Marcos not keen on legislated wage hike

Metro Manila, Philippines - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is not keen on certifying as urgent a bill for a wage increase despite requests from lawmakers, saying the measure needs “a great deal of study.”

Asked about calls for a certification, Marcos said, “We have a tripartite board that actually determines the increase in the wage. We still have to study further kasi how that will work together.”

The president noted that Congress established the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to determine wage levels under the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989.

“So now, with this, I don't know how that's going to work together,” Marcos told reporters in a chance interview on Friday, Jan. 31.

However, he acknowledged that Filipino workers need higher take-home pay due to rising prices.

“We'll see, we'll try to resolve that,” he said.

He also emphasized the need to balance the concerns of both workers and employers, noting that a wage increase could hurt small businesses.

“Yung malalaking korporasyon kaya nila ‘yan, kahit anong increase ilagay mo kaya nila ’yun.. pero yung maliliit ‘yun ang inaalala ng iba,” he added.

[Translation: Big corporations can handle it, no matter how much the increase, they can manage. But it’s the small businesses that others are worried about.]

He said there are legal and economic issues, explaining that the wage hike could impact inflation. “So, it deserves a great deal of study,” the president said.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, the House committee on labor and employment approved a bill proposing a P200 across-the-board daily minimum wage hike. Its proponents have called on Marcos to certify the measure as urgent, hoping to get it passed this Congress.

The 19th Congress will hold sessions next week before going on break from Feb. 8 to June 1 to give way to elections in May. It will resume from June 2 to 13 before adjourning sine die.

Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the committee on labor, employment, and human resources development, has made a similar appeal. The Senate passed a bill proposing a P100 daily wage hike to take effect as early as February 2024.

“We are all aware that the window for the 19th Congress is slowly closing, which is why we definitely need to speed up discussions,” Villanueva said in a statement on Friday.