Twenty, Nine, and Forty

Recent news that I like to react on:


1. Twenty is for Twenty Pesos. Metro wage is up by twenty pesos. This is about 5.52% higher than the present P362.00 minimum wage "enjoyed" by Metro workers. The better news is that they get to enjoy only 15 pesos on their basic pay. 5 pesos will accrue first to COLA. In CALABARZON, it will be the same - 20 pesos ( up 6.67% from the present 300.00). The betterer news is that inflation is moving at a fast rate of 2.0% month on month. Meaning, this legislation is too little and too late. When was the last legislated wage increase? .... When? ... See, you can't even remember.

The best news of course is that mose SMEs (Small and Medium Ent's) are now following legislated wage increases. So, the resolution? Be an entrepreneur. At least you get blamed for not giving wage increases. Problem? Capital. Where to get this? Ahmmm.... savings. How to accumulate savings? Extra money from ... income. Oh well. Let's be priests/pastors/religious leaders then. At the least, they aren't problematic about these things.

What to buy with this 20 pesos?

Ok. Let's see. For monthly-paid employees, this increase boils down to (Handbook on Workers' Statutory and Monetary Benefits):


P20.00 x 365 / 12 = 608.33 a month. Less tax, it will return around 480.00-500.00.

What to buy with this enormous increase in salary for the ordinary Filipino worker?

1 kilo of NFA rice. Of course, you have to fall in line and walk to and from the seller's place because you don't have extra money for transportation.

20 Pesos corresponds to 2 tricycle rides from our house to Balibago. I have extra 6 pesos, which I can add for my P35.00 fare to Makiling, Calamba. Of course, I am not part of the increase since I am not a minimum wage earner. But this is the scenario for minimum wage earners.

Ooops. 20 pesos cannot be used for transportation, because the jeepney operators and drivers are asking an increase in the fare.

On second thought, 20 pesos can be used to finance the Everybody text 20 of Globe. Hooray. You can now text 100 msgs Globe-to-Globe and 10 messages to other network. What a plan.

20 pesos. It is not even enough to buy canned goods:

Vienna Sausage (46.50)
Luncheon Meat (31.75)
Corned Beef (56.00)

Hence, in the grim and brutal sense of the real world - away from the ivory towers of Golf Courses and Malacañang, 20 pesos amounts to nothing for the Filipino people. Problem is, any increase in wages is an additional cost on the part of the business owners. Costs that cannot - in any conceivable way possible - be absorbed by the business investor. What to do then? Increase prices of end products. This is Capitalism at its best.

I am an investor, too. Only, policymakers shouldn't lean on the capitalist's side too much. Unless we want a class revolution again.

What to do? I don't know. I am just blogging.



2. Nine. Nine deaths in the RCBC-Cabuyao bank robbery. Crimes almost always depict the sorry state of the worker class. An ordinary Filipino - educated by the Church and the school - is not a criminal. S/he is a patient, hardworking fellow, who would foolishly look towards the joys of heaven rather than the foul stench of their house by the railroad. What drives them to crimes? I answer, despair. Why do they despair. Lack of opportunites to live life to the fullest. Why? They lack education. Why? They are very poor. Why? They are twelve, fifteen in the family. Why? They lack reason because they weren't educated. Solution. Crush population increase. Focus on educating the poor. What if they don't listen?

Mommy: Sometimes, the poor are poor because of their own doing.
Zarathustra: Gas 'em. Call Malthus. Call Hitler. Gas 'em all. "...What we need is a little suicide, and a little genocide..."
George: This is my blog. Stop that.

I was a banker for ten years, and was so lucky not to have experienced bank robbery in the branch. I was even an armored car teller for six months. But all we did was smoke and collect hazard pay. They were happy days. But this is sad. If I were a bank personnel today, I would tell my staff and employees to wear black for this sad day in banking history in the Philippines.


3. Forty. Last number for today. This is the headline: Manila moves up in world competitiveness. We now rank forty in the World Competitiveness Yearbook, among fifty-five countries. Last year, we were at 45. Is this something to be proud of?

Not really, since Singapore (2), HK (3), Malaysia (19), Thailand (27), and India (29) were deemed more competitive than us. The only Asian country behind us is Indonesia at 51. US is still number 1 (for fifteen straight years now), but is showing signs of weakness. Japan used to be at the top, but is now at 22.

According to Manila Standard, the study lists 55 economies according to some 331 criteria that measure how a nation creates and maintains conditions favorable to businesses. Oh, that is the reason why this nonsense is not felt by the ordinary citizens. Because it talks about businesses.

Come to think of it, policymakers here are really pro-business, being landowners and businessowners themselves.

As fitting last words, let us quote the noblest policies contained in our nation's road map, the Constitution:

Section 4. The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. ....

Section 5. The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy.

STATE POLICIES

Section 9. The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.

Section 10. The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development.

Section 18. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.

...

Noble words for such a sick society.


The Constitution can be accessed through http://lawphil.net