The Senate on Wednesday adjourned sine die without ratifying the bill seeking to increase the daily minimum wage for private sector workers, following a deadlock with the House of Representatives.

In his remarks on the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers and the Minimum Wage Increase Act, Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said the Senate fought hard for the wage hike.

“We’d like to inform all the workers, laborers, and minimum wage earners that the Senate did its best to fight for the rights — and of course, the fiscal incentives — of having another P100-a-day minimum wage increase in their salary,” Zubiri said.

The Senate proposed a P100 wage hike, while the House pushed for a P200 increase — an amount senators believed would ultimately be vetoed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. due to its potential negative impact on the private sector.

“Naawa po ako sa kanila, again, I am also disheartened with the fact that they [House] don't want to negotiate with us,” said Zubiri, one of the authors of Senate Bill No. 2534 or the P100 Daily Minimum Wage Increase Act.

“Obviously, if we adopt the P200 minimum wage bill, the President will veto it,” he added.

Senator Joel Villanueva, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, backed Zubiri’s position, noting that the House version of the wage hike bill was only transmitted to the Senate two days before Congress adjourned.

“We passed this more than a year ago and we were able to get the official third reading measure passed by the House of Representatives less than 48 hours before we will actually adjourn,” Villanueva said.

He added that some House conferees had initially indicated they were amenable to adopting the Senate version. However, in a last-minute decision, the House chose to stand firm on its P200 proposal. 

The House and Senate must reconcile their versions through a bicameral conference committee before transmitting the enrolled bill to Malacañang for the President’s signature.

Both chambers have until 13 June — the last session day of the 19th Congress — to agree on a unified version. Otherwise, the bill will need to be refiled in the next Congress.