BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment in Cordillera (DOLE-CAR) has recorded an 85-percent compliance to minimum wage laws among employers in the region, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) learned on Tuesday.
DOLE-CAR Regional Director Exequiel Ronie Guzman said such high compliance rate was based on inspections conducted by the agency among employers in the region.
“Basta alam nila, sumusunod sila sa wage order (They comply when they are advised of a wage order),” he noted, stressing the importance of information dissemination from the agency’s end.
Guzman said this is the reason the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has all its wage orders published and even give media interviews for wider information dissemination.
The RTWPB has recently issued Wage Order 19 that will make the minimum wage in Baguio and La Trinidad PHP320; PHP315 in Tabuk City; Bangued, Abra; Bontoc, Bauko, and Sagada in Mountain Province; Lagawe and Banaue in Ifugao; Buguias, Itogon, Mankayan, Tuba, and Tublay in Benguet; and PHP300 in all other areas in Cordillera.
Guzman said employers in Cordillera also had an 85-percent compliance rate, when the RTWPB issued Wage Order 18, which took effect on July 5, 2017.
He said only two or three establishments were found to have violated Wage Order 18 then. But these employers eventually complied after they were advised on the minimum wage order.
The labor official expressed gratitude to the establishments in the region for adhering to the minimum wage law.
Close to 300,000 salaried and daily wage earners in the region are expected to benefit from the new wage hike. (Liza Agoot/PNA)
