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Delon Porcalla - The Philippine Star
June 5, 2025 | 12:00am
Undated photo shows a man counting Philippine Peso bills inside a store in Manila, Philippines.
AFP / File
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives yesterday approved on third and final reading the proposed P200 legislated across-the-board wage hike bill.
Voting 171-1 with no abstention, House Deputy Speaker Democrito Mendoza – whose party-list Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has been pushing for the measure – banged the gavel after the approval of House Bill 11376.
If enacted into law, the daily minimum wage of P645 will be increased to P845.
President Marcos has expressed coolness to a legislated wage hike, noting the concerns raised by employers and business groups that it could lead to layoffs and shutdowns especially of small enterprises that make up the majority of businesses in the country.
By law, adjustments in the daily minimum wage are decided by tripartite regional boards – a mechanism preferred by the business community.
HB 11376 is across-the-board and will be implemented nationwide. Critics of the measure have described it as populist and harmful to the economy.
The Makabayan bloc thanked their colleagues and gave credit to Speaker Martin Romualdez’s leadership.
Rep. Marcelino Libanan of 4Ps party-list and other lawmakers also expressed gratitude to the House leadership.
CIBAC party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva said the wage hike is a “moral step toward fairness in the face of rising prices and stagnant wages.”
Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña and Cavite Rep. Jolo Revilla clapped their hands after the bill was approved in the plenary.
Progressive group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) called on Marcos to sign the bill.
“Though it falls short of the P1,200 daily minimum we are pushing for, the passage marks the first time a legislated wage hike is passed in Congress since 1989 and underscores the utter failure and inutility of the wage boards,” KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis said.
“Our anger from decades of poverty wages will not be quelled by token ‘reforms.’ We refuse to be blinded by the theatrics of Cabinet reshuffling and hollow promises of P20-a-kilo rice for minimum wage earners,” he added.
