Biz Sector Urges Minimum Wage Freeze

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY – The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) is urging the Board Members of the Region 6 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) to maintain the status quo and preserve the current minimum wages.

In a position paper furnished to Daily Guardian on Tuesday, the MBCCI urged the RTWPB to “address instead inflation and workers’ productivity to avoid the further weakening of consumption.”

The position paper was submitted by the MBCCI to RTWPB-Region 6.

The paper aims to appeal to the RTWPB to:

1. Maintain the status quo and preserve the present minimum wage.
2. Institutionalize wage control mechanisms to prevent drastic and arbitrary wage adjustments.

It also suggested pegging the ceiling of the minimum wage increase no higher than the average regional inflation rate starting in 2025.

The MBCCI further called on the RTWPB and the public to clarify the reasons behind these positions.

The paper noted that in 2022, the Region 6 Wage Board increased the minimum wage by PHP 110 per day for the non-agricultural sector and micro and small enterprises (95% of registered businesses), and by PHP 95 per day for the agricultural sector.

It also pointed out that the one-year increase in both sectors in Region 6 exceeds the combined two-year increases of PHP 31 and PHP 33 in 2022 and 2023, respectively, in Region 7.

In short, the paper argued, Region 6 has already “paid in advance” its minimum wage increase for 2024.

The PHP 110 minimum wage increase in 2022 represented a 36% hike compared to the previous year, while Region 7 saw an 8% increase despite having a higher gross domestic product (GDP) than Region 6.

Moreover, the 36% increase in 2022 was 450% higher than Region 6’s inflation rate of 8%.

The drastic wage hike contributed to pushing the region’s inflation rate to 3.4% in September 2024, the highest among regions, with others ranging from 0.6% to 2.8%, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Thus, the MBCCI recommends that the Region 6 RTWPB institute wage control mechanisms to prevent drastic and arbitrary wage adjustments.

One suggestion is to set a ceiling for minimum wage increases, pegged no higher than the average regional inflation rate, starting in 2025.

The MBCCI emphasized that raising wages arbitrarily and beyond the average inflation rate leads to economic and social disruptions.

The region becomes uncompetitive, less attractive to investors, and could experience reduced work hours or even job cuts.