At the final stretch of the 19th Congress, the House of Representatives finally approved on Wednesday a bill seeking to provide a P200 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector.

House Bill 11376 hurdled its third and final reading barely a week before Congress adjourns sine die. 172 lawmakers voted in the affirmative, zero in the negative, and abstentions. The initial vote was 171-1-0.

The measure, the counterpart of Senate Bill 2534, provided a P100 wage increase, the first legislated wage hike in nearly four decades.

The last wage increase was made in 1989 when Congress passed the Wage Rationalization Act (Republic Act 6727).

Efforts to pass another legislated wage hike were all unsuccessful due to strong opposition from businesspeople, some legislators, and various organizations, fearing it may lead to massive inflation, collapse businesses, and lay off workers.

However, the bill’s proponents insisted that it’s high time to raise the minimum wage of private workers across the board to alleviate the financial strain in the face of rising costs of commodities, transportation, and housing.

The House-approved measure seeks to grant private employees a P200 increase in their daily minimum wage “regardless of employment status, including those in contractual and sub-contractual arrangements, whether agricultural or nonagricultural.”

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards may still implement subsequent wage increases if the bill is passed into law.

Under the bill, reducing employees’ existing benefits and allowances as a result of the pay hike will be prohibited.

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, among the principal authors of the measure, supported the passage of the bill with “reservations.”

They argued that the proposed wage hike remains lower than the living wage, insufficient to afford adequate food, shelter, and other basic necessities, leaving poor families without savings. Nonetheless, they believe that this is a significant step forward.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Speaker Democrito Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines — also one of the original proponents of the bill — called on the House and the Senate to immediately convene the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the disagreeing versions of their respective measures: P100 from the Senate while P200 from the House.

“I appeal to all my fellow bicam conferees — my counterparts in the Senate and my colleagues in the House — let us get this done, and get it done now. We are way past the stage of whether we will pass a legislated wage hike, but how much that wage hike will be,” Mendoza said.

Congress has three session days left before it adjourns sine die on 14 June.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), the country’s largest trade organization, has consistently rejected the clamor for a wage hike, citing its disadvantage to MSMEs.

The ECOP asserted a wage hike would also hurt farmers, fisherfolk, market vendors and the informal sector, which accounts for 84 percent of the labor force.

The ECOP has lamented that only 10 percent to 16 percent of the country’s 52 million workforce are expected to benefit from it, leaving the staggering 84 percent, or those who have no employers, with no salary adjustment.

President Marcos Jr. had expressed reservations on the bill, pointing out that it requires further study as it may trigger inflation or an increase in prices of goods and services.

Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno petitioned Marcos to sign the bill into law once it reaches the Palace, warning that veto would "expose" the government as being "anti-worker."