January

News
January 2015
NWPC BULLETIN
Summary of Minimum Wage Rates
RB Caraga joins
BOSH Orientation
for SMEs
in Dinagat Islands
as of January 2015
Region’s Wage Order
Highest Minimum
wage
Effectivity date
Wage Order No. RB NCR-18
P466.00
October 04, 2013
Wage Order No. RB CAR-16
P280.00
February 03, 2014
T
he OSHC in partnership
with DOLE PDI Provincial
Office in coordination with RB
Caraga conducted BOSH &
Productivity Orientations to
Small and Micro Enterprises
in Dinagat Islands on
January 27-28, 2015.
A total of 212
establishments from different
municipalities of Dinagat
Islands have attended the
two day orientation activity.
The activity aimed to
orient SMEs, Cooperatives
and Associations in different
DOLE programs and services
like basic occupational safety
and health in workplaces,
batas kasambahay and
productivity programs and
concepts in preparation for
the issuance of COCs on
OSH and GLS as well as
Certificate of Recognition
on TTWS Implementation.
Participants were
grateful that for the first
time since the Dinagat
Islands became a separate
province, DOLE with the
attached agencies made
such initiatives to get closer
to them. Bringing the program
and services within their
reach will help the people of
Dinagat access the DOLE
programs easier and faster.
by RTWPB-Caraga
Wage Order No. RB I-16
P253.00
February 05, 2014
Wage Order No. RB II-16
P255.00
January 05, 2014
Wage Order No. RB III-18
P349.00
November 30, 2014
Wage Order No. RB IVA-16
P362.50
May 01, 2014
Wage Order No. RB IVB-06
P275.00
February 01, 2013
Wage Order No. RB V-16
P260.00
January 10, 2014
Wage Order No. RB VI-21
P287.00
November 29, 2013
Wage Order No. RB VII-18A
P340.00
December 14, 2014
Wage Order No. RB VIII-17
P262.00
October 16, 2012
Wage Order No. RB IX-I8
P280.00
June 10, 2013
Wage Order No. RB X-17
P306.00
June 20, 2013
Wage Order No. RB XI-18
P317.00
June 01, 2014
Wage Order No. RB XII-17
P275.00
April 18, 2012
Wage Order No. RXIII-12
P268.00
May 21, 2013
Wage Order No. ARMM-15
P250.00
December 18, 2013
FMD Chief retires from the service
T
he Financial Management
Division Chief Ms. Victoria
P. M a c a p a g a l r e t i r e d f r o m
government service last November
3 0 , 2 0 1 4 at t h e a ge o f 6 0 .
Vicky, as fondly called by
her friends and peers, started with
government service in 1981 at the
Commission on Audit where she was
an Audit Examiner II. From 1990
to 1994, she worked for various
private companies before joining
the Commission as Accountant III.
She finished her Bachelor’s
Degree in Commerce major in
Accounng and Markeng at the
Araullo Lyceum and completed her
Master’s Degree in Government
Management at the Pamantasan
ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
Currently, the FMD is headed
by OIC-Chief Ms. Edith M. Saus,
also an accountant by profession.
NWPC BULLETIN
Editor-in-Chief
Lourdes M. Secillano
Managing Editor
Jem Samonte
Jerome P. Lucas
Editorial Board
Executive Director
Maria Criselda R. Sy
Dep. Executive Director
Patricia P. Hornilla
Jeanette T. Damo
Directors
Elvira P. Jota
Atty. Welma T. Sicangco
Atty. Jamie-Lyn Jamias-Garcia
Volume 19 v Number 1
www.nwpc.dole.gov.ph
January 2015
NWPC, RTWPBs set goals
for the “Year of Productivity”
T
he NWPC held the
annual NWPCRTWPB corporate
planning exercise
in Lohas Hotel,
Clarkfield Pampanga
last January 21 and
22 to set the goals
and targets for 2015.
This year, both the
RTWPB Chairpersons
and Board Secretaries
were invited to aend
the planning exercise
which focused
on strategies to
implement wage and
productivity policies
and programs.
DOLE-III Regional Director
and RTWPB Chairperson Ana Dione
welcomed the participants while
Execuve Director Maria Criselda
R. Sy, in behalf of Secretary Baldoz,
read the Secretary’s message. In
parcular, the Secretary’s message
focused on closing the minimum
wage-poverty threshold gaps and
the promotion of the advisories
under the two-ered wage system,
enhancement and implementaon
of the NWPC producvity toolbox,
conduct of the 2015 Producvity
New P5.00 COLA
approved by
RTWPB-XII
promong producvity,
working with concerned
agencies in idenfying
performance indicators
on program outputs
and outcomes for the
convergence programs
on productivity
and continuously
developing informaon
materials for wage and
producvity programs in
animated format to be
linked to the DOLE-LEES.
