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Hello everyone! It's Wednesday, March 15 here in Manila. I'm Karen Davila giving you the Head Start for the day.

Our guests for Hot Copy today, we're privileged to have with us on Head Start once again, Senate President Juan Miguel Migs Zubiri.

We'll be discussing a lot of things, various topics from rumors of a leadership change in the upper chamber to charter change and his call for a wage hike.

Is that even possible? What do businessmen say about this? Is the proposed 150 daily wage increase enough? Can it be done to help Filipinos cope with high inflation?

First, the headlines.

Today's big stories, House lawmakers call on their Senate counterparts to give charter change a chance as they approve the constitutional convention bill on final reading.

A 150 peso daily minimum wage increase sought for workers in the private sector.

And the family of slain journalist, Percy Lapid, welcomes the filing of murder charges against suspended prisons chief, Gerald Vantag.

A measure to amend the Philippine constitution is overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers in the lower house on final reading.

But critics of the proposal are concerned it may be used to introduce political changes to the charter.

RG Cruz reports.

With 301 members voting in the affirmative, seven members in the negative and zero abstentions, House Bill Number 7352 is hereby approved on third and final reading.

That's more than enough for the House to meet the two-thirds vote of all of its members required by the constitution to call for a constitutional convention.

The approved bill mandates the election of delegates by districts simultaneous with the 2023 Barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan elections,

while empowering the Senate President and the House Speaker to appoint sectoral delegates equivalent to 20% of the district delegates.

The bill spells out qualifications and prohibitions, including banning delegates from running in the election after the convention.

The convention's term of office runs from December 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024,

entitling delegates to a P10,000 per diem for every day of the convention and travel and lodging expenses.

It will have its session in the Philippine International Convention Center.

In a statement, House Speaker Martin Bromoaldes emphasized the need to encourage more foreign investments in the country to create additional job and income opportunities for the people.

The speaker adds increased investments will sustain the country's economic growth.

But those who voted no are worried it will also amend political provisions.

While casting doubts on its viability, African senators indicated it may not have enough numbers there.

We cannot pin all our hopes on the prospect that foreign investment alone would be the key to escaping our economic rot.

Sustainable growth would not be possible if we fail to address the pressing concerns already threatening to overwhelm us.

Let us not blame the people of Concon for ECON.

This is our only goal, to appease and calm the opposition of the public in Chacha.

Even before the voting, Camarines Sur representative Elrey Villafuerte and House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chair Rufus Rodriguez already urged the Senate to give charter change a chance.

Rodriguez asserts the Senate cannot and should not ignore the initiative of the lower house, which is an expression of the people's consensus they gathered in recent nationwide public hearings.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri previously said pursuing charter change does not have the support of the majority of senators.

RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News.

Daily wage increase.

All right, joining us now this morning on Hot Copy, it's a privilege to have with us on the program, we have Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.

All right, let's check.

Senate President, are you okay there?

How's your signal?

Hi, Karen, can you hear me?

I can hear you.

You're not yet on air.

Let's try again.

Senate President?

There.

Yes.

Hi, Karen.

Good morning to everyone.

Good morning to you, my dear.

All right.

Very good.

Okay, so before we talk about the bill that you had filed, I think the bigger story, it seems, is really coming from the lower house.

Let's talk about that.

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez says the Senate cannot ignore the overwhelming support for charter change.

And out of interchamber courtesy, he's calling on the Senate to tackle any measure passed by the House, especially if it's been approved by an overwhelming vote, and he says requires urgent attention.

Sometimes I get confused.

I don't know what requires urgent attention.

The priority measures of the DAC, Legislative Executive Development Corporation, that is our group made of the House of Representatives, Senate, and the Executive, which discusses the priority measures needed for our country, and charter change is not there.

You don't know that the President already said that it is not part of his agenda.

It is not a priority of the President.

And to answer the fears of my dear colleagues, I don't want to pick a fight.

You know, Karen, as interparliamentary courtesy, I never pick a fight with the members of the House of Representatives.

I came from the House of Representatives for nine years, so I have my utmost respect for them.

But we are tackling charter change through Senator Robin Hood Padilla.

He's going around the country doing his hearings and public hearings and listening to her.

As a matter of fact, I never stopped him.

Last I discussed with him yesterday, continue your job.

He's the chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, so he's doing his job.

We have not prevailed upon him to stop that, so he's doing his job.

We are doing our job to listen to the people's voice on this particular issue.

