'WORKERS TO SAVE P28 BILLION IN TAXES': Salaried workers would save at
least P28 billion a year in tax payments under the proposed new gross
income tax scheme, Rep. Joey Salceda said yesterday.
Salceda, an economist and incoming chairman of the House oversight
committee, said the tax package proposal "constitutes, perhaps, the largest
tax relief ever given by the government to the average Filipino wage
earner."
He said fixed-income earners can look forward to a 38 percent cut in income
taxes.
"This translates into a P16,500 annual increase (or P1,373 a month) in the
average take home pay of the country's 1.7 million wage earners. This
should already cover 50 percent of the demand for P3,000 wage increase," he
said.
He added that the P28-billion tax relief for workers could boost consumer
spending and in turn stimulate economic activity.
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has asked the House ways and means committee to
speed up the consideration of the gross income tax proposal.
The committee, however, is still awaiting the draft legislation from
Malacanang or the Department of Finance (DOF).
Salceda, who apparently has obtained copies of DOF studies on the revenue
implications of the proposed new tax scheme, said while the tax relief for
workers would mean revenue losses, these would be offset by gains from the
business sector and professionals.
In fact, the government is projecting a net gain of P27 billion, he said.
He said under the DOF proposal, corporate tax rates would be reduced from
the current 32 percent to 20-26 percent.
However, the list of allowable deductions would be limited and such
expenses as representation, fines and penalties, and interest cost on loans
from affiliates would be disallowed, he added.
Phil. Star, 07/30/2001
MODERATE LABOR SEEKS P60-P80 MINIMUM PAY HIKE:
To recoup workers' lost purchasing power,
he largest coalition of labor unions in the country will
seek an across-the-board wage increase of at least P60, or less than half
the hike demanded by leftist labor groups.
The Labor Solidarity Movement (LSM), composed of six labor groups led by
the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), is set to file within
the week a formal petition for the salary adjustment.
TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said LSM will demand between P60 to P80
across-the-board increase in the daily wage of some 29 million workers
nationwide.
The amount is way below the P125 across-the-board increase in daily wage
demanded by militant labor groups led by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
The militant labor groups, however, do not have plans of filing any formal
petition before the wage boards and are pressing for legislated salary
adjustment through massive protest actions.
According to Aguilar, LSM will file the formal petition for wage increase
before all the 16 regional tripartite wage and productivity boards (RTWPBs)
before the end of the week.
Aguilar said LSM and the different labor unions will stress in their
petitions the need for immediate salary adjustment for all workers who have
been reeling from the high cost of basic commodities.
Phil. Star, 07/23/2001
MODERATE LABOR SEEKS P77 DAILY WAGE HIKE: The Labor Solidarity Movement
yesterday filed a petition with the National Capital Region wage board
seeking a P77 increase in the minimum wage for workers in Metro Manila
which currently stands at P250.
The LSM was the same group, which sought a P75.50 wage hike in Metro Manila
October last year. The NCR wage board then granted only an increase of
P26.50 effective November 2000.
In seeking the increase, the LSM said in its six-page petition that the
increase was necessary to enable workers to cope with increases in the
prices of basic commodities and to adjust to the level of economic
development in the NCR.
The LSM said workers need an additional P38 per day to cover the recent
increase in the prices of basic commodities and expected further increase
in the prices of consumer goods, and another P39 adjustment in line with
the 3.3 percent growth in the gross regional product in the NCR.
The LSM said while workers were demanding a wage increase higher than P77
to bring wages closer to living wage rates, the group said a higher
increase would not help the economy at this time.
The LSM is composed of the moderate Trade Union Congress of the
Philippines, Labor Advisory Consultative Council and the Alliance of
Progressive Labor. It is chaired by TUCP president Democrito Mendoza.
A latest study by the National Wages and Productivity Commission said
workers need a living wage of P509 daily or P15,269 monthly to support a
family beyond subsistence level.
But the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno labor center challenged the TUCP and
other labor groups under the LSM to take their P77 wage hike demand to the
streets and push for a substantial wage hike.
The KMU was supporting the P125 wage hike bill filed by Sen. Juan Flavier.
KMU chair Crispin Beltran, an incoming party-list representative, is
expected to file a counterpart bill in the House.
The group said it was not filing a petition in the wage boards, which it
wanted abolished for being allegedly pro-employer.
Inquirer, 07/27/2001
ECOP MEMBERS FAVOR GRANTING P50 DAILY ALLOWANCE TO WORKERS:
Employers would rather grant workers a P50 daily allowance than give in to their demand for
a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage.
