BACOLOD City – The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) is requesting for the intervention of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) in the implementation of the 2024 wage hike.
Private establishments in Western Visayas are mandated effective November 17, 2024 to implement for its workers Wage Order No. RBVI-38, or the new minimum daily wage.
On November 14, Frank Carbon, vice president for government affairs of MBCCI, wrote a letter to ARTA Director General Ernesto Perez stating they appreciate the prompt response of ARTA Western Visayas head Josephine Castillo, to their request for intervention to preserve jobs and livelihood in the region.
Carbon also said that many of the establishments, particularly the micro and small businesses, are requesting for one-year reprieve as most of them are still struggling to survive.
The MBCCI begged them not to close or reduce workforce as it will aggravate the dire economic situation of the region “especially that we have one of the highest cost inflation, if not the highest, in food and power.”
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Regulatory Board (RTWRB) has only one office in Western Visayas located in Iloilo and they acceded to use the provincial offices of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its attached agency partners (public employment offices) to disseminate materials on exemption and wage distortion.
However, the arrangement needs a formal agreement between the two government agencies, DOLE and RTWPB, Carbon said.
“In this light, we are respectfully requesting the intervention of ARTA Western Visayas to facilitate the ‘arrangement’ so we could preserve jobs and livelihood,” he said.
Carbon added: “While we strive to create more jobs, we must also preserve the existing ones so that our economy will keep on crunching. We have to endure the little pain now for our children’s tomorrow.”/PN
