MindanaoToday.com | Wages reflect Normin’s socio-economic factors
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The P438 daily minimum wage of Northern Mindanao is reflective of the socio-economic realities, the Department of Labor and Employment 10 (DOLE-10) head said.
Lawyer Erwin Aquino, DOLE-10’s regional director for Northern Mindanao, said this in a live video message aired at a Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum on Tuesday, September 17, here.
Aquino was referring to the two-tranche 33-peso adjustment under Wage Order No. RX-22 issued on December 21, 2023; P23 took effect on January 11 and P10 on July 1, this year.
Consultations and public hearings, he said, were held to determine wage levels that balance the need for just compensation while maintaining the economic competitiveness.
“Wage adjustments benefit the workforce while promoting a favorable environment for business and investments,” he said.
Aquino chairs the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) with two vice-chairpersons from government, and two members each from labor and management.
In August this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released inflation figures and Northern Mindanao had 4.2 percent, a 1.5-percentage-point reduction from July’s 5.7 percent.
With this, the PSA estimated that the real wage for Region 10–taking into consideration the 1.5-percentage point increase in the cost of goods and services–at P341.57 a day, notwithstanding mandatory deductions.
COMPUTATIONS
“Computation should be done monthly if we want to compute for the net take-home of workers,” DOLE-10 Assistant Regional Director Russel Jallorina said in the forum.
Jallorina said around a thousand peso are likely being taken from workers’ pay every month and remitted to the Social Service System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and the Pag-IBIG Fund.
Lawyer Ma. Vergel Walag, board secretary of the RTWPB-10, said they have yet to compute the workers’ net take-home pay considering that the second tranche of Wage Order No. RX-22 took effect only in July.
Walag said the percentage in computing monthly premium contributions to PhilHealth shared by the employee and employer, as provided for the Universal Health Care law, is not the same every year, depending on the salary bracket.
She said the number of working days also differ, depending on the employer, ranging from 22 to 26 days, thus some may have a gross monthly pay of P12 thousand while other less.
For instance, one would have a gross pay of P11,388 if one report to work for 26 days with P438 as daily minimum wage. Once a thousand—for mandatory contributions–is deducted, one gets P10,388.
In a family of five, where only one is employed, every family member would then have a daily budgetary allocation of P69.25 which is a little over the P64 which the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) pegged as budget for food per person in a single day.
CONSULTATIONS
In the forum, Walag said they have set another round for wage consultations on October 11 in Malaybalay, October 25 in Gingoog, and November 15 in Iligan for Bukidnon, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, and Misamis Occidental provinces, respectively.
“There is no petition for wage adjustments yet,” she said, but the RTWPB-10 would hold the consultations as it is its mandate to look into the needs of workers and their families, the capacity of employers to pay, and the region’s socio-economic requirements.
Demand for living wages, poverty threshold, consumer price index, and cost of living are being factored in to determine the real needs of workers, while fair return on capital invested, prevailing wage levels, and labor productivity are assessed on the part of the employers.
During the deliberations, the standard of living, the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside, effects on employment generation and family income, and equitable distribution of income and wealth would be presented and discussed.
A regional public hearing in Cagayan de Oro is set in December this year, but the regional wage board clarified that consultations and public hearing do not automatically mean a new wage order is forthcoming. [Uriel Quilinguing/MT]
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