BY GERARD NAVAL

MINIMUM wage earners in Metro Manila will receive an increase of P15 in their daily basic pay and P5 in the cost of living allowance, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Commission said yesterday.

The increase will take effect 15 days after publication of the new wage order, or around the first week of June.

Starting August 28, the P5 COLA will be integrated in the basic pay.

The current daily minimum wage in the National Capital Region ranges from P325 to P362. The last adjustment was last August.

President Arroyo on Thursday said there will be a P20 adjustment but said the wage board was still determining whether it would be given in full or broken down.

Exempted in the wage orders, upon application, are distressed businesses, those that have less than P3 million in total assets, enterprises that have less than 10 workers, businesses adversely affected by natural calamities, and micro and small exporters.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, which sought an P80 increase, is expected to appeal the wage board’s decision, said Ciriaco Lagunzad, executive director of the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

But in the history of the commission, he said, wage boards have dismissed motions for reconsideration.

Raymundo Agravante, NCR wage board chairman, said Arroyo’s announcement did not pressure the board.

Malacañang expressed confidence the adjustment would be acceptable to most employers.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the regional wage board is composed of representatives from labor, management and government, and that the employers’ representatives have adequately aired their sentiments.

He also dismissed apprehensions that the new round of wage increases would drive away potential investors, saying the deliberations in the wage boards were "wide ranging" and took into consideration the prevailing conditions in the region.

Bunye said Arroyo has also ordered Acting Labor Secretary Marianito Roque and Trade Secretary Peter Favila to convene a series of tripartite meetings on non-wage benefits for workers.

He said the meetings will "map out specific income extenders and benefits that companies could provide to employees while ensuring fiscal stability."

INCREASE BELITTLED

The TUCP expressed disappointment with the wage board decision.

"It only shows na ang palagi pa rin nasusunod sa mga regional wage boards ay ang mga employers," said its spokesman Alex Aguilar.

He called for the review of the composition of the regional wage boards, saying it might be necessary to add more labor representatives so as to "somewhat tilt the balance that almost always seem to favor the employers."

The Kilusang Mayo Uno, through chairman Elmer Labog, called for the abolition of wage boards which he said only serves employers.

He pushed for the KMU’s demand for a legislated increase of P125 across the board.

The Alliance for Progressive Labor (APL) said the P20 hike was an insult to the Filipino workers saying the amount is "not enough to recover lost purchasing power."

The Partido ng Manggagawa said P20 could buy only a kilo of the P18.25 rice from the National Food Authority.

LAST RESORT

Speaker Prospero Nograles said the House will consider a legislated wage increase only as a "last resort."

Bills for a P125 across-the-board wage increase for private sector employees and a P3,000 monthly increase for state workers are pending at the House.

Majority leader Arthur Defensor said wage hike bills are not priority measures because these were not certified as urgent by the President.

Defensor said while they want to help workers, they also have to consider the effects on business of a legislated wage hike.

"Will this result to downsizing of the company? It’s a very difficult job. It’s a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You really can’t please both the workers and the employers," he said.

POLITICIZED

Makati Mayor and United Opposition president Jejomar Binay said Arroyo "politicized" the wage issue with her premature announcement.

"Mrs. Arroyo is so in need of some good news that she ignored the independence of the tripartite wage boards even when the body had not concluded its deliberations," he said.

"She clearly jumped the gun on a consultative and deliberative body. Now, the wage boards will be under pressure to confirm Mrs. Arroyo’s announcement, or to approve a wage increase not lower than P20," he added.

Binay said the tripartite wage boards were created precisely to remove politics from the process of setting the minimum wage. Prior to the creation of the regional tripartite bodies, the minimum wage was set by Congress.

However, Binay said Arroyo has chosen to ignore the independence of the wage boards, opting to preempt the body from making its own announcement.