Senate approves bill raising pay of private sector minimum wage earners by P100
The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to increase the pay of private sector minimum wage earners by P100.
After receiving 20 affirmative votes and no negative and abstain votes, Senate Bill 2534 was passed.
The measure was authored by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Majority Floor Leader Joel Villanueva, and seven others who are members of the Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development.
Zubiri appealed to the House of Representatives to pass its counterpart bill.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, chairman of the panel, said: “Let it be said that this august chamber is responsive to the needs of our countrymen, especially on the back of rising cost of living and soaring prices of basic commodities. Thus, the Senate has proposed to hike the daily minimum wage rate by P100 for workers in the private sector.”
Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros expressed her support for the bill but said that wage-setting agencies should be reformed.
“It would seem that there is a need to pass an across-the-board wage increase because the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity boards have failed. However, the wage hike will offer relief. But it is bound to be temporary if the wage-setting institutions are not reformed,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros pointed out the minimum wage was set at the poverty line which is why wage hikes should be passed periodically.
The proposed minimum wage hike law covers employees in the private sector, including those in agricultural or non-agricultural businesses, and even those with contractual or subcontractual jobs.
Under the bill, employers or companies that fail to implement the wage increase could be fined by up to P100,000 plus moral damages for each affected worker and the costs of litigation including attorney’s fees, or be imprisoned for up to four years. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
