Pia supports Php100 legislated wage hike for employees and workers in private sector
Co-sponsorship speech on Senate Bill No. 2534 under Committee Report No. 190

Transcript of PSC's co-sponsorship speech
Bill increasing daily minimum wage
Feb. 7, 2024

Thank you, Mr President. Mr President, just a very short co-sponsorship speech.

Mr President, as the Senate Committee Chair of the Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation, and Futures Thinking, we talk about sustainable development. We broadcast to the world, we show pictures of beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and of course, the picture of modernization. But as they say, Mr President, you can only determine truly how advanced or how developed a country is when you look at how they treat the most vulnerable in their society.

So when we look at families who cannot even feed their children three meals a day, who struggle to put literally a roof over their head, where they literally live in shanties, they have to... they live, Mr President, in these worn tarps that are used during political campaigns, diba? After the campaign, you'll see na bubong na yan ng mga bahay, pader na yan ng kanilang barong-barong. This is how millions of people live in the Philippines, Mr President.

So when we take time dealing with political issues, it takes time away from dealing with the poorest of the poor who need our support to live a decent life. Mr President, in our show, Cayetano In Action with Boy Abunda, we often tackle problems that include marital problems, nagbubugbugan na asawa, utang, minsan utang ng nanay sa anak na hindi na nag-usap ang nanay at anak for 3 years dahil sa utang, couples who separate dahil sa whatever conflict they have, 99 percent, Mr President, the root of their problem is poverty. Sheer poverty. May daycare teacher na sinumbong ang isang nanay dahil hindi na pinapasok sa daycare ang kanyang anak, and the reason is, sobra siyang nahihiya dahil wala siyang pagkain na maibibigay sa anak niya, papasok daw yung anak niya na gutom. So sa kahihiyan, hindi na lang niya pinapasok yung anak niya, Mr President. So, all of these legal issues can be attributed to people having decent jobs and decent wages. And so I join the Senate President and our colleagues in co-sponsoring this very important measure. It may not seem like a lot because it is really not that much, but I believe it paves the way in us recognizing that this cannot continue as it is.

When his honor, the Senate President, mentioned BARMM, we do need to look into this and see how we can single out those areas that need more support, because it is really just how it is. I mean, when I traveled, and his honor, the Senate President and I are walking mates during our official trips, I've talked to our embassies and our host countries about their poverties in their countries. Their poverties, at least the countries I've visited, are different from our poverty. May bahay pa rin silang nauuwian. Kapag malamig, baka ang pinag-aawayan nilang kaunti ay yung heater, hindi ganun kainit. Pero may trabaho naman, yung trabaho siguro nila, kung 600 euro a month, na maliit sa Europe, pero 600 times 60, that's 36,000 pesos. And here, we're talking about ni hindi pa umaabot sa 15,000, Mr President. So, it's incomparable but it is not acceptable that we continue this way. So I thank his honor for prioritizing this measure. And as I said, I join our colleagues in supporting this measure. I will submit a more comprehensive co-sponsorship speech for the record because I just really like to tie it with all the SDGs that are affected by this. Health, education. Ni hindi mo nga mapaaral ang anak mo dahil wala ka ngang pambaon man lang para may makain siya. And you can't even begin to get healthcare, dahil karamihan sa kanila, alam nila na kahit paano, may maiaambag, dahil yung sinasabi nila na no balance billing, hindi naman actually 100 percent accurate. Meron din naman iaabono depende rin sa sakit. So, tama sila na di bale na lang, wala na lang silang aasahan.

And that is not how we want our Filipino people to feel. So again, my full support for this measure, Mr President. Thank you.