BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Labor rights advocate Wennie Sancho is asking the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Western Visayas to give him visitorial powers to ensure that the new wage increase in the region is fully implemented.
Sancho is the representative of the labor sector in the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).
Under Wage Order No. RBVI-26 which took effect yesterday, June 5, the minimum wage for non-agricultural establishments employing more than 10 workers will rise to P450 from P390; and P420 from P310 for those employing 10 workers or less.
The minimum wage rate for those in the agricultural sector increased to P410 from P315.
Sancho said the ball is now with DOLE to ensure that the wage order is implemented, adding that many business establishments will likely not follow.
He pointed out it would be best for them to be given visitorial powers as they would conduct their inspections and submit the names of the establishments who have either failed to implement the wage hike.
Sancho said the wage increase will cover for the recent price hikes on basic commodities.
However, five business groups from Capiz and Iloilo appealed for the recall of Wage Order RBVI-26, which imposes a 13 percent to 35 percent increase, and its amendment to three percent to five percent of the current rate.
The appeal, signed by presidents of the Iloilo Business Club, Inc., Iloilo Hotel Restaurants and Resorts Association, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Iloilo chapter, and the Capiz Halaran Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the chairperson of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc., was submitted to the National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC) through the Regional Tripartite Wages Productivity Board (RTWPB) on May 30.
The 16-page petition stated that the new minimum wage was “gravely ill-timed and unreasonable.”
“This does not come within the ambit of the counter-proposal of the business sector during the last public hearing. While it is lower than the P750 previously petitioned by the Fuersa-Super group, it is still unjust and unconscionable as it completely disregards the capacity of the employer to pay these wages and the economic repercussions on the local economy of Western Visayas,” it said./PN
