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Biz group opposes wage hike petition in NegOr

By Juancho Gallarde

September 19, 2019, 8:59 pm

<p><strong>WAGE HIKE OPPOSITION.</strong> Edward Du, governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Central Visayas, says on Thursday (Sept. 19, 2019) that the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry is opposing the wage hike petition filed by the labor sector in the province. According to him, the position paper this year is almost the same as in 2018, with changes only in statistics. <em>(PNA file photo by Judy Flores-Partlow)</em></p>

WAGE HIKE OPPOSITION. Edward Du, governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Central Visayas, says on Thursday (Sept. 19, 2019) that the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry is opposing the wage hike petition filed by the labor sector in the province. According to him, the position paper this year is almost the same as in 2018, with changes only in statistics. (PNA file photo by Judy Flores-Partlow)

DUMAGUETE CITY -- The Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI) has opposed the wage hike petition in the province, saying that the position paper this time is almost the same as last year, with changes only in statistics.

Dumaguete-based businessman Edward Du, governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) 7 (Central Visayas), reiterated on Thursday what he and NOCCI president Francel Martinez had presented during the public hearing held here early this week on the petition for a wage adjustment.

He said their position remained the same, although statistics had been changed following information gathered from the Philippine Statistics Authority over a period of one year.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Negros Oriental has remained the same and inflation rate has gone down from 3.1 percent, except for certain months in 2018 when there was a slight increase due to the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law that eventually went back to normal, Du said.

As to the pump prices of gasoline and diesel in Negros Oriental, surveys conducted among gasoline stations showed no major disruption or increase in prices and that electricity, water and transportation rates have remained the same for the past two to three years while prices of fish and meat products have been stable.

Aside from these factors, Du said 99.9 percent of the businesses in the province are micro and small ones, unlike in Cebu, Bacolod, and Iloilo.

He further said that even if Negros Oriental hosts geothermal power plants, the province pays one of the highest electricity rates in the region.

Aside from the high power cost, “we also have expensive logistics because our goods have to be shipped through land travel from Cebu because our port facilities cannot accommodate huge volume of cargo so it has to be delivered by truck and so the logistic cost is very high compared to Cebu,” Du said in the public hearing conducted by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7.

As an agricultural province, the chamber’s position has always been that the government should focus its efforts on inclusive growth rather than annual wage hikes “so we have to create more jobs, conduct more skills training and hopefully increase productivity, especially in the agri-marine sector,” he said.

“Wage hikes are counterproductive because there is no guarantee that if you increase wages, there is a corresponding proportionate increase in productivity,” the NOCCI official said.

“For us, wage hikes are counterproductive as (they are) not going to really translate to lower costs,” Du said.

The RTWPB-7 has been deliberating over a petition for a PHP341.75 across-the-board increase and the first public hearing was conducted in Negros Oriental.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 7 Director Salome Siaton said more than a year has passed since Wage Order 21 took effect and this would be the right time to review it.

The review has become more imperative because of the filing of a wage hike petition by the Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC).

During the public hearing, those opposed to the petition included the Siquijor Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) represented by April Rose Camallari.

Camallari said one year was too short for the business sector in Siquior to cope with the wage hike.

She said the PHP323 minimum wage in Siquijor province is already too high for the private sector because the Siquijor local government is only giving a salary of PHP282 per day.

The SCCI position paper further said that although Siquijor province’s main economic driver is tourism, it is understandably seasonal, making the business sector’s income irregular and unreliable.

The cost of commodities is also very high because they are all transported from the other provinces by sea.

Power, on the other hand, is insufficient and frequent brownouts are a norm, such that generators are needed, adding to the already high power rate, which is the second highest in the country.

Moreover, water supply is unreliable, making overhead expenses higher in Siquijor than in the other provinces in the region. (PNA)

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