President Marcos said the government is studying the proposed measure calling for a P200 across-the-board daily wage increase for private sector employees, saying they will work to find ways to resolve legal issues that may hound the salary increase.

Marcos said this after lawmakers urged him to certify the bill that seeks to provide for a legislated daily across-the-board increase in the salary rates of employees and workers in the private sector.

In an interview with reporters in Pasay City on Friday, Jan. 31, the President agreed that the bill is being considered.

"It’s certainly something that we have to think about to assist yung mga pangkaraniwan na tao (the ordinary people)," he said.

"Palagay ko naman (I think) there is a way to increase that, but we have to resolve the legal issues, we have to resolve the economic issues. So, it still deserves a great deal of study," he added.

Marcos specifically said there was already a body tasked to determine wage hikes.

"The thing is we have a tripartite board that actually determines the increase in the wage. So, we still have to study it further to see how that will work together," he said.

"I don’t know how that’s going to work together. But we will see. We will try to resolve that because, as you know, it’s very clear that tumataas ang bilihin, nandiyan pa rin ang inflation (the price of goods is rising and the inflation is still high)," he added.

While he is in favor of a salary increase, President Marcos echoed the concern of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and how it would affect consumer pricing.

"The [small business] employers are worried... ‘Pag tinaas yung minimum wage, mababawasan ang kanilang empleyado kasi ganoon pa rin yung pera nila. Hindi naman madadagdagan yung pera na pambayad nila ng suweldo (If we increase the minimum wage, they would have to cut down on their workforce because their profit is the same. They're not earning more to pay for their employees)," Marcos said.

"Iyong malalaking korporasyon, kaya nila ‘yan. Kahit anong increase ang ilagay niyo kaya nila ‘yan. Pero ‘yung maliliit, iyon ang inaalala ng mga iba (The big corporations can handle no matter how much you increase the salary increase. But we are concerned about the small business owners)," he added.

The House Committee on Labor and Employment swiftly approved the measure during a hearing on Jan. 30. The committee passage happened just two days after House Speaker Martin Romualdez himself said that the chamber would expedite deliberations on the legislated wage increase bill.

The last time that a wage hike measure was enacted in the country was back in 1989. Needless to say, the cost of basic goods and services has gone up exponentially since then.