MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) clarified Tuesday that the price increases in basic goods and prime commodities, especially food products, are not linked to the recent wage hikes in several regions.

This year, fourteen regional wage boards released orders raising the minimum wage by P30 to P110 for both agricultural and non-agricultural workers.

Walang kinalaman ang [pagtaas ng] sweldo ng manggagawa sa paggalaw ng presyo ng manufactured food products. In fact...I think its the consideration for increase ng sweldo or wages yung pagtaas ng presyo ng bilihin, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said in an interview on Laging Handa on Tuesday.

(The wage hikes of workers have no connection to the adjustments in prices of manufactured food products. In fact...I think the computation in wage hikes consider the rise in increase in prices of goods.)

She explained that the department only uses the costs of raw materials and production as the basis for the price increases of retail goods.

Last month, the DTI updated the suggested retail prices of various commodities, including canned food, other food products and household and kitchen supplies.

Castelo explained that the prices of the goods are higher by 0.25 centavos to P1.50, which reflect a 2% to 10% increase.

Extraordinary inflation

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Tuesday remarked that inflation has further diminished the buying power of workers who are set to benefit from the recent wage hikes across 14 regions in the country.

Because of extraordinary inflation, the series of wage increase orders issued by the wage boards failed to restore the purchasing power of wages and unable to improve the purchasing power of workers who are receiving salaries below the poverty threshold level, TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said in a statement shared on Viber.

Workers based in Metro Manila are expected to receive P33 more in their daily pay, bringing up the minimum salary to P570. TUCP said, however, that this wage hike failed to surpass the daily poverty threshold or the minimum income required to meet basic needs of P640 a day.

Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, accelerated 5.4% year-on-year in May, the fastest in over three years amid the rise in the prices of goods and fuel.

Since the start of the year, local oil firms have been raising petroleum prices due to tight supply partly worsened by the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Just this week, Philippine oil firms raised gasoline prices by P2.70 per liter; diesel by P6.55 per liter and kerosene by P5.45 per liter — a move seen by many as a big-time price increase.