AN interagency meeting will be held this week to review the effects of the first year of implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it has been invited by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to participate in the event.
Among the expected issues to be discussed in the meeting are the government interventions for sectors deemed vulnerable to the impact of TRAIN.
“This is probably where the updates on the subsidies [which are being demanded by labor] will be discussed,” DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Domi-niqué R. Tutay told reporters.
She was referring to the P500 government subsidy being sought by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for minimum-wage earners to allow them to cope with the effects of TRAIN.
A source privy to the interagency meeting told the BusinessMirror the event will be held by the DBM on Wednesday.
Following the implementation of the second tranche of the excise tax for fuel products under the TRAIN law this month, labor groups are now demanding for another round of wage hike to offset its impact on the cost of living.
Last year, TRAIN raised the price for fuel products by P2.5 per liter. It increased by another P1.5 per liter during the start of the year.
The TUCP said it is now mulling over filing another round of petitions at the regional wage board to raise minimum-wage rates ranging from P313 to P355 in their respective jurisdictions.
To justify the petitions, TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said they will cite the increase in the prices of diesel and gasoline as supervening events.
Under Republic Act 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, regional wage boards cannot grant consecutive wage hikes within a year unless there is a supervening event in their jurisdiction.
“We are also going to test once again the capacity of the wage boards to remain relevant with its mandate to raise the minimum wage to an amount that can ably support a family,” Mendoza said.
Militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said it will demand a P750 legislated minimum- wage hike to give immediate relief to TRAIN-affected workers.
“It does not bode well that in the early days of 2019 the Filipino workers are already faced with price hikes. The spike in oil prices will reverse the slowdown of inflation in the last months of 2018 and may trigger an even quicker inflation this year,” KMU Secretary-General Jerome Adonis said in another statement.
Employers: Chill!
INFLATION is easing, so should labor groups. Business leaders on Tuesday argued there is no need for workers to ask for a new wage hike, as commodity prices are stabilizing reflected by recent inflation data.
Business executives interviewed by the BusinessMirror expect the government to simply dismiss any petition from labor groups to increase wages.
They said inflation tempered in the past two months, and there is no supervening condition to raise wages.
“At [the] moment, there is no justification based on inflation data,” argued George T. Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Inflation in November of last year slowed to 6 percent from 6.7 percent in September and October, and settled at 5.1 percent in December, according to figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Average inflation for 2018 was at 5.2 percent, way beyond the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent and higher than the 2.9 percent posted in 2017.
Prices of fuel and commodity goods are also expected to go up this year, as the government rolled out the second round of excise tax on oil under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
Barcelon said what businesses could do is to maintain their prices to provide workers some relief.
“If you look at new fuel prices compared to previous year locally, they are not that much higher. [There is] no reason for business and transport sectors to increase unnecessarily,” Barcelon explained.
Employers Confederation of the Philippines President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said there could be price hikes this year with the imposition of additional taxes on petroleum products, but estimated this to be manageable.
“There are expected increases, but it will not be as much as during the height of inflation last year. Hindi naman aabot ’yun [It will not reach that same level],” Ortiz-Luis said.
All 17 regional wage boards adjusted minimum-wage rates from P8.50 to P56 in different periods last year, including an increase of P25 in the daily pay of Metro Manila workers.
However, TUCP President Raymond T. Mendoza said wage hikes last year will fail to support workers and their families this year in the face of anticipated price increases. With the filing of petitions, he pointed out the TUCP will “test once again the capacity of the wage boards to remain relevant with its mandate to raise the minimum wage to an amount that can ably support a family.”
With Elijah Felice E. Rosales