Workers get P22 more; train fares doubled

MANILA, Philippines—The good news is, minimum wage earners in Metro Manila will get a P22-increase in their cost of living allowance (COLA).

The bad news is, the capital’s rail transit fares will be doubled.

Metro Manila’s minimum wage earners will start getting extra pay probably in their next salary this month with the approval of a P22-increase in COLA by the National Capital Region’s wage board on Monday.

The COLA raise brings the daily compensation of non-agricultural workers in the capital to P426 a day, Raymundo Agravante, chair of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, announced in a press conference Monday.

The allowance increase will take effect 15 days following the publication in at least one newspaper of the order, which was issued after the daylong deliberation Monday.

Agravante said he expected the order to take effect in late May or early June.

Nelson Laluces, chair of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), announced Monday the agency had approved new fares for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) lines.

Fares artificially low

Laluces said the fares approved by the Department of Transportation and Communications were “reasonable” and would be enforced at a date still to be announced.

Commuters will pay a boarding fee of P11, plus P1 for every kilometer. This brings the maximum fee for LRT Line 1 (Baclaran to Roosevelt) and MRT (Taft to North Avenue) to P30, from P20 and P15, respectively.

The LRT Line 2 (Recto to Santolan) fare will also go up to a maximum of P30 from P15.

The higher fares are meant to reduce the government’s subsidy to keep both train lines running. Officials said fares had been kept “artificially low” by the previous administration, creating strain on the state’s finances.

Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus, however, said the higher fares would not be implemented in light of the various hikes in the prices of other goods and services that have burdened the public, according to the LRT Authority.

Increase ‘reasonable’

In granting the COLA increase, Agravante said the wage board mainly considered the employer’s arguments while bearing in mind Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ projection of a P25-wage increase.

“The negotiation was within that parameter and I think P22 is the most reasonable that the board considered and that is the decision we are announcing, covering all minimum wage earners in the capital,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

According to Agravante, the employers’ group initially proposed an increase in the basic pay of workers in Metro Manila to P13.35. But the wage board differed as the offer was based on the inflation rate last March.

The board argued that the offer should be pegged at P20 in wage increase based on the inflation rate in April, he said. “But they don’t want to add P20 to the basic wage,” he noted.

Capacity to pay

“One of the reasons why the COLA was agreed upon is [that] accordingly, [it] doesn’t affect the overtime and night-shift differential pay as compared to giving a basic wage increase,” explained the wage board official.

The board also considered the impact of an increase in the basic salary on the employers. “An increase in the basic wage will be added cost on the part of employers while an increase in the COLA would only entail minimal [expense],” said Agravante.

Baldoz deemed the decision as a “win-win solution” to cushion the impact of the spiraling cost of basic commodities brought about by the increasing oil price.

“In deciding on the amount of the COLA, the chair of the RTWPB-NCR explained that the board considered the needs of workers to cope with high commodity prices, on one hand, and the employers’ capacity to pay, given high fuel-related production costs and the great majority of enterprises in the region, which are micro and small enterprises,” said Baldoz.

‘Primacy of profits’

The board also ascertained Monday that the new COLA will only have a “minimum impact” on inflation to guarantee that the objective of helping ordinary workers cope with soaring prices while sustaining the capacity of employers to pay the new minimum wage.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, whose officials attended Monday’s deliberations on the wage hike, described the increase as “measly.”

“It further institutionalizes the primacy of profits over people, a few people over the masses of suffering workers,” it said.

Exempted from the order are distressed establishments employing not more than 10 workers and those with total assets of not more than P3 million.