Ilocos workers get P30 daily wage hike

LAOAG CITY—An additional P30 was added to the daily minimum wage rate of workers in the private sector across the Ilocos region on Thursday, according to the regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).

The pay hike came with the second of three tranches in the implementation of Wage Order RB1-21 issued last June, the regional Dole said.

Under the latest wage order and depending on the industry, workers in the region must get a P60 to P90 daily pay increase that will be given in two to three tranches.

The first installment of the increase, also at P30 per day, was given upon the effectivity of the order on June 6, while the third tranche will be effective in March next year.

Once the tranches are completed, this would make the daily minimum wage rate in the region range from P372 to P400, compared to the previous range of P282 to P340.

Under the June wage order, non-agriculture employees working for establishments with 30 or more employees should be paid at least P400 in daily wages; P370 in establishments with 10 to 29 employees; and P342 for those working in businesses with one to nine employees.

Cushion inflation

Agriculture workers at nonplantation establishments are entitled to receive a P342 daily wage rate, while a higher pay of P372 is given to employees working in agriculture plantation establishments.

At a press briefing on Friday, Dole regional director Exequiel Guzman said they hoped the wage increase would be “a big help to our employees.”

Guzman said the Dole would remain “sensitive to the needs of our employees now that the economy is opening,” as he noted the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation rates for minimum wage earners in the region.

“The minimum wage should also [help our workers] cope with the rising cost of living,” said Guzman, noting that the government is coming up with ways to “minimize the effect or impact” of rising inflation.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the inflation rate in the region increased to 7.4 percent in October 2022, from 6.6 percent in the previous month.

The same data showed the region’s consumer price index, where a person residing in the region needs “P118.10 to purchase the same set of goods and services that were worth P100.00 in 2018.”

At least 94.47 percent of the 2,586 inspected establishments in Ilocos have been complying with the wage order since June, the Dole said.

Allan Jerome Padilla, Dole inspector, urged workers to report establishments that are not implementing the wage order.

—JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS

RELATED STORY:

Provincial wage board OKs salary hike in Ilocos, Cagayan and Caraga region