Senator Joel Villanueva on Monday, June 9 questioned the House of Representative’s perceived lack of sincerity to pass the measure increasing the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector, complaining that the Senate has yet to receive the formal copy of the House version of the bill. 

“All that was submitted to the Senate were the names of the conferees to the bicameral conference committee. Why is that? The copy of the bill that they passed on third and final reading, until now is nowhere here in the Senate,” Villanueva told reporters in an interview.

As a result, he said the Senate is having difficulty adjusting its legislative calendar. 

Villanueva said he fears this could eventually derail the passage of the wage hike bill because there is lack of time to fully study the document.

Moreover, the Senate also has to conduct hearings for the Commission on Appointments (CA), plus the impeachment proceedings that has been set on June 11, Wednesday. The Senate is set to adjourn sine die on Wednesday.

“If it is here and it’s officially received by the Senate, then it will be part of the agenda and that the Senate President will be able to designate the conferees to the bicameral conference committee,” he said.

“The problem is they only gave the name of the congressmen who will join the bicam. We have no idea what is in their bill. And yet, there are so many stakeholders calling for the Senate to adopt the House version,” he noted. 

The Senate, which passed its own version of the wage hike bill last year, is proposing a P100 increase; the House, on the other hand, passed its own version just last June 3 proposing a P200 hike. 

“The question is, are they serious?” he asked.

“Remember, the House is proposing a P200 increase—that’s P6,000 per worker, per month. If you have 5,000 workers, times 200, so P6,000 a month,” he stressed.

“That’s what I am worried about. I don’t want to give false hope to our workers,. Some are rallying for the Senate to adopt the bill, but what (version) do we adopt?” he said.

Meanwhile, at the House, there was a motion to transmit House Bill No. 11376, at the start of the plenary session on Monday.

But Villanueva said he is concerned over the “lateness” at which the House acts on pending important legislation.

“Stop calling out the Senate, because we are doing our job,” he pointed out. 

Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri also voiced concern over the lack of communication of their counterpart lawmakers in the House regarding the measure.

“The bills in the LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) are there to guide us. But there are certain legislation that is needed than by each member of the Congress and HOR which we think is needed by the people,” Zubiri pointed out.

Zubiri said he is also concerned that the wage hike bill would only be sabotaged as many of the businesses in the country believe P100 is more “doable.”

“But a P200 increase may eventually result to retrenchment of workers and or closure of businesses,” he pointed out.

“So I agree, the P200 will sabotage the law. I heard that if that is passed, the President will end up vetoing the bill. So I would appeal that we adopt the P100 increase because for me that is the best way to balance the needs of the workers and the employers,” the lawmaker said.