BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-CAR) reported a high compliance rate among employers around the region in the implementation of Wage Order No. 18, series of 2017 which took effect in June last year.
DOLE-CAR regional director Exequiel Ronnie Guzman said that based on the results of the inspection conducted by the labor department among employers regionwide on existing labor standards, including the prevailing wage order, 86 percent were said to be fully compliant to the prevailing minimum wage in the different sectors in the region.
“We have a difficult time informing and educating the employers on the prevailing wage order but that made them comply with the prescribed minimum wage in their respective industry classification and clustered areas,” Guzman stressed.
During the inspections on the compliance of businesses to the existing wage order since it was implemented last year, Guzman revealed that there were only two to three establishment owners who were found to have initially violated the wage order but appropriate measures were immediately undertaken by the concerned businessmen to correct the defects that warranted the non-issuance of violation orders against them.
The DOLE-CAR official also confirmed there were only few complaints brought to their attention and the complaints were eventually settled because the concerned employees and employers agreed that the matter be corrected in their level, especially when the issue relate to the benefits of employees that the employers agree to grant.
According to him, labor officials remain optimistic that employers will have similar treatment to the new wage order pegging the minimum wage in the region from P300 to P320 per day depending on the industry sectors and the clustered areas approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).
Guzman expressed his gratitude to all the employers in the region for their adherence to the implementation of the previous order without being issued the notices of violation before complying with the same.
He stated that if employers in the region will observe the same attitude to the upcoming implementation of the new wage order that is expected to take effect on August 19, 2018, then they will not be hard up in inspecting compliance to the increased minimum wage for daily wage earners in the region.
The approved Wage Order No. 19, series of 2018 will have to be published in a local newspaper of general circulation before it will take effect 15 days after its publication.
Under existing labor laws, rules and regulations, the RTWPB is empowered to fix the wages of minimum wage earners in the region based on the prevailing situation in their areas of jurisdiction.
Close to 300,000 salaried and wage earners around the region are expected to benefit from the implementation of the newly approved minimum wage for daily wage earned designed to help them cope with the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities as a result of the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Integration (TRAIN) Law.
By Dexter A. See
