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KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 July) — Militants in Southwestern Mindanao castigated President Benigno S. Aquino III as he delivered Monday his second State of the Nation Address, saying workers “have not felt economic relief” a year after he assumed office.
“There have been no concrete reforms made under the one-year Aquino administration. For instance, workers’ salaries were not increased significantly,” Ryan Lariba, spokesperson of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Socsksargen, said.
Lariba noted the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board failed to increase the salaries of minimum wage earners in the region “because there’s no need for it” despite the soaring prices of oil and petroleum products and other consumer goods..
This only shows the inutility of the Aquino government and is a big insult to the workers, he said.
In April, Ma. Gloria A. Tango, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment, said the RTWPB found no supervening condition that would warrant a salary adjustment for minimum wage earners in the region.
“We did not find any justification to declare a supervening condition based on the socio-economic data we have gathered,” she said then.
Currently, the highest rate for minimum wage earners in Central Mindanao stands at P260 per day.
Lariba claimed that a worker needs at least P700 per day to cope with his family’s cost of living. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews)
