MANILA(January 13) — Organized labor groups have raised alarm over the continued absence of minimum wage increase orders in two regions—Bicol and Davao—even as all other regional wage boards nationwide completed their wage adjustments before the end of 2025.
Still without wage orders are the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) of Region 5 (Bicol) and Region 11 (Davao), leaving workers in those areas waiting for relief amid rising prices of food, transport, electricity, rent, and basic services.
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said the delay highlights structural weaknesses in the regional wage-setting system under Republic Act 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act.
“The absence or inadequacy of wage relief is not a technical delay but a daily subtraction from food on the table, medicine for the sick, school expenses for children, and dignity at work,” said FFW president Sonny Matula.
“A wage policy that produces such outcomes cannot be called development—it is institutionalized deprivation,” he added.
Growing regional wage gaps
Beyond the delays, FFW warned of widening geographic inequality in wages across the country’s 16 regional wage boards.
“The farther one moves away from Metro Manila, the lower the wage floor becomes,” the group said.
The National Capital Region continues to post the highest daily minimum wage, ranging from ₱658 to ₱695 for private-sector workers. In contrast, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) remains at the bottom of the wage ladder, with daily rates between ₱386 and ₱411—a gap of more than ₱280 per day.
Matula noted that similar disparities persist elsewhere, citing Palawan in the Mimaropa region, where wages remain significantly lower than NCR levels despite rising food and fuel costs aggravated by transport expenses. He also pointed to Batanes, one of the country’s most expensive areas due to logistics and weather constraints, yet still subject to regional wage floors far below those in Metro Manila.
“This stark disparity exposes a system where location—not human need or actual cost of living—determines survival wages,” Matula said.
He stressed the need for a national legislated wage hike that would establish a humane wage floor for all workers, regardless of region, with regional wage boards allowed only to supplement—not delay or justify—basic wage relief.
Government response
Labor Secretary Bienvenio Laguesma, an ex-officio member of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), said RTWPBs in Regions 11 and 5 are expected to begin their wage determination processes in January and February 2026, respectively.
Laguesma said the other 14 RTWPBs issued wage orders before the end of 2025, granting daily minimum wage increases ranging from ₱20 to ₱100 for private-sector workers in NCR, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Regions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13.
“All wage orders were issued motu proprio, the majority unanimously approved by the concerned RTWPBs,” Laguesma said.
He added that 11 wage orders increasing monthly pay for domestic workers—ranging from ₱300 to ₱2,000—were also issued in several regions.
In total, more than 4.5 million private-sector minimum wage earners and about 755,000 domestic workers benefited from wage adjustments issued by RTWPBs in 2025.
