TACLOBAN CITY—The Department of Labor and Employment in Eastern Visayas through the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will conduct a series of consultations in key cities in the region to determine the impact of the recently signed tax law on wage earners, especially those receiving minimum wage.
DOLE regional director Joel Gonzales, who also sits as regional chairman of RTWPB, said consultations will be made in the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte, Catbalogan in Samar, Borongan in Eastern Samar, and the capital town of Catarman in Northern Samar.
Gonzales said the consultation will revolve on the impact of the recently implemented Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law on the prices of goods and services, the economic condition of the provinces, and how a possible wage adjustment will affect the workers and employers.
President Duterte signed the TRAIN law on Dec. 19, 2017, imposing higher taxes on fuel, cars, coal, tobacco, mining, and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The measure exempts from paying personal income tax those earning an annual taxable income of P250,000 and below.
Gonzales said the result of consultations will determine the next possible action of the RTWPB in terms of whether new wage adjustments need to be done.
He added the new law would allow Eastern Visayas to have another wage-rate increase since by the time it is implemented, a year would have passed since the last one took effect. The existing wage order took effect in February 13 last year and the law only allows one wage adjustment a year.
Eastern Visayas has a population of 3 million with a labor force participation rate of 60.3 percent in 2017 or around 1.9 million of the population is economically active.
Data from Philippine Statistics Authority showed an underemployment of 22.6 percent, indicating 402,000 desire additional work hours or have an additional job. The region has the fourth-highest underemployment rate in the country.
Gonzales said RTWPB has yet to determine the exact schedule for the consultation, but hoped they would be able to start early March so that the decisions on wage-adjustment proposals will be ready by late March to early April.
Wage Order 19, which took effect in 2017, raised the daily pay of minimum wage earners in Eastern Visayas to between P10 and P25.