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By Angelo S. Samonte And Anthony
A. Vargas Reporters
President Gloria Arroyo announced
Thursday that the National Capital Region wage board has agreed to
increase pay by P20, bringing the minimum daily wage to P382 for
workers in Metro Manila.
The increase will be implemented
once the wage board finalizes the terms of the adjustment, said the
President during the 29th National Conference of Employers.
She said her government will
raise the country’s minimum wage amid soaring food and energy
prices that have pushed inflation to a three-year high, and a formal
announcement will be made soon. Inflation surged to 8.3 percent in
April.
The minimum weekly wage is
currently pegged at P362 in Metro Manila and in neighboring regions,
and the announced increase was based on an agreement in principle
among government, employers and trade unions for an increase of P20
(about $0.47) per day.
Mrs. Arroyo said the wage board
is still working out the terms of the wage hike, which may be given
either in the form of a P20-wage increase or a P15-wage hike plus a
P5-cost of living allowance (COLA). She congratulated the Regional
Tripartite Wage Board “for doing overtime work last Labor Day [May
1].”
The Employers’ Confederation of
the Philippines earlier informed the President that employers are
for the “upward adjustment of salaries and wages, but it should be
adjusted solely to compensate for the erosion caused by the upward
movement of the consumer price index.”
They added, “We also fully
agree with the President that we leave the deliberation and eventual
decision to the Regional Wage Boards.”
During the conference, Mrs.
Arroyo also praised the House of Representatives for passing a bill
exempting minimum-wage earners from income tax and reminded large
companies of an executive order urging them to extend rice benefits
to their employees.
Other regions
Besides Metro Manila, workers in
other regions such as Region 4-A and Region 10 and will also see
wage hikes.
The daily pay of minimum-wage
earners in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon
will soon be increased by P20, after the Region 4-A wage board on
Thursday approved a salary hike.
The Calabarzon (referring to the
provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) wage board
agreed to increase by P20 the P300 daily minimum wage of
non-agricultural workers in that area to give relief to families
feeling the brunt of the rising prices of commodities, Labor
official Ciriaco Lagunsad said in a radio interview.
The Department of Labor and
Employment, however, clarified that workers from the
non-agricultural sector are the ones only covered by the increase.
The increase will be implemented
about two weeks or exactly 15 days after the wage order is published
in major newspapers.
Northern Mindanao
Meanwhile, the National Wages and
Productivity Commission on Wednesday afternoon announced an increase
in the cost of living allowance for private workers in the Northern
Mindanao region.
Commission Deputy Executive
Director Ester Girau said the increase affirms the decision of the
Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for Region 10 to
grant a P12 adjustment in the cost of living allowance of workers in
the private sector and the integration of the existing P16 allowance
under Wage Order 12 in the basic wage effective immediately upon
issuance of the new wage order.
This increment will bring the
basic wage level in Northern Mindanao to P234 a day for
private-sector workers in the region.
Girau added that by November 16,
the basic wage will increase to P244 per day after the P10 cost of
living allowance granted by Wage Order 13 is integrated in the basic
wage.
Surging prices
On Wednesday, the National
Capital Region wage board failed to come up with a new wage order as
labor and employer representatives disagreed on the form and
coverage of the exemption.
Soaring prices of rice, the
national staple, and petroleum products, which are at all-time
highs, sparked transport strikes in Manila and other urban centers
around the country on Monday.
The Philippines, one of the
world’s largest rice importers, is also struggling to fill the
domestic production gap of 2.7 million tons this year after rice
exporters began curbing overseas shipments to stabilize domestic
prices.
--WITH AFP
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