Palace on wage hike: Review on regions' wages ongoing

Malacañang said it will be up to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in so far as wage hike is concerned.

''Actually, ang direktiba lamang po ng ating Pangulo ay sundin po kung ano iyong nasa Labor Code at nagbigay narin po siya ng kautusan na i-review ng Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board ang mga salary or wages ng mga—ng ating mga kababayan sa bawat rehiyon,'' Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said in a press briefing Wednesday.

(The directive of the President is to just follow what's in the Labor Code and he already tasked the RTWPB to review the salary or wages of Filipinos in every region.)

''At sa kasalukuyan po, nagkaroon na po ng pagre-review sa labing-anim na rehiyon at may mga rehiyon na rin po na nagtaas ng mga sweldo,'' she added.

(At present, a review is being conducted in the 16 regions and there are already regions that raised wages.)

Castro also said Congress would determine if a legislation will be passed as regards wage hikes.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is appealing President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. to bat for the immediate passage of a P200 legislated nationwide wage hike.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the TUCP encouraged national unity in its call for the government to help Filipinos who are in a "kapit sa patalim" (clinging to a knife) situation often overshadowed by ongoing political tension.

The group asked Marcos to call for a P200 legislated wage hike as an urgent priority measure and be enacted as a law before the closing of the 19th Congress.

This was in response to the President’s Executive Order No. 84, which raised the daily subsistence allowance of military personnel by P200 for being “no longer adequate to meet the daily sustenance of an active-duty soldier.”

According to the TUCP, over five million minimum wage earners nationwide are trapped in poverty wages where they are overworked and underpaid, while regional wage adjustments were just “nothing but crumbs” that do not reach the workers themselves. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News