Olympics, implementaon of the
re-entry plans of the parcipants
to the training on productivity,
innovation and enterprise
development in Singapore and
the ISO cerficaon of the NWPC
and the Boards, among others.
The Secretary, who later
joined the group, also instructed
the NWPC to expand the pool of
producvity trainors by developing
an accreditation system for
productivity trainors, adopting
the value chain approach in
P5.00 per day shall be paid to
minimum wage earners in Region
XII effecve January 1, 2015. This
represents the 2nd tranche of wage
increase under Wage Order Number
new Cost of Living Allowance RB XII-18, which was approved
(COLA) in the amount of by the Board last 04 June 2014.
A
The Secretary
emphasized the
importance of being
ISO cerfied. “By the
end of 2015, I expect the NWPC
and the regional boards to be
already ISO-certified. For an
attached agency that preaches
and promotes productivity, it is
just fing for us to pracce what
we preach. This legitimizes the
credibility of NWPC as a producvity
organizaon,” said Secretary Baldoz.
In preparation for
Labor Day, the Secretary also
directed the Commission
turn to page 5
Published on July 17,
2014 at Daily Newspaper, Wage
Order No. RB XII-18 initially
adjusted the regional minimum
by integrang the P10.00 – P14.00
COLA under Wage Order No.
RB XII-17 into the basic wage.
NWPC supports
Rural Employment
Assistance Program
T
he NWPC attended the
series of meengs organized
by the House Committee
on Agriculture to discuss
House Bill 4333 or the “Rural
Employment Assistance Act”.
The bill is a five-year
Rural Employment Assistance
Program which seeks to provide
temporary employment to
qualified heads of family or
single adult members of poor
households who volunteer to
do unskilled manual work in
rural areas where they reside.
While the NWPC shared
the same perspective that
the poor, vulnerable, and
marginalized workers should be
provided access to emergency
employment and livelihood
undertakings, it maintained its
reservation on the provision
that beneficiaries of the
proposed assistance program
shall be paid an amount
equivalent to only 75% of the
applicable minimum wage.
As part of its
recommendation, the NWPC
p ro p o s e d t o a m e n d t h e
provision by entitling the
program beneficiaries to receive
the full amount of the applicable
minimum wage in the region.
House Bill 4333 was
filed by AKO Bicol party-list
Reps. Christopher S. Co and
Rodel M. Batocabe. The bill
was patterned after India’s
National Employment
Guarantee Act 2005.
news
news
January 2015
Caraga workers to receive increase
in basic wage and COLA
TWPB Caraga recently decided
to increase the minimum wage
in the region with its issuance
of Wage Order No. RXIII-13.
R
the basic wage and COLA by
P5.00 per day in agriculture –
non-plantation and retail/service
establishments employing 10 or less.
Upon effecvity of the Wage
Order, minimum wage earners in
plantation, non-plantation, and
retail/service employing 10 or less
will receive an increase in the amount
of P5.00 basic wage and P5.00
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).
By September 2015,
the region will only have a single
minimum wage for all sectors
in the amount of P268 per day.
In accordance with NWPC
Guidelines No. 2 - Series of 2007, the
said wage order allows exemption
for the following categories: 1)
distressed establishments, 2) retail/
service establishments regularly
employing not more than 10, 3) new
business enterprises (NBEs), and 4)
establishments adversely affected by
natural and human-induced calamies.
A second tranche of
wage increase will take effect
on 01 May 2015, which will
entitle minimum wage earners
in agriculture – non-plantation
and retail/service establishments
employing 10 or less to another
round of increase in the amount of
P5.00 basic wage and P5.00 COLA.
Its final tranche will take
effect 01 September 2015, raising
The Wage Order takes effect
fi"een (15) days a"er its publicaon
in a newspaper of general circulaon.
by Jerome P. Lucas
RTWPB 7 issues Wage Advisory on
Productivity-Based Incentive Scheme
R
elave to the full implementaon
o f t h e Two - T i e re d Wa ge
System, RTWPB VII issued its
advisory on productivity-based
incentive schemes for the hotel,
resort and restaurant industries.
