Akbayan asks SC to probe Pasig court order blocking P85 wage hike

Akbayan has asked the Supreme Court’s Judicial Integrity Office (JIO) to evaluate a Pasig City court’s orders that halted the implementation of the P85 daily minimum wage increase in Metro Manila.

In a letter to JIO Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Tolentino, the group questioned whether the Pasig Regional Trial Court had authority to suspend National Capital Region Wage Order No. 27, which grants Metro Manila minimum wage earners an additional P85 per day.

Two construction firms challenged the wage order before the Pasig RTC on 23 July. Akbayan noted that the firms neither appealed before the National Wages and Productivity Commission within the prescribed period nor sought an exemption from the wage board.

The court initially ordered the parties to maintain wage rates prevailing before the increase took effect. Pasig RTC Branch 152 later issued a temporary restraining order against its implementation.

Akbayan argued that Article 126 of the Labor Code prohibits courts from issuing injunctions or TROs against proceedings before the NWPC and regional wage boards.

The group also questioned the use of a “status quo ante order,” arguing that Rule 58 of the Rules of Court recognizes only three forms of interim injunctive relief.

“There is no fourth remedy,” Akbayan said.

It asked the JIO to determine whether administrative action is warranted and urged the Supreme Court to remind judges about the limits on issuing injunctions involving wage board proceedings.