Palace cool to monthly subsidy for minimum wage earners

Malacañang yesterday expressed reservation over the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposal to provide P200 monthly subsidy to the country’s four million minimum wage earners, saying it might require the government to raise taxes.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is eyeing the giving of monthly cash assistance to minimum wage earners for three years, saying it would help them cope with the rising prices of goods.

He said the budget department is studying where to source the funds.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said he does not know the status of Bello’s proposal, noting that the proposed budget for next year has been completed.

“Anything is possible, but of course it has to be discussed and examined. Of course, we raise taxes because we have projects to fund, but if we give benefits, where will we get the P200? That means taxes will have to be raised again?” Roque said.

“We need to balance these things,” he added.

Roque said the proposed cash assistance has to be studied by the economic team.

“Let’s see what will be agreed upon. We will have one final Cabinet meeting before the SONA (State of the Nation Address) so it might be discussed. It might be included in the budget proposal of Malacañang,” he said.

Duterte will deliver his third SONA on July 23.

The other day, Bello reported that he is recommending to President Duterte the granting of subsidy for minimum wage earners within a three-year period.

“It’s P200-amonth subsidy… We are giving it (at) one time so that is P2,400 for the whole year for about 4.1 million minimum wage earners nationwide,” Bello said.

Under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, the government has piloted the provision of unconditional cash transfer (UCT) of P200 a month or P2,400/year for about 10-million underprivileged beneficiaries.

Indigent senior citizens are also covered by the UCT.

When asked last Wednesday to react to the President’s remark, Diokno said it is not the case if one looks at “hard facts” and “not at impressions, not perceptions.”

Roque said Duterte was expressing “a preference that the Build, Build, Build projects in the provinces be implemented faster.”

“He (Duterte) has also shown impatience that the major projects appear to be taking long, and that’s why it’s a message for everyone to double time in their effort to begin and finish the major infrastructure projects that we have lined up,” the spokesman said.

“We’re still aiming for a majority of these projects to be finished within the term of the President. And unless we start soon, we may not be able to achieve that. I think that’s the message,” he added.