Do I still trust President Aquino ( the current president of the Republic of the Philippines )?

The month of May marks the one year anniversary of the 2010 national elections and as many of us Filipinos look back to the years before, it seems that nothing much has changed. Thoughts such as mentioned is a hot issue on many surveys and polls and a hot topic on the television an radio news. So, "Do I still trust President Aquino ( the current president of the  Republic of the Philippines  )?"

As to the question, there are things that I would like to express:

1. I do not support any political party. 

2. The people I've voted during the elections, are people chosen by me.

3. I am not a die hard Aquino family fan.

4. The things that I write are my opinion. So, just hear me out.

YES. I STILL TRUST OUR PRESIDENT DESPITE things and many other living situations in Philippines are not so pleasing to many right now.

MY REASONS:

1. On the day that the President presented to the Filipino people his platform he promised us two things, first that he would eliminate corruption here in the Philippines and second, that he would solve the growing poverty situation here in the Philippines. Such promises are broad and pervasive in many sectors of the Philippines and it is quite difficult to eliminate immediately what with all the rising prices and the existence of other people who are corrupt.

2. As to the promise of eliminating poverty, its hard to eliminate. As I've mentioned there is rapid inflation worldwide  and that is something that the President cannot control. In the first place he doesn't have control of such crisis. It is not like he owns every industry here in the Philippines so that he can control the prices especially when the Philippines is much dependent on  imports.

3. We may have good presidents, however,  as the saying goes, " No matter how good the tree is, despite such, it can still grow bad fruits". To put it simply no matter how good the president is, he is not corrupt, etc., if he is surrounded by people who are corrupt, then his government is no good. Such corrupt people will undermine the way he manages the government, his leadership. We Filipinos tend to overlook leadership and would prefer more to see the President in action. That the president be the one doing everything. If we can't see that then we immediately say that the president is no good, which is a bad habit of many of us Filipinos.

4. If we can't  help ourselves from poverty, how much more if the President. We ourselves have to work hard, think properly.Strategize because as far I'm concerned, living here in the Philippines is like business, you have to watch out and learn and know our life's risk and diversify.  I will tell you a situation here in the Philippines why many would cry from poverty. Not many people, both in the provinces and in the many cities, are uneducated and illiterate because they are poor, they work and by sometime they get laid-off by some company, they happen to have a family, a  wife and husband , who either both work or either of the two for a meager salary of below the minimum ( Php285), an example wage would by Php150/day but they have  9 children. So, how do you expect them to support their family.

To be continued..........................................................................................................................................

 

So,Why do most of the employers here in Cebu and of the other regions opt for a no increase on the wage rate?

With regards to the title, the reason why most of the employers would not want a wage increase is because they see this as an increase, on their part, of expense.  Increasing the employees wages would increase their cost and lessen their profit. 

Yes, of course, increasing the wage of your employees is indeed a cost. An expense. However, what these employers do not see is that by increasing  the wages of their employees they are actually increasing the purchasing power of the latter. That by increasing the latter's wages, they can buy not only their basic needs but also of their children and etc. That these employees could possibly purchases their own employers products. And that these employees could possibly purchase not only their basic needs but could also afford other luxuries.

With all the economic crisis they say- although I don't think I could see that much here in Cebu since it seems that many are buying lands, cars and other luxuries-  and the rising prices of the commodities, I think that its about time that these employers increase the wage rate or else face the risk of having a rapid turnover of employees, although I can hardly imagine such thing happening  since there are a lot of unemployed people not only in this region, Region 7- Central Visayas,  of the Philippines but also the rest of the country.

Why is there a difference between labor wage in the different regions of the Philippines?

Hi, wmnrulz here. It's been four days since I published this blog and this is my first post.

Recently, I've been listening to the news over the radio, particularly listening to DYAB 1512, - this is a well known radio station here in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. One of the latest issues of today  here in the Philippines talks about raising the labor wage rate in the Philippines. However, sad to say, one of the things that I'm confused with is that, why is there a difference between the labor wage in the different regions of the Philippines?, which is the title of this post and my concern.

Why do I ask such a question? Some people may not know- particularly those who are not from the Philippines- is that there is a huge difference between labor wages in the different regions of the mentioned country. Take for example this research posted on the year 2008 by one of the leading broadcasting stations here in the Philippines: 

Daily minimum wage rates

04/16/2008 | 02:55 PM

  

 

The tables below show the current minimum wage rates in the Philippines, as well as the history of wage increases in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Of all the regions in the Philippines, the NCR has the highest minimum wage rates at P325 for agricultural workers and P325-362 for non-agricultural workers.

