CORPORATE TAX RATE CUT CAN SPUR PRIVATE SECTOR NOD
CHIZ PUSHES FOR P125 WAGE HIKE, HITS CONTRACTUALIZATION

Opposition Sen. Chiz Escudero is batting for major reforms in the country's labor policies, starting with a legislated across-the-board wage increase and limits to labor contractualization.

In a statement, Escudero said the government has failed to protect the rights and welfare of workers and instead has paid lip service to the labor sector.

"The Philippine Constitution recognizes the importance of labor and mandates that the State shall protect workers' rights and promote their welfare. But the sad reality is that workers do not receive their fair share," he said.

The present minimum wage varies per region, but Escudero said the common denominator is that all regional levels fall far short of the daily living wage.

The daily living wage is the amount needed to provide for a six-member family's food and non-food expenditures, with sufficient allowance for savings or investment for social security to enable a family to live and maintain a decent standard of human existence.

Escudero cited the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) of P362 per day which is a far cry from the P800 daily living wage.

"In Mindanao it is worse: the ARMM minimum wage is P200 per day while the daily living wage is P1,000. There is no way to justify such disparities. When the amount earned each day is less than half of what's needed just survive, then there is something seriously wrong somewhere," he said.

Escudero said the dismal failure of regional wage boards to allow the adjustments necessary for workers to earn a decent living has made it necessary to legislate the increase.

But he also noted that President Arroyo has prioritized only four pro-labor legislative measures - one of which exempts minimum wage earners from income tax - despite over 700 measures filed in the House of Representatives.

"There should be no debate as to the need for the increase. Since 2001, bills have been filed to legislate the increase. In 2004, the increase came close to becoming law until President Arroyo bowed to pressure from business groups. This is inexcusable," the opposition lawmaker added.

"Ang mga pinangako ng pangulo mula noong naupo siya ay napako na, at ang ating mga manggagawa ang naging kawawa sa patuloy n'yang pag dead-ma sa problema," he added.

He said the government itself has recognized the need to increase wages, having done so for government employees several times in the past decade. "Why then should the government not obligate the private sector to extend the same to minimum wage earners?," Escudero asked.

He said the government can effect a wage hike by cutting the corporate tax rate from the current 32 percent to 20 percent, thus providing employers with a cushion for the additional expenses to absorbed from the wage increases.

At the same time, the senator assailed the propagation of the policy of contractualization in the workplace. "While job contracting has its positive points, workers hired by agencies through the job contracting scheme are the most underpaid, neglected and oppressed among the country's workforce," he said.

Contracting or subcontracting refers to an arrangement whereby a principal agrees to put out or farm out with a contractor or subcontractor the performance or completion of a specific job, work or service within a definite or predetermined period, regardless of whether such job, work or service is to be performed or completed within outside the premises of the principal.

"Flexible labor arrangements and 'casualization' do not provide workers tenurial security, a basic right under the Constitution. Casuals often get measly pay and no benefits at all. In such cases, contractualization becomes a very oppressive tool that violates the very spirit of equality enshrined in our Constitution," he said.

Escudero pushed for legislation that would limit "labor-only" contracting. "A worker's right to security of tenure is repeatedly violated by employers through 'labor-only' contracting. We must require employers to hire or maintain regular employees which should not be less than 80 percent of their total workforce," he said.

The opposition senator called for an immediate stop to practices that prevent workers from becoming regular employees and the denial by employers of the existence of an employee-employer relationship that violates the right of workers to security of tenure.

"Labor-only contracting subverts the intention of Article 281 of the Labor Code which provides that 'an employee who is allowed to work after a probationary period (of six months), whether broken or not, shall be considered a regular employee,'" he said.