BAGUIO CITY – At least eighty-four percent of employers regionwide have been found to be compliant to previous wage orders that fixed the minimum daily wage of workers in the Cordillera over the past several years.
Exequiel Ronnie Guzman, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-CAR) and chairman of the Cordillera Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB-CAR), said the high compliance of employers in granting minimum daily wage to minimum wage earners in the region is considered a success in their compliance to labor standards.
“We were elated to discover that almost all of the employers in the region are complying with the minimum wage for their daily wage earners that is why we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will again comply with the newly approved minimum wage in the region by next month,” Guzman stressed.
Under Wage Order No. RB-CAR-18, there will be no exemptions, except during calamities, to be granted to employers in the implementation of the new wage order.
Augusto Aquillo, RTWPB-CAR board secretary, said the members of the board decided to include the said provision because based on the history of the existence of the RTWPB, there were only four recorded employers that have filed for exemption from the coverage of previous wage orders that were promulgated for minimum wage earner in the region since 1994.
He added of the 4 employers who have been filing requests for exemption, two have been denied their petitions by the board for lack of basis.
The wage order further provides that where the application of the wage increase results in the distortion of the wage structure within an establishment, the same shall be corrected in accordance with the procedures provided for under the Labor Code of the Philippines as amended.
Any person, corporation, trust or firm, partnership, association or entity that refuses or fails to pay the prescribed increases shall be subject to the penal provisions under the law wherein the noted violations shall be subjected to the issuance of the notice of violation among others.
Earlier, the RTWPB-CAR approved a P15-P25 daily wage increase for minimum wage earners covering all industries in the different parts of the region effective fifteen days after the wage order’s publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
Aquillo explained workers in Tabuk City received the highest daily wage increase at P25 wherein P10 was included in their previous basic pay of P265 plus an additional P15 in their cost of living allowance (COLA) which made the new daily wage to be P290 for all industries employing 11 or more workers. While those employed in industries having 10 workers and below will be receiving a P280 daily wage with the P10 added basic pay and P15 COLA from their previous P255 daily pay.
Under Wage Order No. RB-CAR No. 18, workers in industries employing 11 workers or more in Baguio and La Trinidad will be receiving P300 daily wage from the previous P285 while those in industries employing 10 or less workers in the same area will be receiving P285 daily wage from the previous P270.
For those in industries employing 11 or more workers in Tabuk City, Bangued, Abra, Bontoc, Mountain Province, Lagawe and Banaue in Ifugao, Buguias and Tublay in Benguet, and Bauko and Sagada in Mountain Province, the daily minimum wage will be P290 from the previous P275 while those in industries with 10 or less workers located in the same areas will be receiving a daily wage of P280 from the previous P265 daily wage.
The wage order also fixed the daily wage in other areas in the region at P280 for those employed in industries having 11 or more workers from the previous P265 and P270 daily wage for those in industries having 10 workers and below from the previous P255 daily wage.
In the areas of Itogon, Tuba, and Sablan, the order stated covered workers shall continue to receive the minimum wage rates provided by the previous wage order, comprising of P285 basic rate per day in all industries and P270 basic rate per day for micro-enterprises.
By HENT
