Amid billions of private profits, the minimum wage of workers in the Philippines “barely increased” under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, research group Ibon Foundation said.
Ibon said the real minimum wage in the national Capital Region (NCR), which is the highest in the country, increased only by P17.06 from P346.78 in July 2010 to P363.84 in December 2015.
The real minimum wage is the value of the nominal minimum wage adjusted for inflation and approximates what earnings can buy in terms of goods and services, Ibon said.
Under the Aquino government, the group said the gap between the nominal minimum wage (the amount of wage a person actually receives) and the family living wage (the amount needed by a family of five to live decently) grew from P556 to P608 from July 2010 to December 2015.
In July 2010, Ibon said the P404 nominal minimum wage was only 42% of the P960 family living wage.
It added that on December 2015, the P481 nominal minimum wage barely grew to 44% of the P1,089 family living wage.
Despite the minimal increase on minimum wage, Ibon said big businesses continue to enjoy billion in private profits.
The research group said that between 2010 and 2014, the net income of the Top 1,000 corporations grew 41%, from P804 million to P1.14 billion.
It added that between 2010 and 2014, the net income of the some 360 listed corporations grew 33% or from 438 billion to P583 billion.
Between 2010 and 2015, the wealth in peso terms of the 10 richest Filipinos increased almost four-fold from P630 billion to P2.24 trillion, Ibon said.
In 2013, the CEO of Meralco made at least P194,521 per day, while the CEO of First Pacific at least made at least P184,438 while the SMC CEO made at least P165,288.
Ibon noted that amid the calls to raise the national daily minimum wage to P750, the Aquino administration “refuses to substantially raise workers’ wages.”
“Upon the recommendation of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFCC), government has even institutionalized the two-tier wage system, which recommends floor wages that are lower than the minimum wage as the first tier and a company-determined productivity pay of a few pesos as the second tier.
Government can start ensuring decent workers’ wages by not letting foreign and local corporate interest dominate Philippine economics and governance,” Ibon said in a statement.