THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is seeking an increase in the minimum wage in Central Visayas to address social problems such as malnutrition, hunger, poverty and the successive increases in prices of oil products.TUCP president Rep. Raymond Mendoza filed a petition for a P430 increase in the region’s daily minimum wage before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Monday, March 21, 2022.If the petition is approved by the board, this will more than double the current daily minimum wage in Central Visayas of P404 to P834.Central Visayas groups Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.In his eight-page petition, Mendoza cited the economic impacts of last December’s Typhoon Odette (Rai) and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.This is the first petition for a wage increase they have filed since the start of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020, Mendoza said.The RTWPB has approved only P20 and P18 increases in the minimum wage in Central Visayas for the years 2018 and 2020, respectively.Those wage increases had long been dissipated by the high cost of basic goods and services, even before they could be felt by minimum wage earners, said Mendoza.Mendoza further said this is the right time to implement an increase in the minimum wage to alleviate the plight of Filipino workers.TUCP national vice president Eva Arcos said with the existing minimum wage, one could afford only an estimated budget of P15 for a meal per person in a family of five.Lawyer Arcos presented the Department of Science and Technology’s “Pinggang Pinoy” model, saying that “the current minimum daily wage of P404 can only accord workers and their families nutritionally deficient survival meals.”The party-list group claimed that if the problem will be unaddressed, “an army of undernourished Filipino workers will have greater repercussions on the future of the country and of the economy.”Mendoza also presented a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte that requested the president’s “urgent intervention” to urge the RTWPB to swiftly act on the wage increase.Reacting to the wage hike petition, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Steven Yu said this would only threaten companies’ survival at this time.“Based on the general sentiment of the business community, their businesses will not survive if the proposed increase in wages will be approved anytime soon,” said Yu. “They are pleading for a respite of several months to jumpstart their businesses as the (Covid-19) quarantine restrictions are lifted after which they are willing to absorb a reasonable increase to help the employment sector.”“They cited the need to reopen businesses, create jobs to stabilize unemployment as current priorities. Most businesses are struggling to break even since people will not immediately rush out after being used to staying at home for two years,” the MCCI president told SunStar Cebu.Yu said the business sector had been affected by the rising prices of commodities too.“In fact, the businesses are the most directly hit by the fuel price increases. Some people can work from home, but businesses need to move their goods to serve the needs of the public. With this pandemic, many MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) lost their savings,” Yu said.As for the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, president Charles Kenneth Co said the chamber would not comment since a hearing for the petition would soon be conducted.Last week, oil firms implemented their 11th consecutive week of oil price hikes this year.The Department of Energy said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was just one of the reasons for the increase in oil prices, as the Philippines has had a longstanding problem in procuring supplies due to the sanctions imposed by the United States against oil producers including Iran and Venezuela, and now Russia, for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last Feb. 24. (KOC)