BARMM workers to get P20 increase in daily wage

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Workers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will receive an additional P20 to their minimum daily wage next month after the regional wage board approved the increase last week.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in BARMM, through Wage Order No. BARMM-01, approved the new minimum wage rates for workers in nonagriculture and agriculture sectors in the autonomous region.

Effectivity

The order will take effect on Dec. 15 or at least 15 days after its publication in newspapers widely circulated in the BARMM, said Romeo Sema, the region’s labor and employment minister.

Workers in nonagriculture and agriculture sectors are currently receiving P280 and P270, respectively, in daily minimum wage.

Nonagriculture workers in Cotabato City and the 63 villages in Cotabato province, however, will receive an increase of only P14 in their daily wage while those in the agriculture sector will get P10. They are currently receiving P290 (nonagriculture) and P311 (agriculture) in daily wages.

Sema said the wage order would apply to all minimum wage earners in the region, except for family drivers, those rendering personal services and workers in registered barangay microbusiness enterprises.

Exemption

Exempted from the new wage order are retail and service establishments employing not more than 10 workers, distressed establishments, new business enterprises and establishments adversely affected by calamities.

Sema said the wage order came after a series of consultations participated in by representatives of employers and workers in the BARMM, a region composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan, and 63 villages in Cotabato province.

Datu Haroun Bandila, one of the business sector representatives in the wage board, said: “We look at it (wage hike) as a win-win solution for both employers and workers.”