Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri proposed a bill seeking to increase the wages of employees in the private sector by P150 to ease the effect of wage erosion brought about by inflation.
Senate Bill 2002, or the Across-the-Board Wage Increase Act of 2023, aims to mandate all employers in the private sector, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, regardless of capitalization and number of employees shall pay their workers an across-the-board wage increase in the sum of 150 a day.
"If workers are putting in hours and hours of labor, day after day, and yet are still unable to afford their rent, bills, and basic necessities, then there is a problem," Zubiri said in a statement.
The bill cited Ibon Foundation's claim that wages and the estimated family living wage continue to widen.
"As of January 2023, a family in NCR will need a daily living wage of Phpl,161. This is almost double than the highest pay received by a minimum wage worker in the region," the explanatory note read.
However, the workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) receive the highest daily of P570 at the present.
The lowest rate of P316 is granted in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for the non-agriculture sector, and P533 and P306 for the agriculture sector in the same areas.
A person, corporation, trust, firm, partnership, association, or entity reported to violate the provision will be punished y a fine not less than P100,000 nor more than P500,000.
In February, the inflation was at 8.6% maintaining an all-time high price for basic goods and services.
