MANILA – Wage boards across the country will consider factors other than the sample household budget presented by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) that suggested a monthly budget of P10,000 for a family of five.
“Ang wage board naman is not only considering one factor. In the wage board, ang mga inputs niyan is from both sides,” Labor undersecretary Jacinto Paras said at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) headquarters in Manila.
“At the end of the day, kung ano po yung talagang reasonable, balanse,” he added.
Paras, however, clarified that the DOLE could not fully comment on NEDA’s findings as they have yet to analyze it.
“Di po tayo makapag-comment diyan kasi di po namin napag-aralan pa ‘yung study ng NEDA, but I am sure this study is already an input in the deliberation dun sa wage council,” he said.
The NEDA last week presented a study suggesting that a family of five on the “fifth level” would only need P127 daily for food.
Groups such as the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) and Partido Manggagawa said the estimation did not reflect the needs of real families and was “an affront to millions of poor Filipinos.”
Following backlash, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon clarified that P10,000 was only a “hypothetical figure” and not the ideal amount to sustain a typical Filipino family.
“‘Yung sa P10,000 ang tiningnan namin paano bina-budget ng somebody with P10,000 a month ang kanyang kita tapos ano ‘yung epekto ng inflation. Wala kaming sinasabi na ‘yun ‘yung disente na kailangan,” she said in an interview on News TV. (GMA News)
