Wage Increase for 2011 in the Philippines

Is there enough wage or salary increase waiting for Filipino workers this year? The laborers and employees of the Philippines are expecting a wage hike for 2011. But would it be adequate to cover the increasing prices of commodities out there? The price of gasoline and oil continues to rise. Consequently, the cost of transportation, basic commodities, and every goods and services on the market have also increased. Thus, it seems that living here in our country has never been easy.

Wage hike for government employees

On April 29, 2011, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has signed Executive Order (EO) No. 40. This allows the implementation of the third tranche of the adjustment assessed under the Salary Standardization Law (see the link to EO 40 at the bottom of this post to read the whole content). The pay increase will take effect on June 1, covering national government agencies, government-owned and -controlled organizations, government financial institutions, judiciary as well as military and uniformed personnel. The implementation of the third tranche of the modified Salary Schedule for LGU personnel shall be determined by the sanggunian concerned based on the LGU income class and financial capability, with certain provisions stated in Section 4 of EO No. 40.

EO 40, however, does not cover individuals and groups of people whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, or others similarly situated and civilian personnel in government entities which are exempted from RA No. 6758 (Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989) and are authorized by law to adopt and are actually implementing their own compensation and position classification systems approved by the Office of the President.

A May 1, 2011 press release was published by the Department of Budget and Management. In that publication, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said that the E.O. is ready and may be issued within the week, together with a Memorandum Order, which is needed for the early release of mid-year bonuses of government agencies.

Salary increase for private workers

Meanwhile, wage-hike petitions are still pending before the National Wage and Productivity Commissions. There are appeals for a P75 and a P100 increase for workers in Metro Manila and in Regions 7 and 10, respectively. The regional wage boards cited the steady rise of oil prices and the rising inflation to justify a wage hike.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) reportedly petitioned a P75 wage increase, while some groups insist for a P13.35 to P25 increase. TUCP legal counsel German Pascua Jr., however, said that despite their petition of a P75 increase, they are amenable to at least a P40 across-the-board hike in wages. Mr. Pascua said that the group will not accept non-monetary benefits for minimum wage earners, for they need a concrete wage to cope with the rising prices of commodities. He further stated that if they cannot have a concrete salary adjustment, then they will join the campaign to abolish regional wage boards and to go straight to Congress for a P125 across-the-board increase.”

For most workers, a P13 wage for NCR is not enough. But the employer and management groups reason out that further salary increase may significantly affect the conditions of most businesses.

On Sunday Labor Day, President Aquino asked the country’s wage boards to speed up the processing of wage hike petitions to ease the escalating tension between employers and labor groups.

For now, let’s just hope that both parties (the employers and workers groups) will meet at the wage increase that will benefit the majority of the Filipinos. We will update this post regularly for the latest news about the matter. Meanwhile, to see the latest regional daily minimum wage rates of workers across the country, please visit this page from the Department of  Labor and Employment (DOLE) website.

Resources:
Executive Order (EO) No. 40
Department of Budget and Management Press Release
GMA News stories