Senator Raffy Tulfo. Photo courtesy of Senate of the Philippines.
Senator Raffy Tulfo filed a bill on Monday seeking to prohibit courts, tribunals and other entities from issuing temporary restraining orders or injunctions that delay the implementation of wage orders.
The proposal came after the Pasig Regional Trial Court suspended the Php 85 daily minimum wage increase for private sector workers in Metro Manila through a temporary restraining order issued on July 30.
Senate Bill No. 2372 seeks to amend Article 126 of the Labor Code by expressly prohibiting TROs and injunctions against the issuance, publication, implementation, enforcement and effectivity of wage orders issued by the National Wages and Productivity Commission and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.
Tulfo said wage orders are the result of public consultations, economic studies and tripartite deliberations involving representatives from the government, labor and employers.
He said the measure would address what he described as a legal loophole that allows parties to secure court orders suspending wage orders after they have already been issued.
Tulfo argued that while Article 126 prohibits injunctions against proceedings before wage-setting bodies, the provision has been interpreted narrowly, allowing courts to halt the implementation of finalized wage orders.
The bill also provides that any restraining order or injunction issued in violation of the proposed measure would be deemed null and void from the outset.
Several senators, including Joel Villanueva, Sherwin Gatchalian, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Risa Hontiveros, Robin Padilla, Bong Go and JV Ejercito, also called for the immediate lifting of the TRO and urged the government to defend the validity of the Metro Manila wage order.