After P50 Metro pay hike, Senate bills want more for across PH
Following the approval of a P50 increase in the minimum wage for Metro Manila workers earlier this week, a number of Senate bills under the 20th Congress seek to further raise take-home pays across the country.
One filed by Sen. JV Ejercito pushes for a P250 across-the-board increase in the daily minimum wage.
The amount is higher than the P100 increase endorsed by the Senate and the P200 raise pushed by the House of Representatives during the previous Congress, which adjourned on June 30 without ratifying the proposed adjustments.
Ejercito lauded the recent P50 increase approved by the regional wage board for private sector workers in the National Capital Region (NCR), but said basic pay across the country still “falls short of their financial needs.”
“It cannot cover their expenses for rent, electricity, transportation, health care, education for their children, and perhaps, most importantly, food,” Ejercito said in the explanatory note of the bill he filed on Wednesday.
Rising fuel prices driven by conflicts in oil-producing countries have also created a domino effect on the prices of basic commodities, he added.
Risa goes for P200
The bill, he explained, should “bridge the gap to the decreasing purchase value of the take-home pay of a worker and the rising cost of living.”
Another bill, filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, calls for daily P200 increase in the minimum wage.
In her explanatory note, Hontiveros noted that the estimated daily living wage for a family of five was approximately P1,205 in 2024.
In contrast, the prevailing minimum wage in the National Capital Region stands at P645 per day for nonagriculture sectors and P608 for agriculture, service or retail, and manufacturing sectors, she said.
In regions outside NCR, she said, the minimum wages are even lower—ranging between P350 and P450, depending on the area.
“This wide gap means that millions of workers across the country earn far below what is necessary to meet essential needs, such as food, shelter, transportation and health care,” she pointed out.
Setting the ‘Living Wage’
Two other measures, both titled the Living Wage Act, were likewise introduced by Senators Joel Villanueva and Loren Legarda.
According to Legarda, the bill seeks to guarantee fair and decent wages for all Filipino workers.
Villanueva said his proposal aims to align the minimum wage set by regional wage boards with the actual cost of living.
“We welcome the good news for our workers in Metro Manila. We are pushing for the legislated wage increase, but I think the Living Wage Act will have a lasting impact because it will help regional wage boards set a decent minimum wage level within their respective jurisdictions,” Villanueva said.
“I want this bill to strengthen our regional wage boards and ensure they are using the right data and right parameters,” added the senator, who chairs the Senate committee on labor.
Recommendations for the new Customs chief