Legazpi City (PNA) – The minimum wage in the Bicol Region increased by P8 as specified under Wage Order No. RBV-16, where it must be reflected in the next payroll salaries of minimum wage earners, the Region-5 office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-5) said over the weekend.
The P8 addition to the minimum wage took effect on January 10, following the mandatory 15-day publication period of the wage order.
Based on RTWPB’s records, Wage Order No. RBV-16 was signed last December 5, and was published in a local newspaper last December 26 thus, having full effectivity last January 10.
“Actually, we have already announced the increase as early as December even before its publication to set the minds of our employers. Some sort of mind-conditioning for a smooth implementation of the new wage law,” DOLE-5 Director Nathaniel V. Lacambra, also the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) chairman, said.
Wage Order No. RBV-16 specifies the new minimum wage rate in Bicol as P260/day for establishments with more than 10 workers, and P236/day for establishments with less than 10 workers in agriculture and non-agriculture sector.
Copies of the wage order are available for free at the RTWPB office.
In another development, the local government here is eyeing the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) newly launched Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) award this year after winning the silver seal in the scaled-up Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) award of the DILG last year.
“We are accepting the challenge of the SGLG for us to improve more on our good local governance practices as we continue to provide better services to our clients and constituents,” City Mayor Noel Rosal said Saturday.
DILG-5 Director Blandino Maceda said the SGLG is a broadened version of the SGH introduced by the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo in 2011.
The SGH elevates the practice of governance that values transparency, accountability, participation, and performance into an institutionalized status and recognizes the local government units (LGUs) with good performance in internal housekeeping – focusing on good planning, sound fiscal management, transparency and accountability, and valuing of performance information.
Maceda said the SGLG, on the other hand, aims for a condition wherein LGUs do not only sustain the practice of accountability and transparency as in Good Financial Housekeeping but also are prepared for the challenges posed by disasters (disaster preparedness) and sensitive to the needs of vulnerable and marginalized sectors of the society (social protection).
The SGLG also drives LGUs to encourage investment and employment (business-friendliness and competitiveness); protect the constituents from threats to life and security (peace and order); and safeguard the integrity of the environment (environmental management), he added.
To become an SGLG recipient, an LGU needs to pass all the three core assessment areas – good financial housekeeping, social protection and disaster preparedness, and at least one from the essential assessment areas – business-friendliness and competitiveness, peace and order or environmental management, Maceda explained.
The LGUs meeting the minimum criteria will not only be conferred with the SGLG but will also be entitled to a package of incentives, such as the Performance Challenge Fund and access to other national performance-based programs, he said.
The SGLG’s predecessor, the SGH, only measured the levels of compliance to the Department’s Full Disclosure Policy – particularly in the areas of budget, revenues and procurement, among others – having no adverse Commission on Audit findings, as well as meeting the requirements of anti-red tape act.
According to DILG records, a total of 1,372 LGUs, or close to 84 percent of the total number nationwide, have already met the minimum requirements of good housekeeping, which only shows their readiness to take on more challenges, thus, the SGLG, Maceda added.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 19, 2014