BACOLOD City – Employers may file an appeal before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) on the recently approved minimum wage increase in Western Visayas, the region’s top labor official said.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6 director Johnson Cañete on Wednesday said the new wage order is “flexible,” since the RTWPB provides remedies such as exemption.
Cañete, who also chairs the RTWPB-6, said if certain establishments can show proof that they have no capacity to implement the increase, the board can grant them an exemption.
As of yesterday, the new wage order has already been submitted to the National Wages and Productivity (NWPC) after it was signed by the RTWPB-6 members last June 11.
Wage Order No. 24 approved an increase of P13.50 to P41.50, which includes cost of living allowance, in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers in Western Visayas.
The new wage order prescribes a daily minimum wage rate of P365 in non-agriculture, industrial and commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers, higher compared to the previous P323.50 minimum daily wage under Wage Order No. 23.
Those employing less than 10 workers are prescribed with a daily minimum wage rate of P295, also higher compared to the previous P271.50.
In the agriculture sector, the minimum daily wage rate is also P295 – both for plantation and non-plantation workers.
Before, plantation and non-plantation workers receive P281.50 and P271.50 daily minimum wage, respectively.
After receiving a copy of the new wage order, the NWPC will forward the document to DOLE secretary Silvestre Bello III for approval.
The wage order will then be published and will take effect 15 days after publication.
Cañete said employers may file an appeal within 10 days from publication of the wage order.
He added that the board will decide whether to grant the application for exemption after studying the basis for the appeal. (With a report from PNA/PN)
