NO LESS than the Labor chief acknowledged before Congress on Thursday that current wages “are not enough” to sustain Filipinos’ cost of living.
Addressing the House appropriations committee hearing, Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma promised: “We will not stop our interventions [to be able to reach] what may not be ideal, but at least the suitable wage to lift the current conditions of workers and their families.”
He added: “The regional tripartite wages and productivity boards, with or without petition, take action.”
In addition, Labor Undersecretary Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio, Jr. assured the committee that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) supports a proposed law protecting the rights and welfare of freelance workers.
House Bill No. 6718, the Freelance Workers Protect Act, was passed on third and final reading last Feb. 6, while a similar measure remains pending at the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