But, however, going to the gist of it, Karen, I don't understand why our dear colleagues in the House would like to rush this,

when, in all honesty, we passed the economic measures in the 18th Congress as Majority Floor Leader,

and, of course, Speaker Martin was Majority Floor Leader, when we passed the Public Services Act of Grace Poe.

We passed the Retail Trade Act of Senator Coco Pimentel, and we passed the Foreign Investments Act,

of which Senator Aimee Marcos was the sponsor and author, together with all of us.

These three were to answer the problem of the economic provisions or the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution.

Now, what was the PSA?

The PSA now allows foreign ownership of utilities, telcos, TV stations, even highways, subways, railway stations, airports.

It allows it now.

That was the most restrictive part of the Constitution when it came to economic provisions.

Now, the argument of my dear friend, and I have the highest respects for him, he's my neighbor in Cagayan de Oro,

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, is that there's a case in the Supreme Court.

Yes, we knew that somebody would file a case against the Public Services Act in the Supreme Court.

However, the Supreme Court, Karen, never released a TRO.

Therefore, the law stays until the decision is made.

So why don't we wait for the decision of the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court may say that it's constitutional.

Remember that in the Senate, it was no other than Senator Frank Drilon, who was former DOJ Secretary,

our resident constitutionalist, who co-sponsored this with Senator Grace Poe,

who defended the provisions that it is not unconstitutional.

And so we are confident that it is constitutional and stand the test of the Supreme Court's scrutiny.

Now, Karen, moving forward, our position is why don't we wait for the decision of the Supreme Court?

If it says it's constitutional, why do we have to amend the Constitution?

Now, there's also another issue.

It's not being implemented.

Why?

The implementing rules and regulations, Karen, after one year have not been released.

The implementing rules and regulations, IRR, of this law has not been released.

I don't know why.

Are they delaying it for some underlying reason?

Why don't they already let IRR go and let it out so that more foreign direct investments can come to the country?

Obviously, they're still in a quandary what the implementing rules and regulations are.

So let us release the Public Services Act,

Implementing Rules and Regulations, together with the Retail Trade and Foreign Investments Act.

If you ask me, Karen, to close my argument,

what else do we need to loosen up in the Constitution for economic reasons?

Is it the ownership of land?

Because I personally am against the ownership of land.

Why?

People tell me, they can't bring their land to their country.

But that's true, Karen.

If we open the ownership of land, the land here in our country will become more expensive.

Just like what happened in Canada, many countries, even Europe now, Spain, many of their countrymen

are complaining that they cannot anymore buy their own homes in their own countries.

You know, my staff, Karen, because there are many Chinese nationals here from mainland China

who are buying condominiums and renting houses.

My staff in the Senate are having a hard time finding a studio apartment or one-bedroom apartment

in the Mall of Asia area near the Senate.

Because everything, a studio which used to be Php 20,000 a month is now up to Php 50,000 a month

because it's being rented out by foreign nationals from China.

So my people, our own Filipino people, can't even rent within their own cities.

They're still in Cavite to rent a house to be able to enter the Senate.

That's the only provision left.

And I'm sure that it's going to be very difficult if we open it up

because we all know who's going to come here and buy all the homes in all the high-end subdivisions

including all the other homes all around Metro Manila.

It's going to be our neighbor, right?

And not exactly a strategic move to make.

Okay.

Senate President, let's go back first a little.

You revealed something today that was quite surprising,

that there's still no IRR when it comes to the amendments in the Public Service Act and retail trade liberalization.

My question is who's supposed to make that?

Well, the department's concerned.

It's supposed to make that. NEDA is supposed to release that.

We discussed it in the NEDA and they're saying there's still agencies that are delayed in giving their comments.

Oh, come on. It's been a year, Karen.

They should bring out the implementing rules and regulations already yesterday.

They should have brought it out yesterday.

Not today, not tomorrow, but yesterday.

And then they're blaming us that it's not working, that foreign direct investment is not going in.

It's not in the legislature anymore. We're done.

Our work is done.

It has been pending with us for about 30 years and we were finally able to amend it in the 18th Congress.

So the ball now is in the executive's court, Karen, to bring out the IRR and finally implement the Public Services Act

so that it will address the concerns of the congressmen when it comes to foreign direct investment.

And to be honest, Karen, you took up a very important point earlier.

You honestly think in a CONCON that they will only discuss an economic solution?

Hindi lang po lamang ang economic provisions ng Constitution ang pag-uusapan diyan?

With due respect to my colleagues, with due respect to Congressman Rufus Rodriguez,

who's a very well-known lawyer and a very good lawyer at that,

once the CONCON is set up, they will not be limited to just economic provisions.

