Metro Manila, 3 other regions to release new wage orders in May

MANILA -- Regional wage boards in four regions, including the National Capital Region (NCR), are expected to release new wage orders before the end of May, a senior Labor official said Tuesday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told reporters at the sidelines of jobs fair in Pasay City that the other three regions where new wage order will be issued this month include the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley.

"There's a commitment for NCR. I think before end of May they will issue the wage order," she said.

She said that May 26 will be the one year anniversary for the implementation of the latest wage order wherein the daily minimum salary rates of workers in Metro Manila were pegged at P426 and P389 for non-agriculture and agriculture sectors, respectively.

The Labor chief refused to give any possible rates of increase, particularly in Metro Manila.

She said she did not want to make premature statement, which could later become controversial.

"Let us leave it to the wage board," she said, adding that the National Economic and Development Authority has continued to monitor the economic indicators, including inflation.

President Benigno Aquino III, in a speech during the breakfast meeting with the labor leaders to celebrate the Labor Day in Malacanang, has ordered the regional wage boards to fast track the process for a possible wage increase. (SDR/Sunnex)