RTWPB OKs P20 raise in take home pay for workers in the Bangsamoro

COTABATO CITY– Minimum wage earners in the Bangsamoro will receive an additional P20 to their basic daily wage next month, according to the new wage order approved by the Regional Wages and Productivity Board’s (BTWPB) in the region.

Wage Order No. BARMM-01 issued by the RTWPB in the Bangsamoro on Friday approved the P20 new minimum wage hike for workers in non-agriculture and agriculture sectors in the autonomous region.

The order will take effect on December 15 or at least 15 days after its publication in newspapers widely circulated in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said Romeo Sema, Labor and Employment Minister of the Barmm.

This means that workers for non-agriculture and agriculture sectors would be taking home P300 and P290 a day, respectively; an increase from the respective P280 and P270 per day they were currently getting.
Non-agriculture workers in

Cotabato City and the 63 barangays in Cotabato province, however, will only receive a P14 increase in their daily wage while the agriculture sector will get a daily P10 wage hike.
From the P290-P311 daily wages, the workers in the city will now get a new minimum wage of P325 a day and P300 a day for agriculture and non-agriculture sector, respectively.

Sema said the wage order would apply to all minimum wage earners in the region, except for family drivers, those rendering personal services and workers in registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises.

Exempted from the new wage order are retail and service establishments employing not more than 10 workers, distressed establishments, new business enterprises, establishments adversely affected by calamities.

Sema said the wage order came after a series of public consultations participated by representatives from the employers and workers sectors of the BARMM’s five provinces, including the cities of Marawi and Cotabato.

Datu Haroun Bandila, one of business sector representatives in the wage board, welcomed the new wage hike order, saying: “We look at it as a win-win solution for both the employers and the workers.”

Jennifer Tabang, a bakeshop worker in Cotabato City, welcomed the new wage order.

“I am happy because our employer religiously abides by all wage orders,” Tabang said. “I hope all other employers are like our boss who makes sure our welfare is secured.”

BARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan and 63 villages in North Cotabato.