MANILA, Philippines -- Workers are being made to choose between the “devil and the deep blue sea,” the leftist labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May 1st Movement) said when the government announced an expected P20 wage increase for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.

“The wage increase is unrealistic and unjust and there is no consideration [for] social justice,” KMU chairman Elmer Labog said on Friday.

“Pinamimili kami sa pagitan ng wala at meron ngunit kakarampot lang [We are being made to choose between nothing and something inadequate],” he said.

On Thursday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that workers in Metro Manila and in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) were expected to get a P20 wage increase.

But the regional wage boards have yet to decide whether to include the increase in the basic pay or the cost of living allowance (COLA).

Despite the rains, around 50 protesters gathered at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City to call for the immediate legislation of the across the board P125 wage increase as a response to the expected wage increase.

“Where can that P20 bring us? Since the first months of this year, the price of rice has increased from P25 to P35,” Labog said.

He said the government had effectively set the wage increase limit at P20, a rate other regions would never surpass.

“Ang P20 na yan ay maximum na at wala nang itataas. Ini-expect namin na mas mababa pa sa P20 ang ibibigay sa mga manggagawa sa ibang rehiyon,” Labog said.

But if asked to choose between the “lesser evil,” he said the group preferred that the P20 would be added to the basic pay instead of the COLA as more workers would benefit from it.

Labog added that employer groups should not react to the wage increase negatively with possible lay-offs. “Ang problema nasa economic policy natin. Wag sisihin sa mangagagawa ang dagdag sahod. Ang nangyayari tuloy, we cannot survive the way we want to,” he said.

KMU also called for the abolition of the regional wage boards and that the government should expect more protests until the P125 was passed.