Sweldo to Pamasahe: Is your salary just to pay for transport?

THE prices of basic commodities continue on an upward trend with citizens struggling to keep up.

Rice, petrol, transit fees, and other commodities continue to rise in price, but salaries remain stagnant. Unfortunately, Filipinos may have to put up with all of these hassles for a long time.

This is also the primary reason why many Filipinos prefer to work abroad or remotely due to high transportation costs and lesser pay to sustain their living within the nation. 

Local employees expressed their displeasure with the lopsided ratio of ‘pamasahe’ (fares) to ‘sweldo’ (salary) in a recent post on ‘How’s your byahe, bes?,’ a popular Facebook page.

On September 18th, a user shared his story and revealed how much money he needs to spend to get to work while earning a modest monthly pay.

“May mas worse pa bang daily fare sa akin? 70php for bus and 20php for LRT. 180 Daily fare. Whahahahaha tapos sahod na 20k+ lang,” the Facebook user wrote in his post.

Thoughts of RepublicAsia Media’s Gen Z Employees

Three RepublicAsia employees were able to share their thoughts on the aforementioned post. They are all commuting to and from work and back to their houses.

JD, an employee who resides in Paranaque, spends about P200 per day on transportation fees alone. Apart from paying this amount on his daily transportation fee, he believes it would be difficult to maintain a lifestyle with such fees awaiting him every day.

Ivan, on the other hand, is a 22-year-old employee from Cavite. He pays P200 per day for transportation.

He believes that a salary of P20,000 is insufficient for the lifestyle you lead. 

In his opinion, it will suffice only if you are still living with your parents and are merely obligated to contribute to the household expenses.

Gab, an employee who resides in Rizal and spends P300 a day on transportation, believes that it is not sustainable in light of the present inflation in our country.

Allowing employees to work remotely is one option he mentioned. He feels that working remotely will allow him to save not only money, but also time and effort that he would otherwise spend commuting.

Transportation System in our Country

The interviewees were able to express various points of view on the subject. Aside from that, the three of them noted that it would take a toll on them not only financially, but also emotionally and physically, as they would have to deal with exhaustion and inconvenience every time they commute.

Without a doubt, other countries have already overlooked our country’s transportation system.

The Philippine capital was ranked 58th in “urban mobility readiness” among the 60 cities surveyed around the world with the weakest public transportation systems in 2022, according to the recently issued Urban Mobility preparation Index. 

Manila was also ranked 48th in terms of Sustainable Mobility and 56th in terms of Public Transit. Despite having one of the poorest public transportation systems in the world, transportation fees in the Philippines appear to be slightly greater than the service provided.

We cannot blame netizens for feeling underpaid by their employers and undervalued by the government.

Do you have any thoughts on the subject? Tell us in the comments.