving economic realities, unjust and inequitable.”
They also challenged President Rodrigo Duterte to make the proposed measure as an urgent legislation.
“It is high time for us to abolish wage rationalization. It’s a big joke to say that prices of goods and services are cheaper when you live in province, when in fact prices do not change and sometimes, prices are higher in regions outside Metro Manila,” Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan party-list) said in a mix of English and Filipino.
According to a Pulse Asia survey released April, the need to improve the pay of workers is the most often mentioned national concern by Filipinos.
Inflation rose to a five-year high of 4.5 percent in April 2018.
HB 7787 was filed by Elago, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, ACT-Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas, and Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao.
‘Legally impossible’
In a press briefing Monday, however, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the P750 minimum wage proposal by the Makabayan bloc is “legally impossible.”
“We cannot impose a national minimum wage now because the regional wage boards are created by law. Congress has to repeal that law and authorize a national wage hike anew,” he said.
The measure, if passed into law, would abolish the RTWPBs and set the daily national minimum wage at P750.
Duterte ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to convene wage boards and discuss possible wage hikes as the public continues to agonize over rising prices of commodities due to surging global crude cost and the impacts of the tax reform law.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, meanwhile, said the proposal would be reviewed by his agency.
“It’s worth studying... It is beyond our jurisdiction. It is not DOLE but Congress,” Bello said Monday.
- Latest
- Trending
