FFW presses PHP 200 wage hike after NCR raise

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The Federation of Free Workers said the newly approved PHP 85 daily wage increase for minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region is a “step forward,” but renewed its call for a PHP 200 nationwide legislated wage hike, saying the country’s regional wage-setting system remains unjust.

The wage adjustment announced by Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino will be implemented in two tranches: PHP 60 upon the effectivity of Wage Order No. NCR-27 on July 19, 2026, and PHP 25 on Jan. 20, 2027, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

“The ₱85 total adjustment is a welcome step, and we commend the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB-NCR) for granting it,” said FFW National President Atty. Sonny Matula in a press release.

“However, we cannot ignore the vast gap that remains. While workers will appreciate the additional pay, they will still feel the economic shortfall. The fight for a ₱200 recovery wage is far from over.”

DOLE said more than 1.1 million minimum wage earners in Metro Manila are expected to benefit from the adjustment.

Under the new wage order, the daily minimum wage in NCR will rise to PHP 780 for nonagricultural workers after full implementation.

The rate will increase to PHP 743 for agricultural workers, service and retail establishments employing 15 workers or fewer, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 workers.

Matula said the NCR wage order should not obscure what the FFW considers a deeper problem in the country’s wage system: minimum pay that varies sharply by region even as workers face similar increases in basic costs.

“This wage order should not become another reminder of how unequal our wage system has become,” Atty. Matula stated. “Today, the farther a worker is from Metro Manila, the lower their wage. Yet, the prices of food, electricity, fuel, public transportation, and other basic necessities do not fall with distance. Poverty does not become cheaper outside the capital.”

The FFW has long opposed regional wage differences, arguing that the system leaves provincial workers with weaker purchasing power despite inflationary pressures that also affect food, electricity, fuel, public transportation, and other basic necessities outside Metro Manila.

The labor group said the disparity is increasingly difficult to justify because many provincial workers are among the poorest in the country.

The group urged the Marcos administration and its economic managers to withdraw their opposition to pending wage measures in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The FFW said Congress should immediately pass a PHP 200 nationwide legislated wage increase as a more permanent response to workers’ eroded purchasing power.

“Congress has the clear constitutional authority to act when social justice and national interest require it,” Matula added. “The time to exercise that authority is now.”

The renewed call comes as wage legislation has remained a recurring labor issue, with labor groups pushing for a national increase while economic managers and some business groups have warned that across-the-board hikes could affect small enterprises and inflation.

The FFW also challenged regional wage boards outside NCR to act without waiting for the usual annual cycles.

“We call on the regional wage boards to exercise their mandate more proactively. The Labor Code explicitly authorizes them to adjust minimum wages whenever conditions warrant. They need to respond to the actual, lived realities of struggling workers, not merely to cold statistical models or macroeconomic projections,” Matula emphasized.

The group said a worker’s dignity should not depend on geography.

The FFW said social justice should not stop at the boundaries of Metro Manila, and neither should what it called a true living wage. (Photo from Philippines Graphic)