Kamanggagawa party-list seeks to abolish provincial wage rate system

FILE PHOTO: The P35 daily wage increase for private sector workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila earns criticisms from various labor groups pushing for higher and decent pay for hardworking Filipinos. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines – The Kamanggagawa party-list will seek to increase wages among workers, and abolish the provincial rate system once elected in the 2025 midterm elections, its first nominee Eli San Fernando said on Tuesday.

San Fernando, who is a content creator and the vice president of National Federation of Labor, said that the party-list has two main platforms.

“Una, buwagin na ang walang kwentang provincial rate. Panahon na para ipantay ang sahod ng manggagawa. NCR [National Capital Region], Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao,” San Fernando said in a speech after filing the certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) for the party-list.

(First, we will abolish the nonsense provincial rate. It is time for the wage of workers to be equal. NCR, Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.)

“Pangalawa kailangan itaas ang sahod ng mga manggagawa. Yung mismong DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] na nagsasabi na kasya ang sahod, hindi namin pinaniniwalaan. Panahon na para itaas ang sahod ng manggagawa,” he added.

(Second, there needs to be an increase in the wage of the workers. DOLE itself said that this will suffice but we don’t believe that. It is time to increase the wage of the workers.)

In July, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved the P35 daily wage hike for private sector workers in Metro Manila, increasing their daily wage from P610 to P645.

Further, San Fernando noted that the party-list is willing to work with anyone who will also push for the same advocacies.

“Maaaring may maging kaalyado, maaaring makinig sa plataporma at sinasabi ng Kamanggagawa party-list and we are more than willing to work with them,” the first nominee said.

(There might be an ally that will listen to our platforms and what the Kamanggagawa party-list says and we are more than willing to work with them.)