BAGUIO CITY -- Minimum wage earners in Cordillera should receive bigger income in the coming pay day, as the PHP20-30 daily wage hike in the region took effect Aug. 20, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has said.
RTWPB Secretary Augusto Aquillo told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday the wage-setting body has set schedules for public orientations on the wage hike--Aug. 30 in Apayao; Aug. 31, Abra; Sept. 6, Baguio and Benguet; Sept. 19, Kalinga; Sept. 20, Ifugao; and Sept. 21, Mountain Province.
Aquillo said employers in Cordillera are told to implement Wage Order 19, which has set the new round of wage increases for various places in the region.
He called on the public to help in monitoring non-compliance to the order so it could be reported to the Department of Labor and Employment or the RTWPB for proper action.
He advised employees to check their pay slip for adjustments and remind the employer of the new wage order if no adjustments were applied.
Based on the RTWPB order, the minimum daily wage for Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet is now PHP320 for all industries employing 11 or more workers and PHP310 for those with 10 workers and below.
A minimum daily rate of PHP315 is applied for workers in Tabuk City, Kalinga; Bangued, Abra; Bontoc, Bauko, and Sagada, Mountain Province; Lagawe and Banaue in Ifugao; and Buguias, Itogon, Mankayan, Tuba, and Tublay, Benguet. Employers in the said areas with 10 workers and below give PHP305 as the minimum daily wage.
For the rest of the region, a minimum daily wage of PHP300 is applied.
Aquillo said the law provides a civil and criminal liability for non-compliance to the order. For civil liability, the employer who refuses to comply is penalized double the amount of the wage adjustment it failed to give to the employees or imprisonment, which however, is seldom applied, as parties normally agree to a settlement.
Aquillo said the wage adjustment should be applied effective next payday or end of the month of August, if paid every 15 days.
Earlier, RTWPB chairman and DOLE-Cordillera regional director Ezequiel Roni Guzman said the decision on the amount of the increase is not pro-labor nor pro-management. He said it merely reflects a balance between the economic needs of the workers and the employers' capacity to pay. (PNA)
