Caviteño workers one step closer to higher minimum wage

Caviteño workers may soon enjoy a new minimum wage higher than the current ₱373 rate. The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) held a public hearing regarding the minimum wage hike in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) at the Legislative Building of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Cavite on Monday, May 16.

Present during the hearing were RTWPB IV-A chairman and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) IV-A regional director Ezekiel Ronie de Guzman, vice governor Jolo Revilla, and representatives of labor groups, laborers, and management groups.

In 2021, the provincial government filed a resolution to raise the minimum wage in Cavite. It has been four years since the last wage hike in the province.

“Kamakailan lang ay muli na namang itinaas ang sahod ng mga manggagawa sa NCR, kaya naman panawagan namin sa Cavite ay itaas na din sahod kapareho nang sa NCR (There has been a wage hike in the National Capital Region recently, and we are calling for a wage hike in Cavite to match that in NCR),” Revilla said in a statement.

The vice governor said Cavite is just beside Metro Manila, with Bacoor just six kilometers away, Imus 10 kilometers away, and Kawit just 13 kilometers away.

“Marapat lamang na ipantay ang sahod sa mga karatig na lugar ng NCR dahil kung ano ang presyo ng mga bilihin sa NCR, gayundin sa Cavite (It is just right to have the same wage rate in areas near NCR because the prices of commodities in NCR are the same in Cavite),” he explained.

Revilla is pushing for an additional

₱125 in workers’ daily wage, raising the current ₱373 minimum wage to ₱498.

“Positibo ang aking pagtingin na maitataas natin ang sahod ng mga manggagawa hindi lamang sa Cavite, kundi sa buong rehiyon (I am confident we will be able to raise the wage rate of workers not only in Cavite, but in the whole region),” De Guzman said.

According to De Guzman, the new minimum wage in Calabarzon may be finalized less than 30 days after the public hearing.

Revilla, on the other hand, expressed hope that the new wage rate would be settled before he leaves his post as vice governor and starts his term as Cavite’s 1st District representative.

We are factory hands, field hands, mill hands, searching, building, and molding structures. We are doctors, scientists, chemists discovering and eliminating disease, hunger, and antagonism. We are soldiers, Navy men, citizens, guarding the imperishable dreams of our fathers to live in freedom. — Carlos Bulosan