ILOILO City – Is the new minimum wage being observed by employers in Western Visayas? The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) would be deploying inspectors across the region to check, said Director Cyril Ticao.
Wage Order No. RBVI-25 took effect on Nov. 26, 2019 yet but the DOLE inspection will start this February to give employers ample time to comply.
Employers who failed to immediately observe the new minimum wage in November and December last year could do it retroactively this month, said Ticao.
So far, according to the director, DOLE Region 6 has not received complaints against employers for not following the wage order.
Workers who wish file complaints could write DOLE Region 6 or visit the office, said Ticao.
As stated in Wage Order No. RBVI-25, erring employers “shall be subjected to the mandatory 30 days conciliation and mediation process under the single Entry Approach (SEnA).”
If settlement is not reached, the case becomes subject of enforcement proceedings under Articles 128 and 129 of the Labor Code.
“I am reminding employers to follow the wage order. May inspectors kami nga magalibot,” said Ticao.
Wage Order No. RBVI-25 set the following wage increases:
* agriculture sector – from P295 to P315, or an increase of P20
* non-agriculture / industrial / commercial sector: (a) employing more than 10 workers – from P365 to P395, or an increase of P30; and (b) employing 10 workers and below – from P295 to P310, or an increase of P15
“(The) wage increase prescribed in this Wage Order shall apply to all minimum wage earners in the private sector in Western Visayas, regardless of their position, designation or status of employment and irrespective of the method by which they are paid,” read part of Wage Order No. RBVI-25.
The order, however, did not cover household or domestic workers, persons in the personal service of another, and workers of duly registered Barangay Micro-Business Enterprises (BMBEs) with Certificate of Authority.
Progressive groups were not happy with the order. They said the new rates were “an outright disrespect and insult to the long-standing call of our workers for a P750 national minimum wage.”
“The increase cannot even buy a kilo of rice. Worse, to those with P15 increase, it cannot even pay a one-way back-to-back trip within four kilometers minimum distance without shelling out P2 more. A kilo of regular well-milled rice now costs P45-50,” said Elmer Forro, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
A family of six needed a daily living wage of P1,400 to live decently, he stressed, and the P395 was only 28 percent of that.
Wage Order No. RBVI-25 listed some exemptions: distressed establishments, new business enterprises and establishments adversely affected by calamities natural or human-induced./PN
