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A CATHOLIC Church official lauded the P20 wage increase for the
private sector workers in Metro Manila, which is very low compared
to the P120 and P60 across the board wage increase sought by labor
and trade groups, respectively.
Antipolo Auxiliary Bishop Francisco de Leon said
the P20 increase in wages will give workers extra money that can
somehow help them for their basic necessities.
“For me, the wage increase is needed because
the prices in basic commodities are rising,” de Leon said in an
interview over Radio Veritas, a church-run radio station.
With the P20 wage increase, the Antipolo bishop
said workers in the private sector will have little more in their
paychecks, which will help them cope with the rising prices of basic
commodities.
De Leon added that many people would be having a
hard time in coping up with the skyrocketing prices of commodities
such as rice and fuel, if the government did not order a wage
increase for minimum wage earners.
On Friday, the Regional Tripartite Wages and
Productivity Board announced a P20 wage increase for minimum wage
earners in the National Capital Region.
Labor Regional Director Raymundo Agravante and
chairperson of the National Capital Region Board said the P20 wage
increase consists of a P15 increase in basic pay and P5 increase on
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).
The P5 COLA increase, the labor official said,
will be integrated automatically into the basic pay of workers this
coming August 28, the anniversary of the previous wage order.
Once the wage order takes effect 15 days after
its publication in a newspaper of general circulation, the minimum
wage rate in the metropolis would be P382 per day for
non-agricultural workers.
The new wage rate will be P345 per day for
workers in the agriculture sector, retail services with less than 10
workers and hospital with less than 100 beds and manufacturing
establishments with less than 10 workers.
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