THE Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and affiliates of the Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition said Sunday that Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) have no jurisdiction to entertain a direct challenge seeking to restrain the National Capital Region (NCR) Wage Order 27.
FFW President and Nagkaisa! Chairman Sonny Matula said labor representatives from FFW, Nagkaisa! and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), together with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), support the statutory wage-fixing and review process.
“On this fundamental point, representatives from workers, employers and government are on the same page: an appeal from a wage order belongs to the NWPC, not to an RTC,” Matula said.
FFW and TUCP have filed separate interventions before RTCs in Pasig and Navotas, according to the labor groups.
Matula cited Article 124 of the Labor Code, which provides that a person or entity aggrieved by a wage order issued by a Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board may appeal to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).
The wage increase being challenged consists of an initial P60 increase to the existing P695 daily minimum wage, followed by another P25, for a total adjustment of P85. The full adjustment would bring the minimum wage to P780, according to FFW.
The labor group cited previous NCR wage increases, including the 1989 increase from P64 to P89, or approximately 39.06 percent, and a subsequent P17 increase from P89, or about 19.10 percent.
“The sky did not fall then. We call on the court of Navotas not to declare economic Armageddon over 8.63 percent now,” Matula said.
FFW and Nagkaisa! said that they plan to invoke Article 1708 of the Civil Code and Gaa v. Court of Appeals before the Navotas RTC, which they said accord special protection to workers’ wages.
Labor lawyers will appear before the Navotas RTC, which, according to the statement, reset its clarificatory hearing to Aug. 12, 2026, at 10 a.m. and directed the parties to comment on the labor groups’ motion to intervene.
FFW and Nagkaisa! said they may also join initiatives to bring the jurisdictional issue before the Supreme Court through appropriate extraordinary remedies.
“This is already bigger than P85. The fundamental question is jurisdiction,” Matula said.
