WHEREAS, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (Regional Boards) have been created in all the country's regions by virtue of Republic Act No, 6727, otherwise known as the Wage Rationalization Act;

WHEREAS, the Regional Boards are charged with the determination and fixing of minimum wage rates applicable in their respective regions, provinces, and industries therein, a function which is a vital and integral component of the national wage and income policy;

WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 121 of the Labor Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 6727, the members of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (Commission) representing Labor and Management are entitled to the same rank, emoluments, allowances and other benefits as those prescribed by law for labor and management representatives in the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC); however the law is silent on the emoluments or compensation of members of the Regional Boards;

WHEREAS, it is not in the spirit of the law that the services rendered by the members of the Regional Boards should be uncompensated; certainly, there is no perceivable legislative intention to exclude the members of the Regional Boards from entitlement to the same compensation as members of the Commission proper;

WHEREAS, under Republic Act No. 6758, otherwise known as the "Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989," the Department of Budget and Management is empowered and mandated "to establish and administer a unified Compensation and Position Classification System," and said Act declares it the policy of the State (Sec. 2) "to provide equal pay for substantially equal work";

WHEREAS, both the Secretary of Labor and Employment and the Secretary of Budget and Management have recommended to the President the payment of compensation to the members of the Regional Boards, "considering the equal degree of responsibility, sensitivity and the critical nature of their tasks" and "considering the crucial role of the Regional Boards in the determination and fixing of minimum wage rates applicable in their respective regions";

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C, AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. The members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards shall be entitled to the same emoluments, allowances and other benefits as those prescribed by law for representatives in the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

SEC. 2.  The funds necessary to implement the provisions of this Executive Order shall be taken from the regular budgetary appropriations of the respective Regional Boards.

SEC. 3. It is understood that the provisions of this Executive Order are subject to the recent Supreme Court ruling on multiple positions insofar as the government officials sitting in the Regional Boards are concerned;

SEC. 4. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 7th day of May in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety-one.


By the President:

(Sgd.) OSCAR M. ORBOS
Executive Secretary