PUNCHLINE
By FRED M. LOBO
Fred M. Lobo
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has announced a P25- pay increase for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila as approved by the Regional Tripartite Productivity and Wages Board (RTPWB). This will help workers and their families these hard times, says Malacañang.
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The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the rate of increase in consumer prices remained unchanged at 6.7 percent in October but prices of food items have started to decline. Time for lower food prices and inflation to help Pinoys survive better.
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“The National Capital Region approved a P25 basic wage increase and integration of its existing P10 COLA. Upon effectivity of the Wage Order No. NCR-22, the new minimum wage rates in Metro Manila shall be P500 to P537 across different sectors,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said in a press briefing. Wage increase takes effect 15 days after publication, he added.
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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the P25 wage hike is what they assumed and factored in their 5.2 percent inflation forecast for 2018. Yes to a lower inflation forecast.
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With the wage increase for NCR, the minimum salary in the non-agriculture sector will now be P537, from P512, while for those in the retail/service establishments employing 15 workers or less and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers, the new minimum wage rate would be P500, from P475. Other regional boards have also granted wage increases from P9 to P57, the DOLE said.
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Bello explained that the wage boards have to balance the needs of workers and their families with the capacity of enterprises to pay the additional labor costs. No impairment of business and their capacity to generate jobs, he said.
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However, labor groups, Sen. Joel Villanueva and some Roman Catholic priests claimed that the wage increase was not enough. “This is inadequate considering the continuous increase in the prices of goods. And the most sensible way to help workers would be to lower the value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services from 12 percent to 10 percent,” Villanueva said.
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Partido Mangagawa Chairman Rene Magtubo said in a statement that “the problem lies in the system of wage regionalization in which wage boards base their wage hikes on the capacity to pay of employers and not on the cost of living of workers.” Could praying harder to Sto. Rodrigo help?
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Malacañang, meanwhile, is hopeful that consumer prices would further ease after the country’s inflation remained unchanged at 6.7 percent in October. “The government hopes that it will not go up and hopefully it should go down,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing.
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Panelo cited government measures to tame inflation, including boosting supply of agricultural products, adding that such measures could have contributed to the steady inflation rate recorded last month. “Considering the directives of the President supplying us with food, and other measures undertaken by the Department of Finance as well as Agriculture and Trade, I think they contribute,” he said.
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Panelo expressed hope that inflation will go down in the next few months if global conditions do not worsen. “You must remember that we flooded the market with food supply, that’s one. And then the DOF said that they will be reducing the expenditures of the government, among others,” he added.
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The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said that it has already adjusted inflation forecast for 2018 to between 4.8 percent and 5.2 percent. Taming inflation will make Pinoys happy. Make it a happen!