After reiterating his support for the P200 across-the-board minimum wage increase in the private sector, former senator and senatorial candidate Kiko Pangilinan lamented how the current minimum wage in the country can no longer shoulder the daily expenses of Filipinos. 

Sympathetic to the plight of laborers and workers, the former senator noted that the recent SWS survey showing that 55% of families rated themselves as “poor” is proof that Filipinos are suffering from the high prices of food and goods. 

“Matindi ang daing ng ating mga kababayan dahil mataas ang presyo ng pagkain at iba pang bilihin. And therefore, what we really have to do is to address these,” he said in an interview on Bombo Network News on Tuesday, April 29. 

“Wala nang mabili ang minimum wage,” he bemoaned, noting that a kilo of pork is priced at P420 while premium rice is at P60 per kilo. 

The current minimum wage in Metro Manila is P645 a day. 

“Eh doon lang sa pagkain hindi na kasya ang minimum wage. Paano pa ang para sa gamot, para sa pamasahe, para sa kuryente, etc.? Kulang talaga,” he added. 

Pangilinan has expressed support for the call of the labor sector to increase by P150 to P200 the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector. 

“We support itong panawagan ng ating labor sector na nationwide legislated minimum wage of around anywhere between P150 daily to P200 daily,” he stressed. 

A measure pushing for the P200 daily minimum wage increase authored by the TUCP Partylist

was approved by the House of Representatives on second reading and is set for third and final reading this June. 

If approved, the law would require all private businesses, regardless of size and industry, to implement a P200 wage hike daily. 

The former senator earlier expressed his “full and unequivocal support” for the call of the National Wage Coalition, which included the TUCP, to President Marcos to certify the pending measure as urgent.