Pwede nilang repasuhin ang Article 1 to the last article of the Constitution,

baguhin lahat yan, pati economic provisions.

E paano naman yan, Karen? Huwag may economic provisions na tanggalin nila term limits

or i-extend pa nila ang terms ng mga politiko.

Aba, ako politiko ako. Masaya ako niyan.

Pero ang taong bayan magagalit sa atin.

Magagalit sa atin ang taong bayan.

They will really get upset.

And what if they change the structure of government?

If they change the structure of government, Karen,

it's not like passing a simple law.

That takes time. That takes time to study.

That takes money, funding, especially kung gagawin natin federal form.

I used to be a believer in the federalist form of government

until I saw the numbers, Karen. Nakita ko yung numero.

Yung mga regional setups, they wanted to set up several regions for the federal system, federal states.

Only three federal states would survive in a federal system.

That is Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, and Central Luzon.

Everywhere else would collapse immediately after two to three years.

Kasi wala tayong pambayad sa teachers, wala tayong pambayad sa police,

wala tayong pambayad sa ating government employees.

Magko-collapse yan.

Then internally, kulang ang aming pondo, ang ating income, to be able to run the federal states.

So it takes a lot of study, a lot of in-depth, of course, consultations

to be able to get the proper picture.

Now, ang pondo ko diyan, are we ready for all that change?

Are we ready for all that change?

At this point in time, nakakalabas lang natin ang pandemia, Karen.

I'm being bashed?

Imagine, trabado rin nyo sa Senado, I'm being bashed for the lack of output?

Just yesterday, we passed a second reading of five measures,

five important measures in the Senate.

We're moving as quickly as we can because it's not quantity, Karen, it's quality.

So what is important is let us address post-pandemic issues,

which is economic recovery, bringing down inflation,

and making our lives of our people a lot easier, a lot simpler,

and, of course, making them a lot happier.

Okay.

So, as Senate President, we're going to move to what was recently passed in the Senate,

but let's focus on this.

You brought up one concern already, which is if you agree to the CONCON,

if the Senate agrees, it will be unstoppable.

Anything can be touched.

It's a whole overhaul.

And do you think that your colleagues will support that?

Isa pa yun, Karen.

Sinabi ko nga in an interview, laging mo na I support it.

But, you know, we have 23 other republics.

It's 24 republics in the Senate.

Even if I would say, at this point in time, I don't support it, but if I say I support it,

I'm only one out of 24 members of the Senate.

To be honest, Karen, tama'y sinabi ni Senator Javier Sito kahapon na apat at lima lang

ang nabibilang namin na pumapabor sa charter change.

And, you know, the vote for charter change, Karen, I'd like to correct the misconception yesterday.

The news mentioned that it was two-thirds vote.

It's not two-thirds vote, Karen.

It's three-fourths vote.

Okay.

The amount of members of the House and Senate and the House of Representatives

and in the Senate voting separately is three.

As far as I'm concerned, it's voting separately.

It's three-fourths vote, Karen.

So three-fourths in the Senate is 18.

We need 18 votes to dance the cha-cha.

I don't think we have 18 votes to dance the cha-cha.

Hindi kami makasayaw ng cha-cha.

Wala kaming numero.

Para malaman ng taong bayan, 18 voto kailangan ng ating mga kasamahan sa Senado para umunsad ang charter change.

Wala kaming numero na ganyan.

So for us, it's moot and academic.

We might as well focus on the DAC priority measures which will help solve the problem of inflation, smuggling,

which will increase, of course, or lower the inflationary prices,

and hopefully, maybe, possibly, better the lives of the Filipino people,

maybe through a wage increase as I'm proposing.

Okay.

All right.

Before we get there, I'll go back to what you said.

So let's go to the argument of Congressman Rufus Rodriguez and those who support it.

They say that the Philippine Constitution is the most restrictive in ASEAN.

It's the third most restrictive in the world.

I mean, those are facts.

Just to get on to a more balanced argument, their argument, and there are other problems with the economic provisions.

For example, Thailand has a long-term lease of 99 years for foreigners.

When it comes to education, the Constitution is quite restrictive.

We can't actually partner with a Harvard, a Stanford, all these universities,

and they're opening up in other parts of the world, and even natural resources is an argument for these lawmakers.

You have arguments of Vietnam getting all the foreign direct investments coming from China.

So are you open?

Are you entirely against charter change?

Or is it a matter of CONCON that you disagree with?

No.

