THE Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board – Region XI has granted pay increases to minimum wage earners and domestic workers in the Davao region, according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).
Wage Order No. RB XI-22 provides for a P38 wage increase divided into two tranches.
“Wage Order No. RB XI-22 grants a P19 daily increase for minimum wage earners upon effectivity on March 6, 2024, and an additional P19 as second tranche on September 1, 2024,” said the NWPC.
The order is set to bring the daily minimum wages in the Davao region to P481 for the non-agriculture sector and P476 for the agriculture sector, upon full implementation.
The NWPC said 132,347 minimum wage earners in the Region are expected to directly benefit from the salary increase.
With the grant of salary increase for minimum wage earners in Davao, all 16 regional wage boards have issued their respective wage orders.
For domestic workers in Region XI, the Davao wage board has issued Wage Order No. RB XI-DW-03, increasing the monthly minimum wage of domestic help “by a range of P500 to P1,500 depending on the area,” said the NWPC.
This brings the monthly wage rate for domestic workers in chartered cities and first-class municipalities in the region to P6,000, and P5,000 for those in other municipalities.
The wage increase for “kasambahays” is expected to benefit 64,111 domestic workers in the Davao Region.
Only the Central Luzon and Central Visayas regions wage boards have not issued salary adjustments for house helpers.
Davao Region covers Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental provinces and the cities of Davao, Digos, Mati, Panabo, Samal, and Tagum.
Meanwhile, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) for allegedly peddling fake news over the potential effects of the proposed P100 legislated wage hike.
In a statement, PM Chairman Rene Magtubo accused ECOP president Sergio Ortiz Luis, Jr. for saying only a minimal number of workers stand to benefit from having a law providing a nationwide pay increase.
“Contrary to the claims of the ECOP, all workers, formal and informal, will gain whether directly or indirectly… Ortiz Luis is being disingenuous as he is actually defending the interests of the one million employers,” said Magtubo.
“Ortiz Luis is peddling fake news… in truth, he just doesn’t want profits reduced through a wage hike,” he added.
The labor leader belied ECOP’s claims that only 10 percent of formal workers will benefit from the P100 wage hike bill.
“Other workers in the formal sector will gain a portion of P100 through what is called wage distortion as wages above the minimum will have to be adjusted since the floor was raised,” Magtubo said.
“Workers in the informal economy will also benefit since formal workers with more purchasing power will patronize their products and services. It is ordinary wage earners, who buy from street vendors, eat in carinderias (eateries), ride jeepneys and tricycles, and purchase farmers’ and fishers’ produce in wet markets,” he added.
Magtubo said employers also stand to benefit from an adjustment of minimum wages.
“Even employers will, in the end, take advantage of a wage hike as aggregate demand in the economy will rise,” he said.
“Workers’ wages are entirely consumed to buy their families’ necessities,” he added.
