RTWPB asks establishments to comply Wage Order 21
BY: JOEY A. GABIETA
TACLOBAN CITY- The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in here in the region has approved a P20 wage adjustment for its around 3 million workers, both in the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.
However, the approved wage increase will come into two tranches as approved by the regional wage board, said its regional chairman Yahya Centi.
Centi, who is also the regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), said that the decision to have the P20 increase released into two tranches was made to help the business owners find it easy to comply.
The new wage adjustment is contained under Wage Order Number 21, approved by RTWPB-8 on July 22 but was only made public through a press conference on Wednesday (July 24).
“The board will now give a gift to all minimum wage workers of Eastern Visayas region with this new wage order,” Centi said.
The last time the RTWPB approved a wage order was on May 7,2018 which pegged the daily minimum wage of the region’s workers at P305.
Under the newly-approved wage order, workers in the non-agriculture sector will be receiving P325.However, those in the retail and services sectors whose companies are only employing 10 workers, they are only to receive P295 as their daily minimum wage.
Meantime, those in the agriculture sector will be receiving P295 as their new daily minimum wage from the previous P275.
Centi said that the first P10 increase will take effect on the first month after Wage Order 21 takes effect while the additional P10 will be enforce on its seventh month.
The new wage order was sent to the National Wages and Productivity Commission on July 23 for review and once approved, and will take effect 15 days after its publication in a regional local newspaper.
Centi said that the decision to have a new wage order was by virtue of the regional board’s action or ‘moto propio’ with series of public hearings attended by business owners and workers beginning on April 26 in Ormoc City and ended on July 17 here in Tacloban City.
He said that in coming up with a new wage order, the RTWPB-8 considered the current economic condition of the region, citing its economic indicators like increase of prices of commodities.
Centi said that they expect the new wage order will be followed by all business owners in the region.
