BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — A moderate labor union here has petitioned the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in the Cordillera to grant a P80 daily wage increase for workers in the private sector regionwide.

The Association of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the P80 daily wage increase is reasonable for workers in the private sector in the region because of the evident domino effect of the unabated rise in oil prices.

The prevailing daily wage for workers in the private sector in the Cordillera Administrative Region is P272, following the implementation of a P12 additional COLA as approved by the RTWPB-CAR in January this year.

After the P22 additional Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) was approved, ALU-TUCP said their petition for a P80 wage increase will only allow workers to cope with the worsening effects of the continuous rise in oil prices which has already resulted in the increase in the prices of basic commodities.

The RTWPB-CAR will convene any time next week to conduct the required public consultations and deliberations on the petition before coming out with an acceptable decision.

It will be recalled that on Labor Day last May 1, President Aquino ordered all regional wage boards to revisit the daily wages in their respective regions and try to come up with an acceptable decision on the increase to be granted for daily wage earners.

In earlier meetings last month, the RTWPB-CAR ruled there is still no need to grant an increase in the daily wages of workers in the private sector considering that there is still no supervening event that could warrant the grant of wage increase even if the 1-year grace period to do so has not lapsed.

Based on initial reports reaching the wage board, the inflation rate in the region is 4.3 percent which is still manageable considering that the baseline data that could warrant a supervening event is 5 percent.