Western Visayas workers get P17-P20 wage hike

BACOLOD CITY — Starting next month, minimum wage earners in Western Visayas will receive a wage increase of P17 to P20.

The regional tripartite wages and productivity board issued Wage Order No. 14 two weeks before its self-imposed July 30 deadline.           

Carlos Boteros, regional director of the Department of Labor, said the board had to reach a compromise in coming up with the wage adjustment.

The new increase was P55 lower than the P75 demanded by several labor groups, which had cited the upswings in the prices of oil, prime commodities, utilities and basic services.

In coming up with the new wage order, Boteros said they considered the increasing cost of living, the capacity of employers, especially small enterprises, in granting a wage adjustment, and its possible effects on employment and inflation.

Under Wage Order No. 14, the daily minimum wage for workers in sugar mills is pegged at P235; and those in agricultural estates with a capitalization of more than P3 million and below P3 million, P203 and P185, respectively.

Plantation workers will receive a daily minimum wage of P180. In the industrial and commercial sector, those working for companies with more than P3 million in capitalization will get P222, and those in firms with a capitalization of less than P3 million and less than P1 million, P212 and P199, respectively.           

The daily minimum wage for hospital workers is pegged at P222, and for workers in the cottage and handicraft industry, P180.

Boteros said the new wage order does not apply to household or domestic workers, family drivers and those employed in registered barangay micro-business enterprises.

For workers under contracts for construction projects, security and janitorial services, Boteros said their employers must amend their contracts to reflect the new minimum wage.

Distressed and new businesses may apply for exemption with the regional wage board. If approved, the exemption is only good for a year, Boteros said.