Senate leaders favor a legislated P150 a daily wage increase, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday, May 4, said. During a radio interview, Zubiri said the support of Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, a pro-labor lawmaker, and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III could help push the passage of his bill seeking a P150 daily wage increase. “I hope my (other) colleagues will support me so we can make this as the stand of the Senate. Gawin po natin itong sentimento ng Senado na kailangan talaga nilang tulungan ang ating mga manggagawa (We will make this a sentiment of the Senate to favor the working man),” the Senate chief said. The Senate and the House of Representatives resume Monday, May 8, their regular session after a recess that started March 5. “We will have a one-month session, bale four weeks, at sa apat na linggo na yan, hopefully, makakapasa po kami ng mga priority measures and isa na po itong panukala natin na magbigay po ng welcome respite sa ating mga manggagawa (..like four weeks, and in those four weeks, we hope to pass priority measures and one of them is a bill that would give a welcome respite to the workers),” he said. Both legislative chambers will adjourn sine die on June 3. Zubiri pointed out that a P570 daily wage does not buy much. “Sa napakamahal na bilihin, gasolina, pagkain, pambayad sa kuryente... Kulang na kulang ang ating mga kababayan, lalo na sa ating mga minimum wage earners sa P570 (The things we buy are too much..gasoline, food, electric bills….It is not enough, particularly those receiving P570). It’s not a living wage, hindi na po siya praktikal ngayon dahil sa pagtaas ng inflation (….It is no longer practical as the inflation level increases),” he added. “This P150 increase in minimum wage has been pending (in Congress) for over 10 years,”Zubiri said. The Senate chief also chided the Regional Wage Boards for moving too slow petitions for wage increases and giving too small increases. On the position of businessmen that they could not possibly give the P150 daily wage, Zubiri said he has seen the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic numbers of the country’s top 1,000 corporations and ‘’they are all black.’’ ‘’Bilyon bilyon po ang mga kita nila (Their profits are ‘billions, billions). I'll give you an example, a corporation - kasi P3,300 ang dagdag sahod sa mga minimum wage earners (There is a P3,300 increase for minimum wage earners). Pag mayroon po kayong 1,000 employees (If you have 1,000 employees), that only translates to P3.3 million a month na dagdag (increase). P3.3 million lamang tapos almost P39 million a year (That is only P3.3 million or almost P39 million a year). Ang dagdag sa expenses nitong top 1,000 corporations (This is an added expenses of the top 1,000 corporations) . Kapag tinignan niyo naman ang mga income nila, it's by the billions of pesos (If we look at their income, it’s by billions of pesos),’’ he added. For Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the increase in daily wage could be graduated based on classifications given by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), he said. Zubiri lamented that the daily wage in Mindanao and Visayas is P350. If the proposed P150 daily wage is given, the minimum wage for workers in the National Capital Region will be P720. Zubiri pointed out that the minimum wage in Indonesia is P800 while that in Malaysia is P860. The hour wage rate in California in the United States is $11;25 or P618.75 when it is computed at P55 to a dollar.