• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Private sector employees in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and other parts of Western Visayas will receive a P30 increase in their daily minimum wage, or P480 from the current P450, starting on Nov. 16.
In Wage Order No. RBVl-27 approved Oct. 16 and made public over the weekend, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Western Visayas ordered that the new salary in non-agriculture/industrial/commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers should be P480, P450 for businesses with 10 or less employees, and P440 in the agriculture sector.
The new minimum salary of kasambahays or domestic workers, on the other hand, is P5,000 a month, or an increase of P500, as per Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-05, also set to take effect next month.
The RTWPB6, chaired by Atty. Sixto Rodriguez Jr., regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment6, said that in the determination of the minimum wage, “the Board has accordingly taken into consideration the various socio-economic criteria…as well as the positions of labor and management”.
The United Labor-Western Visayas and Iloilo Pepsi Cola Workers both proposed for a P100 increase in the daily salary.
The RTWPB6 decided on a P30 daily wage hike, following a series of consultations, and considering the existing socio-economic conditions in Western Visayas.
It said that the purchasing power of the peso (PPP) is P0.80, as of Sept. 2023; consumer price index at 125.3 in Sept. 2023 from 115.5 in June 2022; the regional inflation rate is 6.6 percent; and the regional employment, underemployment, and unemployment rates are at 95.5 percent, 19.5 percent, and 4.5 percent, respectively.
The new minimum wage rates shall cover the provinces of Negros Occidental, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, and Iloilo, and the highly-urbanized cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
“The wage increase shall apply to all minimum wage earners in the private sector within Western Visayas regardless of their position, designation, or status, and irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid,” the wage order stressed.
The salary hike for domestic workers, whether on a live-in or live-out arrangement, shall cover the general househelp, yaya, cook, gardener, laundry person, and any person who regularly performs domestic work in one household on an occupational basis.
Not covered are service providers, family drivers, children under a foster family arrangement and are provided access to education and given an allowance incidental to education, and any other person who performs work occasionally or sporadically and not on an occupational basis.
The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said it already affirmed Oct. 19 the wage orders for Western Visayas that are expected to be published on Oct. 31 and shall take effect after 15 days, or on Nov. 16.
As in any wage order, and as provided for in the NWPC Omnibus Rules on Minimum Wage Determination, retail/service establishments regularly employing not more than 10 workers, and enterprises affected by natural calamities and/or human-induced disasters may apply to the RTWPB for exemption from the wage increase, the Commission said in a statement, adding that barangay micro business enterprises (BMBEs) are not covered by the minimum wage law pursuant to Republic Act No. 9178 or the BMBEs Act of 2002.
The last salary increase in Region 6 took effect June 5, 2022. | CGC
