In order for the Balik Probinsya strategy to effectively work, the Metro Manila-biased minimum wage policy needs to be replaced with a common minimum wage rate of P600 across all regions, both within and outside the National Capital Region.
The current minimum wage law has fueled and perpetuated the massive migration of our citizens from the provinces to Metro Manila. It runs counter to the espoused priority of creating economic growth in the countryside.
It is a policy based on the cost of living and token increases done by mere gradual transfer of the cost of living allowance to the basic wage.
The current minimum wage policy is unfair to private sector workers because their counterparts in government are given wages based on a different set of policies.
What makes the difference in the pay among our government employees is the degree of responsibility and functions assigned to the employee, and not the place of assignment. And yet, for our workers in the private sector, their minimum wages are simply determined by the place or area where they work.
One thing the COVID-19 crisis has clearly exposed is how unfair this policy of different minimum wages - the health risks faced by frontline workers in Metro Manila are the same with those faced by frontline workers in the provinces, and yet they are paid differently.
It is time to DISCARD the current minimum wage policy and replace it with what I have proposed in House Bill 0668.
HB 0668 seeks to set a national minimum wage of P600. On top of this national minimum wage, the existing National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) shall determine incentives and other productivity improvements to the wage earners within a region when still necessary.
This measure will help our fellow Filipinos keep up with inflation or the increase in the general price level of goods and bring them closer to a humane standard living for all, especially to the lowliest and unprotected members of the workforce, by providing them real wage gains. (END)
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