MANILA, Philippines — What would make the leadership of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. a “slam dunk”?
Pass the P100 legislated daily minimum wage hike bill under this 19th Congress, according to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“I think that would make the President’s Sona (State of the Nation address) and his leadership a slam dunk, or if baseball, a home run, ‘pag nangyari ‘yun (if that happens),” he said during his interpellation of Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel’s counter-Sona on Monday.
“Many millions of workers would not only be employed but happily employed,” added Zubiri, who initially sought a P150 daily increase for minimum wage earners.
READ: Zubiri seeks P150 daily pay hike for private sector workers
He then called on Senate President Chiz Escudero to press the leadership of the House of Representatives to act on its version of the measure now pending in the chamber.
“I think the challenge now is asking our leadership, Senate President Escudero together with the leadership of the Senate now, to talk to the House,” Zubiri said.
“Huwag sana nilang pabayaan o hindi pansinin ‘yung ating request for legislated [daily minimum] wage hike,” he further said.
(Let’s hope they don’t neglect or ignore our request for a legislated daily minimum wage hike.)
The wage hike bill was already approved by the Senate in February, but its counterpart has been languishing in the House.
READ: Senate OKs P100 wage hike bill on third reading
The reason for this, according to Zubiri, was some House lawmakers believe P100 was “too low.”
“I would like to put on record, we dare them: If they want to pass a P200 minimum wage hike, let’s do it. We dare them to do it. But not to act on it is a big slap on the face of all our laborers. Kawawang-kawawa talaga sila (They are really unfortunate),” he said.
The senator likewise hit the regional wage boards for “doing Filipino workers a disservice by approving a pittance” when it comes to raising the minimum pay of workers.
He cited the P35 daily wage hike recently approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for the private sector workers in Metro Manila.
For Zubiri, the additional P35 was an insult to the minimum wage earners
“Hindi pa kasya sa isang kilong bigas ang nirelease po nilang additional wages. And we don’t consider these living wages, and it’s too low,” the senator said.
(The additional wages they released are not even enough to cover a kilogram of rice.)