Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol May 15 (PIA) --Picking on the glaring
absence of major employers in Bohol during the recent wage consultation,
Central Visayas trade director wished "their absence is not because they
do not pay right."
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional director Asteria
Caberte, a Boholano said there have been allegations that leading
employers and business establishments in Tagbilaran City do not pay right,
the pay is way below P310 minimum wage as ordered. These allegations of
how employees are forced to sign two sets of payrolls and are scrimped in
their benefits abound.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has still to
receive complaints of the sort, updates German Guidaben the local DOLE
officer in charge.
Caberte who has been aggressive in keeping industrial peace
in the region openly said she is missing some people at the gathering.
"Be responsible," Caberte dared as she also urged
DOLE to do serious implementation of the wage order in Bohol.
At the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB)
wage consultation at the Jjs Seafoods Village recently, DOLE regional director
Exequiel Sarcauga also shared knowledge that one resort here pays only
P290/day instead of the mandated P310 daily minimum in Bohol.
Even for an average family of five, P290 means P19.00 per meal
budget for each family member, Sarcauga said.
Where would the family seek money for education and budget for
medicines? Sarcauga asked those present at the wage consultation as he computed
from the pay shortchange.
The RTWPB is an attached agency of the DOLE and is
mandated to prescribe the minimum wage rates for all private enterprise workers
in the region. The rate must not be below the wage as determined by law,
according to the RTWPB website.
The RTWPB also seeks ways to promote productivity improvement
programs, thus it is mandated to inquire and validate conditions affecting
wages in a region so they can fix wages with or without petition.
Aside from data gathered in consultations like these the
RTWPB also studies facts and research findings and the public hearing set
is among the many ways to fix wage rates, Sarcauga said.
RTWPB uses demand for living wages, the Consumer Price Index, cost
of living, needs of workers and their families, the need to induce industries
to invest in the countryside, improvements in standards of living, prevailing
wage levels, fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of
employers, effects on employment generation and family income as well as
equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic
social development as their basis for wage adjustments.
As mandated RTWPB rounds the region's provinces and within 30
days from the date of the last public hearing, the Board is required to issue a
wage order.
Generally, wage boards can issue wage order within 90 days but
only for once a year unless regional conditions warrant otherwise as determined
by them.
A wage order takes effect 15 days from its complete publication in
at least one newspaper of general circulation in the region.
(mbcn/rahc/PIA7-Bohol)
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