BARMM workers to get P16 daily wage hike

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Workers in the private sector in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will have higher take home pay after the regional wage board on Wednesday granted them a salary increase of P16 per day.

The Bangsamoro Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (BTWPB), chaired by BARMM Labor Minister Muslimin Sema, signed the wage order in a ceremony at the regional capitol.

Sema said the P16 salary increase was approved following consultations with representatives from the business and labor sectors in the region’s five provinces and three cities.

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

“We can’t give, in the meantime, a bigger increase because the employers are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic. If we grant a higher increase, the employers might retrench workers in order to cope,” Sema said.

The P16 increase brought to P316 the daily minimum wage of workers in the industrial, manufacturing, construction and other technical sectors in BARMM.

Workers in Cotabato City and in 63 barangays in North Cotabato that are covered by BARMM as special geographic areas (SGAs) will receive a daily minimum wage of P341.

Workers in the agriculture sector will receive P306 daily as provided under the wage order.

Employees in the agriculture sector in Cotabato City and in 63 SGAs in North Cotabato will receive P316 daily salary.

Aside from Sema, the wage order was signed by Haron Bandila, businessman and representative of BARMM employers; Jonathan Acosta, representative of the workers, and BARMM Trade and Investment Minister Abu Amri Taddik.

Bandila said extensive consultations were conducted with stakeholders before the BTWPB crafted the wage order.

“Hopefully the business climate in the region will improve as we get through the challenges and constraints brought by the COVID pandemic,” Bandila said.

He said the regional government is concerned with the plight of the workers in the private sector.