ILOILO City – A hospital employees’ union has formally sought a substantial wage increase for private sector workers in Western Visayas, filing a petition that would raise the region’s minimum daily wage to P800 despite the existing one-year restriction on wage adjustment requests.
The Iloilo Doctors Hospital Employees Union has petitioned the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) for an additional P250 daily wage increase, pushing the current minimum wage from P550 to P800.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional director Atty. Sixto Rodriguez Jr. confirmed on Wednesday that the petition is the latest effort to secure higher wages in the region following the dismissal of a similar request filed earlier by the United Labor Alliance Western Visayas due to lack of legal personality.
“Binago lang ‘yung pangalan (of the petitioner) but the same request for wage increase in the amount of P800 or plus P250 from the current P550,” Rodriguez said during a press conference.
The previous petition was rejected because the petitioner labor alliance was not registered with the DOLE.
“Therefore they have no legal personality,” said Rodriguez, also the RTWPB chief.
The wage board is expected to convene and evaluate the new petition and determine whether circumstances cited by the union qualify as “supervening events,” an exception that could allow the board to entertain a wage hike request before the lapse of the mandatory one-year period following the last wage order.
The last wage order in Western Visayas took effect on Nov. 17, 2025; therefore, new wage petitions would ordinarily be considered only after Nov. 2026.
Wage Order No. RBVI-28 issued last year increased the daily minimum wage in the private sector by P33 to P40 depending on the category of workers. Under the order, non-agriculture, industrial and commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers receive a minimum wage of P513 per day, while those employing 10 workers or fewer pay P485. Agricultural workers receive P480 per day.
Meanwhile, Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-06 also issued last year raised the monthly minimum wage of domestic workers from P5,000 to P6,000.
RTWPB has yet to announce the schedule of its deliberations on the latest wage petition./PN
