Normin workers get P23 daily wage hike

MindanaoToday.com | Normin workers get P23 daily wage hike

By: Uriel Quilinguing

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Employees in private establishments across Northern Mindanao are set to receive a 23-peso increase on their current daily minimum wages (DMW) starting on Sunday, January 12, this year, according to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board X (RTWPB-X).

Wage Order No. RX-23, which the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) affirmed on December 18, 2024, grants agriculture and non-agriculture workers in the region a two-tranche P35 DMW adjustment; P23 on January 12, and additional P12 for those in the agriculture sector on July 1, all this year.

By then, the daily minimum wage by then shall be P461 under Wage Category I and P446 under Wage Category II.

The NWPC, in affirming the wage order, noted that the sectoral differentiation between non-agriculture and agriculture workers has been eliminated, and it has streamlined the wage classification structure.

Starting January 12, the DMW of workers would be P461 for non-agriculture and P449 for agriculture under Wage Category I (WCI), and P446 for non-agriculture and P434 for agriculture under WC II, after the P23 adjustment is factored in.

The current DMWs, under Wage Order No. RX-22, are: P438 and P426 under WC I, and P423 and P413 under WC II.

Areas under WC I are the cities of Cagayan de Oro, El Salvador, Gingoog, Iligan, Malaybalay, Ozamiz, and Valencia. The municipalities of Jasaan, Lugait, Opol, Tagoloan, and Villanueva, all of Misamis Oriental; Manolo Fortich, Maramag, and Quezon, all of Bukidnon, are under WC I.

All cities and municipalities not included in WC I are under WC II, including establishments all over Northern Mindanao who employ less than 10 workers.

Lawyer Proculo Sarmen, legal counsel of the Federation of Free Workers Northern Mindanao Region said the RTWPB X “deserves recognition for conducting a proactive review and approving the annual wage increase for minimum wage earners in Region 10.”

He said the initiative is “a step towards fulfilling its mandate, sparing the labor sector from filing petitions—a process that often delays much-needed relief for workers.”

But he described the wage orders issued since 1989, including Wage Order No. RX-23, are inadequate amounts to raise the salaries above the poverty threshold. These even widened the gap between Region 10 and Metro Manila with a P184 disparity in wage rates.

“Both the management sector and the government must develop a deeper understanding of the struggles faced by the working class,” Sarmen said, and that “most minimum-wage earners remain unorganized and lack the bargaining power to demand fair treatment, leaving them highly vulnerable.”

Aside from increases in daily take-home pay of wage earners, the RTWPB-X also issued Wage Order RX-DW No. 05 which added P1,000 over the current P5,000 monthly salary of domestic workers, thus increasing the amount to P6,000 effective January 12, this year.

Domestic workers include those doing general household work, as cook, nanny (yaya), gardener, and laundry person, except family drivers, home-service providers (beauticians, barbers, masseurs, carpenters, plumbers, electricians).

The RTWPB X is chaired by lawyer Erwin Aquino, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 10, with the regional heads of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as vice-chairpersons. Both management and labor sectors have two representatives each in the regional; wage board. [Uriel Quilinguing/MT]

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