Proposed wage hike needs further study – PBBM

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: PROPER LANE. Two men safely a pedestrian lane along Agham Road, Quezon City on Wednesday (May 26, 2021). (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)

MANILA – The proposed PHP200 daily pay hike needs to be further studied, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Friday, following some lawmakers’ call for him to certify the legislated wage increase bill as urgent to uplift the Filipino workers’ standard of living.

“The thing is we have a tripartite board that actually determines the increase in the wage. So, we still have to study it further to see how that will work together,” Marcos said in a chance interview in Pasay City.

“So, now with this, I don’t know how that’s going to work together. But we will see. We will try to resolve that because as you know it’s very clear that tumataas ang bilihin, nandiyan pa rin ang inflation. Hindi pa natin nasusugpo nang mabuti, nang kumpleto (Prices are rising, inflation is still there.

We haven’t been able to curb it well, completely),” he added.

The House Committee on Labor and Employment on Thursday approved a substitute bill mandating a PHP200 daily across-the-board wage increase for private sector workers.

The proposed measure requires all private businesses, regardless of size and industry, to implement a PHP200 daily pay hike upon enactment.

It prohibits employers from offsetting the increase with previous wage adjustments unless explicitly anticipated under collective bargaining agreements.

Senator Joel Villanueva, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development, on Friday hoped that Marcos will certify the bill as urgent, stressing that economic growth must translate into tangible benefits for the workforce.

While Marcos said there is a way to increase the workers’ minimum wage, he stressed that the possible impact of the proposal on legal and economic aspects have to be resolved first.

He also expressed concern over the wage hike’s potential impact on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“’Yung sa corporate walang problema ‘yan, iyong malalaking korporasyon, kaya nila ‘yan. Kahit anong increase ang ilagay niyo kaya nila ‘yan. Pero ‘yung maliliit, iyon ang inaalala ng mga iba (There’s no problem with corporates, those big corporations, they can handle it. No matter what increase you put on them, they can handle it. But the small ones, that’s what others are worried about),” Marcos said.

“Pero palagay ko naman (But I think) there is a way to increase that but we have to resolve the legal issues, we have to resolve the economic issues. So, it still deserves a great deal of study. So, it still deserves a great deal of study,” he added.