THE regional wage boards in Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas have approved salary adjustments for their workers, bringing to five the number of wage boards that have ordered pay increases this month.

Ciriaco Lagunzad III, chief of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), said Wednesday the wage board in Region 3 has granted a P15 increase in the daily pay of workers there.

The P15 daily increase is broken down into a P5 adjustment in the basic pay and P10 cost-of-living allowance (Cola).

The total compensation of nonagriculture sector workers in Region 3 will be P302 per day, while those in the agricultural plantation will have P272, according to a media statement by the NWPC.

On the other hand, minimum-wage earners in Region 8 are set to receive a P10 per day in the Cola. The amount will be added to the P8 Cola which was approved by the region’s wage board last year.

Inclusive of the P18 Cola, this brings to P238 the daily pay for workers in Eastern Visayas.

Workers who are employed in the sugar mills will get P240 per day while those in the plantation and nonplantation industries will be given P213.50 and P198.50 per day, respectively, inclusive of the P18 Cola.

Last week the wage board in Metro Manila approved a P20 wage adjustment for all minimum-wage earners in the capital which was severely opposed by labor groups.

Before that, the board in Region 10 granted an additional P12 Cola while Region 4-A approved a wage hike between P12 to P20 in the daily take home pay of workers.

BOCAUE, Bulacan—As speculations of rice shortage for the coming lean months of palay from June to September grow, commercial palay price has reached an all-time high of P21 per kilo.

CABANATUAN CITY—The National Food Authority (NFA) here will adopt a “color-coding” scheme to further organize the system in selling government-subsidized rice.

A LOCAL think tank said if the government is sincere in its efforts to cushion the ill effects of high inflation, it should consider removing the reformed value-added tax (R-VAT) on oil and power along with the implementation of other revenue measures to ease the burden of Filipino consumers.

SEN. Juan Ponce Enrile elicited the support of several government agencies and private-sector representatives behind an antitrust bill prohibiting monopolies and price manipulations.

THE regional wage boards in Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas have approved salary adjustments for their workers, bringing to five the number of wage boards that have ordered pay increases this month.

SENATOR Loren Legarda wants to increase from the current 20 percent to 32 percent the automatic discount granted to senior citizens even as she moved to impose stiffer penalties on pharmacies that refuse to honor senior-citizen cards.

THE back-to-school season is a stressful time for consumers—there’s tuition to take care of, uniforms to order, budgeting for daily allowance, and school supplies to purchase.