TUCP dares Marcos: Certify P200 minimum wage hike bill as urgent
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. must rise above political squabbles and call for the quick passage and enactment of the P200 minimum wage hike bill, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — Saying that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. must rise above political squabbles, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) urged him to certify as urgent the bill granting a P200 minimum wage hike.
TUCP — one of the groups pushing for a legislated minimum wage hike — said the dire conditions that have affected the labor force should prompt Marcos to certify as urgent the proposed P200 minimum wage hike.
“Elections are supposed to offer solutions on issues confronting marginalized sectors of our society, particularly poverty and ENDO work schemes that push workers to ‘kapit sa patalim’ situation where they are left scraping the bottom of the barrel for subsistence survival,” TUCP said in a statement.
“Hence, TUCP calls on President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos, Jr., as the father of the nation, to rise above current political distractions and unfurl a Bagong Pilipinas policy of caring for its workers by certifying the P200 legislated wage hike as an urgent priority measure and ensure its swift passage into law before the closing of the 19th Congress,” TUCP noted.
Last January 30, the House committee on labor and employment approved a substitute bill that consolidates three wage hike proposals — House Bill (HB) Nos. 514, 7568, and 7871.
HB No. 7871 filed by TUCP party-list lawmaker and Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza asked for a P150 across-the-board wage hike for all workers in the private sector. The Makabayan bloc, on the other hand, filed HB No. 7568, which seeks a P750 wage increase.
READ: House panel OKs substitute bill seeking P200 minimum wage hike
When it was approved at the House plenary on second reading last February 3, most of the bill was retained except for a provision that would limit the P200 per day wage hike to minimum wage earners.
READ: House OKs P200 minimum wage hike bill on 2nd reading
The bill, however, was not approved on third reading as Congress adjourned its session last February 5. Under the current rules, bills approved on second reading can only be considered for third reading three days after the prior approval.
According to TUCP, recent political tensions have resulted in a diverse landscape, but Filipino workers from either side still face a dire situation due to their low wages.
“Emotions fanned by social media are running high, but sadly, it has not been about the dire situation of Filipino workers and their families — their desperation for a take-home pay that affords them three nutritious meals on the table, which addresses the increasing stunting of our children, and which can ensure that our future workforce will be competitive in the ASEAN,” TUCP said.
“Has the political climate made our society too jaded to poverty and the daily sufferings of our people that all political players have diverted their attention to political wranglings?” the group asked.
TUCP — who supported Marcos in the 2022 presidential race — did not mention what the political squabble was all about. However, tensions between the Marcoses and the Dutertes appeared to have blown into a full-on feud, after the Duterte patriarch, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was taken into custody by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte was arrested on March 11 upon his return from Hong Kong on the strength of an arrest warrant served by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). The arrest was related to the crimes against humanity charges against Duterte, for his role in his administration’s drug war.
Marcos, however, maintained that they did not cooperate with ICC and merely fulfilled the country’s obligations with Interpol.
READ: Marcos on Duterte’s arrest: ‘We have commitments to the Interpol’
Congress resumes its session on June 2 and will go into sine die adjournment after June 13.
Committee chairperson and Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Felipe Nograles believes there is still time to approve the minimum wage hike bill on third reading, and convene a bicameral conference committee report to consolidate the Senate and House versions of the bill.
