Corn farmers, fisherfolk only ones covered, to cushion oil price hit
With fuel prices expected to hit record highs next week, only corn farmers and fisherfolk so far are entitled to receive a P3,000 fuel subsidy from the government, a Department of Agriculture official said Saturday.
“Only corn farmers and fisherfolk are on the list of 162,000 beneficiaries of the subsidy,” DA Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista said in an interview on Dobol B TV.
The aid is meant to ease the impact of the series of fuel price hikes on their livelihood, she said.
This developed as the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said Saturday it is open to the Labor Department’s directive to review minimum wages, but workers should not keep their hopes high as there are “realities” to be considered.
According to projections by Unioil Petroleum Philippines in its fuel price forecast for the trading week of March 15 to 21, the price per liter of diesel may skyrocket by P12.20 to P12.30.
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, are estimated to surge between P6.80 and P7.00 per liter.
Evangelista clarified that while rice farmers are not on the list, they are supported by another cash grant program called Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA), where they would receive P5,000 in cash aid.
“Now, we are looking into corn farmers so this time they will receive aid,” she said.
Likewise, farmers of vegetables and high-value crops are not included in the list of beneficiaries for the fuel subsidy.
Evangelista said the DA is helping them by giving trucks to farmer cooperatives.
Oil companies are poised to jack up the price of diesel by an unprecedented P12.20 to P12.30 and gasoline by P6.80 to P7 a liter next week, prompting the Department of Energy (DOE) to appeal for a staggered increase to ease the shock on consumers.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), however, rejected growing calls for the government to suspend the collection of excise taxes on fuel products, saying it would cost the government some P117 billion in lost revenue.
Economic managers instead favor “targeted relief assistance” such as a P3 billion fuel subsidy and discount vouchers for drivers of public utility vehicles.
The DA has a budget of P500 million through fuel discounts to assist farmers and fisherfolk who either individually own and operate agricultural and fishery machinery or operate via a farmers’ organization or cooperative.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the department is working with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to distribute the cards to be used by the beneficiaries next week.
Meanwhile, ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said during the Laging Handa public briefing: “We have no problem with the review… There is a compelling reason, prices went up especially with the war in Ukraine, that’s why there is a need to review.”
“However, there are realities… These are the realities so that there are no false expectations,” Ortiz-Luis said.
Among the “realities” to be considered, the ECOP chief said, is that out of the 44 million workers in the labor market, only 16% are in the formal sector or those with an employer-employee relationship.
Meanwhile, 84% are informal workers such as tricycle drivers, farm workers, and small business owners.
With this, Ortiz-Luis said only the formal sector will benefit from raising minimum wages, since this sector is “under the auspices of DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment].”
“Among the 16%, not all are minimum wage workers,” he said, noting that only 10% of those in the informal sector are minimum wage earners.
The ECOP chief said adjusting the minimum wage will create “distortions” as employers will adjust the prices of their goods and services which will have greater effect on the consuming public.
Half of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which employ about 65% of the workforce, have closed shop during the pandemic and it will be difficult for them to raise wages, he added.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier ordered Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPB) to review minimum wages across all 17 regions amid the skyrocketing prices of fuel.
Bello said the current daily minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR), for instance, of P537 may no longer be enough to cope with the price of basic commodities such as food, electricity, and water bills.
Ortiz-Luis said ECOP “have no objection in reviewing it,” admitting that the minimum wage is not a “living wage” or “not intended to support a family of four or five.”
He noted that the minimum wage “is an entry-level wage” and is intended for students who just graduated so they will not be abused by employers.