Daily Minimum Wage Rages Nationwide current, by region (in pesos) Sources: National Wages and Productivity Commission, BusinessWorld

Region WO No./ Date of Effectivity Non-Agriculture   Agriculture Notes     Plantation   Non-Plantation NCR WO 13/ Aug 28, 2007 325.00-362.00 325.00 P 50.00 per day COLA integrated into basic pay; plus P12 increase CAR WO 12/ Jan 7, 2008 233.00-245.00 216.00 - 227.00 granted P4-P10 COLA per day depending on the area and industry classification I WO 12/ Dec 31, 2007 210.00-230.00 210.00 185.00 P 3-15 wage increase II WO 12/ Nov 25, 2007 215.00-223.00 203.00-211.00 P 5 wage increase III WO 13/ Sep 27, 2007 236.00 - 287.00 221.00 - 257.00 201.00 - 241.00 Granted P 9.00 Cost of Living Allowance IV-A WO 12/ Oct 5, 2007 224.00-300.000 204.00-275.00 184.00-255.00 P 6-13 wage increase IV-B WO 03/ Nov 25, 2007 225.00-237.00 188.00-197.00 168.00-177.00 P 2-16 wage increase V WO 12/ Dec 1, 2007 183.00-226.00 194.00-204.00 174.00-184.00 P 6 wage increase VI WO 15/ Oct 5, 2007 215.00-235.00 195.00-203.00 193.00 P 4-41 wage increase VII WO 13/ Nov 11, 2007 205.00-250.00 185.00-232.00 P 5 & P9 wage increase VIII WO 14/ Dec 16, 2007 228.00 209.00 P 10 additional COLA IX WO 14/ Jan 23, 2008 225.00 200.00 180.00   X WO 13/ Nov 16, 2007 229.00-244.00 217.00-232.00 P 10 additional COLA XI WO 14/ Sep 16, 2007 248.00 - 250.00 238.00 - 240.00 217.00 - 219.00 Granted additional P 10 Cost of Living Allowance XII WO 14/ Oct 8, 2007 229.50 212.00 209.00 P 3-5 additional Cost of Living Allowance XIII WO 08/ Nov 7, 2007 220.00 210.00 190.00 P 6 COLA ARMM WO 10/ Jan 4, 2008 200.00 200.00 200.00

Daily minimum wage rates in Metro Manila (NCR) past and current (in pesos) Source: National Wages and Productivity Commission, BusinessWorld

RA/ Wage Order Effectivity date  Amount Basic Wage Allowance Total agri non-agri agri non-agri RA 6727 1-Jul-1989 89.00   89.00 WO 01 1-Nov-1990 106.00   106.00 WO 02 8-Jan-1991 118.00   118.00 WO 03 16-Dec-1993 135.00   135.00   1-Apr-1994 145.00   145.00 WO 04 2-Feb-1996 161.00   161.00   1-May-1996  165.00    165.00 WO 05 6-Feb-1997 180.00   180.00   1-May-1997 185.00   185.00 WO 06 6-Feb-1998 198.00   198.00 WO 07 Oct 31,1999 198.00 223.50   198.00 223.50 WO 08 1-Nov-2000 213.00 250.00   213.00 250.00 WO 09 5-Nov-2001 213.00 250.00 15.00 228.00 265.00   1-Feb-2002 213.00 250.00 30.00 243.00 280.00  WO 10 10-Jul-2004 213.00 250.00 50.00 263.00 300.00 WO 11 16-Jun-2005 238.00 275.00 50.00 288.00 325.00 WO 12 July 2006 263.00 300.00 50.00 313.00 350.00 WO 13 6-Aug-2007 263.00 300.00 50.00 + 12.00 325.00 362.00

See for the original site: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/89669/Daily-minimum-wage-rates

So you see, that was most of the wage increases here in the Philippines since 2008. This year 2011, as I've heard on the the news, the Wage Board is planning to again increase the wage rate. However, others may rejoice from this news but others are saddened.

As of this year , for example , Manila ( located in the NCR) has a minimum wage rate of around Php424 and is to be increased by the adoption of the COLA ( Cost of Living Allowance ) granting a Php22 increase on the take-home pay . This COLA is not an ECOLA ( Emergency Cost of Living Allowance) which can be easily removed or not paid by the employers if the emergency is gone. However, when it comes to overtime pay  the basis would be the minimum wage rate without the COLA multiplied by the appropriate overtime percentage for the worker to get his/her take-home pay. Happy are those who work in the NCR and how unfortunate are those in the other regions. Here in Cebu,located in the Region 7-Central Visayas Region of the Philippines, where I happen to live, the minimum wage  is Php285. Sadly, the Regional Wage Board and most of the  employers, despite the clamor from the employess  for an increase due to increasing prices of the different goods  also  opt for a no increase. Tsk..Tsk.

So, I just want to hear out what you think of this situation?