Regional wage board ok's P10-18 increase!

FROM the P75-P95 wage increase earlier proposed by workers and unions here, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) for Central Visayas has approved P10-18 increase in daily minimum wage, effective August 1, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Director Elias Cayanong said in reports.

As usual, the militants in the labor sector booed the development seeing it was ridiculous, while employers also feel that P18 may still be too much, knowing that out investors may get the scare of their lives and put up investments somewhere else where costs may be a bit lower. It could not yet be ascertained also if businesses and commercial establishments in Bohol would follow another P10-P18 over the already high P200 per day following last year's RTWPB's P15 increase.

Mario Uy, a businessman here told the RTWPB in a public consultation on wage adjustment last month said despite the P200 minimum, only less than 20% of business establishments follow the minimum wage. He was batting for a uniform implementation of the 2005 wage increase, arguing further that another wage increase becomes empty if businesses do not follow it anyway. “It would be unfair to those who implement,” he pressed, even as he hinted that the local DOLE look into the malpractice to even the grounds for workers and employers all throughout the province. With the development, daily wage earners seeking reprieve now turn their attention to the legislative measures now introduced in Congress and Senate.

House Bill 345 introduced by Rep. Roseller Barinaga calls for P125 daily across the board increase reasoning that it would partially restore the lost purchasing power in real value of workers' wages. In the Upper House, Senator Jinggoy Estrada introduced Senate Bill 2030, which provides for a P100 across the board increase. He said, although the proposed hike is still insufficient, it is substantial enough to raise the quality of life of 16 million workers and their dependents, he said.

When passed and approved, both carry penal provisions ranging from P25T to P100T or 2-4 years imprisonment for persons, corporations, trusts, firms, partnerships or associations and entities who violate the law. Pending a legislative action, then the RTWPB approved increase should be a win-win situation for Bohol businessmen who earlier said they could only go as much as 0-P35 daily increase.

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