Bicol, Zamboanga Peninsula household workers to get pay raise

Metro Manila, Philippines - Household workers in the Bicol Region and Zamboanga Peninsula will get a pay raise beginning April, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Tuesday, March 25.

The agency said a little over 113,026 workers, or kasambahay, in Bicol and Zamboanga Peninsula will receive from ₱900 to ₱1,000 more in their monthly pay.

From April 5, the wage for kasambahay in Bicol will be ₱6,000 while those in Zamboanga Peninsula will range from ₱5,000 to ₱5,500.

Meanwhile, the wage board in Bicol approved a pay increase of ₱40 for minimum wage earners, raising the daily rate to ₱435 from ₱395. The raise will be in two tranches - on April 5 and Dec. 1.

The DOLE said “316,784 full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may also indirectly benefit from upward adjustments at the enterprise level arising from the correction of wage distortion.”

Fourteen regions have raised the minimum wage, namely, Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen, and Caraga.