Given the inflation rate, unabated increases in food costs and fuel prices, the puny P35 daily wage increase in the National Capital Region (NCR) has been condemned roundly by workers not only as an insult and is actually a reduction in wages.
Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas noted that the increase mandated by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) is even lower than the P40 increase granted in 2023. Brosas has championed the Gabriela bill calling for a P750 across-the-board wage increase that would do away with the useless RTWPB that adheres more to the caprices of capitalists.
“This P35 increase is an insult to Filipino workers. It’s barely different from the P25 wage hike implemented way back in 1989, and lower than the P40 hike granted last year,” Brosas argued. She noted that the RTWPB is an anomaly that chops up the wages into crumbs, with some workers in more prosperous regions with bigger crumbs and supposedly poorer regions getting smaller crumbs, as if Filipino workers live in different economies within the country. “How can the government expect NCR workers to survive on P645 a day when the Family Living Wage (FLW) stands at P1,200 and when prices continue to accelerate?” Brosas argued.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has admitted that the inflation rate in the country will be between 3.4% and 4.2%, much higher than its target range of 2% and 4%, with the most sanguine forecast placing the inflation rate at 3.9% in June 2024, the last of four straight monthly increases. More likely, it hit 4.2%. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) blamed higher transport and food costs for the higher inflation rate. Interestingly, the government liberalized food imports and stopped controlling the oil and gas industry, leaving it toothless in checking runaway prices and disciplining profiteers. The Dutch bank ING projected an above-target headline rate of 4.1% year-on-year for June, from the 3.9% posted in May.
On May 1, 2024, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) demanded that the Marcos Jr. government enact the P750 wage increase championed by Brosas, with support coming from a number of worker federations. Partido Lakas ng Masa president and former presidential candidate Leody de Guzman also supported the KMU’s call for the wage boards to be dismantled, saying the legislature should set wage increases. The Senate has tagged the P35 wage increase as inadequate.
On July 1, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced the RTWPB’s decision to increase the daily wages of private sector workers in Metro Manila. It will take effect 15 days from the order’s publication or on July 17. The increase will bring the minimum wage in the NCR from P610 to P645 for the non-agriculture sector and from P573 to P608 for the agriculture sector, service, and retail establishments employing 15 or fewer workers, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers.
DOLE bragged that the pay raise will result in a comparable 5% increase in wage-related benefits such as 13th-month pay, service incentive leave (SIL), and social security benefits such as SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG. The increase translates to roughly a 5.7% increase from the prevailing wage rates in Metro Manila and “remains above the latest regional poverty threshold for a family of five.” This raised the hackles of Brosas and the KMU, which insisted the wage increase is roughly half of the FLW that a family of five needs to live decently in the NCR.
Brosas warned that due to the DOLE’s arrogant treatment of basic worker demands, the Marcos Jr. government can expect more protests ahead of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) this month as proposed bills designed to raise the standard of living of Filipino workers are gathering dust in the grimy offices at Batasang Pambansa. “The P750 across-the-board wage hike bill is a step towards ensuring that Filipino families can live decently and with dignity, but it’s clear that this is not the priority of the Marcos Jr. administration,” she concluded.
