CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) regional office in Calabarzon (Region 4-A) on Tuesday clarified that Wage Order No. IVA-20, which mandates pay increases in varying amounts, seeks to address cost of living disparities across the five-province region.
In an interview, Joseph Gacosta, officer-in-charge of DOLE 4-A’s Labor Relations/Labor Standards division, said workers in more developed areas, where the cost of living is often higher, will be getting higher adjustments.
He said workers in Region 4-A will receive pay hikes of between PHP35 to PHP50 per day, depending on what part of the region they belong to.
Minimum wage earners in the non-agriculture sector of “extended metropolitan areas,” such as Antipolo City and Cainta town, will be making the most money after PHP50 is added to their daily pay, bringing it up to PHP520 per day.
The lowest pay was also raised to PHP429 for agricultural sector workers in the most developed parts of the region.
Meanwhile, workers in the agriculture sector in Calaca and Carmona will receive an increase of PHP89 daily due to their reclassification from first-class municipalities to component cities.
This brings the minimum wage up to PHP479 for non-agricultural workers and PHP425 for agricultural workers in the two jurisdictions.
The wage order is expected to directly benefit 719,704 minimum wage earners in the region, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said in a statement.
“About 1.6 million full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may also indirectly benefit as a result of upward adjustments at the enterprise level arising from the correction of wage distortion,” it said.
Gacosta said the wage adjustment will officially take effect on Sept. 24, and not earlier.
He said DOLE monitoring teams will be interviewing employees from companies across the region to ensure compliance with the latest wage order.
"We conduct inspections daily because some companies still refuse to pay minimum wage. They are often exposed by disgruntled employees... they are all eventually caught and held accountable,” he said in Filipino. (PNA)
