Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Cordillera workers get wage hikes

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The Cagayan Valley regional tripartite wages and productivity board granted yesterday a P10 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in the region.

The approved wage increase was far less than the P100, which the region’s labor sector had demanded.

Workers in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions also got a wage adjustment of P15 to P25 and P10, respectively.

Labor groups in the two regions, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the approved wage hikes.

"We are really not satisfied with the increase because we are fighting for a P125 across-the-board (adjustment). It is not enough to augment our daily needs," said Avelino Dacanay, regional chairman of the Solidarity of Peasants Against Exploitation.

Pacifico Morales, provincial labor and employment officer of Nueva Vizcaya, said the wage adjustment was agreed upon after a series of consultations with the region’s labor and management sectors.

The regional wage board said the P10 increase will take effect sometime next month or 15 days after the publication of the new wage order in regional newspapers.

Heidelwina Tarrosa, the wage board’s supervising labor and employment officer, said workers receiving a daily wage of at least P231 are not entitled to the P10 increase.

For non-agricultural workers, the new daily minimum wage will be P215 for Cagayan; P218 for Isabela; P211 for Nueva Vizcaya; and P210 for Quirino and Batanes.

Workers in the agricultural sector will receive a daily minimum wage of P203 for Cagayan; P206 for Isabela; P199 for Nueva Vizcaya; and P198 for Quirino and Batanes.

Labor officials said the new daily minimum wage already includes the P8 and P15 cost-of-living allowances (COLAs), which the regional wage board granted in 2004 and 2005, respectively.