Sancho: We did not get the amount we wanted

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-Region VI (RTWPB-6) recently approved an increase in the daily minimum wage for workers in Western Visayas.

RTWPB-6 chairman, Atty. Johnson Cañete, said, under Wage Order No. 24, private sector workers in the region would receive a wage increase between P13.50 and P41.50, including a cost of living allowance.

The increase sets minimum wage rates of P295 for workers in the agriculture sector and P365 for those in the industrial and commercial sector.

The new wage increases begin in August, depending on worker category.

In response, General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) Secretary-General Wennie Sancho said the wage adjustment is still “far below the mandated living wage” and does not satisfy the needs of workers in the region.

He added, GAWA and several other labor rights advocates have done their best to defend the interests of the workers in the region.

Sancho estimated around 1.1 million workers in Western Visayas are eligible under the new wage order, which will be implemented with about 360,544 establishments and companies.

“We had not achieved the amount cited in our petition, but we have managed to get at least 27 percent and we were able to increase the daily minimum wage to at least 13 percent,” the GAWA official said./DGB, WDJ