MALASIQUI, Pangasinan - The daily wage in the Ilocos Region is now PHP372 for establishments with one to nine workers and PHP400 for those with 10 to 29 employees starting March 1, as part of the third and final tranche of wage hike approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 1 (RTWPB1). In a virtual press conference on Wednesday, RTWPB1 secretary Romina Boado-Cabrillos said Wage Order RB1-21, approved last year, covers all minimum wage earners in the private sector within the region, regardless of their position, designation, or status and irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid. The order, however, exempts establishments in retail or service regularly employing not more than ten workers and establishments adversely affected by natural calamities or human-induced disasters, she added. The third and final tranche of the daily wage hike in the region imposes a PHP400 minimum daily wage in establishments with ten or more employees and PHP372 for those with one to nine employees in the non-agriculture sector. While, in the agriculture sector, the minimum daily wage now for non-plantation and plantation is PHP372. Cabrillos said the first tranche of the wage increase was implemented on June 6, 2022, and the second tranche was on Dec. 1, 2022. She also warned employers who will violate the wage order will be penalized with a "fine not less than PHP25,000 nor more than PHP100,000 or imprisonment not less than two years nor more than four years and payment equivalent to double the unpaid benefits owing to the employees." Meanwhile, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Ilocos regional director Exequiel Ronie Guzman, also the chair of the board, vowed that the agency will monitor the implementation of the wage order. "DOLE is investing resources and time in the implementation because it is our primary mandate to look after the welfare of the workers," he said. For the first two tranches of the wage order, the DOLE recorded a 93.65 percent compliance of the establishments in the region. "The enforcement program is continuing and revitalizing the enforcement framework. We hope that this year the compliance rate will increase with the full opening of the economy as the restrictions have been lifted, we expect a boost in the economy," he said. He added that they hope the employers would have already recovered their losses in the past few years and attained a higher compliance rate. Guzman said they will change the framework for inspection this year in consideration of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). "We will provide them with technical assistance visit. It is another type of inspection with an opportunity for MSMEs who are not compliant to give them to comply. We are not going to police them it is a developmental approach in assisting them eventually lead to the income of their businesses, which is a source of profit for the wages of the workers but we will still enforce minimum wage," he said. He added that 99 percent of the establishments in the region are MSMEs that were adversely affected by the pandemic. (PNA) }