Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri —Senate PRIB
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri is not giving up on his proposal for a mandatory P150 increase in the daily wage of workers in the private sector, despite the objection of President Marcos’ economic managers.
“The lack of quality jobs [in the country] is also because of the lack of quality skilled workers we have,” Zubiri said in a statement on Friday.
“They are all leaving. The diaspora [of skilled Filipino workers] that we’re seeing now is because of the low wages,” he lamented.
Zubiri issued the statement two days after both National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed their opposition to the proposed legislated pay hike nationwide.
In defending his position, Zubiri pointed out that the current minimum daily wage of P610 in Metro Manila was nearly 40 percent below some of its neighbors in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia (P842) and Malaysia (P854).
READ: Zubiri stands firm on P150 wage hike through legislation nationwide