THE General Alliance of Workers Association (Gawa) has issued a formal letter of protest condemning the National Government for excluding private minimum wage earners from emergency cash assistance or “ayuda" despite the prevailing economy crisis.
Wennie Sancho, Gawa secretary general, said they signed the protest on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of factory workers, sales personnel, security guards, janitorial staff, fast-food crews, BPO agents and other private sector employees earning statutory minimum wage in Negros Island Region (NIR) and Western Visayas on May 1, 2026.
"While workers in the transport sector, farmers and fisherfolk have received targeted subsidies and cash assistance in 2025-2026 to cushion fuel, fertilizer and climate-related shocks, minimal wage earners have been categorically disqualified on the sole basis of employment status," he said.
He added that this violates the principle of equal protection under Article III Section I of the 1987 Constitution.
Due to the erosion of their purchasing power, Sancho stressed that the current P550 per day daily minimum wage in Western Visayas has an effective real value of P412.50 due to cumulative inflation driven by energy cost, transport fare hike and food prices.
"Gawa maintains that minimum wage earners bear the same burden of increased in commodity prices, electricity rates and transportation cost as other sectors," Sancho said.
He said the policy of using "employment" as a disqualification criterion penalizes formal tax-compliant labor and creates a perverse incentive towards informality.
Sancho noted that in observance of Labor Day and pursuant to the State's duty under Article XIII Section 3 of the Constituton to "afford full protection to labor,” Gawa demands the immediate inclusion of all private minimum wage earners in all ongoing and future Ayuda programs retractive to QI 2026 in Western Visayas.
Sancho said the government cannot invoke "employment" as a proof of sufficiency when the minimum wage no longer satisfies the basic needs of a family of five as defined by National Economic and Development Authority itself.
He said to grant aid to one sector and deny it to another, when both suffer the same inflationary impact, is neither just nor constitutional.
"Labor Day is not a holiday for speeches. It is a reckoning. If the State recognizes labor as the as a primary social economic force, then it must protect labor with resources, not rhetoric," he added.
Sancho siad this protest is filed without prejudice to other legal and administratively remedies available to workers under existing labor laws and statutes. (MAP)
