WAGE BOARD OKS HIGHER PAY IN WV
But Nat’l Commission’s approval is needed
ILOILO City – The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board ( RTWPB) i n Western Visayas issued an order increasing the daily minimum wage of private workers for non- agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors; and for the agricultural sector.
But this has to be approved by the National Wages and Productivity Commission first, according to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional director Atty. Sixto Rodriguez Jr.
Wage Order No. RBVI-26 set the following rates:
For Non-agricultural/ Industrial/Commercial
a. those employing more than 10 workers – from P395 minimum wage per day to P450 minimum wage per day (P55 increase)
b. those employing 10 workers or less – from P310 minimum wage per day to P420 minimum wage per day (P110 increase)
of the General Manager, its joint venture Metro Pacific Iloilo Water ( MPIW) will be rationing water in 12- hour intervals beginning May 16.
At l east 20,000 water connections are seen to be adversely affected by the drop in water supply.
“It is my hope that while the parties are negotiating the new terms of their contract, the effects on the consumers will be mitigated by the efforts of MIWD and Metro Pacific Water to deliver water to affected barangays,” said Treñas.
According to Engineer Rob
Cabiles, chief operating officer of MPIW, the parties could not agree on the pricing of water to be supplied. What’s the immediate effect? There will be low water pressure to no water at all parts of Iloilo City, the municipality of Leganes, Pavia ( barangays Pagsanga-an and Anilao), and parts of Santa Barbara.
Flo Water and its partner Iloilo Prime Water Ventures Corp. supply 30,000 cubic meters of water daily (20,000 for Flo Water and 10,000 for Prime Water) to MPIW’s 19,000 to 20,000 service connections in Pavia, Leganes and Iloilo City.
According to Cabiles, Flo Water sought an increase in the price of water it delivers. It asked for P25 per cubic meter.
Cabiles said this proposed rate is more than double the current per cubic meter price of P11.72.
“We could not agree to such a price (P25 per cubic meter). Our customers will suffer for that very high price of water,” said Cabiles.
Flo Water sought a price increase so it could finance the repair of its water lines and develop/improve the banks of a river Pototan, Iloilo where it sources the water it supplies to MPIW.
MIWD made a counter-offer – P13 per cubic meter.
The negotiation fell, said Cabiles./ PN