Senate to prioritize Maharlika, minimum wage bills
As Congress resumes session on Monday, the Senate will prioritize the bills that seek to establish the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) and to raise the wages of workers by P150.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Sunday that the LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) and Palace are committed to passing the Maharlika Investment Fund bill before June 2.
“We hope to end the debate on the Maharlika Investment Fund bill by the end of the month. So hopefully, we could ratify it by the first week of June before we go on a sine-die break,” Zubiri told dzBB.
Zubiri assured the public that the Senate will put enough safeguards to prevent the Maharlika Investment Fund from being misused.
“We can assure the public that we have sufficient safeguards so that the Maharlika Investment Fund will not be used for corruption, it will not be used for personal gain, it will not be used for money laundering,” he said.
“It will be managed by professionals, not by political appointees. It will be under scrutiny of course with our different auditing agencies. So the amendments proposed by our fellow Senators are good,” he added
“I am quite satisfied with the proposed amendments that the Maharlika Investment Fund will result in the bill having a lot of safeguards,” he said.
Zubiri also pushed for the passage of a measure to increase the minimum wage so workers will not suffer from the effects of inflation.
The minimum wage in Metro Manila is P570 per day.
“Because of the rising prices of fuel, electricity, and fares, the workers in the different sectors cannot feel the decrease in the inflation rate. They really cannot feel the prices of commodities going down, so we really have to help our workers,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri expressed hope that the House of Representatives will be able to pass their own version of the bill.
“Of course, I will reach across the aisle. I will reach across the lower house, to House Speaker Martin Romualdez. And of course, we will also talk to the President and tell him that this is good for his administration. So we will show him that the workers are having a hard time,” he said.
He said during the bicameral conference committee, they will discuss the reasonable price to raise the minimum wage.
“My point here is, we have to pass it because it is high time that we do so. Because if we don’t do this, our workers will be left in a pitiful state and most of them will just leave the country and work abroad,” Zubiri said.
Other priority bills in the Senate include the Build-Operate-Transfer” (BOT) law, bills creating the Medical Reserve Corp., Centers for Disease Control, and Virology Institute, as well as the e-commerce law, Philippine Passport Act, and one that seeks to revitalize the salt industry
“We have so many bills on our list, but we will take it one step at a time. We’ll try to prioritize the bills that have been sponsored and are pending sponsorship," Zubiri said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
