According to the June 2008 statistics of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), a family of sixthe average household member of a regular Filipino familyin the Davao region, needs 760 pesos a day to live decently. But the current minimum wage in the region is only 265 pesos–short of 495 pesos for a family’s living wage per day. Workers have been demanding for an increase in the minimum wage to make ends meet.
Farmers groups in Davao are dismayed over the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) until December 31. They’re calling instead for the approval of the “Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill” that seeks to implement free distribution of lands to farmers and lift the heavy amortization rates shouldered by CARP beneficiaries. It also seeks to promote cooperatives and other mutual-aid techniques, which the KMP believes will raise the productivity and the standard of living of farmers, eventually “laying the foundation for national industrialization.”
Davao city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was furious over rumors that he is protecting Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the religious sect Jesus Christ: A Name Above Every Name, who has been dragged into the murder of tribal leader Dominador Diarog.
Rita Kanlogon, 42, a housewife from Lanang, said she learned about the durability of Havaianas through her friends from abroad. She said she bought each of her two teenage sons a pair of the flip-flops because their slippers often had to be replaced.
