P89 wage increase in Northern Mindanao pushed

CAGAYAN DE ORO. In an ongoing construction along the Cagayan de Oro riverbank, Johnny measures these steel bars. On Friday, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-Northern Mindanao held a public consultation on the P89 wage hike pushed for by the workers in the region. (Harold Jess Siason, Liceo intern)

CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Workers in Northern Mindanao are pushing for the P89 wage increase in the region to cope with the soaring prices of basic commodities.

On Friday, April 17, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) regional office, through the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB), and the National Economic Development Agency (Neda) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) conducted a public hearing to provide stakeholders a platform to discuss the impact of the daily minimum wage increase petition.



With the petition, the daily minimum wage will be P395 from the current P306.

High economic growth

During the public hearing, Neda-Northern Mindanao Director Leon Dacanay Jr. updated the audience of the economy in the region since 2013. He emphasized that Northern Mindanao has maintained its P250 billion economic growth and its Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of P55.06 billion, which remains to be the highest among Mindanao regions.

Dacanay, who is also the vice chairperson of RTWPB-Northern Mindanao, said the value of rice production increased to 8.79 percent or 3.9 billion metric tons, resulting in the stabilization of the rice prices in the middle of 2014.

Dacanay cited that in the coconut industry, the nut production in the region has increased to 1.18 percent or P1.8 billion from 2013 to 2014, while the copra production remained stagnant with 0.03 percent or P438,852. The overall production of major crops like vegetables, fruits and root crops rose to 4.4 percent or 7.8 million metric tons last year.

But Dacanay said that despite the high economic growth, the magnitude of poor people continues to rise although the employment rate is relatively stable.

"Inflation rate continues to fall since the decline of the world oil prices that started in the middle of last year. However, the purchasing power of the peso declined by 3.6 centavos as of February 2015 from June 2013," he said.

Soaring prices of basic commodities

In the public hearing, the Associated Labor Union–Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) presented its petition for the P89 increase and the reason why it should be granted to the workers.

According to Nicandro Borja, regional vice president of ALU-TUCP, 42 percent of a worker’s daily wage goes to food.
The 42 percent of the minimum daily wage in the city is P128.52. "And when you subtract that amount to P306, the amount left for the worker would only be P177.56 per day," Borja said.

With the continuing rise of the prices of basic commodities every day, workers are left destitute with what they can take home to their families given their minimum starvation “dying wage,” he said.

He added the daily minimum wage is insufficient especially that workers spend the expenses on the transport fare and meal plus the payment of electric and water bills.

If a worker has children who are students, their budget would be divided to the tuition, as well as the “baon” or allowance of the children, he said.

Aside from those expenses, a worker also spends for clothing, medicines and/or vitamins and and [of course] recreation, he added.
“And if their family does not have a house, they would [again] slash out their budget to paying the monthly rent,” he said.

No dramatic surge of prices on basic commodities

But the DTI said there is no dramatic incident where the price of the basic commodities has increased.

Lawyer Fel Lester Brillantes, DTI-Northern Mindanao chief of Consumer Welfare Division (CID), said that in the comparative price monitoring report from the second quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of this year, the products monitored like canned goods, instant noodles, iodized rock salt, flour and processed canned pork have maintained their suggested retail price (SRP).

The DTI considers a red flag when the increase of prices is more than 10 percent.

Brillantes said not all products are monitored by DTI because there are other implementing agencies like the Department of Agriculture (DA), which monitors prices of agriculture produce.

“In the case of the daily minimum wage of 306 pesos, investors may look at this as preference in choosing where to invest. And that is our advantage,” Dacanay said.

He added that the capacity of the region to give a wage increase depends to more than 95 percent of small and medium enterprises, which need to be taken into consideration.

Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce president Cerael Donggay said the P89 minimum wage increase is too much.

“The increase should not be too drastic to prevent an adverse effect to the business sector. Maybe a P4 increase will do,” Donggay said. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro)

Illegal foreign workers on the rise in Phl – TUCP

MANILA, Philippines - More foreigners are entering the country to illegally seek employment, according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the number of illegal foreign workers in the country has been increasing in the past years.

“The influx of migrant workers is a growing phenomenon in the country today,” he said.

TUCP estimates that over 3,500 foreigners are working in the country illegally.

The figure is expected to increase unless the government takes the necessary measures to control the entry of illegal foreign workers, he added.

Tanjusay said the bulk of undocumented foreign workers are Chinese nationals and others are South Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, Malaysians and Vietnamese.

