BAGUIO CITY – The National Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (NTWB)
is now reviewing the proposed increase in the minimum wage of daily wage earners in the Cordillera before its implementation following the successive increases in the daily wage of other workers in some regions in the country.
Augusto Aquillo, board secretary of the Cordillera Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB-CAR), said the decision of the NTWPB is being awaited in order for the RTWPB-CAR to incorporate the recommendations of higher authorities before the issuance of a wage order that will outline the increase in the daily wage of minimum wage orders in the different parts of the region.
“We do not want to pre-empt the decision of higher authorities. We hope that the NTWPB will be able to review the proposed wage increase in the region and we expect the order to be released anytime,”Aquillo stressed.
Last May 14, the RTWPB-CAR deliberated on the proposed wage hike for daily minimum wage earners in the region and its recommendations were already submitted to higher authorities for their review as mandated by law before being brought back to the region for the subsequent issuance of a new wage order.
It was learned the RTWPB-Car met moto propio to deliberate on the grant of an increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector and not based on a petition filed by the labor groups considering that there was no actual petition of.
Aquillo appealed to the labor sector to be patient in awaiting the outcome of the review of the NTWPB on the proposed wage hike in the Cordillera considering that the review will not take that long, thus, there will be a possible wage increase for daily minimum wage earners in the different parts of the region within the next several months.
After the board shall have issued the new wage order, the RTWPB-CAR will publish the same in a local paper of general circulation and that it will take effect within fifteen days after its publication.
Earlier, the labor sector had been prodding the RTWPB-CAR to approve a wage increase for minimum wage earners in the region following the increase in the prices of basic commodities among others but the management sector had been pushing for a status quo on the region’s minimum wage.
Aside from the publication of the new wage order, the RTWPB-CAR is also mandated to publish in a local paper of general circulation the implementing rules and regulations of the same order for the appreciation of the businessmen, daily wage earners and the general public.
Aquillo said the RTWPB-CAR immediately referred their recent action to the NTWPB for review and evaluation, thus, the national board will be meeting this week and deliberate on pending wage increases in the different parts of the country, including the Cordillera.
By Dexter A. See
