- Wage board urges employers to fix pay gaps left by the ₱42 hike
- Visayas grid on yellow alert two evenings in a row
- PhilHealth reminds members that heat stroke and dehydration are covered
- Pagasa says cloud seeding will not help Cebu through the dry months
Wage board urges employers to fix pay gaps left by the ₱42 hike
The Central Visayas wage board (RTWPB 7) on 17 October asked employers to check their pay scales after Wage Order ROVII-27 added ₱42 to the daily minimum from 14 October. A raise at the bottom can squeeze or erase the gap between pay grades, so a worker who used to earn a little more than new hires now earns about the same. That is a wage distortion. In unionized firms it goes through the grievance process, then voluntary arbitration. Elsewhere, employer and workers settle it themselves, then through NCMB conciliation, then a labor arbiter.
The wage order lists Carcar in Class A, so the minimum here is now ₱582 a day, up from ₱540. If you earned a bit above the old minimum and your pay is now close to ₱582, raise it with your employer. Small employers can ask the RTWPB 7 secretariat for help, and NWPC Advisory 01-2023 has the formulas. No deadline has been set.
Sources: SunStar, National Wages and Productivity Commission (Wage Order ROVII-27)
Visayas grid on yellow alert two evenings in a row
NGCP placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert on the evenings of Friday, 16 October, and Saturday, 17 October. On Saturday the grid had 2,511 MW available against an expected peak of 2,362 MW. Two large coal units are still out, PEDC 3 in Iloilo and KSPC 1 in Naga, Cebu, and a Mindanao-Visayas link is under maintenance. More than 650 MW of capacity is unavailable. A yellow alert means supply still covers demand but the reserve is below the safety margin, so one more plant breakdown could lead to rotating brownouts.
Carcar's power comes mostly from CEBECO I, which draws from the Visayas grid. The risky hours are early evening, roughly 5 to 8 pm. Keep phones and power banks charged, avoid running heavy appliances at the same time during an alert, and watch CEBECO I's advisories for any load-shedding schedule.
Sources: GMA News, GMA News, The Chronicle
PhilHealth reminds members that heat stroke and dehydration are covered
With Pagasa warning of a strong El Niño into mid-2027, PhilHealth says heat illness is covered. Emergency room care without admission falls under the Outpatient Emergency Care Benefit: the consultation, tests, imaging, treatment and essential medicines. If you are admitted, PhilHealth pays the accredited hospital a fixed case rate. Under the Yakap primary care program, members who register with a Yakap clinic get consultations, lab tests and up to ₱20,000 a year in outpatient medicines.
Heavy sweating, dizziness, cramps or confusion on a hot day are reasons to get to an emergency room early, not to wait. If you have not picked a Yakap clinic yet, you can do it on the PhilHealth Member Portal, the eGovPH app or at a PhilHealth office. The PhilHealth hotline is (02) 8662-2588.
Sources: SunStar, Daily Tribune
Pagasa says cloud seeding will not help Cebu through the dry months
Pagasa Visayas chief Al Quiblat said cloud seeding is not practical for Cebu. The island is long and narrow, so rain coaxed from the clouds can drift out to sea, and El Niño leaves few clouds to seed anyway. He said Bohol, with its wider land area, is a better fit. Pagasa expects rainfall 21 to 60 percent below normal from November to March 2027, dry conditions by late December, a dry spell in January and possible drought in February and March, with effects lasting to June.
Do not count on rain-making to save the dry season. Farmers in Carcar should plan the next planting around a dry first quarter of 2027, and households should store water and fix leaks before January.
