The Department of Labor and Employment in Western Visayas is asking all employers to comply and implement the P12 wage increase to avoid problems in their business operations, Ponciano Ligutom, DOLE regional director, said yesterday.

Ligutom said the wage increase in Region VI is lower compared to those in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Cebu.

The amount should not be too much of a burden for employers then, he added.

Ligutom also said construction companies and businesses that deal with hazardous and laborious works are among their priorities during inspections to protect workers.

If employers are caught not implementing the wage order, DOLE will give them respective notices informing them to pay the correct salaries for their workers and give them a deadline to comply with it, he also said.

Ligutom said they will issue another order if employers still refuse to comply with the original directive, pointing out that DOLE has the power to freeze bank accounts of employers if they fail to pay the right wages of their workers.

“We do not want to get to the point that we have to freeze their bank accounts. We just want them to comply voluntarily with the wage order without deception,” Ligutom said.

The Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board approved Wage Order No. 20 which provides for the P12 increase in the minimum wage making it P277 for companies employing more than 10 workers, P235 for companies with 10 workers for the commercial sector and P245 for plantation and P235 for non-plantation for the agriculture sector. *LTG

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