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Cost of living in NCR at P1,200/day—Partido ng Manggagawa estimate

Press Release

April 27, 2013

The labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) released its own study of the cost of living for a family of six in Metro Manila as of April this year that reveals it has already reached P1,217 a day. "This estimate shows that the gap between the P456 minimum wage in the NCR and the present cost of living is a yawning P761 or 167% of the ordinary wage. 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," stated Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

The group’s cost of living estimate did not provide for savings and social security which in the government’s 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 will significantly exceed P1,200 per day."

He added that "The National Wages and Productivity Council's cost of living estimate of P917 in 2008 is hopelessly outdated in the light of this study and in the face of continuing inflation." PM finds it a mystery why the NWPC has not updated its estimate for in the last five years. The group asserts that even if the P85 wage petition filed earlier this month is granted by the NCR wage board, such will not be enough to bridge the huge gap between the minimum wage and the cost of living.

PM however doubts that the NCR wage board will grant the pending wage petition. “Since the NCR wage board was established in 1989, no basic wage increase ever granted was above P30, whether the economy was in boom or bust. 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.

The group is advocating for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission is different in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge gap between the present minimum wage and the current cost of living, the National Wage Commission can achieve equalizing the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts at social security subsidies for workers,” Magtubo explained.

Magtubo also argued that "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 househelp. 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. Even the Kasambahay Law implicitly recognizes that a househelp is a necessity even for working class households. "

Cost of Living Estimate

for a family of 6 living in NCR (April 2013)

Items	Volume/Cost	Daily Cost	Monthly Cost	% share
Food & Beverages			16,029.70	43.92
rice	2.5kg/day x P35 (sinandomeng)	87.50	2,625
ulam & gulay	3 servings (P65/pax/day x 6 pax)	390	11,700
condiments	2kg onion (P65), 1kg garlic (P109), others	7.97	239
fruits	4kg  x P40 (banana)	5.33	160
cooking oil	2 liters x P95.45	6.36	190.90
sugar	2kg x P50	3.33	100
soy sauce	1 liter P32.25	1.08	32.25
vinegar	1 liter P26.75	0.89	26.75
fish sauce	1 liter P30.75	1.03	30.75
coffee	2 (100g) x P75.90	5.06	151.80
milk	3 (900g) x P257.75	25.78	773.25
Utilities			3,400	9.32
electricity	200kwh (P11.17/kwh)	74.47	2,234
water	20cu.m. (P20.80/cu.m)	13.87	416
LPG	1 cylinder	25	750
House rental			6,000	16.44
	1 month rent	200	6,000
Toiletries			1,224.10	3.35
soap	6 bars x P37.75	7.55	226.50
shampoo	2 (200ml ) x P99.80	6.65	199.60
sanitary napkins	3 (packs of 8) x P40.00	4	120
toothpaste	2 (150ml) x P67.50	4.5	135
laundry soap	24 (70g pack) x P9.50	7.60	228
deodorant	4 x P78.75	10.50	315
Education			3,748	10.27
enrollment fees	4 pax x P500 = P2000/schoolyear	5.56	167
school allowance	50 x 3 pax & 25 x 1 pax/day x 22 days x 10 months = P38,500/yr	107	3,208
theatre tickets	1 ticket x P160/grading x 4 periods x 4 pax/schoolyear	7.11	213
school projects	2 subjects x P60 /grading x 4 periods x 4 pax = P1,920/schoolyear	5.33	160
Health			198	0.54
ascorbic acid	6 (1 tablet ascorbic acid generic) X P1.10	6.60	198
Communications			1,500	4.11
phone or cellphone	at least P25/day load x 2	50	1,500
Transpo expenses			4,400	12.05
fare to and from work	2 pax x P100/day x 22days	146.67	4,400
Total		P1,216.66	P36,499.80

NOTES:

1.     Family is composed of a couple with 4 children. Children are all in public schools (3 HS level and 1 elementary), school supplies, work books expenses, internet use for research are not yet included

2.     Basket does not include bill for a house-help

3.     Utilities such as electricity and water vary from time to time depending on consumption so its ++

4.     No item for leisure/recreation

5.     Health budget does not include medical expenses

6.     No budget allotted for savings.  NWPC basket provides 10% of the total

Low wage policy, job fairs won’t bring Pilar and Pepe out of chronic poverty

PRESS RELEASE

25 April 2013

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The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) deplores the “no wage hike” on Labor Day announcement made by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) the other day, saying it is the country’s unemployment problem and low-wage policy that keeps Pilar and Pepe suffer a life of misery under chronic poverty.

The group declared that the call for a wage adjustment will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally planned by the labor coalition Nagkaisa. Today the coalition is holding a motorcade that will pass by different government agencies including DOLE. On the eve of Labor Day, PM is holding an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices.

The no wage hike announcement coincided with the release by the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) of a report indicating the country’s failure to cut poverty incidence during the last six years (2006-2012).

The same report also revealed that those who produce the country’s food requirements—the agricultural workers and fisherfolks—were the lowest paid among employed workers.

PM chair, Renato Magtubo, said he found Malacanang’s wage freeze announcement as a deliberate attempt to distance itself from the wage issue in anticipation of this poverty report by the NSCB. 

“Everybody is aware of the fact that poverty is deeply associated with income and the latter being the product of flawed employment and wage policy.  Yet the government is trying to skirt the wage issue as if this chronic problem of poverty is not enough to warrant immediate action even prior to the Labor Day celebration,” lamented Magtubo.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) in its last estimate (2008) placed the family living wage (FLW) in NCR at PhP 917 per day.  FLW is significantly higher in the poorest region of ARMM where it was estimated to reach PhP 1,322. 