It's the timing, Karen, the issue of timing.

And they always say, oh, timing, but we've been discussing this for 30 years.

Yes, but we've been having problems for the last 30 years that we need to address first,

which is poverty and education, educating our people.

Now, their argument on the restrictive foreign provisions in the Constitution was addressed already with the administration.

The restrictive portion of the Constitution is the 60-40 rule, that no foreigner can own 60% majority of, for example,

Now we took that out completely.

100% they can own under the PSA law.

The other 60-40 for railways, for subways, so nobody will invest here in big-ticket items

because 40% is the investor.

Who will invest here if they want a majority?

We took that out completely.

It can be totally foreign-owned companies already.

Retail trade, before it was 2.5 million.

It's big.

2.5 million.

The investment is high.

2.5 million dollars to put a store here.

It's per store.

We're betting 500,000 dollars, which is basically a Jollibee.

There was a survey conducted recently, I think it was last year, Karen,

on why foreign direct investments have been bypassing the Philippines.

So they interviewed the foreign chambers.

Magandang pakinggan nito, Karen.

Wala silang, napakalit, very insignificant, single digits on the issue of constitutional prohibitions.

Very small.

You know what was the number one problem?

Ease of doing business.

My other law, ease of doing business.

It's not being implemented.

It's a beautiful law, though.

It's perfect.

But unfortunately, is it being implemented on the local level?

No.

Inaharas pa rin sila ng mga LGUs na instead of three days or maximum of seven days,

seven working days, yung kanina permits, umabot ng buwan-buwan pa rin.

Yung corruption sa malalaking agencies.

So it's ease of doing business.

Corruption with the big agencies.

We've solved that already.

With ease of doing business.

But yet, there are still departments who are releasing their permits, certificates, and licenses.

That takes five to six months.

We have the law already.

Every time I meet with a businessman, yan pong complaint nila sa akin.

Sabi ko, walang iya, may batas na tayo.

What are they doing?

What's the government doing about it?

So the problem really is the investment climate in the Philippines.

It's the investment climate.

Peace and order.

I was about to reach my third point.

One of their complaints was peace and order.

Eh, yung nangyari kay Digamo, does that inspire people to invest in the Philippines?

That does not inspire a friendly investment climate.

And of course, our lack of marketing.

To be honest, kaya na-ingit ako when I opened the CNN and BBC, napapanood ko yung commercials ng Cambodia.

Napapanood ko yung commercials ng Brazil.

Invest in Brazil.

Invest in Cambodia.

In Thailand, we don't have any advertising.

We have no marketing whatsoever.

Ang bukang bibig na lang ang ating pangulo.

In fairness to the President, he's the one that goes around selling the country.

But then even he was bashed for traveling so much.

But we have fruits.

The fruits of his labor are coming back.

Next week, we're doing a formal signing.

I was able to help bring in the largest e-vehicle manufacturing from the United States.

They're called EVT.

You can look it up.

EVT.

They're the biggest public utility.

They make public service vehicles in the U.S.

Electric bus, school buses, electric trucks for the different states in the United States.

I was able to get them to come to Clark.

They're doing a formal signing next week.

They're going to hire 2,000 jobs within this next quarter.

And they're going to hopefully be able to open up a larger portion in Clark of their manufacturing.

And hopefully employ about 5,000 more.

We don't need amendments to the Constitution on that.

But they were able to do it because I handheld the whole process.

Sinama ko sila para mag-meetings kay Secretary Pascual.

Sinamaan ko sila pag-meeting sa DOI, Board of Investments.

And then sinamaan ko sila together with my team to Clark para makita nila ito lahat.

But does it have to be the Senate President who does that to every investor?

There should be an investment house in the Philippines.

For example, the DOI should step up and do all these things as a one-stop shop.

Ika nga, that's what they're saying.

Ease of doing business.

Vietnam has that.

Thailand has that.

Singapore has that.

They've got investment offices.

Just one.

Not five.

Just one.

That takes care of all of them.

Handholds these investors to come out and locate in the Philippines.

Yan ang kailangan natin.

Okay.

I'm letting you speak because you're really passionate about this.

And UP Professor Edna Ko is listening and watching.

And she says,

You have great arguments that you're raising on public administrations concerned left-unminded prior to a call for charter change.

So, I think you need to be heard on your points when it comes to charter change.

Before we move on to the bill you filed, the last question I'll ask you is this.

Senator Robin Padilla said that he was against the CONCON.

He's concerned.

But he said, what if it's a constituent assembly?

