Political partylist group Akbayan has petitioned the Supreme Court to administratively evaluate a trial court order that blocked a mandated P85 daily minimum wage increase for workers in Metro Manila.

In a letter submitted to the Supreme Court’s Judicial Integrity Office, Akbayan questioned the authority of Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 152 to issue orders halting National Capital Region Wage Order No. 27.

To recall, the regional wage board approved the P85 daily pay raise on 23 June. One day after the order took effect on 22 July, two construction firms filed a petition with the Pasig court seeking to stop its implementation.

Akbayan cited that the firms bypassed required administrative remedies, choosing not to appeal the wage order to the National Wages and Productivity Commission within the 10-day period mandated by the Labor Code, nor seeking an exemption from the wage board.

The Pasig court issued a status quo ante order on 24 July directing parties to maintain pre-existing wage rates, before issuing a formal temporary restraining order against the wage increase.