Regional wage boards urged to work faster

INQUIRER.net files

MANILA, Philippines — House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan on Sunday called on the 16 regional wage boards outside Metro Manila to promptly act to raise minimum salary rates and grant private sector workers immediate relief from the soaring cost of living.

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He said: “Under the Labor Code, all regional wage boards are empowered to review and raise the take-home pay of workers even in the absence of any petition for an increase.”

The lawmaker said wage hikes were among the top five concerns, alongside inflation, poverty reduction, job creation, and graft and corruption in government, raised in Pulse Asia’s June 2024 survey on national concerns and the President’s State of the Nation Address. —Jeannette I. Andrade