Board Oks minimum wage hikefor workers in Region 8

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has approved a new wage order raising the daily minimum pay for private sector workers in Eastern Visayas (Region 8).

Department of Labor and Employment-8 Regional Director Cyril Ticao, chairman of the RTWPB, told the media that, after a series of consultations with workers and employers, the minimum wage has been raised to between P20 and P30.

The RTWPB on May 7 signed Wage Order No. 20 for the wage adjustment, but Ticao said this will still be reviewed by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the approval of which will be within this month and its effectivity will be by June.

Ticao said that, from P285 daily pay in the past, E. Visayas workers in the non-agriculture sector, including sugar mills, will now have P305.

The new order also hikes the daily pay for employees in the retail business (with 11 to 30 workers) from P275 to P305. In the smaller retail business (10 employees and below), the daily pay is raised to P274, or a P30 increase.

Workers in the farming sector will now have the following minimum wage: P269 for sugar farm workers, and P275 for non-sugar farm workers, or a P24 increase.

“We are optimistic that the NWPC will approve the wage rates because this was carefully reviewed by RTWPB members after series of consultations in the six provinces (in Eastern Visayas),” Ticao told The Freeman.

The adjustment in the region’s wage structure was reviewed by the RTWPB “motu propio” (or without any request from any party) citing the increasing prices of fuel and basic commodities.

The board, since February, has been conducting consultations on the region’s economic conditions, prices of basic goods and services, and has been evaluating the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law to workers in the private sector.

The TRAIN law — signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on December 19, 2017 — imposes higher taxes on fuel, cars, coal, tobacco, and beverages. It however exempts employees, with an annual taxable income of P250,000 and below, from paying income taxes.

The RTWPB — consisting of six members from the government, the labor sector and the employer sector — said it was “convinced that excise tax in petroleum products has raised the prices of basic goods and services.”  — (FREEMAN)