TUCP laments poverty threshold may mislead policy making

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) expressed dismay over the poverty threshold standard released recently by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza (TUCP Party-List / MANILA BULLETIN)

“If we are going to use this as standard basis for our public and private policy to uplift our people from poverty, it would appear there is no sense of urgency in this poverty threshold standard amount set by the Philippine Statistics Authority,” said TUCP President Raymond Mendoza.

The PSA said that an amount worth P10, 481 is needed per month to meet the basic food and non-food items of a Filipino family of five members.

“In it, there are no prospects of hope for the millions of poor Filipinos. This standard is so low and it wants to keep our status quo as it is,” said Mendoza.

The labor leader lamented that “employers and business groups are also going to use this government standard amount to say there is no need for a significant wage increases particularly for minimum waged earners because minimum wages, as what this standard implies, are above the threshold.”

“This very low standard erases the need for wage boards to provide significant wage increases,” said Mendoza.

“It gives us the impression that ‘everything is okay’ and there’s no need for wage increases because minimum wages are higher than the minimum threshold,” he added. - By Analou De Vera