NCR Board Approves P60 Wage Hike Amid Legal Dispute Over Previous Order

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) approved a P60 daily wage increase on Sept. 7, even as the implementation of an earlier P60 tranche under Wage Order No. 27 remains tied up in a legal dispute. Roy L. Buenafe, chairman of the NCR wage board, told the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that the board had approved Wage Order No. 28, which would raise the minimum wage for covered workers in the capital to P755. The wage order has been forwarded to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) for affirmation. If approved, Mr. Buenafe said it could be published as early as Friday and take effect on Sept. 26 or 27. “Wage Order No. 28 approved by our board last night has already been forwarded to the NWPC for another process at the commission,” Mr. Buenafe told lawmakers during a hearing on the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DoLE) proposed 2027 budget. “This is a one-time P60 tranche.” The order grants a P60 increase, equivalent to the first tranche under Wage Order No. 27, whose implementation has been halted by a Pasig Regional Trial Court injunction. Labor Secretary Francis N. Tolentino said Wage Order No. 28 was the wage board’s way of providing the first P60 tranche while the legal dispute over Wage Order No. 27 is being resolved. “What the wage board did was to give the first tranche. The first tranche is not P85. The first tranche is P60,” he told congressmen in Filipino. LEGAL QUESTIONS Lawmakers questioned how Wage Order No. 28 would affect the pending dispute over Wage Order No. 27. Party-list Rep. and Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza urged the Department of Labor and Employment to work with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to secure a court resolution, citing the absence of a formally issued writ of preliminary injunction. “The assailed order should not restrain respondents in implementing the wage order in the absence of a valid and duly issued writ of preliminary injunction,” Mr. Mendoza said, quoting the OSG’s position. Mr. Tolentino said the OSG and DoLE were working to obtain a resolution that would allow implementation of the wage order. “The OSG and DoLE are working together on how to craft the pleading to expedite the resolution,” he said. Party-list Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago said Wage Order No. 28 should not be treated as a replacement for the first P60 tranche under Wage Order No. 27, which she said must remain a separate increase. “We want to make clear our position that the injunction against Wage Order No. 27 was wrong, and if DoLE accepts it and there is now Wage Order No. 28, it would be as if they are agreeing that it is legal,” Ms. Elago said in Filipino. “Moreover, Wage Order No. 28’s P60 cannot be treated as the first tranche of Wage Order No. 27 because the two should remain separate.” She said lifting the injunction on Wage Order No. 27 should mean a total P120 increase for 2026, combining the separate P60 increases under the two wage orders, while the P25 second tranche under Wage Order No. 27 would remain due in January 2027. “If the temporary restraining order on Wage Order No. 27 is lifted, the increase should amount to P120 for 2026, including the P25 second tranche in January 2027,” she said. The wage board said the P60 increase under Wage Order No. 28 was approved by a 4-3 vote, with two labor representatives and one employer representative dissenting. During the same hearing, Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando, one of the petitioners challenging the Pasig court injunction before the Supreme Court, pressed the labor chief over DoLE’s position on Wage Order No. 27 and moved to defer consideration of the department’s proposed 2027 budget. “If you cannot stand up for the workers, then you have no right to ask for a budget that comes from the sweat, blood and sacrifice of minimum wage workers,” Mr. San Fernando said in Filipino. Mr. Tolentino said DoLE supports the wage increase but cannot unilaterally disregard the court’s injunction, saying the agency must wait for the Supreme Court to resolve the issue before implementing the wage increase. He said DoLE and the OSG had sought an immediate resolution of the case. “So, if the court says to implement it later, we will implement it later. If the court says to implement it tomorrow, we will implement it tomorrow,” Mr. Tolentino said. Party-list Rep. Percival “Perci” P. Cendaña seconded the motion, but House Appropriations Committee Vice-Chairman and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez objected. The committee later voted 7-31, with no abstentions, to reject the motion. Wage Order No. 27 granted a P60 first tranche effective July 25 and another P25 increase scheduled for January 2027. Its implementation was halted by a preliminary injunction issued by the Pasig court, which required a P10-billion bond from petitioners Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders, Inc. that had not been paid.