Donald Dee, president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines
(ECOP), said yesterday they will encourage the giving of emergency relief
allowance to workers in small and medium enterprises.
However, Dee said workers will be granted the allowance based on a decision
of the various regional wages and productivity boards and the financial
capability of a company.
Dee said ECOP member companies are ready to give their employees emergency
relief allowance to allow them to cope with the rising cost of basic
commodities.
In her State of the Nation Address before a joint session of Congress
Monday, President Arroyo urged employers to provide their workers economic
relief while awaiting a wage hike.
Mrs. Arroyo made the appeal on the recommendation of Labor and Employment
Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and the Labor Solidarity Movement, the
country's largest federation of labor unions.
On the other hand, Kilusang Mayo Uno chairman Crispin Beltran said
yesterday they welcome the ECOP action but will still press for a P125
across-the-board increase in salaries.
Phil. Star, 07/25/2001
MILITANTS SLAM MACAPAGAL 'APATHY' ON WAGE ISSUE: Key players of People
Power II from the Left are threatening to turn their backs on President
Macapagal-Arroyo for allegedly ignoring calls for an across-the-board wage
increase of P125 nationwide.
Sammy Malunes, spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor center,
said the militant groups that played key roles in the peaceful anti-Estrada
revolution in January were disappointed over Ms Macapagal's "apathy" on the
wage increase issue.
Workers nationwide and other sectors led by the party-list groups Bayan
Muna and Akbayan, the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya and the KMU will
greet Ms Macapagal with a work stoppage when she delivers her State of the
Nation Address on July 23.
The groups are pushing for a legislated wage increase.
Farmers and workers from Central and Southern Luzon are also expected to
join a "rural folk exodus" to Congress in Quezon City.
In a statement, the President yesterday said she would "strive to prevent
any increase in transport fares and take concrete moves to bring the prices
of medicine down within the next 12 months."
The KMU said Ms Macapagal's continued silence on the wage increase issue
meant that she is "deaf to the needs of workers" whose support she courted
at the height of the campaign to oust then President Joseph Estrada.
The militant groups called on workers here and abroad to send hate letters
to the President and Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas for allegedly
siding with business groups in the issue of wage increase.
Workers argue that businesses with a minimum capital of P10 million can
easily afford a wage increase since labor cost and compensation amount to
less than 10 percent of total cost of production.
Reacting to Sto. Tomas' complaint that she was "bombarded by hate mail"
after the INQUIRER erroneously reported that she was supporting the
P125-wage increase petition, Malunes said the labor chief should expect
more of such letters.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) and the Philippine
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) criticized Sto. Tomas after the
INQUIRER report came out.
Sto. Tomas has denied making any statement supporting a P125
across-the-board wage increase. The INQUIRER based its story on a press
statement purportedly issued by the labor department.
He said most medium-to-big businesses with at least P10 million in capital
could absorb the wage increase.
He explained that the ratio of total production cost in all industries had
gone down from 11.1 percent to 10.6 percent over the last five years.
Inquirer, 07/16/2001
LAWMAKERS WON'T BACK WAGE HIKE:
Congress is not likely going to pass a law
that would provide for a P125 across-the-board wage increase for workers.
This was disclosed by Rep. Jose de Venecia who said the leaders of the
various political parties feel a legislated wage hike was not necessary at
this time but should be left up to the regional wage boards.
"(House leaders) favor a wage increase but this should be decided by the
regional wage boards," De Venecia said.
He said the RWBs are in a better position to determine how much of an
increase to recommend in their respective regions.
Inquirer, 07/14/2001
ORGANIZED LABOR PRESSES FOR ABOLITION OF REGIONAL WAGE BOARDS:
Organized labor pressed yesterday for the abolition of regional wage boards as it
continued to push for a legislated P125 increase in workers' daily wages.
The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said it would not heed President
Arroyo's suggestion to file petitions for wage increases with the regional
wage boards since these panels — which are composed of representatives from
labor, management and government — no longer serve their purpose.
On the contrary, KMU spokesman Sammy Malunes said the wage boards have
betrayed the interest of workers by constantly pushing for wage increases
way below what reality dictates.
The President told Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas the other day that
workers should "follow the process" and go to the regional wage boards for
their demands.
But Malunes said wage boards are already inutile as they even ignored the
recommendations of the National Workers Productivity Commission (NWPC) to
grant a so-called living wage.
He said it was the wage boards that commissioned the NWPC to do a study on
how much salary ordinary workers need to sustain themselves and their
families.
Phil. Star, 07/11/2001
