ILOILO CITY – Business groups in Iloilo said a new round of wage increases this year is “untimely” because the one approved last year has not yet take effect fully.

The Iloilo Business Club said that while it is not opposing the raising of workers' income to offset the rising cost of food and other commodities, increasing the minimum wage in the region again this year is “unrealistic.”

President Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday ordered the Regional Tripartite and Productivity Boards to convene and determine increases in the daily minimum wages of workers employed in the private sector in face of rising costs of rice, fuel and other commodities.

IBC Executive Director Maria Lea Lara said the wage increase order that took effect in the region in October last year will only be fully implemented on September 16 because of last year's wage order's provisions staggering the implementation of the increase.  Last year's wage increase raised the minimum wage in the region to P235 per day.

“While we are not opposed to an increase, it is still untimely because the impact of last year's wage increase order has not been taken to account by business,” Lara said in a telephone interview.

Lara said their members will meet this week.

An estimated 400,000 workers in the region will be affected by any increase in minimum wages.*NPB

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