P13 COLA hike to start March 21

CEBU, Philippines - The P13 daily cost of living allowance increase for minimum wage earners that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-7 granted last month will took effect on March 21.

Chona Mantilla, RTWPB-7 chairman and Department of Labor and Employment-7 director, said they already received a copy of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) approval for the implementation of their Feb. 14 order.

She said the approval will see print in a local daily today and the increase would take effect 15 days after the publication, or on March 21.

Labor groups, however, would pursue their objection to the COLA increase, as what they wanted was a raise in daily wages.

“We will be questioning that approval because in the first place, what we were asking is an increase in the basic salary of the workers and not just an allowance,” said Arturo Barrit, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson.

ALU-TUCP and other members of the Living Wage Coalition, which is composed of 40 labor organizations, have agreed last week to ask the NWPC for reconsideration on the granting of a COLA increase instead of a wage hike.

Barrit said they still have to receive a copy of NWPC’s approval so they could review it before deciding on their next move.

“Wala pa mi nakadawat sa kopya (We have not yet receive a copy) and we will review it first kung unsa gyud na ang unod sa ilang (to see what is stated in the) decision. But definitely, we will question that and we will file an appeal,” he said.

To recall, RTWPB-7 granted the P13 daily COLA adjustment for Central Visayas workers receiving the minimum wage last Feb. 14 in lieu of a wage increase.

The Living Wage Coalition had filed a petition for a P132 daily wage hike for all workers in Central Visayas, while ALU-TUCP requested a P90 daily wage increase.

Barrit said that if their appeal is not granted, they would re-file their wage increase petition.—/RHM (FREEMAN)