MANILA, Philippines — Courts cannot be used as an alternative wage board to overturn minimum wage decisions reached through the country’s tripartite wage-setting system, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) asserted on Thursday as it opposed a petition seeking to halt Metro Manila’s P85 daily wage increase.
The labor group accused Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-11 Builders Inc. of trying to obtain through the Pasig City Regional Trial Court what they failed to secure before the National Capital Region-Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board.
TUCP argued that Republic Act No. 6727 provides an exclusive remedy for employers questioning a wage order—an appeal before the National Wages and Productivity Commission—and that the courts cannot serve as an alternative forum for wage disputes.
“The courts cannot be used as an alternative wage board simply because one side lost in the voting,” the labor group said.
The labor group maintained that allowing such petitions would undermine the Wage Rationalization Act and weaken the country’s tripartite system for determining minimum wages.
