Bam Aquino supports P200 legislated wage hike

Former Senator Bam Aquino on Tuesday expressed support for the House bill version providing for a P200 legislated increase for minimum wage workers in the private sector.

“Sa mga manggagawa, meron pong legislated wage increase, P200 pesos. Kailangan po mapasa na iyan,” Aquino said during a campaign stop in Miag-ao, Iloilo province.

(The proposed P200 legislated wage needs to be passed into law.)

“Napakahalaga na matulungan na natin ang ating manggagawa. Tatrabahuhin po natin na maisabatas ito kapag tayo ay nakabalik sa Senado,” Aquino added.

(It is a very important step in helping our workers.)

Aquino also earlier committed to push for legislation providing a P2,000 increase in the monthly social pension of senior citizens, which only stands at P1,000.

On Monday, House Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines party-list urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to certify the proposed P200 minimum wage hike for private sector workers as urgent amid rising poverty and hunger.

“When half the nation openly acknowledges that they are poor - this harsh truth resonates and no amount of false bonhomie can camouflage it. Only a long-overdue and much-deserved P200 legislated wage hike, instead of emergency employment or social welfare intervention, is powerful enough to break the vicious cycle of token increases and poverty wages that insultingly fall below the already-low poverty line,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza pointed to the latest Social Weather Stations survey, which showed 52% of Filipino families (approximately 14.4 million households) rated themselves as poor in March, up from 51% in February.

“When one in every three Filipinos—rich or poor—is going hungry, workers feel that we are now in a full-blown national emergency demanding Presidential certification as urgent. Not another motherhood promise of a ‘great deal of study.’ Not another recycled directive to the regional wage boards for timely review,” Mendoza said.

A presidential certification of urgency allows Congress to approve a bill on second and third reading on the same day, speeding up its passage.

“We trust that President Marcos will rise to the moment and meet with labor leaders to discuss and certify the P200 wage hike bill as urgent—on or before 01 May 2025, Labor Day," Mendoza added.

The House version of the P200 wage hike bill was approved at the committee level before Congress adjourned in February for the campaign season. The Senate has already passed its version, proposing a P100 wage increase.

The two chambers must reconcile the differing proposals before the 19th Congress ends on June 13. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA Integrated News

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