House Assistant Minority Leader Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas believes that there's enough time for both congressmen and senators to reconcile the two patently different minimum wage hike bills before the end of the 19th Congress.
This would at leasr give the measure a shot at enactment by President Marcos, Brosas said.
In a chance interview with reporters Thursday, June 5, Brosas confirmed that she was part of the House contingent to the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings on the minimum wage hike bills that would benefit private sector workers.
This was less than 24 hours after the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading its version of the measure, which called for a P200 pay hike for minimum wage earners. The Senate's version, which sought a lower, P100 increase, was passed last year.
"Kung sa tanong na may time pa ba para dito na yung disagreeing provisions ng House Bill (HB) No.11376 at Senate Bill (SB) No.2534, actually may time pa kasi mayroon pa tayong session hanggang next week," Brosas said.
(As for the question of whether there is still time to address the disagreeing provisions of HB No. 11376 and SB No. 2534, actually, there is still time because we still have session until next week.)
The last session day of the 19th Congress is on Wednesday, June 11. After that, it's back to square one for all filed bills that didn't prosper into law.
"So we still have sessions and pwede pa talagang pag-usapan yung mga disagreeing provisions at magkaisa kung ano talaga yung isusulong. Kapagka nagkaisa po, mabilis na lang po yun eh," added the rather optimistic congresswoman.
(We still have sessions, and we can really continue discussing the provisions that have disagreements and come together on what should be pushed forward. Once there is unity, it will move quickly.)
"Ang mahalaga po kasi makarating sa Pangulo yun, nang sa gayon, maisabatas siya (What’s important is that it gets to the President so that it can be signed into law)," she noted.
"Kung mapunta sa sala niya, eh di siya na ang mag-decide. At least ngayon mayroon tayong hope, mayroon tayong pag-asa na ilaban ito (If it reaches his desk, then it will be up to him to decide. At least now, we have hope, we have a chance to fight for this)," added Brosas.
The biggest sticking point in the bicam meetings for HB No. 11376 and SB No. 2534 will be the amount that would be adopted in the final version of the measure.
There are compelling arguments to either go high or low with the wage increase; a higher increase would obviously benefit the workers and bump up their take home pay, while a lower increase would be much more manageable for employers to implement.
Brosas, who is from the militant Makabayan bloc, has vowed to be cooperative in coming up with an agreeable number between House members and senators.
"Tayo naman po, hindi naman po tayo matigas dun sa ano eh. Kumbaga, pagkaisahan natin at pag-usapan nating mabuti kung ano yung nararapat na isulong natin (We’re not being rigid about it. Rather, let’s come together and carefully discuss what should be pushed forward)," she said.
"Pero syempre titindigan natin kung ano yung mga pagkakaisahan na yun. Kasi amg gusto natin, ultimately, makinabang ang mangagawa, di ba? So yung amount, pag-usapan natin doon, walang problema," Brosas further said.
(Of course, we’ll stand by whatever is agreed upon because, ultimately, what we want is for the workers to benefit, right? As for the amount, we can discuss that, no problem)
Asked if she was willing to meet the senators halfway and push for a P150 minimum wage hike, she said, "Oo pwede din yun as long as mapagkaisahan ng Senate at Congress (Yes we can do that as long as the Senate and Congress agree on it)."
She says the bicam has yet to set a meeting.
The Makabayan bloc has said that a living wage in the Philippines is P1,200 a month.