By FRANCK DICK ROSETE
Bulatlat.com
CAGAYAN DE ORO – “It’s not enough given the rising prices of basic goods.”
A sales clerk in one of the malls in Cagayan de Oro made this remark in reaction to the recent wage order issued by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Northern Mindanao, increasing the minimum wage by P23 (US$0.23) in both non- and agriculture sectors in the region effective January 12, 2025.
Another P12 (US$0.21) increase will be implemented only for the agriculture sector in the region by July next year, making its minimum wage to P446 (US$7.71), while P461 (US$7.96) for the non-agriculture sector.
The minimum wage earner from Barangay Puntod, who refused to give her identity, told Bulatlat that her and her husband’s salaries are only enough for their monthly expenses. They struggle a lot when they encounter health and other emergencies.
“When our children get sick, that’s the time we are having difficulties. We resorted to borrowing money from others,” she said in an interview, adding that they couldn’t afford saving money with their current wages.
Read: How did inflation affect minimum wage earners?
Progressive group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) slammed the meager increase, saying it is an “insult” to the minimum wage earners in the region as the amount could not even purchase a half kilo of rice.
This only proves that the RTWPB could not be the mechanism to improve the lives of Filipino workers, said KMU Secretary General Jerome Adonis.
Data from research group IBON Foundation showed that the living wage for a family of five in the Northern Mindanao region is P1,229 (US$21.23) as of November 2024, highlighting a wage gap of 64.4 percent with the region’s current minimum wage of P438 (US$7.57).
Lowest since 2018
Bulatlat gathered the wage orders issued by RTWPB Northern Mindanao in the past years and found out that the most recent wage hike is the lowest increase to be implemented since 2018, specifically in the non-agriculture sector.
Data showed that the highest minimum wage increase in the region was implemented in 2022 in the amount of P40 (US$0.69) in the non-agriculture sector and P47 (US$0.81) in the agriculture sector, which were both given in two tranches.
This was followed by the overall P35 increase for the agriculture sector in 2025, P33 in both sectors in 2022, and P27 in both sectors in 2018.
Cita Hadman, Northern Mindanao coordinator for the National Federation of Labor Unions – KMU, argued that the P23 increase could not help ordinary workers achieve the family living wage. “It appears that we still need to work hard in asking, at least the P150 wage hike,” she told Bulatlat in the vernacular.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines called on the House of Representatives to urgently pass the P150 across-the-board legislated wage hike under House Bill No. 7871 in order to complete the measure passed by the Senate.
The Senate is now waiting for the House version after the former passed the P100-wage increase in the private sector’s daily minimum wage last February.
Meanwhile, based on the recent wage orders in every region in Mindanao, the Davao region has the highest minimum wage in the island, with P481 for the non-agriculture sector and P457 for the agriculture sector.
This was followed by Northern Mindanao, the Caraga region, Soccsksargen, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has the lowest minimum wage in Mindanao.
P1,200 across-the-board daily wage
Adonis said it is time to abolish the regional wage boards and urged the government to become serious about legislating wage increases.
The KMU, through the Makabayan Coalition in the lower House, is pushing for a P1,200 across-the-board daily wage nationwide, which fits to the average living wage of P1,218 (US$21.04) for a family of five in the country, or the P750 (US$12.96) increase across the board on top of the existing minimum wage.
The KMU secretary general said the Makabayan bloc already filed a bill pertaining to the matter sometime in 2023.
Read: PH’s average minimum wage can’t feed a five-member family
In an earlier interview, Ruben Vegafria, then-regional governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Northern Mindanao, said due to the differences of every region when it comes to living costs, wage increases should not be legislated, expressing concerns that many workers might lose their job if several businesses would close.
However, Adonis said living costs in every region are not too distant from each other. Hence, their minimum wages should not be dissimilar to Metro Manila.
The IBON Foundation earlier said the proposed P150 across-the-board wage increase is “only 10.6% of profits across all establishments and 11.3% for [micro, small, and medium enterprises].”
“Even a P663 wage hike that allows the current average wage to reach the [family living wage] is only 47% of all establishment profits and still leaves employers with the majority of profits,” the research group added.
Moreover, the KMU reiterated their challenge to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that if he wants to show off, he can issue an executive order declaring equal P1,200 wages across the country despite the existence of the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989.
Adonis reminded the public that asserting family living wages is not only a struggle of the workers alone but of the entire Filipino people as wage hikes would also have positive impacts on the economy. (RTS, RVO)
