As workers are seen to benefit from the P200 legislated wage hike passed on final reading by lawmakers on Wednesday, the approval of the proposed bill earned criticism from business owners, who said lawmakers are ignoring its negative economic impacts — potentially leading to a greater catastrophe for the working population.

With a vote of 171-1-0, the House of Representatives approved on final reading House Bill 11376, which seeks to increase the minimum wage for private-sector workers by P200.

“Labor and their supporters in congress are clutching on straws. They know fully well that the bill on the P200 bill min wage increase is dead in the water as pres bbm and all economic managers have oftenly and strongly objected against legislated wage increase for its dire impact on the economy,” said Edgardo Lacson, chairman of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, in a Viber message.

Lacson further reiterated that it has been overly emphasized by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that wage setting is a function that belongs to the legally created body — the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, the regional bodies in the country assigned by the Department of Labor and Employment responsible for determining and setting minimum wages, as well as promoting productivity improvement.

“Congress is trying to earn brownie points with labor and washing its hands on this issue by passing the P200 bill and transferring the onus to the executive department,” Lacson said.

The ECOP president then hit House congressmen for seemingly using the issue, not minding the ranks of those providing salaries to workers—the employers who will bear the brunt of the legislated wage hike.

“Our legislators are unthinking, uncaring and grandstanding on this issue and do not give a damn about the country’s future by passing the bill that will send the economy on a tailspin downward. May GOD open the eyes of these myopic legislators,” Lacson told the DAILY TRIBUNE.

The Senate has previously passed its P100 legislated wage hike version under Senate Bill 2534, authored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who on Wednesday thanked congressmen for passing the bigger wage increase bill.