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Saturday, June 18, 2005
P15 allowance approved for Davao workers
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
* RTWPB-11 shuns petitions for basic pay increase, considering the employers' capacity to pay
* Board decision based on inflation rate in the region as of May, pegged at 10.4%
* New wage order to be reviewed after siz months of implementation
AFTER a three-day deliberation, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 11 has granted minimum wage earners in Davao Region a P15 cost-of-living allowance (Cola).
Under the new wage order, the allowance prescribed shall be for the normal working schedule of eight hours a day.
The wage order further stated that all workers paid by results, including those who are paid on piecework, "takay", "pakyaw", or task basis, shall be entitled to receive the prescribed Cola per eight hours of work a day, or a proportion thereof for those working less than eight hours.
The decision of the board was anchored on the present inflation rate recorded in the region as of May, which was pegged at 10.4 percent.
"We have a double-digit inflation in the region which justifies the increase," said lawyer Bonifaco Uy, assistant regional director of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) 11, during a press conference Friday at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) conference room.
Uy said since the last minimum wage increase implemented in the region on February 5 of this year, RTWPB-11 has already approved an increase of P29, which is 15 percent higher than the previous wage level of P195.
RTWPB 11 chair Ma. Gloria Tango, who is also the regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 11, said the board opted to grant a Cola, instead of increase in minimum basic pay, "considering the capacity of the employers to pay."
"We are not only considering the stand of the workers but as well as of the employers," she said.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) president Bienvenido Cariaga said the granting of the Cola "is just enough since the business climate at present is not doing so good."
"Everybody is complaining na mahina ang negosyo. The Davao City Chamber knows our capacity. The multinational corporations and other big companies in the region can afford to give the wage increase, but for the 99 percent of the total members of the DCCCII who are SMEs (small and medium enterprises), I don't think they can afford," he said.
The labor representatives, Jorge Alegarbes and Virginia Camus, did not attend the press conference Friday.
The new wage order shall take effect on July 1, 15 days after publication of the wage order in a local newspaper of general circulation.
After six months from the date of implementation, Tango said, "the board will review the implementation of the Cola."
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 18, 2005 issue)
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