
The Iloilo Business Club Inc. (IBC), the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation Inc. (ILED), the Iloilo Hotel Restaurants and Resort Association (IHRRA), the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI-Iloilo Chapter), and the Capiz Halaran Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CHCCI) sought an increase of three to five percent of the daily salary for workers.
In a formal appeal to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the five business groups sought to reconsider the approved salary increase of 13 to 35 percent.
The five groups noted that the NWPC order granting an increase of P55 to P110 for non-agricultural workers and P95 for agricultural workers is way higher than other regions, including Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR).
The groups reiterated that the wage hike will sabotage the collective economic recovery of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
“It will cripple, if not decimate, the operations of struggling local businesses in Iloilo City and the rest of the region, and will hinder their efforts to bounce back from the pandemic, thereby incapacitating them from fully servicing the needs of the public,” they collectively warned.
They slammed the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Region 6 (RTWPB 6) for its “grave abuse of discretion” by approving a “drastic increase” of 13 to 35 percent. They noted that in past wage increases, the RTWPB 6 always settled for a “conservative figure.”