Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson
MANILA, Philippines — As the country’s workers marked Labor Day on Sunday, presidential contender Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson called for a legislated minimum wage increase that is “inflation-based.”
“I-legislate na lang ‘yung pag-adjust ng wages ng laborers, kasi kung aasa ka sa wage board tripartite, at nagkaroon ka ng sellout, kawawa talaga ‘yung laborers kasi nakanganga lang sila,” said Lacson during a press conference.
(Just legislate the adjustment of laborers’ wages, because if we keep relying on the wage board tripartite, and then there’s a sellout, it would only be unfortunate for the laborers.)
“Imagine 2019 pa ‘yung inflation rate na pinagbabasihan ng P537 (the P537 is based on the 2019 inflation rate),” he added.
The senator said this after explaining that the current minimum wage should be P652 per day following the increase in fuel prices after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
“Imagine between P537 before the new inflation rate, circa 2022, dahil sa pag-invade ng Russia sa Ukraine tumaas ‘yung presyo ng langis. Eh noon ‘yung P537 ang international price non wala pang USD80, ngayon nasa USD105 per barrel,” said Lacson.
(Imagine between P537 before the new inflation rate, circa 2022, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the price of oil increased. When the P537 was implemented, the international price was less than USD80, now it is USD105 per barrel.)
“You can just imagine this disparity, dapat ihabol na ‘yung minimum wage dapat inflation-based man lang ‘yung minimum wage ng mga manggagawa,” he further said.
(You can just imagine this disparity, the increase in minimum wage should be pursued and should become inflation-based.)
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