• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Central Visayas approved salary increases, ranging from P33 to P43 per day, for minimum earners in the private sector, effective Oct. 2.
The RTWPB7 kept its area-based classifications of classes A, B, and C, but each class now has a single wage rate for both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors, the Department of Labor and Employment said in a statement Sept. 16.
The increase brings the daily minimum wages from P458-P468 to P501 for Class A, P425-P430 to P463 for Class B, and P415-P420 to P453 for Class C, the DOLE added.
This means that private workers in the six component cities of Negros Oriental, namely Dumaguete, Bais, Guihulngan, Tanjay, Bayawan, and Canlaon, will receive P463 daily minimum rate, as these LGUs are classified as Class B, together with Bogo and Toledo of Cebu, and Tagbilaran of Bohol.
Workers in the 19 towns of Negros Oriental and six municipalities of Siquijor, meanwhile, will receive a new minimum rate of P453, as these areas are included in Class C.
Those working in the cities of Carcar, Cebu, Danao, Lapulapu, Mandaue, Naga, and Talisay, and the municipalities of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla, and San Fernando, or the so-called Expanded Metro Cebu, will get P501 daily wage since these LGUs are in Class A.
The new wage order has been affirmed by the National Wages and Productivity Commission, the DOLE said, adding that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Labor Day directive to the RTWPBs was to review regional minimum wage rates prior to the anniversary dates of previous wage increases.
The last wage order for workers in private establishments in Region 7 became effective on Oct. 1, 2023. | CGC
