An estimated 100,414 minimum wage earners in the Bicol Region are expected to receive a P40 daily wage increase after the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) affirmed the wage orders approved by their respective Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) on 14 March.

This raises the daily minimum wage rate in the Bicol Region from P395 to P435 for all sectors and industries. The P40 daily wage hike will take effect on April 5.

About 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.

Retail and service establishments regularly employing no more than 10 workers, and enterprises affected by natural calamities and/or human-induced disasters, may apply for exemption from the wage increase as provided for in the Omnibus Rules on Minimum Wage Determination, as amended.

Registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs) are not covered by the minimum wage law under Republic Act No. 9178, or the BMBEs Act of 2002.

Meanwhile, 113,026 domestic workers in the Bicol Region and Zamboanga Peninsula are also slated to receive a monthly wage hike of between P900 and P1,000.

Upon implementation, the new monthly minimum wage for domestic workers in the region will be P6,000. It will take effect on 3 April.

A total of 19,607 domestic workers, or 21 percent of all domestic workers in the region who will benefit from the monthly wage increase, are on live-in arrangements.

The new wage order for the Bicol Region comes after the deferment initiated by labor representatives in November 2024 to allow economic recovery following the impact of Tropical Cyclone Kristine.