Metro Manila Minimum Wage Hike to Proceed as Scheduled

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will not defer the implementation of the P85 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila, according to Malacañang. “There will be no suspension [of the wage order]. There will be no halt to its implementation. It will proceed as scheduled,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said in a briefing on Tuesday. Castro said the Office of the President has also not received any any request from private sector groups or representatives to suspend or reconsider the P85 wage hike, whose first tranche of P60 is set to be implemented on July 25. “Nothing has been conveyed to us indicating that any request came from the private sector. In any case, there has been no directive to suspend it,” she added. Malacañang’s statement was in response to public advocacy group Foundation for Economic Freedom’s (FEF) call on the government to suspend the implementation of the wage hike in Metro Manila pending a review, warning that it could trigger price increases and layoffs. READ: NCR workers to get 1st tranche of P85 wage hike on July 25, not July 19 The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) earlier clarified that the more than 1 million workers in Metro Manila will receive the first tranche of the P85 minimum wage increase on July 25, instead of July 19. Dole said it had to adjust the implementation date for the first tranche of P60 because the wage order granting the increase, NCR Wage Order No. 27, takes effect on July 25, or 15 days after it was published on July 9. The implementation of the second tranche of P25 will be on Jan. 20, 2027. /gsg