The producvity-based pay
was pilot run in the tourism sector
parcularly the hotel, resort and
restaurant industries in recognion
of its contribuon to the economy,
capacity to generate employment
and its potenal for expansion and
development. Prior to the issuance
of the advisory, the Board conducted
a series of consultations with
stakeholders in Cebu and Tagbilaran
cies to generate inputs on exisng
industry pracces on performance/
productivity-based pay schemes.
T h e a d v i s o r y a i m s to
encourage enterprises to adopt
productivity improvement
programs in recognion of workers’
contribution, ensuring workers’
share in the fruits of their producon.
Under the advisory, concerned
establishments are encouraged to
set aside at least 3.0 percent of
gross sales for producvity-based
incenves to be shared to workers
based on mutually agreed criteria.
While the advisory
is voluntary, RTWPB VII will
implement an award and
recognition system to encourage
establishments to adopt the
recommendaons of the advisory.
by Jerome P. Lucas
January 2015
For the first "me, the NWPC-RTWPB Corplanning Exercise was par"cipated by the Regional Directors
Luzon Group
Visayas Group
Mindanao Group
NEDA Deputy Director General
Emmanuel F. Esguerra
NWPC Officers and staff
NWPC, RTWPBs set... from page 1
and the Boards to document
best program implementation
practices for inclusion in the
President’s Labor Day Speech.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director
General Emmanuel F. Esguerra
discussed the implicaons of the
2015 ASEAN Economic Community
(AEC) for the Philippines.
He said the countr y ’s
economic situation is strongly
posioned for the AEC given its
robust economic growth, sound
macroeconomic fundamentals,
and high level of confidence
from international community.
There is, however, a need to
address crical challenges in the
labor market such as pervasive
vulnerabilies, gender disparies,
income inequality and youth
unemployment for the country to
benefit from greater trade openness.
DDG Esguerra said the AEC
creates opportunies for countries
to implement reforms that would
accelerate economic growth and
reduce vulnerabilities amidst
stiffer trade competition such as
strengthening its skills training
programs, labor market informaon
systems and social protection
m e c h a n i s m s . . Fo r M S M E s ,
linking to the global production
chain and taking advantage of
next-shoring (i.e. relocating
investments countries which have
a ready source of demand and
innovation) would contribute to
their viability and compeveness.
He added that while new
jobs will be created, others will
become obsolete. Majority of the
employment gains from the AEC
would be in agriculture, including
agri-based industries, trade,
transportation and construction.
OIC-Director Adeline T.
de Castro of the Planning Service
presented the DOLE Policy and
Program Thrust for 2015-2016 and
the priority convergence programs
o n wa ge s a n d p ro d u c t i v i t y.
Undersecretary Reydeluz
D. Conferido anchored his message
DOLE Planning Service
OIC-Director Adeline T. Castro
on the need for informaon and
awareness raising strategies that
would create an impact on our
publics. He adviced the Commission
and the Boards to acvely engage
both print and broadcast media in
the producvity campaign. He also
encouraged the use of social media
as an effecve communicaon tool.
By utilizing new vessels,
new forms, and new substances
in raising awareness and
support, the NWPC will bring
into reality the similar goal of the
Department towards inclusive
growth, “Higit saTagumpay
at Reporma, ang DOLE Mas
Makabuluhan, Mas Nadarama.”
The program managers
p r e s e n t e d t h e a g e n c y ’s
2014 performance and 2015
indicative action plans taking
into consideraon the message /
instrucons of the Secretary. The
2015 action plans were clarfied
and validated with the RTWPB
Chairpersons and Board Secretaries,
who thenexpressed support for
the a#ainment of the targets set.
News
January 2015
January 2015
News
RTWPB VI showcases Pier to Port Project
NWPC holds its Annual Financial Workshop cum UACS Seminar
I
n line with its internal governance
policy, the NWPC held its Annual
Financial Workshop back to back with
a seminar on Unified Accounts Code
Structure (UACS) last January 27-29,
2015 at the Kimberly Hotel in Manila.
Labor Standards on Wage and
Wage Related Benefits
DOLE-BWC
February 27
Handling Administrative Cases
DOLE-Legal Service
March 19
The seminar was parcipated
by the NWPC - Financial and
Management Division (FMD)
personnel as well as the accountant
and budget designatesof its 16
Regional Tripartite Wages and
Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).
During the opening
ceremonies, NWPC Executive
Director Maria Criselda R. Sy
welcomed the parcipants to this
annual event. She emphasized the
need for the parcipants to learn
the revised government accounng
and auditing code and the new
accounting, auditing and budget
rules and regulations to come up
with accurate reports and if possible
achieve a zero audit observation.
