The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) strictly monitored the compliance of business establishments in Bicol to the Regional Wage Order No. 12, issued by the Bicol Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) and subsequently approved by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, granting a P6 increase in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers throughout the region. DOLE Bicol Regional Director Ernesto Bihis said the new wage order granting P6 increase for private sector workers in Bicol took effect December 1, 2007 and as such business establishments in the region are required to comply with the directive.

The P6 increase in daily wages will be uniform for all workers in the business establishments in Bicol. Thus workers in the non-agriculture sector in the cities of Legazpi, Naga, Iriga and Tabaco and in the municipalities of Pili in Camarines Sur and Daraga in Albay who are receiving P220 daily wage will now be receiving P226, while workers in the cities of Ligao, Sorsogon, and Masbate and in the other municipalities in the region who are receiving P208 daily wage will be receiving P214. Other workers receiving P189 daily wage will now be receiving P195. For those in the agriculture sector, plantation workers who used to receive P198 daily wage will be receiving P204 while those in non-plantation will get an increase from P178 daily to P184.