Five more regional wage boards are now mulling over the possibility of increasing the minimum wage in their respective jurisdictions, according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).
In an interview, NWPC Executive Director Maria Criselda R. Sy disclosed that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPB) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Central Luzon, Bicol region, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Davao region are now conducting public consultations for their new wage orders.
Sy said these RTWPBs have previous wage orders that have reached their anniversary dates as of June. The wage order in CAR became effective on June 5, 2017, while those in Regions 3 and 5 took effect on May 1, 2017 and June 2, 2017, respectively.
In the case of Regions 9 and 11, Sy said the RTWPBs have not implemented a new wage order since 2016.
During the consultations, she said the five RTWPBs will decide if there is a need to raise the minimum-wage rates in their respective areas.
“They are now at the different phases of their consultations. We expect these boards to come out with their decisions in the next two months,” Sy said.
Under the Wage Rationalization Act, RTWPBs could only release a new wage order a year after the date of effectivity of their previous wage order unless they would declare a supervening event.
A supervening event is any extraordinary increase in basic goods, such as petroleum, and services for a given period, which is usually for three straight months.
Sy made the statement after the NWPC declared that five RTWPBs have already implemented their new wage orders
for 2018.
RTWPBs that have implemented new minimum-wage rates are Ilocos region (P256 to P310); Calabarzon (P317 to P400), Eastern Visayas (P305), Soccsksargen (P311), and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (P280).
Sy confirmed that the RTWPB in Central Visayas has already completed its wage deliberations.
“We are just waiting for them to transmit their new wage order to the Commission for affirmation before it takes effect,” she said.
In a related development, the RTWPB-National Capital Region said it is scheduled to convene its members this week to decide on the P320 across-the-board wage-hike petition filed by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on June 14.
In March the RTWPB-NCR junked the P175 wage-hike petition of the Association of Minimum Wage Earners and Advocate since it was filed ahead of the anniversary of the previous wage order in NCR, which will fall in October.