Wages boards urged to work faster
House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan on Sunday called on the 16 regional wage boards outside Metro Manila to promptly act to raise minimum salary rates and grant private sector workers immediate relief from the soaring cost of living. He said: “Under the Labor Code, all regional wage boards are empowered to review and raise the take-home pay of workers even in the absence of any petition for an increase.” The lawmaker said wage hikes were among the top five concerns, alongside inflation, poverty reduction, job creation and graft and corruption in government, raised in Pulse Asia’s June 2024 survey on national concerns and the President’s State of the Nation Address.
—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE
Probe of fake birth certificates pushed
Neophyte lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Sunday called for a congressional inquiry into the alleged birth certificate mill for Chinese nationals in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur. Majority Representatives Cheeno Miguel Almario, Jefferson Khonghun, Zia Adiong, Raul Angelo Bongalon, Francisco Paolo Ortega V and Faustino Dy V pushed a probe in the discovery of the National Bureau of Investigation. The NBI found that the Santa Cruz civil registrar issued some 200 birth certificates to Chinese nationals, one of whom was arrested at the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Davao City after applying for a Philippine passport using the document. Almario said: “We must understand that a birth certificate is more than just a document. It is the first official document that every Filipino receives as their birthright, establishing their official tie to the nation.”
—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE
