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Sonny Matula to seek at least P100 minimum wage hike in Senate
If elected into office in Eleksyon 2025, senatorial aspirant and labor leader Sonny Matula said Thursday he would push for a P100 to P150 daily minimum wage increase.
Matula, who currently sits as president of the Federation of Free Workers and chairperson of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, said he supports the moves at the Senate and the House of Representatives to increase the wages of Filipino workers. Matula is also affiliated with the Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP).
"Sinusuportahan natin ang unang pinalabas ng Senado na additional P100 at sa House of Representatives ay may nakabinbin ngayon na P150 daily wage increase sa buong Pilipinas. 'Yan ang una nating gagawin," he said on Super Radyo dzBB's "Ikaw na Ba? The Senatorial Interviews."
(We support the Senate bill for a P100 minimum wage hike, and the House bill for a P150 daily minimum wage hike nationwide. That's the first thing we will do.)
"[A]t naglo-lobby kami sa kasalukuyan, 'yung P150 sa House, kasi pumasa na po sa Senado ‘yung P100, kaya isang struggle ‘yan kung hindi maipasa ng ating House ay ‘yun ang itutuloy natin ‘pag napili tayo sa Senado," he added.
(We're currently lobbying the P150 daily wage increase at the House because the P100 was already approved at the Senate. It would be a struggle if that will not be approved by the House, and that's what we'll push for if elected Senator.)
(Currently, the desired wage is at about P1,200, but the minimum wage in Metro Manila is only P645, so there's still a big gap.)
In February 2024, the Senate approved on third and final reading Senate Bill 2534, which seeks to increase the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector by P100.
Days after that, 77 members of the House of Representatives also authored the proposed legislated P150 daily minimum wage hike for private sector workers.
Matula said that included in the 15-point agenda of the Trade Union Movement are livable wages, regular work, and protection of the rights of the working class to form a union and enter collective bargaining negotiations.
K-12 employability
The senatorial aspirant also shared possible solutions on how to improve the employability of graduates of the senior high school (SHS) program of basic education.
Matula lamented that employers still currently prefer college graduates over those who only finished K-12. Thus, he said, skills of the K-12 graduates need to be upgraded for them to compete in the labor market.
"Siyempre kinakailangan talaga natin na i-upgrade din ang skills ng ating mga estudyante. Kami ay nalulungkot nu'ng binawasan 'yung budget natin sa computer education sa DepEd na kinakailangan natin 'yan sa pagharap natin sa modern technology at du'n sa artificial intelligence," he said.
(We really need to upgrade the skills of our students. We are saddened that DepEd's budget for computer education was reduced. We need that to deal with modern technology and artificial intelligence.)
"Kinakailangan talaga na skilled ang ating mga estudyante na ga-graduate sa high school para at least masagot natin at matutukan natin ang challenge ng artificial intelligence na hindi na natin maiiwsasan," he continued.
(It's really necessary that students who will graduate from senior high school are skilled so that we can address employability and focus on the challenge of artificial intelligence that we can no longer avoid.)
Matula also said that the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 should be reviewed to address the problems in the employability of SHS graduates.
The curriculum of senior high school underwent a review in a bid to address the emerging challenges in its implementation and later on produce more job-ready graduates.
The phased implementation of the revised SHS curriculum is set to begin in School Year 2025-2026, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said Wednesday.
Angara reiterated that under the revised curriculum for Grades 11 and 12, the core subjects will be reduced from 15 to just 5 to 7. He said that the "important subjects" that will remain include communications, Filipino history, basic math and science, computing, and life or soft skills. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
