The country’s biggest labor federations called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent a ₱200 legislated wage increase in the face of a “cost of living and survival crisis.”
The National Wage Coalition, composed of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition (NAGKAISA!) and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Marcos should ensure the measure’s swift passage into law.
“Waiting until June without the President’s certification…is too long a wait and too significant a risk our workers cannot afford amid this worsening cost of living and survival crisis,” the coalition said in a press conference on Monday.
“Every day of delay means more families going hungry, more parents struggling to send their children to school, and more workers pushed to the brink of survival. How much suffering must we endure before this Government acts?” it asked.
A piece of legislation certified as urgent by the President compels Congress to convene even during recess to discuss the proposal.
The wage coalition said the urgency is justified as fare hikes for trains, jeepneys, and buses are being implemented this month, coupled with big time oil price hikes.
The labor federations also cited surveys showing the highest levels of self-rated poverty in over two decades and a hunger crisis not seen since the pandemic.
Filipino workers are not just struggling; they are suffocating, the workers groups said.
When fares are getting more prohibitive
A December 2024 Social Weather Station survey shows 63% of Filipino families consider themselves poor, the highest since 2008, echoed by another March 2025 Stratbase-SWS survey revealing that 27.2% of families face involuntary hunger, the worst since the COVID-19’s peak, the coalition pointed out.
Meanwhile, LRT-1 fares recently rose from ₱15 to ₱20, with the maximum single-journey ticket fare increasing from ₱45 to ₱55.
Meanwhile, jeepney and bus fares are set to increase by ₱2 this month.
The labor centers said the numbers represent an assault on the already insufficient minimum wages of over five million minimum wage earners across the country.
“Work and wage should be a path out of poverty, not a life sentence to hunger and hardship,” the coalition said.
“Yet, in the face of this national emergency, the President has neither met with Philippine Labor in three years nor acted on the most urgent call for a wage hike. For far too long, it has been the workers and their families who have paid the price for political inaction,” the workers complained.
A moral imperative
On Labor Day 2024, President Marcos called for a review of minimum wage rates, supposedly in response to inflation rates last year that resulted in what laborers said were “insulting, token increases” from the regional wage boards.
The coalition said nearly all regional minimum wages—from ₱645 in the National Capital Region to ₱361 in Muslim Mindanao—remain below the poverty threshold.
The Ateneo Policy Center’s estimated daily cost of the government’s own ‘Pinggang Pinoy’ healthy food guide stands at ₱693.30 per day for a family of five.
“Worse, in real terms, today’s minimum wage is worth even less than it was 36 years ago despite the fact that the only thing rising faster than prices should be wages,” the workers said.
They added that their wage hike demands are not just an economic issue but a moral imperative as the ₱200 wage hike is the bare minimum necessary for Filipino workers to survive. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