So that there are boundaries to the change.

If it's really just the economic provisions, that's one.

And number two, with the way you sound, Senate President, and also when I interviewed Senator Loren Legarda, Senator JV Ejercito, a few of your colleagues, is it fair to say charter change in the Senate is dead?

At this point in time, with the numbers that I'm looking at, we can't get three-fourths vote.

At this point in time, in the Senate, it's very difficult to discuss or to deviate our legislative track to focus on the constitutional amendments.

That's another thing.

I had a discussion last night with Senator Robin Padilla.

He really doesn't like CONCON.

He's the head of the committee, right?

So, he doesn't like CONCON.

If there's disagreeing provisions in the House and the Senate, obviously, there will be a stalemate on this particular issue.

And even then, Karen, we're also worried that there's a gray area in the Constitution.

The gray area in the Constitution is on how to vote on these amendments.

The framers of the Constitution forgot to make it specific and clear.

You know, there are arguments from one side, particularly from our colleagues in the House that say, they don't say it openly, but they say it privately, that it should be voting as one.

If it's voting as one, Karen, the 24 Senators will really surpass the 301 members of Congress.

So, they will be able to reach three-fourths vote without any say from the Senators, even if we all vote against.

Imagine if the provisions, there will be political amendments to remove the Senate.

My goodness, Karen, the Senate is an institution.

Tinanong ko yan, Senate President, kay Congressman Rodriguez.

I said, so, if it's limitless, you mean that they can actually remove the Senators?

And he said, well, it's possible.

It's possible?

It's possible.

So, ang tanong, ang sagot nga ng ilan is the Senate shouldn't be selfish, just to think of their own.

But really, when you think about it, I mean, where can that go?

Where can that go?

Alam nyo, Karen, the Senate has been…

It doesn't have to be a phantom.

Yes.

Changing term limits.

In fact, it's called a hybrid Kon-Kon.

You know, Karen, with due respect to my colleagues in the House of Representatives,

sa mga kababayan na nag-iisip na hindi po nila kailangan ng Senado,

many times throughout history, ang Senado, ang tinatawag po natin, the last bastion of democracy.

Many times when a very powerful person would insist on legislation that is detrimental to national interest,

who steps in?

It's the Senators who step in.

Because we're elected at large.

Elected at large, wala po kaming distrito pinaprotektahan.

Kasi kung distrito lang pinaprotektahan namin, medyo hindi po kami masyadong maingay

dahil natatakot kami na maawalan kami ng projects o pondo para sa ating mga distrito kami.

Iba po, we're supposed to be above the fray, the political fray, the local level.

Para makadesisyon po tayo, para sa ating mga kababayan na karapat dapat na ibigay sa kanila.

You know, it's been an institution since 1916.

So sobrang 100 years na po ang Senado.

And you have the likes of Manuel L. Quezon, the first Senate President.

Manuel L. Quezon.

You have Gil Puyat, who was also former Senate President.

You have Lorenzo Taniada.

You have the Jokno, Senator Jokno.

The mga batikang na mga Senador that really helped shape our country and who became future Presidents.

Many Presidents came from the Senate.

Not that we're saying we have Presidential missions, but my point being is kaya medyo statesman-like kasi ang Senado.

We have always looked above the fray.

Now, kailangan ba natin ng Senado?

Yes.

Bakit?

Ako'y naniniwala sa paggawa ng batas.

It is not paramihan.

It's not mine is bigger than yours.

There's an argument like that.

It's not about that.

It's not about paramihan.

It's about the quality of legislation that we pass.

Kung unicameral na po tayo, unicameral parliament, you think na pwede natin malagyan ng preno ang mga panukala na controversial?

Let's say tax measures, additional tax measures, dagdagan ang buwis ng ating mga kababayan.

Doon sa Senado talagang pinag-uusapan namin ng matagal yan, anong impact sa taong bayan.

We do our listening tours and all.

Bago namin talakayan yan at debatean.

So it's very, very important that we have that.

There is a possibility na mawawala ang Senado.

And all these great men that I mentioned will be rolling in their graves.

Pati si Sen. Jokoy Arroyo, pati yung mga pasta atin, si Sen. Raul Rocco, Sen. Edgardo Angara.

All these great people will be rolling in their graves that under my watch, nawala ang Senado, Karen.

Q. So it looks like the way you sound, not on your watch?

A. Not on my watch. That's why there were cool threats against me.

Well it's fine. But I'm an institutionalist, I believe in the institution.

Ako inaniniwala sa institution ng Senado na kailangan talaga ito para may checks and balances.

