President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) would only be considered a success if Congress is able to pass into law the proposed P100 daily minimum wage hike bill.

Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri pointed this out stating that the SONA would be a resounding success if the 19^th Congress approves the measure.

“I think that would make the President’s SONA and his leadership a slam dunk, or if baseball, a home run, pag nangyari yun. Many millions of workers would not only be employed but happily employed,” Zubiri said during a Senate plenary session on Monday, July 29.

Zubiri was responding to the “counter-SONA” delivered by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

“If you noticed, there was a series of surveys after the President’s SONA, yun pa rin ang (issues) ng tao eh, ang presyo ng bilihin at mababang sweldo (the issues of the people are still the same, the high prices of basic commodities and low salary). So, it goes back to that, unless we answer these issues, it will always frustrate the people,” Zubiri said in plenary.

“Hindi tayo magiging isang ‘happy nation,’ ika nga (We won’t be a happy nation). If you read the surveys, self-rated poverty has increased. I think the challenge now is asking our leadership, Senate President Escudero together with the leadership of the Senate now, to talk to the House,” he said.

Zubiri said he hopes the House leadership won’t set aside the former Senate leadership request for the passage of the legislated wage hike noting that the very low minimum wage rates now prevailing all over the country, especially in Mindanao is a huge issue so far.

“Huwag sana nilang pabayaan o hindi pansinin yung ating (I hope they won’t forget or snub our) request for (the passage of the) legislated (daily minimum) wage hike,” the former Senate president appealed.

The Senate has already approved on third and final reading its own version of the measure, while the House version is still languishing in the legislative mill.

Zubiri said he believes the reason for this is because some House lawmakers believe P100 is “too low.”

“I would like to put on record, we dare them: If they want to pass a P200 minimum wage hike, let’s do it. We dare them to do it. But not to act on it is a big slap on the face of all our laborers. Kawawang-kawawa talaga sila (They are really burdened),” the senator stressed.

Zubiri further lamented that the regional wage boards are merely doing Filipino workers a disservice when they approve “a pittance” of a minimum wage increase.

“I think P35 (daily wage increase), hindi pa kasya sa isang kilong bigas ang nirelease po nilang additional wages (won’t even buy a one kilo of rice). And we don’t consider these living wages, and it’s too low,” he stressed.