RTWPB sets review of TRAIN impact on workers’ pay in E. Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 24  -- The Eastern Visayas Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will initiate a wage review as prices of goods and services surged due to implementation of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.

The body would evaluate the impact of TRAIN Law to minimum wage earners by mid-February, which was also the first month of the law’s enforcement, said RTWPB chairman and Department of Labor and Employment regional director Joel Gonzales.

The review is timely since the existing wage order will be a year-old by February 13.

Under the law, a wage order could not be superseded by a new one within a year, said Gonzales on Wednesday.

Board members will also agree on schedules of wage consultations for workers and employers, he added.

“There’s an understanding for the need to review. We would like to be more constructive and objective in doing the process. We need initial information as basis of decision on what to do next,” he told PNA.

Consultations, which will run early of March, will be held in Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte, Catbalogan in Samar, Borongan in Eastern Samar, and Catarman in Northern Samar.

The review will check the economic conditions, adjustment of prices of basic goods and services, and impact of wage adjustment to both workers and business owners.

“I am confident that the board will agree to the wage adjustment proposal this early and come up with the decision late March or early April,” Gonzales said.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 19, 2017 signed the TRAIN law, which imposes higher taxes on fuel, cars, coal, tobacco, mining, and some sugar-sweetened beverages.

The measure exempts those earning an annual taxable income of PHP250,000 and below from paying personal income tax.

The official believes that excise tax in petroleum products will result to fare increase and adjustment of prices of basic goods and services.

Wage Order No. 19, which took effect in 2017, has raised the daily pay of minimum wage earners in Eastern Visayas between PHP10 to PHP25. (SQM/PNA)