Hindi palaging, alam mo galing na ako ng opposition. I was in the opposition during the time of President Erap.

So it was in the Senate that when we had arguments against the administration at that time,

we looked up at the Senate to help us in finding and ferreting out the truth.

Because there was only 27 of us in the House of Representatives.

So hindi palaging nasa administration kayo. Baka may darating na panahon na sa opposition din kayo.

You will welcome that there is a Senate elected at large who believe that the national interest is the most important interest for the Filipino people.

With due respect to my friends at the House of Representatives, baka sabihin nila mayabang ako.

Pero I've been there. Galing ako ng House of Representatives, Karen.

Three terms ako dun and I'm on my third term as a Senator.

So yes, the Senate is very important. At possibly mawala ito pag nagkaroon ng Konkon, palitan nila ng Parliament.

E kung Parliament mawawala na, alam mo Karen, is another very important point.

Pag pumayag ang Konkon, magawin ng parliamentary ang ating bansa, papayag kaya ang taong bayan na hindi nila ihahalal ang leader ng ating bansa?

Ang presidente o magiging figurehead na kasi ang presidente. Yung matatakbo ng bayan ang Prime Minister.

Papayag kaya ang taong bayan na sanay na po sila since the 1935 Constitution. We've been electing the President.

One vote for every person counts. Tatanggalin natin yan. Ibibigay natin yan sa unicameral body, Karen.

Naku, magkakagulo yan. Siguro they'll say wow, exciting, exciting. But after how many elections that you'll see that very unpopular yung Prime Minister dahil hindi naman yan binoto ng taong bayan, tignan niyo magkakagulo at magkakagulo din yan.

Look at countries like Malaysia, they're having Rigudon every year of their Prime Ministers and several other countries.

Of course Malaysia now has a new Prime Minister but prior to that they were having problems and many other parliaments as well. So napakahirap na gawin nito.

... Yung tatakbo sa distrito, hindi yung kamag-anak, hindi yung asawa, hindi yung anak ng political kingpin, up to the fourth degree of consanguinity. Tapos bawasan mo na ang sweldo, P10,000 a day?

P10,000 a day ang sweldo nila? Gawin mo nalang P500 a day o gawin mo nalang P1,000 a day. Bakit Karen? Para mapabilis nilang trabaho nila. Kasi kung P10,000 a day, abot ng siyam-siyam yan, baka tatlong taon bago matapos yung kon-kon na yan.

... Or may political closeness sa politiko. So definitely as the sun will shine tomorrow Karen, ang papag-usapan din nila diyan. Hindi lamang economic provisions, pati political provisions pag-uusapan nila diyan.

... Ang aking nandyan, let's go slow, hinahinay, let's discuss. Ako, why don't we lift our people out from poverty? Let's come up with single-digit numbers. Let us educate our people. Let's continue to educate our people para sa ganun pagdating sa kon-kon, pagdating sa plebisito, they can make an informed and right proper decision on their vote."

... Because we'll be discussing the bills that you filed, the P150 wage hike. I want to ask you this, you said it yourself because you stood up to your convictions when it comes to kon-kon and charter change that suddenly threats of a coup, a change in leadership in the Senate started to emerge.

... And Sen. JV Ejercito said yesterday that's baseless, he essentially said that you still have the support of your colleagues. Where is this coming from? Were you able, did you find out?

... Hindi daw ako sumasayaw ng tsa-tsa. Ang pundo ko diyan as I mentioned, I'm an institutionalist. I believe in the institution. I really believe in the sanctity and the wisdom of having a Senate, a bicameral system of government.

... I don't think that's not going to happen on my watch, Karen. But my point there being is the timing is important and let's address the real situation. Why people aren't investing in the Philippines? Binagyan ito na kanina sa iyo, Karen. You're ready to service us. That's very important.

... Senate President, a quick break, then we discuss the bill you filed asking for a P150 wage hike for private workers. I'll talk to you and ask you, is that even possible? So we're going to take a quick break and start. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

Alright, welcome back to KEDSTART. We've had such an insightful and intensive discussion with Senate President Juan Miguel Subiri on charter change, where he stands with CONCON. Now let's move on to how he sees a way, in a way, to really address problems, to prioritize on actually addressing problems that the Philippines is facing.

So recently he proposed a minimum wage hike of P150 for all private workers. So, Senate President Miguel Subiri, how can you actually mandate and is it actually wise to order private companies to do that? I mean, in the United States, you have Joe Biden ordering the biggest federal increase with salaries for government workers.

