Increase in daily pay of BARMM’s agri, non-agri workers set

COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board  (BTWPB) on Wednesday ordered a P20 increase in the minimum daily wage of agriculture and non-agriculture workers in the autonomous region.

Each worker in BARMM shall have an additional earning of at least P600 monthly based on the new wage order.

The latest wage order for daily paid workers in the six provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was signed by members of the BTWPB and its chairperson, Regional Labor Minister Muslimin Sema, at the regional office of the Ministry of Labor and Employment-BARMM, in the presence of reporters.

The daily wage now of a non-agriculture worker in BARMM is P361, while an agricultural worker ought to have a P336 daily compensation.

The BTWPB, composed of representatives from BARMM's labor, business and employer sectors, first secured concurrence of employers and workers on the planned wage increase before its approval by the board on Wednesday morning.  

“There was prior multi-sector consultation before we crafted this new wage order that we approved today,” Sema told reporters after he and BTWPB members affixed on Wednesday their signatures to the three-page wage order.

BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan.

Among the signatories to the new wage order were the lawyer-entrepreneur Anwar Malang, who operates restaurants and function facilities here, and hardware store owner Haron Bandila, both representing the employer sector in the BTWPB.