MANILA – Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno said increasing wages will only worsen the already high inflation rate environment.
“The wrong thing to do is to adjust wages. That is going to worsen the situation,” Diokno said in a forum in Pasig City.
Calls for adjusting daily minimum wages mount as commodity prices have been constantly increasing in the past months.
Notably, inflation clocked in at 6.7 percent in September – the highest so far this year and the fastest since March 2009.
Diokno, however, said adjusting wages on the basis of “transitory event” will not solve inflation.
“We see this inflation rate as transitory, and this will fade next year or in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“Let us not push for higher wages at this time, especially given the significant tax cut that we gave under TRAIN 1. We reduce the maximum tax rate from 32 to 25 [percent] so let’s not push for higher wages at this time,” he added.
The Department of Labor and Employment earlier granted a P20 pay hike for minimum wage workers in Metro Manila. However, labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said it will appeal the wage increase as this is “too small” and “not enough” amid the rising commodity prices. (GMA News)
