Business

DOLE-6 photoThe Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) approved the highest wage increase so far in Western Visayas on Thursday, Labor Regional Director Sixto Rodriguez Jr. said Friday, May 13.The daily wage increase for workers in private establishments will range from P55 to P110, he said.The RTWPB in a separate order also increased the wages of “kasambahays (domestic help)” from P4,000 to P4,500 a month, he added.The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) will review the wage increase in the region before it becomes final, Rodriguez said.The RTWPB increased the daily wages of employees in private establishments employing 10 workers and below from P310 to P420 or by P110, and for those employing more than 10 workers from P395 to P450 or by...

The biggest sugar planters’ aggrupation has threatened to “boycott” products, particularly of beverage companies who will take part in the sugar importation program of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) through Sugar Order No. 3 (SO3).Associacion de Agricultores de la Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. (AALCPI) general manager, David Alba, said in a press release that they earlier issued a call to all traders and importers that they will file technical smuggling charges if imported sugar is brought into the country under SO3.“It seems our appeal has not been heeded and so, we are now preparing to call on our members and other stakeholders in the sugar industry to boycott products of those who will use technically smuggled sugar,” Alba said.AALCPI is an independent sugar group whi...

An SRA employee receives a copy of the contempt case filed against Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica late Friday afternoon, May 6.*A sugar planters group filed a motion to cite Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) for direct contempt before the Regional Trial Court Branch 73 of Sagay City in Negros Occidental at noon Friday, May 6, Manuel Lamata, United Sugar Producers Federation president, said.Lamata said he personally delivered a copy of the motion for contempt to the SRA office in Bacolod and another copy was also given to the SRA office in Quezon City on Friday.The motion to cite Serafica for direct contempt was filed by the Rural Sugar Planters Association Inc. represented by its president Joseph Edgar Sarrosa.Sarrosa...

An intervenor in a case that secured preliminary injunctions against the Sugar Regulatory Administration on Thursday, May 5, warned of legal actions against “all traders and importers” who will participate in the sugar importation program under the controversial Sugar Order No. 3.“Anyone who is a participant in bringing in imported sugar, using the memorandum circular issued by Sugar Regulatory Administrator, Hermenegildo Serafica will be deemed abetting an illegal act in outright disrespect of the law and we will file the corresponding charges against them,” David Alba, general manager of the Associacion de Agricultores de la Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. (AALCPI), said.“Let this serve as a warning to all traders and importers who will join this mockery that we will petition that all ...

The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) is planning to ask courts to cite Agriculture Secretary William Dar and Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica for contempt after both gave the go-ahead to implement Sugar Order No. 3 despite a pending case against it.UNIFED President Manuel Lamata said in a press statement that they will ask the courts to issue immediate warrants of arrest against the two officials for “disrespecting the powers of the courts and bypassing the rights of sugar stakeholders who sought a status quo on SO 3.”"UNIFED is not against importation as it is a need, but is against the exclusivity to industrial users, which has never happened in the history of the sugar industry", Lamata said.In a memorandum circular released May 2, SRA said they...

A rollback in fuel prices is expected from May 3 to 9, Unioil Petroleum Philippines said on Saturday, April 30.Diesel price is expected to go down by P1.10 to P1.20 per liter, it announced.The price of gasoline is expected to decline by P0.60 to P0.70 per liter, it added.*

BY EASTER ANNE DOZADepartment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 6 Assistant Regional Director laywer Dax Villaruel with DOLE Negros Occidental Field Officer Agnes Capigon leads the distribution of TUPAD benefits to respective barangay captains.*More than P7 million worth of Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) were given out during the Labor Day edition of the Integrated Sustainable Assistance Recovery and Advancement Program (ISARAP) – second round of the Negros Occidental leg held at the Manuel Torres Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City on Sunday, May 1.The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 6 turned over checks worth of P7,271,300 to barangays 12, 35, and 14 in Bacolod City, Concepcion in Talisay City, Barangay 1-Poblacion of Hinig...

The first vehicles to drive down the Upper East Avenue in Bacolod City after its opening* Ronnie Baldonado photoMegaworld opened its eight-lane avenue and switched on its streetlights at The Upper East township in Bacolod City, and announced that it is increasing its investment in the area to P45 billion at rites held Friday night, April 29.The kilometer-long Upper East Avenue connects Lopez Jaena Street to the Carlos Hilado Highway, and it is hoped that it will ease traffic congestion at Burgos Street in Bacolod.The Upper East Avenue is composed of six road lanes and two “on-street” parking lanes, Harold Brian Geronimo, Megaworld senior assistant vice president, said.It is open for both private and public vehicles, subject to the traffic rules and regulations of its own es...

The labor representatives at a press conference at the Negros Press Club on Friday, April 29.*Workers in Western Visayas will mark a bleak International Labor Day on Sunday, May 1, without a much needed wage hike, because of a deliberate effort to delay it, Wennie Sancho, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) labor representative, said Friday, April 29.“The workers are spiraling in despair, their wages have not kept up with the unabated increases in the prices of petroleum products, basic goods and services,” Sancho said at a press conference at the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City.A daily minimum wage of from P450 to P750 in Western Visayas is being pushed, but management is asking that any increase be deferred until the end of the year because they have ye...

DOLE-6 photoBacolod-based labor groups slammed the delay in deliberations on the petition for a wage increase in Western Visayas and the Russian forces human rights abuses in Ukraine on Thursday, April 28.The General Alliance of Worker's Association (GAWA), Philippine Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU) and other allied labor groups will launch the "We Stand With Ukraine" movement in Bacolod City on Friday, April 29, Wennie Sancho, GAWA secretary general, said.They are launching the movement to raise awareness against the humanitarian crisis triggered by the atrocities committed by the Russian forces that have led to the death and suffering of civilians and the massive destruction of infrastructure in Ukraine, he said.“To be silent about these tra...