A congressman on Thursday evening said he would endorse petitions for wage increases to the Labor department amid surging global oil prices.
In a statement, Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda said the country’s minimum wage is “severely, almost embarrassingly unprepared for price hikes to come this year.”
He said Manila, the capital and nearby cities have not had a wage increase since 2018. “That leaves ordinary, working-class Filipinos totally unprepared for the price hikes that will inevitably come due to rising oil prices.”
The National Capital Region’s (NCR) daily minimum wage of P537 is now worth only P464 based on 2018 prices, said Mr. Salceda, who heads the House of Representatives ways and means committee.
“That means that today’s NCR minimum wage would be able to buy P73 less in goods in 2018. That is grossly unfair to the working class,” he added. — J.E.G. Tan