Wage Hike, Avarice, Poverty

By Reni M. Valenzuela

What comes in between wage hike proposals and poverty or upliftment of life’s condition for the working class is, as usual, avarice.

The P200 wage increase that has just been approved by the House labor panel is reasonable, justifiable, and a long-standing needed act by the government—an act a bit humane. Pardon me, dear fellow businessmen, for sounding like I don’t belong to “the group” because I belong more to the motherland.

The wage hike won’t bother you much or will not impoverish any one of you, big businesses. But the said wage overture in Congress will help (a little) the thousands or millions of Filipinos get out of the poverty threshold, as well as many of you get out of the bane typical in business people, with money possessing them instead of them possessing their money. Kaunting kabawasan lamang po sa inyong kita kumpara sa kabuuan ng inyong kayamanan.

Sa mga kabaro kong negosyante, look at things in ways transcendent of your graphs, targets, and goals that are mostly grasping and onerous, only for your companies to soar high and highest, and for you to be on top of the game, proudly ahead of everybody else in the business world. Such a competition mindset is blinding, spellbinding, and hell-sending. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have…” – Hebrews 13:5

Senator Joel Villanueva is on track calling on the Marcos Jr. administration to certify the legislated wage hike bill as urgent. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment and Human Resources Development, Villanueva underscored that “while the Philippine economy grew by 5.6% in 2024, this growth must be reflected in the well-being of the country’s workforce.” Spot-on, brother.

Time for big-time businesses to be instrumental in uplifting our country (from poverty) by giving or providing a better life for our people, beyond employing them (or using them). However, to our dear government: Make the wage increase equitable and just for the mini players (percentage-wise). I mean, do it fairly for them, proportionate to the size of the business. For conglomerates, giant corporations, the super rich, and those who sleep on money, it is just their craving “for more” that will be affected by the wage increase.

But for the dwarfs, I mean the micro and small businesses, and some medium-sized companies, such a hike would be unbearably, oppressively too high and could spell doom to each of them. Though, for the struggling ones, regardless of size (big or small), there should be some kind of “consideration” to be granted to them by the government (national and local) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Support rather than strict policies, requirements, and high taxes must be applied to the dinky, puny enterprises—not only to help them survive, thrive, and grow but also to spur economic growth for the country. It has been said many times over that “small business is the backbone of the economy.” But, sadly, it has been ringing hollow for the longest time, since our love for “too much” has gripped our hearts—too much profit for businessmen and too many taxes by the government.

Increase sin taxes and vice taxes as much as you want, dear BBM, and those that reasonably and morally warrant tax increases like everything that has to do with life’s vanity, luxury, indulgence, degradation, and devolution, but not taxes for the essentials or the things that matter most in life—to address inflation. Stop the importation of agricultural products. Develop instead our own producing capacity, capability, and ingenuity.

Remove VAT for micro and small businesses altogether, regardless of their income. Allow them to rise and grow. Tame the greed or “profiteering” of multinational, big pharmaceutical companies. Lower the cost of medicines and hospitalization. Tax medical doctors properly. Tax religious vainglory and the whims, caprices, and superfluities of big, wealthy churches (and cults) and their affiliate organizations.

Think about this: Certain mega churches can afford to give (as they do and as told by their former leaders or members) a tax-free monthly salary of P200,000 up to P400,000 or more to their pastors, ministers, officials, and their associates—yet they contribute nothing to the nation’s coffers.

This is crazy. This is not church. This is not separation of church and state. This is separation of church and God. This is a religious anomaly (both the amount and “tax-free”)—unchristian, ungodly, unbiblical, unbelievable, and unconscionable from all angles. God or Christ has nothing to do with it. Hence, a call for open financial transparency for huge, affluent churches is in order.

Moreover, may I propose the implementation of the 20% PWD (Persons With Disability) and senior discounts in all and every aspect of human existence, including pay parking areas everywhere, sans specific city designation. But stop the proliferation of fake IDs or fake PWD IDs.

Time to rise from the ashes of our own making. Time to truly progress and prosper as a people and nation. Time to be new creations. Time to change. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Email: renivalenzuelaletters@yahoo.com