Senate urged to expedite wage hike bill before SONA

June 8, 2025 , 10:32 PM

By Gabriel Kim Leal

(June 8, 2025) – One of the country’s top trade organizations has urged the Senate to speed up work on the proposed wage hike law before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) next month.

In a statement on Sunday, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) called on Senate President Chiz Escudero and Senate Labor Committee chairman Joel Villanueva to act swiftly on the bicameral conference, ratification, and final endorsement of the bill.

“We fervently urge Senate President Chiz Escudero and Senate Labor Committee chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva to not deny the workers this much needed reprieve and to not succumb to the lazy economics of marketing,” said TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza.

Mendoza stressed that no other legislation on the table today would have a more direct impact on Filipino working families than a wage hike — whether it’s P100, P200, or even a compromise of P150.

He cited a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey from May 2025 showing an overwhelming 92% of Filipinos backing the wage hike in the Senate, and 95% wanting the House to prioritize it.

“This wage increase bill is the result of years of exhaustive public hearings and deliberations in Congress wherein economists, academics, civil society groups, informal workers, and minimum wage earners themselves testified to the imperative of raising workers’ wages now primarily to lift over five million minimum wage earners out of poverty,” added Mendoza.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed its version of the bill with strong support: 172 in favor, none against, and one abstention.

The Senate, however, is still debating its version, which proposes a more modest P100 increase for private sector workers. Senator JV Ejercito said the measure was discussed among senators the night the House passed it, but they have yet to reach an agreement.

Under House Bill No. 11376, regional wage boards would still be allowed to grant additional increases even after the national wage hike takes effect.

Mendoza pushed back against criticisms from big businesses warning of inflation and job losses.

“It is not Congress but certain employer groups, big business, and armchair pundits who are being myopic and self-serving, doing a verbal overkill against the wage bill,” said Mendoza.

(AGD)

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