Minimum Wages and Emergency Allowances

March 14, 1979

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1614

MINIMUM WAGES AND EMERGENCY ALLOWANCES

WHEREAS, the OPEC oil price increase and the disruption of oil production in Iron have made increases in the prices of various commodities inevitable, including items covered by the government socialized pricing program; cd i

WHEREAS, the fixed-income groups in our society, especially the great mass of wage earners, are incapable of adjusting themselves to the new realities and, unless helped initially, they may suffer serious difficulties;

WHEREAS, it has been the policy of the state in times of crisis like this to initiate the process of adjustment and insure the peaceful and orderly establishment of a new equilibrium in prices, incomes and wages; cd

WHEREAS, representatives of Labor, management and government, in a National Tripartite Conference at the Development Academy of the Philippines, Tagaytay City, on March 7 and 8, 1979 have reached, after intensive and exhaustive consultations, a consensus on viable levels of wages and compensation; cd i

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President and Prime Minister, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, do hereby decree the following: aisa dc

SECTION 1. All workers covered by PD 1389, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, shall receive effective April 1, 1979 an increase of P2.00 in minimum wages representing acceleration of the remaining increases under PD 1389. Consequently, all non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila shall receive a minimum wage of P13.00; all non-agricultural workers outside Metro Manila shall receive a minimum wage of P12.00; all plantation agricultural workers shall receive a minimum wage of P10.00; and all non-plantation agricultural workers shall receive a minimum wage of P9.00. aisa dc

SECTION 2. All non-agricultural workers receiving not more than P1,000.00 shall receive, effective 1 April 1979, emergency cost-of-living allowance of P60.00 a month, all plantation agricultural workers receiving not more than P1,000.00 shall receive, effective 1 April 1979, cost-of-living allowance in the amount of P40.00, and all non-plantation agricultural workers receiving not more than P1,000.00 a month shall receive, effective 1 April 1979, a monthly cost-of-living allowance in the amount of P20.00.

SECTION 3. In promulgating the implementing rules of this Decree, particularly the application, coverage and effectivity thereof, the Minister of Labor shall take into consideration the viability of distressed, labor-intensive, and export-oriented industries, as well as the well-being of the workers therein.

SIGNED in the City of Manila, this 14th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Nine.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 75 No. 53, 10577-5 Supp., on December 31, 1979.