TUCP Rejects P60 Wage Hike in NCR, Cites Loss of P85 Increase and Back Pay

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) opposed the fresh P60 daily wage increase in the National Capital Region (NCR), saying it could effectively replace the P85 increase under an earlier wage order and deny workers more than P2 billion in back pay. “The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) did not merely fall short of its duty to the workers but surrendered their rights and abandoned the P85 wage increase that workers fought so hard for,” TUCP said in a statement on Wednesday. The labor group said Wage Order No. NCR-28, approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR), should not replace Wage Order No. 27, which granted a P60 first tranche effective July 25 and a P25 second tranche scheduled for January 2027. “There is a duly issued wage order,” TUCP said. “There is a wage increase that has become due. There is no legal impediment to its implementation.” About 1.1 million minimum wage earners have been waiting for the increase, and NCR-28 would erase more than P2,000 in accumulated back pay per worker since July 25, or more than P2 billion collectively, the group said. NCR-28 provides a P60 daily increase for private-sector minimum wage earners, raising the minimum wage to P755 for covered workers in the non-agricultural sector and P718 for covered service and retail establishments with 15 or fewer workers and manufacturing establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 workers. The wage order was forwarded to the National Wages and Productivity Commission for affirmation. RTWPB-NCR Chairman Roy L. Buenafe said at a congressional hearing on the Labor department’s proposed 2027 budget on Tuesday that NCR-28 could take effect on Sept. 26 or 27. The wage board said NCR-27 did not take effect because of successive judicial orders, including a status quo ante order and a temporary restraining order. The Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 152 later issued a writ of preliminary injunction blocking its implementation after requiring the petitioners to post a P10-billion bond. TUCP disputed the characterization, pointing to the Pasig court’s order requiring petitioners Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders, Inc. to post the P10-billion bond before the injunction could be issued. The group said the bond had not been posted. TUCP also cited a motion for reconsideration filed by the Labor department and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), which argued that the Pasig court’s order granting the injunction did not itself create a legally operative writ. The agencies said the injunction could take effect only after the required conditions, including the posting of the P10-billion bond, were satisfied and the corresponding writ was formally issued. “Accordingly, in the absence of a validly issued writ, the assailed order cannot, by its own force, create a legal impediment to the continued implementation and enforcement of NCR Wage Order No. 27,” TUCP said, quoting the DoLE-OSG motion. The labor group said NCR-28 also could not retroactively erase rights and benefits that had accrued under NCR-27 and urged DoLE to implement the earlier P85 increase instead. The wage board approved NCR-28 with a 4-3 vote, with two labor representatives and one employer representative dissenting. Meanwhile, a Momentum Research survey found that 59.9% of Filipino adults disagreed with the Pasig RTC’s temporary restraining order halting the P85 NCR wage increase, while 34.9% agreed. Opposition was highest in Metro Manila, where 77.2% of respondents disagreed with the order. The survey also found broad support for a uniform minimum wage, with 73.6% of respondents saying minimum wage earners should receive the same basic wage regardless of where they live. Support reached 87.5% in Metro Manila, the highest among the regions surveyed. Momentum Research surveyed 1,487 Filipino adults from Aug. 18 to 23, five days after the Pasig RTC issued the writ of preliminary injunction on Aug. 13 blocking implementation of the first tranche. Labor Secretary Francis N. Tolentino said during Tuesday’s hearing that the wage board issued NCR-28 to provide workers with additional income while the dispute over NCR-27 remains pending. He said the P60 increase under NCR-28 does not reduce the P85 increase under NCR-27 because the earlier order has not been implemented. “If there is no bond, there is no writ,” Mr. Tolentino told lawmakers in Filipino. “However, I should not be the one to say this; it should be the Supreme Court or the court.” — Mark Joseph M. Sanchez