Region 9 workers  get P15  wage hike

Workers in Western Min­danao (Region 9) are getting a P15 increase in their daily take-home pay, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) reported yesterday.

NWPC executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad III said the wage increase consists of a P5 adjustment in the basic pay and an additional P10 to the previous P10 cost of living allowance (COLA).

With the new wage order, the new daily minimum wage rate for non-agricultural workers in Western Mindanao will be P240, inclusive of the P20 COLA.

Agricultural workers in plantations will receive P215, and those in non-plantations, P195.

Workers of retail service and establishments employing not more than 30 employees will get P220, and cottage and handicraft workers, P195.

Lagunzad said P5 of the current P20 COLA will be integrated into the basic pay of minimum wage earners in the region starting October.

The Western Mindanao wage board also encouraged employers to undertake productivity enhancement programs.

Earlier, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Minda­nao wage board granted a P10 adjustment in the minimum wage.

Labor Secretary Maria­nito Roque said all of the 17 regional wage boards have already done their job in granting wage adjustments.