Cebu City. ABS-CBN News, file
MANILA — A P42 increase in the minimum wage in the Central Visayas is too small, is "deeply insulting" and shows that the regional wage-setting system is "broken", the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said Sunday.
It said the wage increase does not reflect the region's high inflation and high poverty incidence, which it said "is over eight times that of Metro Manila."
Philippine Statistics Authority data released in August showed poverty incidence of 8.7% in the Central Visayas — the provinces of Cebu and Bohol — against 0.6% in Metro Manila in 2025.
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The region has a poverty threshold of P14,476 a month, lower than the P16,842 in the capital.
"Without any sense of logic, urgency, or justice, the DOLE is effectively telling every worker in Central Visayas: Prices are exploding, even faster than the nation, but your family must survive on a mere P42 increase," TUCP, which has one seat at the House, said.
The order would raise the minimum wage in the "Class A" urban areas of Metro Cebu to P582 a day and to P542 a day in "Class B" areas.
"This is precisely why the regional wage boards are broken and must be fixed. Why should a worker in one municipality be worth less than a worker doing comparable work elsewhere in the same region?" TUCP said.
The minimum wage varies across regions in the Philippines because of differences in cost of living and to encourage investment in ares where wages are lower.
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Workers' groups have countered that there is little difference in the cost of living across regional boundaries and have been calling for a nationwide hike and a national minimum wage.
TUCP said workers hope that Congress "will immediately pass the P200 legislated wage hike as the only hope for a substantial wage increase."