It is a French word for extreme generosity.
Generosity is a Christian virtue of being liberal in giving. It is a virtue from within a person that leads him to GIVE to another person SOMETHING HE HAS OR OWNS as an act of free will, without obligation, duress, or imposition from without.
But Senate Bill 2002 raising wages across the board in all regions for all workers is perceived by a great number of citizens as a contrived largesse or false generosity by legislators who will be GIVING SOMETHING NOT THEIR OWN.
This prevailing sentiment may be unfair but difficult to deny due to the author’s dogmatic defense of SB 2002.
Employers tirelessly tried to reach out to the author and his partisans to warn them that this kind of “gift” will trigger widespread business closures and disincentivize new investments resulting in massive job losses and economic decline.
Such a legislated wage adjustment undermines established processes and standards in determining the equitable determination of wage levels for each region, a tripartism function of the regional wage boards as created by law.
Another persistent perception is that these legislators are misinformed, misguided, or simply don’t care a fig.
Repeatedly, the employers who directly contribute to the attainment of that elusive dream of growth and total development have been trying with might and main — and a whole lot of good intentions — to convince legislators of the need to look at the bigger picture, the greater common good, and not to miss the forest for a few trees.
Probably, the Comelec’s strict rule on election overspending and the difficulty of raising political contributions may have driven the reelection or promotion-seeking legislators to resort to electoral clientelism and patronage politics by filing populist bills that cost them nothing with the hope that the voters will be impressed and remember to shade their names on the ballots during election day.
Unfortunately, there is unintended damage to millions of workers, namely, workers in the informal sector, fisherfolk, farmers, street vendors, market vendors, public transport drivers, and countless nameless part-time workers, who never benefit from any mandated wage increase. They will fall victim to the ensuing inflation caused by the wage adjustment. Interestingly, they far exceed the number of beneficiaries of the legislated minimum wage by a ratio of 10 to 1. All of these victims are franchised voters.
The ruinous impact of this wage bill will make economic recovery a hopelessly futile exercise. The sad part is that despite the frantic effort of economic managers and businesses to compete globally after the pandemic, a legislated wage hike across the board nationwide is like hanging a dead albatross around our necks.
And sadder still is the fact that even if we hope to survive the folly of this self-destructive wage adjustment, it will merely bring the country back to the bottom rank of the world economy as all of our global competitors are unhampered by a similar investment-killing legislative audacity.
The ruinous impact of this wage bill will make economic recovery a hopelessly futile exercise.
Maybe our honorable lawmakers could be persuaded to recognize the crippling impact of this wage bill that will irreparably harm the present and future generations of employed and new entrants to the labor market.
Hopefully, employers, labor and legislators could agree to see the bigger picture, gloss over each one’s selfish and vested self-interest, and champion the common good that serves the best interests of all in the long run, especially for the country’s financial health and economic development.
The voluntary withdrawal of SB 2002 by its author will be a real largesse and a most generous gift to the nation and all its workers, and we can move forward towards inclusive economic prosperity where everyone will be lifted out of poverty.