WV gets P15 wage hike
LABOR NOT HAPPY
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has announced that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board Region 6 has approved a P15 per day wage increase for Western Visayas, RTWPB 6 labor representative Wennie Sancho said yesterday.

Sancho said they are opposing the P15 wage increase for being inadequate and might file an appeal before the National Wages and Productivity Commission to increase the amount, without staying the latest wage order.

The labor representatives on the wage board signed the new wage order under protest, he said.

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. based in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, is one of 12 finalists for the BBC World Challenge 2010.

This is the group that has perfected an indigenous hydraulic ram pump that brings water up to remote hillside villages without the use of electricity.

“Using the power of a river’s flow to literally push water uphill without any other energy input, it’s proving to be a boon for poor villagers living in mountainous regions,” BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) said on its website http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/index.php.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia is creating a task force to monitor the activities of recruitment agencies based in Bacolod City in the wake of reports that 50 nursing students were allegedly swindled of P50 million by a Bacolod-based recruiting company.

Leonardia, who expressed concern over the welfare of the students and their families, has tasked City Administrator Rogelio Balo to head the task force that will ensure that all recruitment agencies operating in the city are accredited with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and other concerned government agencies, a City Hall press release said.

Complaints were filed Monday before the National Bureau of Investigation in Bacolod City against the Global Placement Provider Services for its failure to produce student visas for the United Kingdom despite having collected P100,000 per applicant.