Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MANILA - Amid the continuing global economic crisis, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has assured the people that the government has been “working hard” to ensure that food and fuel prices remained stable to “avoid demands for a wage increase” but at the same time to “keep you competitive.”

"We've been working hard to make sure food supplies remain stable and to put food on the table for every Filipino in order to avoid demands for a wage spiral and therefore keep you competitive," Arroyo said in a speech during the Semiconductor and Electronics in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) chief executive officers' forum in Malacañang on Monday.

"We have also been introducing measures to lift the burden of high fuel prices of our people, so there will be no big transportation increase for the workers who go to work, for the same reason, to avoid demand for a wage spiral," she added.

Arroyo also urged electronics manufacturers to invest more in the country, saying the country was committed to spending in infrastructure, and bringing down electricity costs.

Asked to elaborate on the President's statement, Trade Secretary Peter
Favila said: "What she said about the wage spiral, it has to do with the cost of goods… There's no statement to the effect whether there is wage adjustment or not. Let's not put any undue interpretation to what the President has said," the trade chief added.

Favila said the President was saying that given the global economic crisis, a wage adjustment would "impact" on the operations of electronics firms.

He said the President was not sending any signal either to the Department of Labor or the labor sector with her statement.

In her speech, the President also cited the role of the electronics industry as the driver of economic growth, accounting for 2/3 of the total exports. She said that during her seven years so far in office, exports have earned $31 billion for the country.

The President said the resilience of the economy has enabled it to continue spending in infrastructure, unlike neighboring economies, which she said, had been "overheating."

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