Wage hike for government, private workers sought

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – A lawmaker is seeking a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector and P6,000 hike in the monthly pay of government workers.

Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap made the proposals under House Bills 253 and 3015.

“Wage levels are no longer enough for the subsistence of the common folk, especially the 1.6 million Filipinos whose income is less than the government’s threshold income level of P8,778 per month,” Hicap said in a statement.

Figures from the National Wages and Productivity Commission show that workers in Metro Manila receive the highest minimum daily wage at P481, while those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have the lowest at P250.

The current minimum wage in Central Luzon is P349 and P362 in Calabarzon.

Hicap said government data show that poverty rate has risen from 24.5 percent to 25.8 percent.

“The number of poor Filipinos continues to increase despite the government’s setting of a much lower threshold and contrary to the rosy picture that it has been trying to project,” he said.

Government data also indicate that prices of basic commodities have increased by 5.6 percent, Hicap said.

“The cost of living is evidently swelling, but wage has been stuck at the lowest levels,” he said. “Pay hike is long overdue.”