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After two years, minimum wage earners and “kasambahay” or household helpers in the Davao Region finally got an increase in their salaries.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Region XI issued Wage Order No. RB XI-22 on Feb. 13, granting a P38 increase in their daily salary.
The measure will directly benefit 132,347 minimum wage earners in the region, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said in a statement on Sunday.
The salary increase will be granted in two tranches—P19 upon the effectivity of the wage order on March 6, and another P19 starting on Sept. 1.
This will bring the daily minimum wage in the region to P481 (from P443) for non-agriculture workers and P476 (from P438) for those employed in the agriculture sector upon the order’s full implementation in September.
Dole estimated at least 316,558 full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may also indirectly benefit as a result of upward adjustments at the enterprise level arising from the correction of wage distortion.
The board also issued Wage Order No. RB XI-DW-03 increasing the monthly minimum wage of domestic workers in the region by P500 or P1,500, depending on the area they are employed.
For chartered cities and first-class municipalities, the minimum wage will be increased by P1,500, or from P4,500 to P6,000, while for other municipalities, it will be raised by P500 to P5,000 from the current P4,500.
These increases would take effect on March 6, or 15 days after the publication of the two wage orders on Feb. 19.
The wage orders were submitted to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) for review and were affirmed on Feb. 16.
The increase for the kasambahay is expected to benefit 64,111 domestic workers—37 percent or 23,479 of whom are on live-in arrangements, according to Dole.
Last increase in 2022
The last wage orders for workers in private establishments and domestic workers in the region were both issued in May 2022 and became effective in June that year.
According to Dole, the salary increases in the region considered the various wage determination criteria provided under Republic Act No. 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act.
The regional board, composed of representatives from the government, management and labor sectors, conducted a public hearing on Feb. 7 in Davao City, followed by a wage deliberation on Feb. 13.
Dole said the new rates for private sector workers translate to a 9-percent increase from the prevailing daily minimum wage rate in the region and result in a “comparable” 23-percent increase in wage-related benefits covering 13th month pay, service incentive leave and social security benefits.
As in any wage order and as provided by NWPC rules on minimum wage determination, retail and service establishments regularly employing not more than 10 workers and enterprises affected by natural calamities or human-induced disasters may apply at the RTWPB for exemption from the wage increase.
Barangay micro business enterprises (BMBEs) are not covered by the minimum wage law under Republic Act No. 9178 or the law on BMBEs.
Regional wages
Last year, a number of regional wage boards ordered an increase in the minimum salary rate to help workers cope with the continued rise in the prices of goods and services.
Workers in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) had an increase in their daily minimum wage by P30, P40 and P35, respectively, effective Oct. 16.
The adjustments were approved by their regional wage boards on Sept. 19 to 21 and affirmed by the National Wages and Productivity Board on Sept. 26.
READ: P16 wage hike now in effect in Davao region
The daily minimum wage was earlier adjusted in Metro Manila by P40 effective July 16; Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) by P35 to P50 effective Sept. 24, and Central Visayas by P33 effective Oct. 1.
Congress is also working on legislating an increase in the daily minimum wage of all workers in the private sector.
The Senate last week approved on second reading Senate Bill No. 2534 mandating an across-the-board increase of P100 in the daily minimum wage.
The House of Representatives, however, has yet to act on a counterpart bill.
If such a measure is passed by Congress and becomes a law, it will be the first legislated pay hike nationwide since the enactment in 1989 of RA 6727, which effectively declared that salaries would be set on a regional basis by wage boards. INQ