CEBU CITY—It will be a merry Christmas for private sector workers in Central Visayas.
The new wage order, which will increase by P22 their minimum daily wage, will take effect on Dec. 7, said Ma. Gloria Tango, Department of Labor and Employment regional director.
This, after Wage Order No. VII-17, was published on Nov. 22 in a local newspaper with region-wide circulation.
Under the law, the new wage order should take effect 15 days after publication, said Tango, chair of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 7.
With the new wage order, workers in the Class A areas will receive a daily wage of P327 for the nonagriculture sector and P309 for the agriculture sector.
The Class A areas are the cities of Cebu, Carcar, Naga, Talisay, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Danao, and the towns of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando in Cebu.
The workers in the Class B areas will get a daily minimum wage of P307 for nonagriculture and P292 for nonsugar agriculture areas. The areas in Class B are the cities of Toledo and Bogo, and other towns in Cebu except Bantayan and Camotes Islands.
Daily wage in the Class C areas, which are the cities and towns of Bohol and Negros Oriental, is pegged at P297 for nonagriculture and P277 for nonsugar in agriculture sector.
In the Class D areas that include Siquijor, Bantayan and Camotes, workers will get P282 for nonagriculture and P262 for nonsugar in agriculture sector.
The minimum wage for workers in the sugar subsector in Central Visayas is set at P277 and P297 for those working in sugar mills.
Under section 2 of Wage Order No. 17, the new wage increase must be given to all minimum wage workers. But domestic helpers, family drivers and workers of registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises with valid certificates of authority are not covered by the new wage order.
Tango also asked the employers to include the new rate in the computation of the 13th month pay, which must be released on or before Dec. 24.