THE business sector in the Province of Bohol asked the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 to exempt them from the implementation of the newly-approved P13 minimum wage hike.

Grace Carreon, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) secretary, told reporters that members of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Bo-hol Association of Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants (BAHRR) filed an appeal before their office just a few days after the board approved Wage Order 20 last Feb. 29.

The groups said that they should be exempted from implementing the wage order because the economic situation in the province is not the same as the other areas in Central Visayas.

Carreon, however, said that there is no provision in the wage order that exempt companies, unless these were recently affected by natural calamity.

Carreon said the RTWPB forwarded the groups’ appeal to the National Wages and Productivity Commission for assessment.

In February, the RTWPB approved the P13 minimum wage hike in Central Visayas.