DOLE eyes subsidy for minimum wage earners

MANILA, Philippines — To help workers cope with the spiraling costs of basic commodities, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is eyeing to give financial assistance to minimum wage earners nationwide.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III yesterday reported that he is recommending to President Duterte the granting of subsidy for minimum wage earners within a three-year period.

“It’s P200 a month subsidy… we are giving it (at) one time so that is P2,400 for the whole year” for about 4.1 million minimum wage earners nationwide, Bello disclosed.

Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo Benavidez said the DOLE intends to give the financial assistance for three consecutive years.

Bello added that a P200 monthly subsidy is the amount the government can afford at this time.

The Department of Budget and Management is expected to determine from where the budget will come, Bello said, adding that the Department of Finance is amenable to the proposal.

The labor chief said he is hoping the President will approve and announce the granting of the monthly subsidy to workers during his State of the Nation Address.

“We are not sure if it will be approved, but it will be our recommendation,” Bello said.

For their part, workers are hoping that Duterte will approve the monthly subsidy.

“We appeal to President Duterte to please make, this time around, the right decision in favor of workers by granting not just P200 (in) subsidy but P500, just what we have proposed to him,” Associated Labor Unions spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.

Tanjusay, however, said a P200 monthly subsidy is not sufficient, but it would provide relief to cash-strapped workers. He added that they would continue to convince DOLE to raise the amount.

Militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) also expressed hopes for a swift approval of the subsidy.

PM chairman Renato Magtubo said the amount being proposed by DOLE is low but a welcome respite for poor workers.

“The monthly subsidy of P200 to minimum wage earners, although small, would help tide (their) income against the rising cost of living,” Magtubo said.

Meanwhile, Rep. JB Bernos of Abra is pushing for new property and labor laws, which are attuned to a “sharing economy” that involves peer-to-peer sharing of goods. – With Artemio Dumlao