Benise Balaoing

In a pre-Labor Day event, students and youth volunteers from the Akbayan Partylist staged a protest and solidarity walk along University Avenue in UP Diliman, Quezon City, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The youth group called for decent jobs, higher wages, and an end to contractualization, urging lawmakers to pass the proposed ₱200 across-the-board minimum wage hike and the Anti-Endo Law to protect workers’ rights. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

LABOR DAY- Wage HIke

Jervis Manahan

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — While the P50 per day increase touted as the highest wage hike in Metro Manila, labor groups said it still does not significantly increase the purchasing power of minimum wage earners.According to government price monitoring data, P50 can buy a kilo of regular-milled rice and two eggs, or two cans of sardines, or a pack of noodles, an egg, a coffee sachet, and two small packs of biscuits.The Federation of Free Workers said that while they welcome the increase, it won&#x27;t stop them from continuing to lobby for the P200 increase originally pushed in the last congress.&quot;Kinakailangan talaga ng mga mangaggawa para masalubong ang nagtataasang presyo pero gayunman hindi nito masasawata ang aming patuloy na paglobby para sa pambansang sahod na dalawandaang piso,&quot; said Sonny Matula of the Federation of Free Workers.(This is really needed by workers so they can cope with the rising prices of goods but this will not stop us from lobbying for a P200 increase.)<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/6/30/ncr-wage-board-approves-p50-minimum-wage-hike-1205" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NCR wage board approves P50 minimum wage hike</a></div>Matula said the P50 increase amounts to only 7.75 percent of the P645 daily wage in NCR, which he said is far from the P200 that workers were initially demanding, which was a 31 percent increase.He said that this does not respond to the discriminatory system of regional wage fixing, as wages outside Metro Manila remain substantially lower.&quot;A wage hike of P100 to P200 already enjoys clear consensus in both the Senate and the House. This P50 increase is merely a partial compliance with that legislative agreement,&quot; Matula also said.Meanwhile, the Kilusang Mayo Uno slammed the wage hike. In a statement, they described the hike as a &quot;continuation of the Marcos regime’s record of giving barya-barya tin the last 3 years.&quot;“Year in, year out, akala ni Bongbong Marcos ay masasapatan ang manggagawang Pilipino sa pabarya-baryang dagdag-sahod. Mariing tutol siya sa anumang legislated wage hike,&quot; said Jerome Adonis, newly-elected KMU chairperson.(President Bongbong Marcos thinks small increases are enough for the Filipino workers. He is against a legislated wage hike.)&quot;Ngunit malinaw sa aming mga nagtitipon ngayon na ang aspirasyon ng manggagawa ay makamit ang nakabubuhay na sahod para sa kanilang mga pamilya, at ang paggalang sa aming mga batayang karapatan,” he added.(It&#x27;s clear to us, gathering today, that the aspiration of our laborers is to achieve a livable wage for their families.)

What can the P50 wage hike buy?

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What can the P50 wage hike buy?

Jervis Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 30, 2025 07:08 PM PHT

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