DOLE gearing up for proposed P100 daily wage hike

(Photo from the Facebook account of the MEPZ Workers Alliance)

MANILA, Philippines —  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is waiting and preparing for the “final form” of a proposed law that mandates a P100 daily minimum wage hike for private sector workers, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Tuesday.

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading, a bill proposing a P100 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector.

“Hihintayin po namin ang pinal na hugis ng ano mang panukalang batas. Ang mandato po kasi ng DOLE bilang isang executive department ay magpatupad ng ano mang batas na ipalalabas o ipapasa ng ating Kongreso; in the meantime, kami po ay naghahanda,” Laguesma told reporters on the sidelines of a memorandum of agreement signing ceremony at the DOLE Main Office in Manila.

(We will await the final form of any proposed law. It is the mandate of the DOLE as an executive department to enforce any law enacted or passed by Congress; in the meantime, we are preparing.)

Although Laguesma did not specifically mention whether or not the proposed P100 hike will have an effect on inflation, he noted that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board’s recent wage orders granting an increase in the salaries of minimum wage earners and household helpers did have a “minimal” impact on some economic indicators.

“Batay po sa aming mga nakita, ‘yun pong mga nakaraang rounds ng minimum wage adjustments sa pamamagitan lang po ng wage boards, mayroon po siyang mga epekto sa ating inflation rate, sa ating employment level, sa ating GDP [gross domestic product],” he said.

(Based on what we’ve seen, the previous rounds of minimum wage adjustments solely through wage boards have had effects on our inflation rate, our employment level, and our GDP [gross domestic product].)

He was referring to Wage Order No. RB XI-22 which granted a P38 increase in the daily salary of minimum wage workers and “kasambahays” in the Davao region and Wage Order No. RB-IVA-DW-04 which ordered a P1,000 increase in the monthly minimum wage of house helpers in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon) region.