Undocumented foreign workers are often employed in the construction, manufacturing, electronics and services industries in Metro Manila, Central Visayas, Davao region, Zamboanga peninsula, Bataan and Batangas, he added.

The increasing number of migrants working without government permits and without fulfilling other requirements for alien workers has very serious implications in the current employment and underemployment situation, Tanjusay said.

Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said only legal foreign workers pass through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The entry of undocumented foreign workers is a concern of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), she added.

TUCP is pushing for the creation of a tripartite committee comprised of representatives from DOLE, BI and other concerned government agencies to stop the influx of illegal migrant workers in the country.

Tanjusay said the proposed committee is to ensure migrant workers go through the legal process and comply with the requirements of the Alien Employment Permit (AEP).

“The number of illegal migrants is growing very fast that it immediately needs government oversight to ensure that labor laws and standards are in place and are working to make sure there are no abuses and exploitations taking place,” he said. - By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)

TUCP submits May 1 agenda

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa submitted to Malacañang its proposed discount card and unemployment insurance programs for minimum-waged workers for approval of President Aquino during the traditional Labor Day breakfast with labor groups in the palace on May 1, a press release from the TUCP said.

The group also proposed to Aquino the approval of a majority coconut-farmer administered trust fund to ensure that the proceeds of the P77 billion coco levy are used to promote jobs in the coconut industry and to set up coco-industrial hubs, ensure the completion of CARP with respect to lands under current Notice of Coverage;

Assist the peasant farmers through appropriate support measures and financing including trainings, appropriate technology, and easy-term credit; a return of the subsidy for MRT and LRT users to cushion rising costs for ordinary workers; and pass the Freedom of Information law, the press release said.

The measure, under the proposed Labor Enhancement Assistance Program will assist and empower the basic sectors, include an unemployment insurance policy for the 3.4 million minimum wage earners providing three months of minimum wage salary coverage in cases of retrenchment and a minimum discount card that serves as a voucher or CCT-like program for minimum wage employees to give them a monthly discount on tuition fees, purchase of rice, basic food commodities, medicines worth P2,000, it said.

The March 1 to 7 Pulse Asia Survey on urgent national concerns showed that 4 of the top 5 concerns relate to the daily survival needs of ordinary Filipinos. It showed 46 percent are crying out at inflation, 44 percent have said salaries are too small to cover daily expenses and another 34 percent said there are no decent jobs, the press release added.

TUCP-Nagkaisa executive director Louie Corral said they told Aquino to tap the 2014 P300B excess funds as reported last week by National Economic Development Authority chief Arsenio Balisacan as possible source of the proposed program, the press release added. - The Visayan Daily Star

TUCP seeks Labor Day breaks for PH workers

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa has submitted to the government its proposed discount-card and unemployment-insurance programs for minimum-wage workers for approval by President Benigno Aquino 3rd during the traditional Labor Day breakfast with labor groups to be hosted by Aquino in Malacañang on May 1.

“We have submitted to President Aquino our agenda on the May 1 breakfast meeting agenda. These are what we believe as amelioration programs aimed at empowering workers to cope with rising cost of living,” Gerard Seno, the group’s executive vice president said over the weekend.

The group had also proposed to Aquino to approve a majority coconut-farmer administered trust fund to ensure that proceeds from the P77-billion coconut levy fund are used to promote jobs in the coconut industry and set up coco-industrial hubs; ensure completion of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with respect to lands under current notice of coverage; assist farmers through appropriate support measures and financing including training, appropriate technology and easy-term credit; return of subsidy for Metro rail Transit 3 and Light Rail Transit 1 and LRT 2 users to cushion rising costs for ordinary workers; and pass the Freedom of Information bill.

The Labor Enhancement Assistance Program seeks an unemployment insurance policy for the 3.4 million minimum wage earners, providing them three months of minimum wage salary coverage in cases of retrenchment; and a minimum discount card that serves as a voucher for minimum wage employees, giving them a monthly discount of P2,000 on tuition, purchase of rice, basic food commodities and medicines.

On March 1 to 7, a Pulse Asia survey on urgent national concerns showed that 4 of the top 5 concerns relate to daily survival needs of ordinary Filipinos. It found that 46 percent cried out at inflation, 44 percent said salaries are too small to cover daily expenses and 34 percent said there are no decent jobs.

On March 18, the wage board approved a P15-increase in the minimum wage in Metro Manila as against the TUCP-Nagkaisa petition of P136.

TUCP-Nagkaisa executive director Louie Corral said they had asked the President to tap the reported P300 billion in excess government funds in 2014 to finance the proposed unemployment insurance and the discount card programs. - by JING VILLAMENTE / The Manila Times