Western Visayas workers to receive pay hike

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines — Minimum wage earners in Panay and Negros will receive higher take-home pay after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) granted an increase of P33 to P40 in their daily salary.

The RTWPB also granted domestic helpers or kasambahay an increase of P1,000 in their monthly salary, according to Sixto Rodriguez Jr., chief of the Department of Labor and Employment office in Western Visayas.

Workers in non-agricultural establishments with more than 10 employees will receive an increase of P33 in their daily pay. The increase will bring the workers’ minimum daily pay to P513 from P480 previously.

Workers in non-agricultural establishments with 10 or fewer employees will receive a pay hike of P35 per day, or from P450 previously to P485.

Workers in the agricultural sector will receive an increase of P40, making their daily rate P480 from P440 previously.

While there has been no petition filed for a pay hike for domestic workers, the regional wage board conducted motu proprio a hearing, noting that the present monthly salary of P5,000 for kasambahay in the region is the second lowest in the country.

Rodriguez said the wage board increased the monthly pay of household workers to P6,000.

Frank Carbon, executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, warned that the wage increase would drive up inflation in Western Visayas.