Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 8) — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) once again pressed its calls for employees’ salary hikes, saying the administration’s miscalculation of the inflation forecast is proof that the government “is obviously not on top of things.”
ACT chairperson Vladimer Quetua in a statement said “the government is obviously not on top of things, it being unable to correctly predict the inflation rate, much more manage the economy to alleviate our hardships.”
Quetua noted that the January 2023 inflation rate hit a 14-year all-time high of 8.7% – a rate higher than the government’s prediction of 7.5% to 8.3%.
“Ilang buwan na tayong pinapaasa ng pamahalaan na bababa na umano ang inflation rate at maiibsan na ang pagsirit ng presyo ng mga bilihin, pero tuloy pa rin itong tumataas,” Quetua said.
“Tumatanggi sila sa pagtataas ng sahod at sinasabing kaunting panahon na lamang ang ating pagtitiis. But obviously there is no respite in sight from this quandary but through substantial pay hike,” he asserted.
[Translation: For how many months, the administration let us hope that the inflation rate will drop and high commodity prices could be avoided, but it still continues to rise. They reject laborers’ salary increase, saying we will only bear with this for a short time. But obviously there is no respite in sight from this quandary but through substantial pay hike.]
Quetua questioned how prices would drop if proposed measures lined up in Congress include those hiking pay for electricity, water and transportation.
“The President is set for another overseas trip, purportedly to clinch deals to better the economy, but seven trips after and we have not felt any relief. It is better for him to do his job of certifying the pay hike bills as urgent,” Quetua added.
