Wage board approves P15 COLA

MANILA, Philippines — Minimum wage earners in the Davao Region could expect an additional pay after the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) approved a new P15 cost of living allowance (COLA) in the region, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Thursday.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement that the wage adjustment aims to restore the reduced purchasing power in Region 11 amid the continuous increase in the prices of basic commodities and basic utilities.

“The RTWPB-Region 11, after determining the need to restore the lost of purchasing power of minimum wage earners in the Davao Region for them to cope with the rising cost of living, but without impairing the productivity and viability of business and industry in the region, has issued Wage Order No. RB XI-17 providing for a new minimum wage rate,” Baldoz said.

Under the new wage order, P5 of the approved P15 COLA will take effect immediately with its issuance, while the remaining P10 will be take effect on May 1 next year.

The wage order will also reintegrate the previous approved P15 COLA for Region 11 to the basic wage the workers in the region.

“Based on Wage Order No. RB XI-17, minimum wage earners in the non-agriculture sector in Davao Region will now receive P291.00 daily wage, while workers in the agriculture sector will receive a daily wage of P281.00,” Baldoz said.

It will take effect 15 days after it has been published in national newspapers. It would be recalled the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) earlier approved a wage order for this year at the National Capital Region (NCR) and in Regions 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, CARAGA and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Those with pending wage petitions include the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), Regions 5, 2,4-A, 4-B, and 12. –SAMUEL MEDENILLA, Manila Bulletin