A labor group on Monday renewed their appeal for a P150 across-the-board wage hike for private sectors nationwide after the National Capital Region-Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board only granted a P35 salary increase.

According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the measly P35 increase to minimum wage earners in Metro Manila is a "humiliation" to Filipino workers, who continue to struggle to cope with the skyrocketing prices of commodities.

"[The increase] is a slap on the face of every worker," the coalition stressed.

According to the coalition, the cost of minimum wages across the region has stagnated since 1989 and failed to keep up with inflation.

"As TUCP has repeatedly pointed out, the need to elevate the daily wage above the poverty threshold to afford a family of five at least one nutritious meal a day is inextricably linked to addressing the growing problem of stunting Filipino children due to persistent poverty and inequality."

The NCR wage board approved on 27 June a P15 increase in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers, nearly one year after its last salary hike of P40.

The salary adjustments, which will take effect on 17 July, will bring the minimum wage from P610 to P645 for non-agriculture workers in the NCR, while P608 for agriculture workers.

Around 988,243 minimum wage earners in Metro Manila are expected to directly benefit from the salary hike, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

The TUCP, however, lamented that the recent slight wage increase is far beyond their clamor of a legislated P150 across-the-board wage nationwide, which is still pending at the House of Representatives.

The Senate, meanwhile, had already its own version of a P100 wage increase earlier this year.

"The NCR regional wage board proved once again to be so myopic. They opted to protect business profits rather than the bigger societal purpose of the wage increase," TUCP group's vice president Luis Corral pointed out.

Employers' groups and some members of the House have opposed the P150 legislated wage hike in fear that such an increase will not be felt in the long run since prices of goods and services are likely to go up subsequently.

Some lawmakers suspect that private companies would simply pass on the supplemental cost of their goods and services, and the additional wage would be eaten by the increase in commodity prices.