House Deputy Speaker Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza is prodding the Senate to work for the hastened harmonization of the differing minimum wage hike bills from the two chambers in the waning days of the 19th Congress.
“We are eager to work urgently with our Senate counterparts to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the wage hike bills—₱200 and ₱100 respectively—and ratify the final version on the same day," Mendoza said in a statement on Sunday night, June 8.
Mendoza, a staunch backer of the wage hike, is part of the House contingent to the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings that would consolidate the two bills.
"We fervently urge Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero and Senate Labor Committee chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva to not deny the workers this much needed reprieve and to not succumb to the lazy economics of marketing the Philippines as a haven for cheap, unorganized labor to investors in ensuring their profitability instead of addressing the bigger business problems of high power costs, corruption, and ease of doing business,” he said.
Congress (House and Senate) resumed sessions last week after a lengthy fourth-month legislative break. The two chambers will hold its final session day in the 19th Congress on June 11.
In other words, time is running out on the solons, and fast. After harmonization, the measure must be ratified and endorsed to President Marcos for his signature.
“No other single piece of legislation today would more directly improve the lives of Filipino working families than a legislated wage hike—be it ₱100, ₱200, or a middle ground of ₱150," Mendoza said.
"We remind all social partners that the Senate and the House passed their respective bills without a 'no' vote. We trust, hope, and pray that this rare opportunity—transcending toxic political partisanship and cutting through the fear-mongering of elite employer groups and big business—will carry the day in the bicameral conference, leading to the swift ratification of the final wage increase as early as possible,” noted the deputy speaker.
The May 2025 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that 92 percent of Filipinos believe the Senate should prioritize increasing the minimum wage, while 95 percent said the same for the House, underscoring the overwhelming public clamor for a legislated wage hike.
“This wage increase bill is the result of years of exhaustive public hearings and deliberations in Congress wherein economists, academics, civil society groups, informal workers, and minimum wage earners themselves testified to the imperative of raising workers' wages now primarily to lift over five million minimum wage earners out of poverty," Mendoza said.
"Big businesses' unsubstantiated and deceptive doomsday scenarios of massive inflation, unemployment, and business closures supposedly due to a wage increase have been debunked and refuted time and time again in these hearings. In truth, higher minimum wages drive inclusive growth by boosting consumption, which in turn fuels business activity and creates more and better jobs for all,” he explained.