Makabayan bloc seeks P1,200 minimum wage, Labor Code amendment

Makabayan seeks P1,200 minimum wage in refiled bill. PHOTO COURTESY OF MEPZ WORKERS ALLIANCE

MANILA, Philippines — A P1,200 daily minimum wage is being pushed by the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, as its members filed a bill on Wednesday seeking to amend the country’s Labor Code.

Makabayan lawmakers ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co filed House Bill (HB) No. 2599 or the proposed National Minimum Wage Act of 2025, which seeks to place additional wordings in the Presidential Decree (PD) No. 442 or the Labor Code, to make it more responsive to people’s needs.

Under the bill, Article 99 of PD No. 442 will be amended to establish a national minimum wage, which will apply to “all enterprises, including special economic zones regardless of location, size, or industry classification.”

READ: House OKs P200 minimum wage hike on final reading

The bill also seeks to abolish the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, and in its place create a National Wages and Productivity Board.  Furthermore, standards for wage adjustments shall be based on what is necessary to raise a family and maintain a “decent existence”,

Once the amendments are enacted, the bill states that the daily minimum wages of private sector workers for both agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises will “approximate if not equate the prevailing family living wage” of P1,200.

“Upon effectivity of this Act, the daily statutory minimum wages of private sector workers in both agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises nationwide shall be increased to a uniform national minimum wage rate to be prescribed by the NWPB (National Wages and Productivity Board), the amount of which shall approximate if not equate the prevailing family living wage, which currently amounts to One Thousand Two Hundred Pesos (P1,200.00) per month,” the bill read.

“Provided, that the wage increases arising from the new national minimum wage rate should not prejudice other wage increases through collective bargaining,” it added.

According to the Makabayan lawmakers, despite the regional wage boards issuing 390 wage orders since 1990, the increments in minimum wage earners’ salary have failed to match the higher price of goods over the years.

“Since their creation, the 17 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards have issued a total of 390 wage orders since 1990. These issuances had increased the wages of Filipino workers from the 1989 national minimum wage of P89.00 per day to today’s 17 different regional minimum wage scales, ranging from as high as P645 per day in the National Capital Region to as low as P361 per day in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Makabayan said.

“On average, the minimum wage in the country amounts to P470.00 per day. This means that the Filipino workers as a class received only an average real increase of P381 per day since 1989, or during the entire thirty-six-year regime of regionalized minimum wage.  An increase of 428% is not something to crow about, considering that in those nearly four decades, inflation in food and non-food necessities was felt daily,” they added.

On June 4, the House of the 19th Congress approved HB No. 11376 or the proposed Wage Hike For Minimum Wage Workers Act on third reading, which pushes for a P200 increase in the per-day salaries of minimum wage earners.

The Senate’s version, Senate Bill (SB) No. 2534 was approved in February 2024, and proposed a P100-daily minimum wage increase.

To reconcile the differences between the bills, a bicameral conference committee should have been convened so that both chambers could come up with a final version.

But in the last week of the 19th Congress’ session, a deadlock reportedly ensued between the House and Senate contingents over disagreements on the most acceptable version.

In the end, the Senate and the House failed to ratify a final version of the wage hike bill.

READ: 19th Congress ends session without ratifying wage hike bill

HB No. 11376 is a combination of three wage hike proposals in the 19th Congress — HB Nos. 514, 7568, and 7871.

HB No. 7871 filed by TUCP party-list lawmaker and Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza asked for a P150 across-the-board wage hike for all workers in the private sector.  The Makabayan bloc, on the other hand, filed HB No. 7568, which seeks a P750 wage increase. /mr