She also underscored the need to
reflect the value for money of the
NWPC and RTWPB programs and
projects by ensuring that required
documents such as project/program
monitoring reports and other
pertinent supporting documents
(project proposal, acon plans/PIPs)
are included in the processing and
submission of financial reports. She
added that they should assist their
Chairpersons and Board Secretaries
in explaining to their auditors
their programs and projects and if
possible, invite them to some of the
acvies of the Boards to familiarize
them with their tasks and funcons.
2015 NWPC
Learning Sessions
DO 18-A, Legitimate Forms of
Contracting and Sub-Contracting
DOLE-BLR
April 17
Topic 1: New BIR Revenue Regulations
on Expanded “De Minimis Benefits”
(RR - 2015)
BIR
Topic 2: Orientation on Productivity Tool
Box
NWPC
May 14
Orientation on ECC Benefits
DOLE-ECC
May 29
on Audit (COA) were invited as
resource persons for the said seminar.
Updates and issues pertaining
to COA and DBM Rules and
Regulaons were tackled on the
first day by the COA Resident
Auditors led by Ms. Susan V.
Tomangan and DBM officers
led by Asst. Director Dante B.
de Chavez as resource persons.
O n t h e s e c o n d d a y,
COA Auditor Marilyn C. Dibat
presented the UACS and
assisted the participants in the
preparation of their respective
financial reports in conformance
with the Philippine Public Sector
Accounng Standards and UACS.
The UACS provides a framework
for idenfying, aggregang and
reporting financial transactions
R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m in budget preparaon, execuon,
the Department of Budget and accounting and auditing. The
Management (DBM) and Commission purpose of the UACS is to
enable the timely and accurate
re p o r t i n g o f a c t u a l reve n u e
collections and expenditures
against budgeted programmed
re ve n u e s a n d ex p e n d i t u re s .
On the last day, the FMD
presented to the parcipants
the 2015 approved budget with
which the regional accountant and
budget designates were given me to
assess their respecve budgets.
The session ended with
NWPC Deputy Execuve Director
Jeane!e T. Damo delivering inspiraonal messages to the parcipants.
In her message, she emphasized the
important role of the parcipants
in managing the financial resources of the Boards, mely submissions of accurate financial reports
and in securing an “unqualified
opinion” status in its audit findings.
I
n response to the growing number
of tourist arrivals in the region’s
most attractive islands, Regional
Tripartite Wages and Productivity
Board VI. in cooperaon with the local
government units, various national
government agencies and private
sector firms, implemented the Pier to
Port Project (P2P) – an enhancement
of the Service Quality Program.
The ultimate goal of the
project is to address the concerns
of key employment generators and
consequently to improve the quality
of life in the islands of Boracay
and Guimaras. The Service Quality
Program is an intervention to the
P2P by consciously creating errorfree service at any point in the
tourism supply chain and maintaining
compliance with all labor standards.
In 2013, Boracay received 615,508
foreign tourists and 748,093 local
tourists, breaching the 1.5-million mark
in 2014. Meanwhile, Guimaras had an
esmated 60,000 tourist arrivals in 2014.
It was in 2012 when various
employers’ and workers’ groups in
Boracay signified their interests to
work with DOLE-RO VI and the local
government of Malay to promote
service quality in the tourism industry.
Currently, the P2P in Boracay is
being led by the Industry Tripartite
Council (ITC) of Boracay, the local
government unit, Department of
Tourism (DOT), and Boracay Alliance..
The P2P was then replicated
in Guimaras, with the conduct of a
training on Service Quality last July
9-10, 2014. It was parcipated in by
the members of the Guimaras Hotels
and Resorts Associaon, Jordan Motor
Banca Multi-purpose Cooperative,
and the staff of Guimaras Provincial
Tourism office. It was followed by a
training on basic tour guiding, first
aid, and disaster preparedness --- all
under the P2P Program coordinated
by the local government units.
Topic 1: Orientation on NCR-Wage Order
RTWPB-NCR
Topic 2: Gainsharing Program
NWPC
June 19
Correcting Wage Distortion
NWPC
July 19
Occupational, Safety and Health
DOLE-OSHC
August 19
Post Employment and Other Related
Concerns
DOLE-Legal Service
September 18
Tax Exemption for Minimum Wage
Earners and Other Related Issues
BIR
October 16
Advisory on the Implementation of
Productivity Based Incentives-NCR
RTWPB-NCR
November 13
Labor Standards on Wage and Wage
Related Benefits
DOLE-BWC
December 09
For more information and
confirmation on any of the
Learning Sessions, you may
visit our website at
www.nwpc.dole.gov.ph