A legislated wage hike, unseen in four decades, came a step closer yesterday as the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading an increase in the daily minimum wage by P200.

The proposal, however, would need to go through the bicameral conference committee (bicam) to reconcile it with the Senate Bill 2534, passed in 2024, which seeks a smaller P100 raise.

At the twilight of the 19th Congress, House Bill 11376 hurdled the third and final reading barely a week before Congress adjourns sine die. One hundred seventy-two lawmakers voted in favor, zero against, and no abstention.

The last wage increase enacted through a law was in 1989, when Congress passed the Wage Rationalization Act (Republic Act 6727).

Efforts to pass another legislated wage hike, thereafter, were unsuccessful due to strong opposition from the business sector, which cited the existing process of regional wage adjustments through the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).

Trade groups warned that a legislated pay increase may lead to massive inflation, the collapse of businesses, and the layoff of workers.

The bill’s proponents insisted on the need 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 RTWPBs 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.

Support ‘with reservations’

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 increase remains lower than the living wage to afford adequate food, shelter, and other necessities, leaving low-income families without savings. Nonetheless, they believe that the bill’s passage 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 bicam.

“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 medium, small, and micro enterprises.