Visayans should not expect wage increase bigger than P10

Members of labor coalition shout slogan against President Benigno Aquino III during their rally at junction Colon and Osmena Blvd in Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Workers in Western Visayas should not expect an increase in the minimum wage higher than P10 a day, according to a top labor official in the region.

Ponciano Ligutom, Western Visayas director of the Department of Labor and Employment, said wage increases in the region were traditionally lower than those in Metro Manila.

He pointed out, however, that this was his own personal observation as the actual amount of the wage increase for the region will have to be determined by the regional tripartite wages and productivity board.

Wennie Sancho, who represents the labor sector on the regional wage board, said Ligutom’s statement was “preposterous.”

He said that Ligutom, as chair of the board, should be impartial.

“This is an indication that he supports the wage freeze policy of the government,” said Sancho.

The National Capital Region wage board last week approved a P10 increase in the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila.

A group in the Western Visayas allied with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has filed a petition for a P113.57 increase in daily minimum wages for commercial and industrial workers, P100.45 for workers on plantations of more than 24 hectares and P96.35 for workers on plantations of less than 24 hectares.

Ligutom said the wage board would hold one more public hearing before deciding on the wage petitions.

Sancho said the government has pegged the poverty threshold for a worker in Western Visayas at P266 per day while the current regional minimum wage is P277.

Sancho said workers were being deprived of just wages through technicalities in government definition of poverty.