Bayan Muna slams ‘insulting’ P25 wage hike amid 6.7% October inflation

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and the group’s senatorial bet Neri Colmenares denounced on Tuesday the “insulting” P25 wage hike in the National Capital Region (NCR) amid the 6.7 percent October inflation rate in the country.

Zarate said the 6.7 percent rate of increase in prices of basic commodities was a “testament” to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law’s “devastating power and effect on the economy that particularly impacts heavily and negatively on the poor.”

“The fact that there is no change in the historically high September inflation rate only proves that the administration’s so-called anti-inflationary measures are utter failures,” the lawmaker said.

“Even the insultingly measly P25 wage hike would not make a dent on the high cost of living now pegged at P1,001 for a family of five,” he added.

Colmenares, meanwhile, urged President Rodrigo Duterte to “immediately suspend” or “scrap” the collection of TRAIN excise taxes, and 12 percent value-added tax on oil, water, and electricity “to alleviate hardship due to high inflation.”

“Ni hindi nga makakabili ng isang kilong P27 NFA rice ang kakapiranggot na wage hike na ito. Mumu lang talaga ang ibinigay sa mga manggagawa habang sila ang matinding tinamaan ng TRAIN law at napakataas na presyo ng mga bilihin,” Colmenares lamented.

(This measly wage hike can’t even buy a kilo of NFA rice worth P27. The workers are given scraps while they’re the hardest hit by TRAIN and the increasing prices of goods.)

The two progressive leaders also called on the government to support and fast-track the passage of House Bill 7787 or the P750 national minimum wage bill and House Bill 7653 or the repeal of the “anti-people provisions” of TRAIN law.

Last month’s inflation rate was the same as September’s, but National Statistician Lisa Grace S. Bersales has told the press that “there seems to be a slowing in (the) increase of prices” since the month-on-month increase in prices of basic commodities further eased to 0.3 percent from September’s 0.8 percent.

READ: October inflation up 6.7%, still over 9-year high, but price pressures easing

Meanwhile, the NCR Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board has approved wage adjustment raising the daily pay in Metro Manila to P537, from the current P512. /je

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