Central Visayas workers to get P8 daily wage hike

CEBU — Workers in Central Visayas will only get an P8 increase in their daily wages.

After three weeks of deliberations, the regional wage board decided last night to reject the demand of workers for a P20 daily wage increase and decided to peg the amount at P8.

This brings the new minimum daily wage in the region to P208, which is to take effect 15 days after publication of an implementing wage order. That means workers can start receiving the increase sometime in early August.

Unlike the last wage increase of P15 given two years ago, which was implemented in three installments, the new adjustment will be given in full at once.

It took the seven-man wage board four hours to arrive at a decision during its final deliberation, which started at 3 p.m. the other day at the Sarrosa Hotel.

The increase covers all sectors, from agricultural to industrial, said Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Director Rodolfo Sabulao, who sits in the board as chairman.

The board is composed of three representatives from the government and two each from the labor and management sectors.

Marianito Ventura, one of the labor representatives in the board, described the increase as "very low" but that workers should accept it as it is "better than none."

Ventura, along with fellow labor representative Ferdinand Pepito, had proposed P20 on top of the existing daily minimum wage for workers in Metro Cebu, P15 for other workers in the Cebu province, P10 for those in Bohol and Negros Oriental and P5 for workers in Siquijor and the islands of Camotes and Bantayan.

But the proposal was voted down four to two in an earlier deliberation.

Sabulao described the increase as a relief to workers "who are suffering from the high cost of the basic commodities."

He was, however, wary of the reaction from workers." It is the decision of the board. We will just have to accept it. This is a thankless job. We cannot please everybody but we are thinking of the long-term implications," he said.

"One of the factors that investors consider is the prevailing wage level of the region. Investors are looking at the cost of doing business," Sabulao explained.

Meanwhile, a series of hearings on power rate hike has been slated starting Wednesday after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) received petitions for increase from 21 electric cooperatives.

Local government units have recently started taxing cooperatives and these are passed on to consumers by hiking rates.

ERC commissioners are expected to tackle the petitions of cooperatives from Regions VI, VII and VIII, including the Cebu Electric Cooperative I, II and III. Cooperatives used to enjoy tax breaks until last year when the Supreme Court authorized local government units to impose taxes on cooperatives. — Freeman News Service