4 wage board members, DOT-7 chief leave posts

Jose Tumongha, (left), Ernesto Carreon (second from left), Hidelito Pascual (5th from left) and Philip Tan (right) have resigned from the wage board being presidential appointees of the previous administration. Above, the wage board during one of its sessions in 2014 (CDN FILE PHOTO).

Labor leader fears resignations will cause delay in wage petitions

Four members of the regional wage board in Central Visayas and the regional director of tourism have resigned from their posts less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte fired last Aug. 21 presidential appointees of the previous administration.

Resignations of two labor sector and two private sector representatives of the Regional Tripartite Wage Productivity Board in Central Visayas (RTWPB-7) had worried Metudio Belarmino Jr., president for Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC), that these would affect the wage adjustment petitions in the region.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo also announced yesterday Rowena Montecillo’s resignation from her post as the tourism director of Central Visayas.

Teo said during the inauguration of the newly opened Duty Free Philippines outlet at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, that she had already designated an acting regional director to take over Montecillo’s post.

“We have required all regional directors to tender their resignations. Once the President receives and accepts the courtesy resignations, then we will start looking for a replacement,” Teo said.

Meanwhile, wage board members from the labor sector — Joe Tumongha from the Nagkaisa and lawyer Ernesto Carreon from Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) — and from the private sector (Philip Tan, former president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry and lawyer Hidelito Pascual from the management sector) also submitted their courtesy resignations yesterday.

“The president should be selective (resignation) because not all are corrupt. That is unfair,” said Belarmino about Duterte’s order.

“What will happen to the workers? The decision for the wage adjustment will be delayed,” Belarmino told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview yesterday.

Belarmino was referring to the wage increase petitions filed separately by ALU-TUCP, who sought a P90 wage adjustment, and Celac together with other labor groups seeking for a P140 wage adjustment this year.

Tumongha confirmed in a phone interview that he already sent his resignation letter through email to the RTWPB-7 and the Department of Labor and Employment central office in Manila yesterday.

“I hope that there would be new people at the board because there is a pending consultation in September related to the wage hike,” he told CDN.

RTWPB is an agency under the DOLE which is mandated by law to determine and fix the minimum wage rates in the region.

Wage board members are composed of regional directors from DOLE, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7), two representatives from labor sector and two representatives from management sector.

DOLE-7 Director Exequiel Sarcauga said that they were waiting for the Central Office’s decision.

Sarcauga, who is also a member of the wage board, is exempted from the President’s order because he is a career executive service officer (CESO) IV.