Minimum wage earners in Bohol will receive a P42 daily increase, raising their basic pay to P542 from P500, after Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino formally announced Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, the approval of a new wage order for areas classified as Class B, which includes Bohol.

The wage order takes effect Oct. 14, 2026, or 15 days after its scheduled publication Monday, Sept. 28.

Domestic workers, known as kasambahay, in Bohol and across the region will also receive a P500 increase in their monthly pay, raising it to P7,500 from P7,000.

The increase is part of a wage order issued by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7 and approved by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).

More than 300,000 minimum wage workers in the region are expected to benefit, including about 337,476 workers in the private sector.

In Class A areas, which cover the expanded Metro Cebu area from Carcar City to Danao City, the minimum wage will rise to P582 per day from P540.

Class B areas, which comprise Bohol, the remaining parts of Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, will receive P542 per day, up from P500.

Negros Oriental and Siquijor remain in Class B because no wage board has yet been created for the newly established Negros Island Region.

Tolentino, who led the deliberation and approval by the NWPC in Cebu, said each minimum wage worker will earn an estimated P1,092 more per month.

He said the wage order was approved unanimously, without opposition, after the board considered the region’s current economic conditions and sought an amount that is balanced and favorable to both workers and employers.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) criticized the increase, calling the P42 hike in the daily minimum wage in Central Visayas a “dako nga insulto” (huge insult) and extremely small.

The group said it shows the country’s regional wage-setting system is already “guba” (destroyed).

TUCP said the increase has no justice or logic amid the rapid rise in prices of basic commodities. It renewed its call for Congress to urgently pass a bill for a larger P200 legislated wage hike.

Despite the criticism from labor groups, the new wage order is scheduled to take effect Oct. 14, 2026.