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Filipino workers demand action from Pres Marcos to implement P85 Metro Manila wage hike
The Philippine labor minister earlier said he was "sad about the wage freeze order", noting it takes food off the table of more than a million workers in Metro Manila and their families
- PUBLISHED: Sat 15 Aug 2026, 1:46 PM
Gas station attendant Robin Bautista was happy to learn of the P85 (Dh5.15) daily wage increase for non-agricultural workers in the Philippine capital of Metro Manila. But he was equally disappointed when he saw on the news that a local court issued a restraining order against the wage order’s first tranche of implementation worth P60 (Dh3.63) on July 30, a payday.
“I was looking forward to the wage increase. I thought I would have extra money to buy diapers for my baby,” he said.
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The National Capital Region Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved the P85 wage hike on June 23. The government called it a “historic increase”, but two construction companies that have billion-peso government infrastructure contracts, alongside an organisation representing fishing companies, the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations Inc., lost no time in petitioning a court for a stay of the hike’s implementation.
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The petitioners (businesses) argued that their incomes would substantially diminish if the salary increase were implemented.
Following the initial restraining order that expired on Thursday, August 13, the same court extended the suspension by issuing a writ of preliminary injunction, keeping the wage increase on hold indefinitely while it deliberates on the merits of the petitioners’ argument.
Labor groups protest
Already furious at the initial restriction, labor groups are even angrier at its extension, launching protest rally after protest rally at the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Manila.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) chairperson Jerome Adonis challenged Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino to defy the court order on the strength of a law exempting wage orders from court action.
“[Y]our eyes are ready to pop out of their sockets from all your blank staring! Your bias toward profit-hungry capitalists gets more exposed with every day you do nothing to implement the wage increase,” Adonis told Tolentino.
The labor secretary earlier said he was sad about the wage freeze order, stating the court ruling "does not merely suspend a wage increase, it takes food off the table of more than a million Metro Manila workers and their families."
KMU’s Adonis, however, dismissed the secretary’s “sadness” as unneeded. “What we need is action!” Adonis underscored.
Layers of wage hike prevention
KMU reiterated its call for the abolition of the Philippines’ wage-setting mechanism – the Regional Wage Boards – that the freeze order by the court is rendering obsolete amid its inability to implement its own wage ruling.
“Back when there was just one minimum wage for the whole country, there was only one body that decided. And if there were complaints, it went straight to the Supreme Court. No more running around, no more confusion for workers about where to file grievances and protest,” KMU explained.
But the militant labor federation also blamed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s inaction on the situation.
“(President) Marcos’, we see right through your scheme. You’re also the one who killed the P200 wage increase legislation in the last Congress.,” Adonis noted.
Some employers’ kindness
The Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), meanwhile, had been issuing neutral statements about the wage freeze order.
ECOP president Sergio Ortiz Ruiz opposed the wage board’s salary increase order when it was issued in June, but blandly said they “simply have to follow the law” when asked about their stance on the controversy.
But not all employers in the Philippines agree with the court’s ruling. Chef Rovi Aquino, owner of a beef shank soup (bulalo) restaurant in Caloocan City, has decided to give his waiters and cooks the initial P60 wage increase.
“Our business is fortunately doing well these days. I decided to give my colleagues the wage increase despite the court order,” Aquino told a Filipino journalist.