But can you really legislate salaries for private workers, considering we have 90% of the businesses in the Philippines are MSMEs?

Well, Karen, you know, in the United States, looking at the United States model, they've increased in the last 10 years their minimum wage per hour. It used to be like $6 an hour. Now it's about $10 to $11 per hour, depending on the state.

So napakalaki ng increase nila in the last decade. Ang atin, Karen, napakabagal, hindi gumagalaw. And we all know because of the high cost of inflation, napakamahal ng bilihin. Ang masama dito, Karen, to be honest, many products, including agricultural products, nakatikim na yan ng matas na prices.

And therefore, many of them are hesitant to bring these prices down, unless the president has a policy of importing everything, which of course will kill the agri-industry. So what do we need to do? Kainangan natin bigyan ang ating manggagawa ng tinatawag natin living wage, hindi naman minimum wage, because the minimum wage is not a living wage. We also have to share. We have to share. I think we have to share the blessings, Karen.

And then if I miss it, I watch it at 12 midnight. I also look at the business side. I always look at the companies coming back from pandemic levels. Talagang they go back to the black. They're making a lot of money. There's an increase in income, particularly the oil companies and all the other companies that were doing poorly during the pandemic.

Now, Karen, ang akin lang, share naman natin. Share-share lang. Let's share to our people. I personally, you know, Karen, I'm not only a public servant but I'm also a businessman. I do industrialize. I'm also a small power producer. I do also renewable energy. We're doing hydro and all.

I give them more. I give them more, a certain percentage more. I give them 15 months pay. So they get 13 months plus two years, two months bonus. So I'm a small, I'm an MSME. I'm an MSME. But my point is, toonto ay mga workers ko. I did it the same in the Senate. I was bashed in the Senate. I gave an inflation bonus, which is basically 130 pesos a day for the whole year.

Everybody was saying sana all. Okay. Sa ating mga kamabayan na nagsasabing sana all, ito na to. Ito na. We'll try to pass a P150 legislated wage increase because we need to come up with an amount where our people are comfortable na talagang hindi po sila hirap na hirap at hindi po sila umiiyak na wala po silang pambayad sa gastusin ng kanilang mga tahanan.

All right. And irony of this is, of course, in the lower house, it wasn't the majority who suggested an increase across the board. It was the makabayan bloc, right? So that's the irony here is the majority in the Senate, well, coming from the Senate president himself, in effect, in a way, siding with the minority in the lower house.

So I want to ask you, the ECOP says two things, so you can answer directly. They say if you raise the minimum wage further, only two things will happen. Small businesses will either cut the number of employees or they will raise the prices of their products. They claim that raising the minimum wage will only benefit 10% of the total number of workers in the Philippines to the detriment of the remaining 90%. So what do you think of that statement?

Well, why do you think there's a diaspora of Filipinos from the Philippines? Maalis sila? I saw a video online, Facebook, I just happened to chance upon it, and the title nun, why Filipinos are leaving their own country.

It's because we don't pay the right or at least decent wages here in the Philippines. We have to address that, Karen. If we don't address that, we will have a brain drain. We will lose our workers. What do they want? When they graduate college, they want to go abroad right away.

When they get a passport that says they didn't graduate college, they want to go abroad right away. Why? If they work here in our country, what they will receive is, imagine $10 a day, which is $10 an hour in the United States. In the United States, it's $10 an hour.

Eventually, we will lose our workers. I'm also asking the ECOP, what is your solution? We're losing our workers. They're going abroad. They'd rather go abroad because nobody wants to share their blessings. Nobody. I mean your husband, DJ, works for Aboitiz. I know they can afford this. Many other companies, the Aboitiz, the Lucio Tans, the Gokongways, all the major players can afford this.

I'm sure they can afford this because I've seen their bottom line every time I watch the news.

So that's ECOP's argument that only 10% can afford this. The MSMEs will be affected. But okay, let's move on because you make a good argument there. It's in effect with 500 plus, plus 150, it evens out to something like 750.

Tama po ba? That's your calculation, no? Parang magiging 750 a day ang minimum wage, which becomes a decent living wage. So my question now is political. This is where horse trading begins in some way, right?

You may have the support of your colleagues with your bill, but then in the lower house, the majority isn't actually touching that yet. So what happens now for this to become low, you would need your colleagues in the lower house. And what if they ask, look, Senate President, we're asking you to at least even consider cha-cha before we even touch the increase in minimum wage. So paano to ngayon, Senate President?

