WHAT about us?

This was the question posed by militant groups in the fishery and agriculture sector following reports that only 5 million of the close to 34 million workers, or 15 percent of the country’s labor force, will benefit from President Arroyo’s promised wage increase.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamala-kaya) and the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said the figure will not include the bulk of minimum- wage earners representing organized and unorganized labor, including some 600,000 commercial fish workers and almost the same number of farm workers who were denied of their much-deserved wage increase in the process.

Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said President Arroyo is merely taking the Filipino people for another roller-coaster ride in issuing her directive, which he said was only meant to counter the sharp drop in her approval rating.

Hicap was referring to negative trust and approval ratings according to the latest survey released by the Social Weather Stations, which showed that President Arroyo’s ratings dropped to the same level when the Chief Executive was implicated in the “Hello, Garci” scandal in 2005.

“Mrs. Arroyo merely wants to divide the labor sector by announcing wage increase for 15 percent of the population, and denying 85 percent of the country’s labor force of their much-needed pay hike,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya leader insisted that the 33.7 million labor force, which include both private and state workers, badly need a P125 across-the-board pay hike to cope with the rising prices of food and other basic necessities.

Hicap’s sentiment was echoed by UMA chairman Rene Galang, who said the wage-hike order of President Arroyo will not cover  agricultural workers all over the country.

“Mrs. Arroyo merely gave false hopes out of her empty promise. Anyway, agricultural workers do not believe her, because for every 10 promises she made, 11 are broken according to her track record as enemy of labor and willing puppet of foreign and local capitalists,” the Hacienda Luisita sugar worker said.  

Ciriaco Lagunzad, executive director of the National Wage and Productivity Commission (NWPC), revealed Wednesday that only 5 million of the nearly 34 million labor force in the country will benefit from President Arroyo’s order for regional tripartite wage boards to grant pay hikes to minimum-wage earners.

 The NWPC official said the wage increase will not be across the board, saying only the minimum-wage earners will get pay hikes determined by the regional wage boards.

The official said those earning above the inimum wage of P350 per day will not be covered by the wage increase to be determined and approved by the wage boards.

They reminded President Arroyo and Lagunzad, that based on the findings of the NWPC, each family of six needs P768 per day to survive in Metro Manila and that the current P350 minimum wage, which is regularly received by nonagricultural workers, is way, way below of the required amount for a family of six to survive.

FARMERS’ groups are asking the government to impose a total ban on the conversion of all irrigated and irrigable lands to residential, commercial and industrial purposes.

DAVAO CITY—About 1.2 million hectares of land are still awaiting acquisition for distribution to 1 million farmers nationwide, many of them owned by corporations and powerful politically influential families, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said.

THE local jewelry industry has asked the government to start negotiating with Washington for the retention of the duty-free privilege given to Philippine jewelry exports under the US Generalized System of Preference (GSP).

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Key officials and private-sector players in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) have recently agreed to heighten promotion of the use of wireless technology as an innovative step in enhancing BIMP-Eaga’s relevance in the global market during the 3rd BIMP-Eaga Telecommunications Meeting held in Brunei.

WHAT about us?

This was the question posed by militant groups in the fishery and agriculture sector following reports that only 5 million of the close to 34 million workers, or 15 percent of the country’s labor force, will benefit from President Arroyo’s promised wage increase.

WITH the privatization of the Masinloc power plant, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the government will become more assured that its fiscal measures to help Filipinos cope with high commodity prices will be properly financed.