Board holds public hearing on proposed wage increase

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board -7 yesterday conducted a public hearing in Dumaguete City—capital of Negros Oriental—on the petition for a wage hike by the labor sector.

The public hearing for Negros Oriental and Siquijor provinces will determine if there is now a need to increase the wages as proposed by the labor groups, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), and the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU).

In the same activity, the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI) also presented its position paper opposing the wage increase, according to NOCCI president Edward Du.

Du reiterated that NOCCI’s main argument is that there is no reason for a wage adjustment here because Dumaguete is not expensive compared to Bacolod City or Cebu City, which are both highly-urbanized cities.

It is now up to the RTWPB-7 to decide on the wage adjustment for Negros Oriental, Du added.

The labor sector, meanwhile, rallied for a wage increase citing the poverty threshold here where the present minimum wage is below the poverty level.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has set a standard, of which a family of an average size of five—with a monthly income of P10,000—is considered “poor,” said Du. The daily wage here is P310.

Among those present during the wage board hearing were NEDA-Region 7 Director Efren Carreon, who is also the concurrent NEDA director for the Negros Island Region, Department of Trade and Industry-7 Director Asteria Caberte, Department of Labor and Employment-7 Director Exequiel Sarcauga, and two representatives each from the management and the labor sectors.

The RTWPB-7 conducted the public hearing on the proposed wage hike for Negros Oriental while RTWPB-Region 6 will do the same for Negros Occidental in the absence of a wage board in the NIR. (FREEMAN)