Cordillera wages increased by P8

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said workers in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) could expect an additional income on their next pay day after the regional wage board approved an P8 wage hike in the  said region.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement yesterday the  Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-CAR approved Wage Order 15 after it recently concluded its motu propio tripartite consultations.

“I welcome the decision of the RTWPB-CAR. Its latest wage order is pursuant to our wage policy reform called the two-tier wage system and was also meant to restore the purchasing power of our minimum wage earners in the region,” Baldoz said.

Under the two-tier wage system, workers will receive a mandatory floor minimum wage and a voluntary incentive pay from their employers.

The new wage order contains a P8 minimum wage hike and retains the P22 to P33 cost of living allowance (COLA) which the RTWPB-CAR approved last year.

This brings the minimum wage for non-agricultural workers in Baguio City and the municipalities of La Trinidad, Tuba, Itogon and Sablan (BLIST) in the province of Benguet to P280 per day, while its agriculture workers will receive P262 per day.

Meanwhile, non-agriculture workers in Mt. Province, Abra, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Apayao provinces will receive P263, while agriculture workers will get P246.

The new wage order will take effect 15 days after it has been published in a newspaper of general circulation.

CAR is the seventh region to implement a new wage hike this year next to the National Capital Region (NCR),  Regions 2,4-A, 5,6, and 12.

RTWPB-Region 1 is expected to follow suite in the coming weeks after in finishes its sectoral consultations in line with the P44 wage petition filed by the Labor Union of Zaragoza Salt Industry last month. –SAMUEL P. MEDENILLA, Manila Bulletin