THE central bank on Tuesday warned an increase in the minimum wage beyond P25 a day would result in higher commodity prices.
“In our [inflation] forecast, we used an assumption of P25, which is a 6.2-percent increase,” Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.
“If the actual wage hike is bigger than that, that will have additional inflation implications.”
Government forecasts the inflation rate to settle at 3 to 5 percent this year.
The wage board in Metro Manila will meet on May 9 to hear petitions for a wage increase from labor groups, which have been saying workers need it to cope with rising prices.
Labor groups are calling for a wage increase of more than P25, with the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines pushing for a legislated wage hike of P75. The left-wing groups want P125 a day.
The central bank raised its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points, to 4.25 percent, in March in a bid to avert the second-round effects of rising petroleum and food prices.
The three big oil companies on Tuesday raised pump prices again, citing an increase in world oil prices.
Shell, Petron and Chevron raised the prices of unleaded gasoline, regular gasoline and kerosene by P1.40, P1 and P0.30 a liter, respectively. The other distributors followed suit.
On Monday, Shell announced a three-peso-per-kilogram increase in the price of its cooking gas.
Also on Tuesday, private hospitals said they opposed any increase in the minimum wage in their industry, saying they were already suffering the Cheaper Medicines
Law, the Illegal Detention Law, and the discounts mandated for senior citizens.
“A wage hike at this time … may bring this industry to the intensive-care unit,” the Philippine Hospital Association said in a statement. –Roderick T. dela Cruz with Jeremiah F. de Guzman, Manila Standard Today
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
