Cost of living more than one and a half times the minimum wage

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino family of six living in Metro Manila needs P933 a day to survive, more than one and a half times the ordinary wage, a labor group said, citing its own study.
In a statement, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said that its study has indicated that the “gap between the P362 minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the present cost of living is already a terrible P571 or 160% of the ordinary wage."
The group maintains that a more thorough survey may reveal that the actual cost of living is higher than P933 since its study did not provide for savings and social security which in the NWPC basket of goods and services constitutes 10% of the cost of living.
Furthermore, PM’s study did not include items such as leisure and recreation, and the family budget for health excluded medical expenses.
Magtubo said that “If we include such items and we must in a more accurate survey then the cost of living may reach P100 per day and thus breach the three-digit mark."
“Also since we should not impose the burden of household chores and child rearing to the female parent, then the basket of goods should provide for a house-help. That is not anymore a luxury especially in the light of the insistence of the state that both parents must work instead of having just a single breadwinner," Magtubo argued.
The group’s estimates is also ten percent higher than those made by the National Wages and Productivity Council in March.
The agency’s “estimate of the cost of living as of March 2008 that stands at P 858 have to be updated in the light of this study and in the face of the inflation over the past month," the statement said.
Even if both parents work—which is the buy one, take one policy of the government—then their combined income will not be enough to feed the entire family," Renato Magtubo, Partido ng Manggagawa chair said.
The group once more lambasted the NCR regional wage board for its announcement that no wage order is forthcoming in one month.
“The wage boards must be abolished for being inutile. Its wage orders are always delayed, stingy and benefits merely a small section of workers because it is not across-the-board and riddled with exemptions, deferments and creditability clauses," declared Magtubo, adding that the wage hike must be legislated and across-the-board.
Even if the P80 wage petition is granted by the regional board or the P125 wage hike is passed by Congress then either will not be enough to bridge the yawning gap between the minimum wage and the cost of living.
“Thus it is necessary to combine direct wage increases with tax exemptions and subsidies on social security contributions and prices of basic goods in order to increase the take-home pay to a level near the cost of living," Magtubo said.
Since the group believes that the pending bill providing tax exemptions for married couples earning P200,000 yearly is not enough, PM is pushing for P250,000 in individual tax breaks for wage and salaried workers.
“We should exempt not just minimum wage earners from withholding taxes but all workers whose income fall below the cost of living. If capitalists cannot give workers a wage commensurate to the cost of living then the state has no right to further reduce their meager take-home pay," Magtubo explained. - GMANews.TV