ILOILO CITY --The new daily minimum wage rate and cost of living allowance (COLA) for workers in Western Visayas will take effect on Thursday.
Atty. Johnson Cañete, Regional Director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Western Visayas and chair of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB), said in a press conference held in this city on Wednesday that the pay hike will be carried out 15 days after the publication of the Wage Order No. RBVI-24.
“The application of the wage order will only fall in the formal relationship; there is employer-employee relationship and the requirement is you work eight hours a day. Other kind of work arrangement and negotiations and agreements is governed by other mode of work arrangements, which may not be covered under the wage order but should not be also below what is mandated in the minimum wage order,” he said.
The wage rate covers workers in the non-agriculture, industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors.
From the previous PHP323.50 for non-agriculture, industrial, commercial employing more than 10 workers, the new rate is now PHP365.00 composed of the PHP26.50 basic wage increase and the PHP15.00 COLA (cost of living allowance).
For those with nine or less employees, the new daily wage rate is PHP295 from the previous PHP271.50, including an increase of PHP18.50 in basic wage and PHP5.00 for the COLA.
For the agriculture sector, the new daily minimum rate is already PHP295 for both plantation and non-plantation.
The increase is higher though for the non-plantation, whose previous rate was PHP271.50. It was granted PHP18.50 hike for the basic wage and PHP5.00 for COLA. The plantation workers are entitled to PHP8.50 hike in basic wage and PHP5.00 for COLA.
However, he emphasized that temporarily, there will be no increase in the basic wage and COLA of workers in Aklan.
Instead, the increase will be implemented starting November 2018, except for those situated in barangays Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak in Boracay, where the hike will commence three months after the opening of the island.
“The sentiment of the province of Aklan, since Boracay closed, they were collaterally affected by the closure of Boracay,” he said.
Moreover, the COLA component for the sugar industry enterprises within the agricultural, industrial and commercial sector shall start six months after the issuance of the wage order on June 8, 2018. All other industries will commence unless a moratorium is granted.
Meanwhile, Cañete said that some employees may not see the increase during their July 15 payroll but supposedly it should be available in the July 30 payroll or in the form of salary differentials.
Cañete added that the RTWBP will embark on a province-wide caravan for massive info-dissemination.
Also, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday gathered its labor inspectors for a half-day orientation relative to the monitoring of the compliance of establishments.
“All our labor inspectors are out there in the field to conduct inspection because that is by virtue of the visitorial power of the Secretary that all inspectors will visit private companies,” he said.
Employees whose companies do not follow the new minimum wage rate can file a complaint before the DOLE for the latter to send out inspectors for a complaint visit, he added.
Prior to the approved wage rate, RTWPB has embarked on a series of public consultations to get the pulse of concerned sectors in Western Visayas.
The DOLE regional director added that those who oppose the rate have 10 days to file their appeal, as well as seek for exemption.
Those who can seek exemption are distressed establishments, new business enterprises and those adversely affected by calamities such as natural and/or human induced disasters. (PNA)
