AS session resumed on Tuesday, a party-list lawmaker urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to pass pending measures raising the salaries and wages of workers in the public and private sectors.
Party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis said the two pending measures are House Bill (HB) 253, or the P125 hike in the minimum wage, across the regional wage board for workers in the private sector; and HB 3015, or the P6,000 increase in the monthly minimum pay of employees and workers in the public sector.
“We all know that the Filipino worker is submerged in deep poverty and hunger, and so we challenge the house leadership to help facilitate the passage of the bills wage increase,” Hicap said.
The lawmaker, citing the National Wages and Productivity Commission, said the highest among minimum wage levels is that of the National Capital Region, which is at P481, while the lowest is in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at P250.
He added that in the Greater Manila areas, the minimum wage for Central Luzon is at P349 and for Calabarzon, P362.
Hicap said that based on government data, poverty incidence in the population increased from 24.6 percent to 25.8 percent from 2013 to 2014, while on families from 18.8 percent to 20 percent. Compared to government projected population, the increase was about 1.6 million Filipinos or with families living under the threshold P8,778 per month.
“The number of poor Filipinos has continuously increased despite the government’s setting of a much lower threshold and contrary to the rosy picture that it has been trying to project that the workers who earn a minimum could make ends meet for their family and they are not considered poor,” Hicap said.
According to the lawmaker, Filipino workers’ families are enduring the rising cost of living, such as food, housing, education and other basic needs.
He said that food items registered an inflation rate 3.25 percent to 5.6 percent from 2012 to 2015, while prices of rice increased about 17 percent to 29 percent from 2010 to 2014.
“The cost of living is evidently swelling, but wage has been stuck to the lowest levels; the demand for wage hike is long overdue and this is our call,” Hicap said.