Metro workers to get higher pay

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila workers can enjoy fatter paycheck starting this month, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday.

Baldoz said minimum wage earners in the metropolis will receive the P15 increase in their basic pay that will be integrated to their existing Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

“With the integration, the minimum wage rate for private sector workers in Metro Manila stands at P466, which is composed of the P451 basic pay and the remaining P15 COLA,” Baldoz said.

She said the integration of the P15 COLA to the basic pay translates to a P330 increase in the minimum monthly basic pay of Metro Manila workers.

“It also means an increase in their 13th month pay, overtime pay, night shift differential pay and other statutory benefits because the integrated P15 COLA is included in the computation of these benefits,” she explained.

Last October, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board issued a wage order granting P15 increase in the daily take home pay of minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.

Baldoz said the new wage rate applies to all minimum wage workers in the private sector in the National Capital Region.

However, domestic helpers, family drivers and workers of duly-registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises with Certificates of Authority are excluded from the wage hike.

Workers who are paid on tasks basis or so-called  “pakyaw” are entitled to receive the minimum wage per eight hours of work daily.