Ulit na nga nila sa amin sa Maharlika pa lang. Hindi pa namin natatakal yung Maharlika. So maybe we should tackle Maharlika first before we tackle the cha-cha. Again, I'm going into the reasons why we're doing this. We want to help uplift our people's lives. You want to pass Maharlika? Okay, why? Because you want to invest in strategic industries? Okay, and be able to help make income, additional income for the country.

But bottom line is to help our country move up from the economic crack that we came in from the pandemic. And so that's the bottom line. We have to work together. The House of Representatives, Speaker Martin is a dear friend of mine. Whenever we call each other, we call each other brothers. Brother Martin.

But he hasn't called you yet? The Speaker hasn't called you yet when it comes to this?

No, because he knows my position already. I had this discussion with the President and Speaker Martin privately in the home of the President in Malacanang. And the President himself said, Oo nga Martin, hindi ko priority ito dahil I'm busy going around selling the country and being able to fix the problems of the country.

So right there and then I heard the President tell him that magulo yan. And because of that, and he's a senator. He was a former congressman. He was a former senator. He's seen these charter change wars unfold and it can be very divisive. It can be very divisive as an issue.

So nakita ko po yung standing Presidente doon. And I told the President, and I told Speaker Martin at that time, this can be very divisive. I don't have the numbers in the Senate. Can we just focus on the bills at hand, the led-up priorities? Allow me to finish these led-up priorities, including Maharlika, so we can discuss it and debate on it on the floor.

So they know my position on that. That's why, in fairness to my dear friend Martin, Speaker Martin, hindi niya siguro ako kinukulit na araw-araw. It's mostly the other congressmen. Pero ang punto ko dyan is we're not ignoring them. Nandyan si Senator Padilla. He's going around, doing his listening tour. He'll come up with his committee report. The thing there is will he be able to get enough signatures to be able to tackle the committee report in plenary.

So the process is ongoing in the Senate, and we're not ignoring our House of Representatives counterparts. But at this point in time, allow me to pass the led-up approved measures that will be able to help our people.

When it comes to that, Karen, let's say pinasan namin yung legislative way in the Senate at hinging ng horse trading or some sort of compromise, I leave it at that. I tell them this is good for the country. I leave it to the House of Representatives on how they feel about this issue. But what's important, at the end of the day, Karen, alam mo, lalo na sa mga probinsya, yung minimum wage sila doon 300 pesos, Karen, 300 pesos. What can you buy with 300 pesos?

Inflation has not just reached Metro Manila. Inflation has reached Northern Mindanao. Inflation has reached Central Visayas. Inflation has reached everywhere. And I think we have to address the problem of inflation by also increasing.

I put 150 as what's called the number. We can increase or decrease. We can make it 100 pesos. But the ECOP and all the business organizations should know that the people are suffering. They should ask their—they should talk to their workers. Talk to your workers and ask them,

Kaya niyo ba ito na ganito yung presyo? Yan yung sahod?

Di naman pwedeng ganoon sa mga areas kung saan 300 pesos yung minimum wage, gagawin mo P750. Totoo sinabi ng ECOP, magkakagulo dyan. I mean these businesses cannot pay double their wages of what they're paying now. They can't absorb that. Mine is P150 across the board. So basically, if it does P300 in, let's say in Samar or in Northern Cebu, it will become P450.

They can pay their bills. They can buy food for their children. Nagtaas ang presyo ng bili and tumaas din ang presyo ng basic utilities. So at least it's a cushion.

Okay. So, Senate President, last question on that particular issue. Where are you now with this particular bill?

We just filed the measure. It will go to the committee of Senator Gingo Estrada. And historically, I've been filing this kind for a while back now. I filed this in Congress. I filed this also in the Senate in my first term. And I'm also one of the proponents of yung navito ni President Duterte, which is the—

Yeah, yeah.

What is navito? Job security. Security of Tenure Act. And you know, we passed that in the Senate, the Security of Tenure Act. And that was a very difficult thing to pass. It was vetoed by then President Duterte, unfortunately. So I really believe to have a strong economy, you have to have a strong and happy workforce, Karen.

All right. On that note, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, I want to thank you for joining me today. This was an insightful, extensive interview. Thank you so much, sir.

I'm happy to be here, Karen. And God bless you and God bless your viewers. Mabuhay pong ating bansa.

All right. That's Head Start today, everybody. I'm Karen Davila. Thank you for watching. You can play back this episode on the ANC YouTube channel. Stay informed and stay with ANC.

And if we do follow the health protocols, the ability of people to move around will likely decrease.