Wage board expected to okay pay raise for Calabarzon workers

MANILA, Philippines—Workers in the Calabarzon Region are likely to get a wage hike by next week, according to an official of the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

“We’re expecting the Calabarzon Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board to issue a wage order and wage advisory by next week. The wage board has already conducted at least five public consulations as a matter of fact. [The raising of wages] was processed long ago,” NWPC executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad III told reporters.

The NPWC has administrative jurisdiction over the various regional wage boards, which are chaired by the labor department’s regional directors and have members from the employers and workers groups, the National Economic Development Authority and the trade department.

Lagunza said he had no idea how much increase would be granted by the regional wage board. He said the Calabarzon wage board had been considering the possibility of raising wages even before the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines filed a petition for an P86-wage hike the other day.

“It’s not necessary for the petition to be filed before the study can proceed,” he said, adding that the last wage increase in the region was granted over a year ago.

Under the Republic Act No. 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989, the issuance of a new wage increase is prohibited within 12 months after the previous one was issued, unless the wage board declares the existence of a “supervening condition,” such as the fuel price increases.

Meanwhile, the leadership squabble in the TUCP has spilled into the wage boards. The TUCP faction under former senator Ernesto Herrera said the regional wage boards should not recognized the wage petitions filed by the rival faction under former congressman Democrito Mendoza.

“The wage board should not entertain their [Mendoza camp’s] petitions unless they are filed under a group other than TUCP. They should not mislead the public and the wage boards,” Jun Umali, secretary-general of the TUCP-Herrera faction told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

The Mendoza camp, however, has consistently maintained that the Herrera camp was the one illegally using the TUCP’s name.

Unlike the Mendoza camp, which has already filed wage hike petitions in Calabarzon and Metro Manila, the Herrera camp has called for “safety nets” for workers while the existence of supervening conditions was being studied by the boards.

The Herrera camp suggested that the value added tax imposed on fuel products be reduced when the price of oil is high.