Dole: NCR wage board awaiting NWPC’s decision on new increase order

MANILA, Philippines — A new wage increase order from the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Metro Manila is just awaiting a decision from the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Tuesday. 

At the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations regarding DOLE’s proposed budget for 2027, the department’s National Capital Region Regional Director Roy Buenaflor said that the RTWPB approved Wage Order No. 28 in Metro Manila on Monday night.

Under the rules, the NWPC is mandated to determine minimum wages at the regional, provincial, or industry levels while the RTWPB is under the NWPC. 

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“Ang Wage Order 28 na napagdesiyunan ng board last night ay sa kasalukuyan ay we already forwarded it to NWPC for another process in the commission,” Buenaflor said. 

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(The Wage Order 28 decided by the board last night is already forwarded to the NWPC for another process in the commission.)

READ: P85 wage hike further delayed by Pasig court order

“This is a one-time tranche of P60 and if ever the commission will affirm such wage order, perhaps we could publish this on Friday. The effectivity will be on September 26 or 27,” Buenaflor added.

When granted, he noted that this will bring the daily minimum wage of Metro Manila workers in the non-agriculture sector up from P695 to P755.

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He also shared that the regional board arrived at a 4-3 voting during its deliberation on Monday, where three members from the government sector and one employer voted in the affirmative while two representatives of the labor sector and another employer dissented from it. 

However, this announcement raised eyebrows among lawmakers present at the hearing, with Deputy Speaker and TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza asking Buenaflor of the basis of the new wage board order, noting that the implementation of Wage Board No. 27 remains pending due to a Pasig City court’s order suspending its implementation. 

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Buenaflor said that the board came up with a decision to issue another wage increase order as “it is the best way that we can deliver immediately what has been waited by the workers which is the first tranche of the Wage Order 27.”

READ: Dole seeks to lift injunction vs. P85 NCR wage hike

Mendoza then said that they are not satisfied with the answer, worrying that it might further complicate matters. 

Last June 30, Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino announced the “historic” wage hike of P85 for minimum wage workers in Metro Manila under Wage Order No. 27, where the first tranche of P65 was supposed to be effective last July 25 while the second tranche of P20 was due on January 20 next year. 

However, the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 125 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the P85 wage increase in the region until August 13 following a petition filed by two construction companies. The wage increase implementation was further delayed as the court granted the writ of preliminary injunction sought by the two firms. 

The Office of Solicitor General has asked the Pasig court to resolve its pending motion for reconsideration to lift the freeze order that halted the implementation of the P85 wage hike. 

‘Wage decrease’

Kamanggagawa Party-list Rep. Elijah San Fernando also expressed his disappointment on the announcement of a new wage order, saying that the proposed P60 wage hike is a “wage decrease” to the Wage Order 27, which was supposed to grant a P85 daily wage hike. 

“Dito sa Wage Order No. 28, P60 na lang ang dagdag sahod ng manggagawa. So in effect, wage decrease ito kasi ongoing pa yung usapin sa Wage Order No. 27,” San Fernando told reporters in an ambush interview. 

(Here in Wage Order No. 28, the wage increase is just P60. So in effect, this is a wage decrease because the matters for Wage Order No. 27 is currently ongoing.)

San Fernando agreed that DOLE and the RTWPB further complicated themselves by issuing a new wage order while the Wage Order No. 27 is still pending, as it will raise a question on what would happen if another TRO is released.

“Malinaw ito na sa katotohanan lang, ayaw i-implement ng mismong DOLE yung dagdag sahod na P85 which is ang first tranche dapat ibinigay na noong July 25,” he added. 

(This is clear that the DOLE does not want to implement the wage increase of P85 which the first tranche was supposed to be given last July 25.)

San Fernando maintained that DOLE can now implement the wage hike under the Wage Order No. 27 as the petitioner companies could not pay their bond worth P10 billion, which he said renders the writ of preliminary injunction ineffective. 

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During the budget hearing, Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino asserted that the court must decide the fate of the implementation of the wage increase, and not the agency. /mr