A fresh Php 60 daily wage increase for Metro Manila workers is awaiting approval from the National Wages and Productivity Commission, offering a possible route to higher pay while an earlier wage order remains frozen by a court dispute.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region approved Wage Order No. 28 in a 4-3 vote Monday night and forwarded it to the NWPC for review, Labor regional director Roy Buenaflor told the House appropriations committee Tuesday.
If affirmed, the one-time adjustment would raise the minimum daily wage for non-agricultural workers from Php 695 to Php 755. Buenaflor said publication could take place as early as Friday, with implementation potentially beginning around Sept. 26 or 27.
The proposal comes as Wage Order No. NCR-27 remains the subject of litigation. That earlier measure granted an Php 85 total increase in two stages and was expected to benefit more than 1.1 million minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.
Implementation was stopped after construction firms Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders Inc. challenged the order. The Pasig Regional Trial Court subsequently issued a preliminary injunction, while requiring the petitioners to post a Php 10-billion bond.
The Office of the Solicitor General has asked the court to resolve its motion seeking to overturn the injunction. State lawyers have also questioned whether the trial court has jurisdiction to restrain a wage board decision, citing a Labor Code provision against injunctions involving wage-setting proceedings.
Against that unresolved legal backdrop, Wage Order No. 28 drew questions from lawmakers. Deputy Speaker and TUCP Rep. Raymond Mendoza warned that introducing another wage order while the previous adjustment remains under litigation could create further uncertainty. Buenaflor said the new measure was intended to deliver an increase to workers without waiting indefinitely for the earlier dispute to be settled.
Kamanggagawa Rep. Elijah San Fernando also criticized the Php 60 adjustment, arguing that workers had already been granted a larger Php 85 increase under the previous order. Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino, however, said the courts, rather than DOLE, would have to settle the legal fate of Wage Order No. 27.
The two orders could ultimately produce different wage levels. Wage Order No. 28 would bring the non-agricultural minimum to Php 755 if approved, while full implementation of the disputed Php 85 adjustment under Wage Order No. 27 would raise it from Php 695 to Php 780.