MANILA, Philippines — The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) yesterday lambasted Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno for his pronouncement that a P750 minimum wage would result in unemployment.
“(He is) echoing the old and tired capitalist blackmail line of unemployment in order to scare the workers from demanding what is due them in exchange for their contribution to economic progress,” BMP president Luke Espiritu noted in a statement.
Espiritu added that Diokno, who claimed that the P750 wage is higher than both supply and demand, “should be reminded that market forces play a secondary role in price determination.”
He maintained that “prices are principally determined by the necessary costs in order to produce a commodity.”
“What are the necessary costs to produce and reproduce labor power – the commodity sold to employers in exchange for wages? It is none other than the cost of living,” he said.
In order to work productively, he claimed that “workers need the basic necessities of decent living – food, shelter, clothing, education for their children who are the next generation of the labor force, savings for emergency expenses and long-term needs such as retirement and elderly care.”
“The necessary price of eight hours of labor power is the cost of living, which amounts to P1,200 for a working class family. The demand for P750 national minimum wage is below the family living wage, as the labor movement considered the reaction of the employers sector, the buyers of our commodity,” Espiritu added.
Party-list group Gabriela also criticized Diokno for appealing to Filipinos to be “less of a crybaby” in the face of continually rising prices of goods and services due to new and higher taxes and external factors.
“Secretary Diokno is once again blabbering inside his bubble, telling people not to be crybabies when oil prices have already increased 17 times since the start of the year while wages have remained stagnant,” Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said. “He should be less of a price hike poster boy and stop downplaying the impact of price hikes on the poor.”
The party-list lawmaker said it was wrong to compare the $135 per barrel global oil price during the Arroyo administration and the current $72-$77 per barrel level.
“The peso remains at its weakest in 12 years, plunging to P52.70 last week. Erosion of wages has been in an alarming state under the Duterte regime and the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which levies additional taxes on oil products on top of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax, certainly has a permanent effect on local prices. That’s why it is very wrong to compare the situation then and now,” she said.
It is as if Diokno wants the cost of crude to reach $135 per barrel before the administration acts to ease the suffering of Filipinos from high consumer prices, De Jesus claimed.
She pointed out that the price of diesel has already gone up by P10.45 per liter, while the cost of gasoline has increased by P10.32 per liter since January, including tax imposed under TRAIN.
“These huge price hikes certainly have a pass-on effect on the cost of production and transport of almost all goods and services,” she stressed.
She urged administration officials to stop belittling the effects of TRAIN on consumer prices.
President Duterte has acknowledged the significant impact of the law on prices of products and services. But Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol have asserted that the adverse effect of the law was only .4 percent, while Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad III has estimated it at 25 percent.
Meanwhile, militant farmers have expressed full support for the demand of the labor sector and various groups for a national minimum wage.
“Workers’ wages should be upgraded to bridge the gap between the current wage levels and the increasing cost of living,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas secretary-general Antonio Flores.
“Workers are bearing the brunt of ever-increasing prices of food, utilities and services,” he added.
Based on the latest survey of Philippine Business and Industry, there are 2,646 establishments engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing in the formal sector of the economy.
Total employment generated for agriculture, forestry and fishing establishments reached 162,669 in 2015. Out of the total workforce, 159,889 workers or 98.3 percent were paid employees while the remaining 1.7 percent were working owners and unpaid workers.
“Excluded from these figures are child laborers and unpaid family workers who work in plantations with very little pay to none at all,” Flores said.
Banana plantations have the highest number of employees with 49,866. Sugarcane farms have 32,000 laborers while commercial ocean workers totaled 12,604.
An estimated 700,000 sacadas (seasonal plantation workers) work in sugar and other haciendas (estates) nationwide, KMP noted.
For its part, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is spearheading 19 job fairs nationwide on June 12, in line with the commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine independence.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said a wide range of employment opportunities will be available at the event, dubbed Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan (TNK) job fairs.
“Jobseekers are advised to visit any of the job and business fairs slated in their areas to facilitate their search for employment, as numerous employers are gathered in just one venue,” he noted.
The job and business fairs will be held in the following venues:
National Capital Region – Senior Citizen’s Garden, Rizal Park, Manila
Cordillera Administrative Region – Porta Vaga Mall Veranda, Baguio City
Region 1 – Nepo Mall, Dagupan City; Candon Civic Center, Candon City, Ilocos Sur; Pacoy Ortega Gymnasium, San Fernando City, La Union
Region 2 – Tuguegarao People’s Gym, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
Region 3 – Metro Town Mall, Tarlac City
Region 4A – Freedom Park, Kaingen, Kawit, Cavite; Sunstar Mall, Sta. Cruz, Laguna
Region 5 – Ayala Mall, Legazpi City
Region 6 – 888 China Town Square, Bacolod City
Region 7 – Negros Oriental Convention Center; Cebu City Sports Complex
Region 8 – Provincial Covered Court, Catbalogan City
Region 9 – KCC Mall de Zamboanga, Gov. Camins Ave. Zamboanga City; Zamboanga del Norte Cultural Convention and Sports Center, Gen. Luna St., Dipolog City
Region 10 – Iligan City
Region 11 – Davao City Recreation Center (Almendras Gym)
Region 12 – KCC Mall Convention Center, General Santos City. – With Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva