News Roundup 01 May 2022
May 01, 2022 • 4 min Read
DOLE reminded on review of minimum wage promised in March | PHILSTAR.COM – Results of a review of the minimum wage that that the labor department promised in March are overdue, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Labor Day. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards in March to speed up their review of pay rates as fuel and food prices rose due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “What’s taking so long? Ano mang delay sa paglalabas ng desisyon ukol sa minimum wage ay pwedeng magdulot ng kagutuman o kawalan ng pag-asa sa mga manggagawa na makaahon pa sila sa patong-patong na bayarin,” Hontiveros said in a statement on Sunday. The minimum wage is P537 a day in Metro Manila and varies regionally. DOLE said in early April that it was processing petitions for increases in the National Capital Region and had consolidated pleas for increases of from P213 to P250 to the daily rate. The regional wage board for NCR did not act on an across-the-board increase filed by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines because it was outside its jurisdiction, DOLE also said in a release. Consultations with the labor sector and with employers were scheduled in April and DOLE said it would also hold a public hearing on the proposed increases to the minimum wage. Hontiveros on Sunday said that regional minimum wages have not been adjusted in three years. “Tumaas na ang gastos sa kuryente, pamasahe, pagkain at kinailangan pang gastusan ang internet. Oras na para tingnan at pag-aralan dahil hindi na sasapat ito sa gastusin ng mga pamilyang Pilipino,” she said. (The cost of electricity, tramsportation, food has risen and we have also had to pay more for internet. It is time to review and study (the minimum wage) because it is really not enough for the daily needs of Filipino families.) The re-electionist also said that the labor department should make sure that employers pay their workers at least the minimum wage, saying that, based on the 2018 Labor Force Survey, around 10 million of 41 million workers received pay lower than the minimum set by the government.
Leni to Batangueños: I won’t fail you | INQUIRER.NET – I will not fail you. Vice President Leni Robredo on Saturday made this assurance to her supporters as she and her running mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, toured two cities and six municipalities in vote-rich Batangas province. The opposition tandem attended a multisectoral gathering just hours after their successful campaign rally attended by about 225,000 of their supporters, more known as “kakampinks,” in Santa Rosa City, Laguna, on Friday night. “Why do we work this hard? First of all, we want to show you that if [Pangilinan] and I got elected, this is the kind of government that you can expect from,” Robredo told supporters who flocked to the municipal grounds here. “It’s the government that will go to the people. This is what I promise you: I will not fail you,” she vowed, drawing loud cheers from the crowd. This was the third visit of Robredo and Pangilinan to the country’s seventh vote-rich province, which has over 1.8 million registered voters since the campaign period started. They kicked off their campaign with a dialogue with various sectors in Nasugbu town, before visiting the adjacent towns of Tuy, Lemery, Taal, and Sta. Teresita. She had meetings in Lipa and Batangas cities. Robredo, Pangilinan, and their senatorial slate were scheduled to hold a grand rally in Bauan town in the evening. In 2016, Robredo got a total of 513,587 votes in Batangas, winning by more than 250,000 voters over her staunch rival, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Vico Sotto warns of politicians with ‘sweet words, no solutions’ | INQUIRER.NET – Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has warned of politicians who are good in charming people with sweet words but offer no solutions to difficult issues. Sotto said this, after enumerating his experiences as city mayor in dealing with housing and land issues — issues that have persisted for decades across past Pasig City government administrations.“ Ang mga solusyon sa mga problemang ito ay mahirap, pinag-aaralan, at pinaghihirapan. Kung madali lang ang mga solusyon, hindi na sana umabot ng deka-dekada yung ibang mga problema,” said Sotto in a Facebook post recently. (Solutions to these problems are difficult, analytical, and difficult. If the solutions were easy, the other problems would not have lasted for decades.) “Kaya mag-ingat tayo sa mga politiko na kung magsalita ay napakatamis, pero kapag hinimay mo ang sinasabi ay halatang hindi naman talaga alam ang mga suliranin,” he added. (So let us be careful of politicians who are very sweet when they speak, but when you break down what they say, they are really unaware of the problems.) Some of the solutions Sotto said his administration was able to deliver during his term included the provision of electricity and water utilities for informal settlers who were relocated to Tanay, Rizal, as well as the enactment of the Pasig Housing Code Ordinance.
