Aquino rejects P125 wage hike

OIL prices have gone up several times, and starting today, commuters will pay 50 centavos more when they ride on jeepneys, but Malacañang is not convinced that these are enough reasons to increase the salary of ordinary workers.

A Palace official on Tuesday said that President Benigno Aquino 3rd has rejected the proposed P125 across-the-board legislated wage hike, saying that it is too high.

Palace Deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said that the proposed wage increase is not practical and would only cause inflation.

“It is not practicable,” Valte said. “Ang gusto po natin is a wage increase that would pass ‘yung considerations for inflation. Mukhang masyado pong mataas ‘yung P125 [We want a wage increase that will pass considerations for inflation. P125 seems too high],” she told a press briefing.

She said that after making some calculations, President Aquino turned down the proposed wage increase.

According to her, the President concluded that implementing a P125 daily wage hike would be disastrous to employers and workers.

Valte explained that not all employers could absorb the increased cost and may be forced to retrench.

“Multiply P125 with the number of work days that is about P42,250 per employee. Multiply that with the 38 million workers, which means about P2 trillion. Of course, the wages of those in higher positions should be adjusted,” she said.

She added that only a few companies can afford to increase the salaries of their employees.
However, Valte said that the Palace is leaving it up to the regional wage boards to determine the right amount of wage increase.

Rep. Emil Ong of Northern Samar, head of the House committee on labor, has earlier given assurances that the panel will approve the P125 across-the-board wage hike bill as a gift to workers in May.

Ong said that members of his committee agreed to support the measure to give economic relief to workers who have to contend with almost weekly oil price increases.

However, the lawmaker said the bill may not be passed in the plenary.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) last week filed a petition seeking a P90 hike in the daily basic pay of workers in Metro Manila. If approved, the minimum wage of Metro workers would go up to P516 per day.

TUCP President Democrito Mendoza vowed that his group will push for a wage hike since the recent fare and oil price increase had again eroded the purchasing power of the peso. –Jaime R. Pilapil, Reporter, Manila Times