LABOR groups called on the Supreme Court to void the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) order blocking the P60 first tranche of wage hike in the National Capital Region.
The total approved NCR minimum wage increase under Wage Order NCR-27 is P85. It is to be implemented in two tranches: P60 effective July 25, 2026, after the wage order’s publication, and P25 additional increase effective Jan. 20, 2027. In a 20-page manifestation filed online on Tuesday, the groups assailed the Aug. 13 preliminary injunction issued by the RTC Branch 152 in Pasig City, which extended the restraint on the implementation of NCR Wage Order 27. The manifestation was filed by Kampihan ng Maralita at Manggagawa Party-list Rep. Elijah Rumbaoa San Fernando, the Workers and Peasants’ Party of the Philippines, Uni Global Union-Philippine Liaison Council, Federation of Free Workers (FFW), National Federation of Labor, Sentro ng Nagkakaisa Progresibong Manggagawa, United Filipino Service Workers, Partido Manggagawa, and Council of Teachers and Employees in Schools, Colleges and Universities in the Philippines. The respondents are RTC Branch 154 of Pasig City Judge Acjlles A.A.C.j Balauitan, RTC Branch 152 of Pasig City Judge Marie Joyce Manongsong, RTC Branch 287 of Navotas City Judge Romana Lindayag del Rosario, Readycon Trading and Construction Corp., R-H Builders Inc. and Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations Inc. The petitioners urged the high court to settle if the RTC can stop a wage order when Congress has created a special administrative system for challenging it. The labor groups said that the Labor Code gives the National Wages and Productivity Commission the authority to review wage orders and specifically limits court injunctions involving wage-board proceedings. “Characterization cannot enlarge jurisdiction,” the groups said, rejecting the Pasig court’s description of its injunction as merely “preservative” relief. The Pasig RTC issued the injunction in a case filed by Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders Inc., and required a P10-billion bond. But labor groups argued no bond can undo the immediate impact of withholding the wage increase. Under Wage Order 27, the first tranche is P60 per day. For a minimum wage worker, they said, 10 working days without the increase means P600 lost; 20 days means P1,200. “A minimum wage worker deprived of P60 today may forego food, transportation, medicine, utilities or school expenses today,” the groups said. “A court cannot fairly balance both sides of the scale while one side is still outside the courtroom,” the groups said.The labor groups argued that the RTC also risked becoming a “substitute wage board” by second-guessing how the regional wage board evaluated inflation, cost of living, employment, productivity, employer capacity and other factors under Article 124 of the Labor Code. Meanwhile, FFW President Sonny Matula made the same appeal to the high court. Matula made the call during the wreath-laying ceremony at the Quezon Memorial Circle commemorating the 148th birth anniversary of former president Manuel L. Quezon. In 1936, Quezon signed Executive Order 49, setting minimum daily wages for common laborers of the national government.“The minimum wage is not a gift to workers. Nearly 90 years ago, President Quezon already recognized that the government has a duty to act when wages are insufficient to meet the reasonable needs of workers,” Matula said. He added that the principle of social justice should be felt in the everyday lives of workers. “Social justice is not a wreath that we bring out once a year on Quezon Day. It is not a decoration in the Constitution. It should be felt at the dining table, in transportation costs, in medicine and in workers’ paychecks,” Matula said.
