AS PHILIPPINE lawmakers prepare to vote on a proposed P200 daily wage increase, various labor organizations took to the streets of Manila to demand a P1,200 minimum living wage amid rising commodity prices and what they described as government inaction on their demands.
Lawyer-activist Aaron Pedrosa, secretary-general of the sectoral group Sanlakas, said the demand for a legislated wage increase is a desperate plea for state intervention to alleviate the plight of millions of workers whose take-home pay “could barely take them home.”
“Recourse to the regional wage boards only cements wage disparity across regions, even as prices of commodities are largely the same across the country — if not more expensive compared to urban centers,” Pedrosa told SunStar Philippines on Monday, June 2, 2025.
“The Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration has so far been consistent in turning a deaf ear to workers while affording more incentives and privileges to big capital and businesses,” he added.
The 19th Congress has around six session days left in June to decide on the passage of the proposed P200 salary increase before yielding to the incoming 20th Congress.
Renato Reyes Jr., president of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, told SunStar Philippines he hopes lawmakers will pass the bill on its third reading.
Asked by reporters in Manila about the proposed legislated wage hike, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said: “We’ll leave it to the wisdom and sound discretion of the plenary.”
If the measure is not approved, the process would have to start over when the 20th Congress convenes on July 28.
“We from the Promotion of Church People’s Response advocate for the P1,200 living wage, echoing the biblical principle of fair compensation for labor. Simultaneously, we call for lower prices, recognizing the burden of inflation on working families,” Reverend Irma Balaba, spokesperson for the ecumenical group, said on June 2.
“This reflects the biblical concern for the poor and vulnerable. The current economic hardship faced by workers and their families necessitates a living wage, enabling them to provide for their needs and honor God’s command to care for one another,” she added.
Farah Gamalo, convenor of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) in the Eastern Visayas region, said the call for a salary increase “is very urgent because this has been sitting on their table, and they just have different versions of it.”
“This one is legislated across the board because what the workers receive now is a starvation wage, not a living wage,” Gamalo said.
Lawyer Luke Espiritu, national president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), also slammed lawmakers and the president “for their inaction on the still pending P200 per day wage hike bill.”
“Eighty percent of Filipinos demand the House of Representatives to 'definitely prioritize' the increase in the minimum wage,” Espiritu said, citing a May 2025 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on pressing national issues that lawmakers should address.
“A major step to meet the needs of the masses—and to boost our failing economy by increasing purchasing power—is to legislate the current wage bill. What we are proposing is not even a wage increase but a wage recovery, just to keep workers’ pay at par with inflation. The P200 wage increase is just simple arithmetic,” he added.
Asked whether Marcos Jr. is serious about addressing the wage issue, Abdulani Lakibul, chairman of the Confederation of Independent Unions (CIU) and labor group Sentro, replied: “I think, in my personal opinion, he is not serious.”
Business Side
Rey Calooy, chairman emeritus of the Filipino-Cebuanos Business Club Inc., said that if the P200 per day wage hike is legislated, the business sector will have no choice but to comply—or to challenge the measure in court.
However, he said there is a law for those businesses that can’t afford the minimum wage.
“Anything good for employees may be good for employers. Anything good for employers may not be good for employees, but what is good for business may be good for both,” the Cebu-based business leader told SunStar Philippines.
Economic think tank IBON Foundation earlier estimated that a Filipino family of five in the National Capital Region (NCR) needs at least P1,221 per day to meet basic needs.
NCR has the current minimum daily wage of P645.
Around 5 million wage earners are expected to benefit from the proposed P200 daily salary hike, which, if enacted, would mark the first legislated nationwide wage increase since the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989 that raised the private sector minimum wage by P25. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)