Stop asking for wage hike, Central Visayas workers told

BENEFICIARIES | Workers in a garment factory in Lapu-Lapu City, shown in this 2020 photo, will benefit if petitions for a wage increase in Central Visayas are approved. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MEPZ WORKERS ALLIANCE)

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines —The business sector representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas (RTWPB) has appealed to workers in the region to stop asking for a wage increase, saying employers, too, have been reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businessman Philip Tan instead proposed that every family of at least five members must try to have two income earners. “That is the best wage increase that you will have,” he said.

The RTWPB held a public hearing in this Bohol provincial capital on April 25 on at least four petitions for a wage hike, including one from the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP). TUCP asked for a P430 minimum wage increase while the Cebu Labor Coalition requested a P308-adjustment for Central Visayas workers.

Metro Cebu workers are currently receiving P404 daily minimum wage, but laborers in other areas in the region get less.

Bohol workers, for instance, are receiving a daily minimum wage of P366.

Tan said that even if the board would grant a P100 increase in the daily minimum wage, it would still be not enough for workers while many companies would go bankrupt.

The Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) also asked for a moratorium on the implementation of the wage increase.

Reginald Ong, BCCI president and one of the directors of Bohol Quality Corp., told the RTWPB that it was not the right time to increase wages.

“There are several factors to be considered. One of them is the operational cost,” he said.

Ong said business establishments had yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the impact of Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) in December 2021 and Tropical Depression “Agaton” (Megi) early this month.

“We have not recovered yet,” he said.

Lawyer Michael Hubahib, who represented TUCP, said the actual value of the current minimum wage had deteriorated because of the rising costs of basic commodities and fuel, noting that this was not enough to sustain a family of five.

The Bohol Alliance of Labor Organizations, through its president, Bernardo Bihag, said they were asking for a “realistic” wage increase of P120 per day.

Bihag, who is also president of Bohol Limestone Mine Workers Union, said laborers were suffering due to the pandemic and the impact of the recent destructive storms.

He said all workers in Bohol and other parts of the region should receive the same rate applied in Cebu.

“In fact, the prices of goods here in Bohol are higher compared to Cebu,” Bihag told the board.

The wage board will go to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental province on April 29 for another round of consultations.

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