MANILA, Philippines — July 26, 2025 — With just two days before President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivers his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), one of the country’s largest labor coalitions is calling on him to take decisive action on wages.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Saturday appealed to the President to certify as urgent the proposed ₱200 daily minimum wage increase, warning that millions of Filipino workers are still waiting for relief amid rising living costs.
“Mr. President, they are desperately looking for a beacon of hope. That hope lies in your swift certification of the ₱200 legislated daily minimum wage hike as urgent,” said TUCP Party-list Representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza in a statement.
The proposal had stalled in the previous Congress after the Senate and House of Representatives passed differing versions—the Senate approved a ₱100 increase in February 2024, while the House pushed for the full ₱200 hike in June, just days before the 19th Congress ended.
Mendoza has since refiled the ₱200 wage hike bill at the start of the 20th Congress on June 30, and is now pushing for urgent certification to accelerate its passage.
“We are halfway through the Marcos administration, and this is the moment of truth. The state of the Filipino worker must be at the heart of this SONA,” he emphasized.
Mendoza also challenged the narrative that the Philippines offers one of the highest minimum wages in Southeast Asia, dismissing it as misleading. He argued that such comparisons ignore crucial factors like poverty rates, cost of living, and income inequality.
“Comparing our regional minimum wages with those of our ASEAN neighbors is to compare apples with oranges,” he said. “It disregards our local realities—especially the wide gap between minimum wages and the Constitutionally-enshrined family living wage.”
Labor groups have long criticized regional wage boards for approving increases they say fall far short of workers’ needs. Last month, Metro Manila’s wage board approved a ₱50 daily hike, which labor advocates described as “pabarya-barya” or loose change.
As inflation continues to strain household budgets, the TUCP is hoping the President will use his SONA platform to deliver a clear message: that uplifting workers is a national priority.
