(MANILA BULLETIN)

Speaker Martin Romualdez's marching orders to House members is to pass a wage hike measure that ultimately won't turn into a false promise to Filipino workers.

House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin made this revelation in a press conference Thursday, Feb. 15, a day after their senator-colleagues passed on second reading a measure that would institutionalize a P100 across-the-board minimum wage increase.

"The marching orders of the Speaker and the leaders of the House: Gawin ang lahat para maibsan ang hirap ng buhay ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino. Pero kaakibat doon yung gagawin mo ang totoong mangyayari, hindi yung paasa lang," Garin said.

(Do everything you can to ease the burden on every Filipino family. But that should come with doing what is realistic, not just a false promise.)

Referring to the House of Representatives' discussions on the legislated wage hike, Garin said: "Ang direktiba talaga ni Speaker noong ito ay mapag-usapan eh kung pwede, ipatupad yun."

(The real directive of the Speaker when this was discussed was to implement this if possible.)

However, she commented that the amount of P100 is "too small".

"So there was a discussion na baka nasa mga P350, P400. Pero yun nga eh, bakit pinag-aaralan? Pinag-aaralan ito kasi hindi pwedeng bigyan mo ng mataas na sweldo yung mga tao. Eh hindi naman gobyerno ang nagpapa-sweldo eh," said the former Department of Health (DOH) secretary.

(So there was a discussion to make it P350, P400. But then, why are we studying it? We're studying it because you can't afford to give the people high wages. It's not government that would pay for the wages.)

Garin said the whole matter is a "balancing act" since around 99 percent of companies in the country are classified as micro, small, and medium, enterprises (MSMEs)--companies that would find it tough to hike wages without passing the cost on to the consumers.

"So mangyayari niyan, magbabawas ng empeyado (So what will happen is employees wil let laid off). Will it do more harm than good? It's a very popular bill.

"Kung pamumulitika lang ang iisipin ng Kongreso, dapat sana pinasa na kaagad yan at sinabi, oh bahala na ang taumbayan. Pero hindi po ganun ang Kongreso. Tinitignan natin, doable ba ito o hindi ba doable," the solon from Iloilo said.

(Had the House been more interested in politicking, this would have been passed immediately and the people left to fend for themselves. But the House is not like that. We're studying if it's doable or not.)