ILOILO CITY – The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has announced that workers in Western Visayas will receive a P30 daily wage increase starting on November 16.

GROCERY store employees rest in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
The NWPC only approved P30 of the proposed P100 wage increase filed by the Iloilo Pepsi Cola Workers Independent Union (IPCWIU) and the United Labor-Western Visayas.
The two groups filed the petition as the inflation rate in the region has weakened workers' purchasing power for basic necessities.
The P30 increase covers workers in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
Non-agricultural workers in a company with more than 10 in the workforce will receive P480 per day from the current rate of P450 starting next month.
For workers in a company with 10 or less employees, they will receive P450 from P420 per day.
For workers in the agricultural sector, the minimum wage will be P440 from P410.
House helpers will also receive an increase of P500 per month, from the current rate of P4,500 to P5,000.