Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Armm okays P10 daily wage increase; creates body on rice situation
KORONADAL CITY -- The regional wage board in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) has approved a P10 daily wage hike for workers in the private sector.
A task force was also created to address the rice problem in the area.
Antonio F. Mariano, Armm's Department of Labor and Employment secretary, said the wage board approved the P10 daily wage increase last week after consultations with employers' and workers' groups in the region.
He added that Armm Governor Datu Zaldy U. Ampatuan had instructed the wage board to expedite the granting of the salary hike amid the rising costs of rice and other consumer goods.
Meanwhile, Ampatuan created a composite team dubbed "Task Force Bigas" to monitor the rice situation in the region.
Ampatuan has ordered the region's Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DA) to take measures amid the alarming surge in the prices of commercial rice, thus the creation of Task Force Bigas.
He specifically instructed the DTI to frequently monitor prices, conduct dialogue with retailers, wholesalers and consumer organizations to determine who or which groups are behind the skyrocketing of rice prices.
Armm's Bureau of Public Information (Armm-BPI) said the task force members observed that the P48 per kilo price of rice in the area "could be considered as unreasonable," based on the Price Act, which provides protection to consumers by stabilizing the prices and prescribing measures against undue price increases.
The team believes that there should be a Mandated Price Ceiling (MPC) imposed on rice as what is happening now could be considered as "any event that causes artificial or unreasonable increase in prices," Armm's information bureau said.
Tha Armm-BPI noted there were testimonies from local businessmen that corroborate suspicions that the present rice problem is "man made" and could be the work of some unscrupulous rice traders.
Unlike Automatic Price Control, MPC does not need a Presidential declaration of a state of emergency, rebellion, war, martial law, or suspension of writ of habeas corpus, it said.
Local rice traders in the autonomous Muslim region welcomed the imposition of the Mandated Price Ceiling to start at P1,900/50kg bag and a gradual decrease by 10 percent. This is to give protection to millers who bought palay at higher prices, Armm-BPI said. (BSS)