PM is advocating for the implementation of the living wage concept provided under the 1987 Constitution as against the minimum wage concept under Republic Act 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Law.  The minimum wage in Metro Manila stands at only PhP446 a day or less than half of the desired FLW.

“To live a decent life, a Filipino family needs at least two minimum wage earners to survive a gruelling daily life in Metro Manila.  Sadly 27.9% of the population based on NSCB report cannot even get out of the poverty line as they have no source of income to meet the basic food and non-food requirements now estimated to be at PhP 7,821 a month or PhP 260  a day,” said Magtubo.

The labor leader likewise stressed that low wage and unemployment problems are twin issues that the government should address frontally and not through mega showcase such as job fairs done during Labor Day. PM is advocating a paradigm shift in the economic policy of the government as a step towards resolving the job and income crisis.

Jobs fairs are a job farce, say labor group

Press Release

April 24, 2013 

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) blasted the Labor Day job fairs announced by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz as a “job farce.” “These job fairs are a gimmick to cover up the truth that government is not doing anything significant to solve mass unemployment,” asserted Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

He explained that job fairs are simply job facilitation instead of job generation. “The government is propagating the myth that the problem is job mismatch and thus the solution is job matching and facilitation. Yet the figures do not lie—the unemployment rate remains at 7%, meaning some three million Filipinos are jobless. Millions more are not officially counted as unemployed because they not anymore looking for work after months and years of desperately looking for non-existent jobs,” Magtubo lamented.

He added that “Even a college diploma does not help since 17% of the unemployed are tertiary graduates. The 400,000 jobs allegedly being offered at the May 1 job fairs will not even suffice to provide employment for the 530,000 college graduates who entered the labor force this April.”

“Despite the much-vaunted 6.6% increase in gross domestic product last year and the 5% average rate even before, the unemployment rate and poverty incidence has remained high. Jobless GNP growth means Gutom Na Pilipino for the masses,” Magtubo avowed.

He insisted that “In fact job fairs are even contributing to joblessness since human resources personnel of private companies are being retrenched because their work has been outsourced to the Labor Department and public employment service offices of local governments.”

“Stop the Labor Day job fairs gimmick. This publicity stunt was invented during the illegitimate reign of Gloria Arroyo and has been continued by the administration of Noynoy Aquino albeit his anti-GMA stance. Gloria the economics teacher and PNoy the diligent student do not differ in their blind belief in the neoliberal dogma of the free market. Yet the private sector has historically failed in providing full employment,” Magtubo argued.

PM is advocating a paradigm shift in the economic policy of the government as a step towards resolving the jobs crisis. “In the short-term, the government will have to embark on a public employment program to provide gainful work to the millions of unemployed and underemployed. In the long-term, the country needs an economic policy and plan that will result in the development of domestic labor-intensive agriculture and industry,” Magtubo elaborated.

OFW na si Alona Bagayan, ihahatid na sa huling hantungan

PRESS RELEASE
10 April 2013 

Alas dos mamayang hapon ay nakatakda nang ihatid sa huling hantungan ang bangkay ng OFW na si Alona Bagayan na napabalitang nagpakamatay sa Dubai dalawang buwan lamang ang nakakaraan.

Ayon sa kapatid na si Maricel Bagayan, nakatakdang ilibing si Alona sa sementeryo ng San Antonio, sa bayan ng Kalayaan, lalawigan ng Laguna, matapos magsagawa ng misa at funeral march para sa hustisya ang kanilang mga kamag-anak, kababayan at mga tagasuporta.

Limang araw lamang ibinurol ang bangkay ni Alona dahil nais ng pamilya na mabigyan agad sya ng kapayapaan matapos ang malagim na sinapit sa Dubai.

 Ayon kay Maricel, si Alona ay hindi nagpakamatay kundi’y pinatay ng isang kriminal sa Dubai.  Wala umano silang ibang suspek kundi ang employer nito na si KHALIFA KHADIM SUROOR ALMEASAM AL FALASI, na ngayon lang nakilala ng pamilya dahil matagal na itinago sa kanila ng recruitment agency at maging ng ating embahada sa Dubai.

Napag-alaman din na ang employer ni Alona ay anak ng dating mataas na opisyal ng pulisya at bahagi ng maimpluwensyang pamilya sa Dubai.  Kaya lalong nagduda ang pamilya na may cover-up sa pagkamatay ni Alona, na ayon sa autopsy report ng Dubai Police ay nag-suicide sa pamamagitan ng paglaslas sa kamay, pagsaksak ng 2 beses sa tiyan, paghiwa sa leeg, at pagtalon sa gusali.

Nananawagan ang pamilyang Bagayan sa pamahalaang Aquino na tulungan sila sa paghahanap ng hustisya para kay Alona.

Ayon naman kay Wilson Fortaleza, tagapagsalita ng Partido ng Mangaggawa at nakaalalay sa pamilya sa kasong ito, ang pagbibigay ng hustisya kay Alona ay responsibilidad hindi ninuman kundi’y ng pamahalaan.

Sinabi pa ni Fortaleza na ang pagpatay kay Alona ay mauulit ng ilang beses sa iba pang OFW kung makikita ng mga Arabo na balewala ang buhay ng OFW sa mata mismo ng sariling gubyerno.

Hinamon din ni Fortaleza ang administrasyong Aquino na unahin ang pagbibigay-hustisya sa mga gaya ni Alona, kaysa mang-enganyo pa ng mang-eganyo ng mga OFW palabas ng bansa pero hindi naman protektado at hinahayaan na lang silang humarap sa mga peligro na walang suporta ng gubyerno.