MANILA, Philippines — The country’s oldest labor federation on Thursday called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to consult workers directly instead of relying solely on economic managers, arguing that Malacañang has been given an incomplete and selective picture of the country’s wage situation.
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) president Atty. Sonny Matula argued that the administration’s repeated claim that workers have already received wage increases exceeding the proposed ₱200 legislated wage hike fails to reflect the realities faced by millions of workers outside Metro Manila.
“If the President was told that workers have already received more than ₱200 in wage increases, then he deserves a more complete briefing from his economic managers—or better yet, from labor union leaders whose voices this administration has ignored for more than four years,” Matula said.
According to Matula, the oft-cited ₱210 cumulative wage increase applies only to Metro Manila minimum wage earners and even includes the second tranche of the latest wage adjustment that will not take effect until January 2027.
“That figure does not represent the conditions faced by workers in most regions of the country,” he said.
FFW Women’s Network Vice President and United Cirtek Employees Union-FFW President Arta Maines said the country’s regional wage-setting system has become so complicated that even the President may have been misled.
“Our wage-fixing system has become unnecessarily confusing. If the President was made to believe that workers have already received the ₱200 increase, even though Metro Manila workers have yet to receive the full amount and provincial workers have received much less, then it is clear that the information presented to him was incomplete,” Maines said.
She stressed that the proposed ₱200 legislated wage increase remains pending in Congress and is entirely different from regional wage adjustments that have been granted in varying amounts over several years.
“The ₱200 legislated wage increase has not yet been granted. What workers have received are separate regional wage increases implemented at different times over the past several years. Even in Metro Manila, the claimed ₱210 includes a tranche that will only take effect in 2027. That cannot be compared with the immediate ₱200 legislated wage increase still awaiting congressional approval,” Maines said.
The FFW cited cumulative minimum wage increases from 2022 to 2026, showing that Metro Manila remains an exception rather than the norm. While the National Capital Region has accumulated ₱210 in wage increases—including the 2027 tranche—workers in Caraga have received ₱125, those in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao only ₱70, and workers in the Ilocos Region just ₱45.
Matula said these figures demonstrate why Metro Manila should not be used as the benchmark for the entire country.
“Even Metro Manila workers have yet to receive the full ₱210 because part of it will only be implemented in 2027. If the increase is still incomplete in the capital, it is even more inaccurate to claim that workers in the provinces have already received the ₱200 increase when their cumulative wage adjustments are significantly lower,” he said.
