The new wage increase will affect the sugar industry a lot, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, June 13.
Some planters leasing farms have said they may not continue to do so after they harvest their current crop, he pointed out.
On top of the new wage increase, the sugar industry if also affected by the high price of fuel and fertilizer, he said.
“It’s a difficult year that we are facing,” Lacson said.
“If it is still possible to appeal, that’s the right of our business sector to make an appeal,” he said.
Frank Carbon, executive director of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they have filed a notice of appeal before the National Wages and Productivity Commission.
The business sector can only afford a wage increase of from P25 to P35 at this time, Carbon said.
The new Western Visayas wage order that took effect June 5 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 P55.
It also increased the wages of WV agricultural workers from P315 to P410, or by P95.
Carbon said they have sought the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippine and local officials’ help to explain their current difficulty.*