‘Don’t give people false hopes on wage hike’

- Advertisement -

DEPUTY Majority Leader Janette Garin yesterday said senators should not give the public false hopes after the Senate approved on second reading a bill seeking a P100 daily minimum wage increase for private sector workers last Wednesday.

Garin said that while the House wants an even higher legislated wage hike for private sector employees, there is a need to balance the interests of workers and private companies, especially those from the micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs that comprise over 90 percent of all businesses in the country and employs millions of Filipinos.

“It’s good to craft a law but it’s hard to give false hopes if there’s really no hope of enacting the bill. Because if we increase the salaries, we should only do it if our businessmen can take it. But here in the Philippines, 98 to 99 percent of the business sector are MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises),” she told a press conference.

- Advertisement -

Senators unanimously approved Senate Bill No. 2534 under Committee Report No. 190 last Wednesday, a measure that could be the first national legislated wage hike for the private sector since 1989.

Garin said a P350 wage hike has long been pending at the House and the leadership had long wanted to push for its passage if not for the repercussions to business owners.

She said senators should also consider a lot of things before passing the P100 wage hike bill on final reading.

“Will this not cause some businesses to close down? Many do not say this, but what is the truth post-pandemic. Globally, not only in the Philippines, the gross income of every business owner decreased by 30 to 40 percent,” she said.

She said the House is not opposing the legislated wage hike for minimum wage earners in the private sector and is currently deliberating on various measures calling for such.

“The bill’s intention is noble but the implementation is one big question. Our fear is that from 10, the number of employees go to down seven. That’s what we have to balance,” she said.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday said it is ready to implement a P100 daily minimum wage hike in case the bill being tackled in the Senate is signed into law.

In a radio interview, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said they do not have any particular position on the proposed law, adding they are only involved in ensuring it would be implemented.

“We are in the implementation aspect. We are just waiting for the final provision of the bill in case it is passed,” said Laguesma.

“The final shape and provision of the proposed bill will only become a law once it is signed by the President,” he added.

TEACHERS’ SALARY

The Department of Education yesterday said efforts to increase the salary of teachers has its full support.

DepEd Undersecretary and spokesperson Michael Poa said the department has engaged the World Bank to provide a study on salary hikes for teachers before a resolution was filed in the House calling for a P50,000 salary for entry-level teachers.

“DepEd will always advocate for additional benefits for our teachers. As a matter of fact, even before the bill was filed, DepEd had already engaged the World Bank to provide a study, not only on whether an increase should be made but also on the ideal percentage of increases for the coming years vis-a-vis inflation rates,” Poa said when sought for comment on the bill filed last Tuesday by Kabataan partylist Rep.Raoul Manuel, Gabriela partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas and ACT Teachers partylist Rep.France Castro seeking to raise the minimum monthly salary of teachers to P50,000.

Under the Salary Standardization Law, a Teacher 1 receives a salary of P20,000 monthly.There are around 803, 000 public school teachers nationwide.

“We are expecting preliminary results from the World Bank in a few weeks. They are just requesting for additional data from DepEd which we are now processing,” Poa said.

Poa said the DepEd will “diligently participate” in the congressional deliberations on the bill filed by the Makabayan lawmakers.

He added the department will also present to Congress the result of the WB study. — With Gerard Naval and Ashzel Hachero

- Advertisement -spot_img

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: