Several labor groups in Metro Manila on Tuesday asked the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) – National Capital Region (NCR) to double the PHP570 minimum wage rate in the region.

“There is an urgent and compelling ground for the review of the last wage order and petitioners’ (call) for the implementation of the living wage enumerated in this petition of PHP1,140. Wherefore, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed by the herein petitioners that the much-needed living wage in the region of PHP1,140 be implemented as the new minimum wage,” organizations represented by the Unity for Wage Increase Now! (U4WIN) said in a wage hike petition.

“The petition was made so that the workers/employees in the region can eventually enjoy to live in their appropriate living wage and to enjoy the fruit of their labor as embodied in the Philippine Constitution.”

The wage hike petition was signed and supported by 25 national and local trade unions and workers organizations in Metro Manila.

They said it is time for a new wage hike since no wage order has been issued between November 2019 and June 2022.

“Notedly, the NCR wage board did not issue a wage order in the region for more than two years,” they said.

Another petition filed in December 2022 by the Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa (Kapatiran) is pushing for a PHP100 wage hike.

Meanwhile, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma sees nothing wrong if multiple wage petitions have been filed before the wage boards.

“The RTWPB (is not prevented) from looking at the petition and rule accordingly on the basis of existing circumstances and justification being advanced by the petitioner,” he said in a phone interview. “The general rule is only one minimum wage adjustment can be granted in a given year.

The latest wage increase approved by the NCR wage board was in May 2022, which took effect the following month. (PNA)