THE NAGKAISA Labor Coalition on Sunday urged the Labor secretary and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to promptly file their comment before the Supreme Court in a case challenging court orders that blocked a Metro Manila wage increase.
“The employers have filed their comment and the workers have submitted their reply,” Nagkaisa Chairman Jose Sonny G. Matula, who is also counsel for the petitioners, said in a statement.
“We urge the Labor secretary and government lawyers to complete their submission without further delay. This is a public-interest case involving wages needed for food, transportation, rent, utilities, loans and other family necessities,” he added.
The petition was filed on Aug. 11 by Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando and labor groups, including the Federation of Free Workers, the National Federation of Labor and Sentro. It challenges orders issued by two Pasig City trial courts and a Navotas City court involving Wage Order NCR-27.
Issued on June 23, NCR-27 provides a P60 daily wage increase effective July 25 and another P25 on Jan. 20, 2027, for a total increase of P85.
Court filings show that a status quo ante order, a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction prevented the wage order from taking effect. Nagkaisa shared the documents with BusinessWorld over the weekend.
In a motion dated Sept. 22, the OSG, which represents the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for the National Capital Region and the National Wages and Productivity Commission, sought an additional 30 days, until Oct. 26, to file its comment.
The OSG said it needed time “to confer and coordinate” with its clients because of other cases pending before the trial courts and the Court of Appeals.
In a consolidated comment dated Sept. 29, Readycon Trading and Construction Corp., R-II Builders, Inc. and the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations, Inc. asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition, arguing that Wage Order NCR-28 had made the case moot.
Issued on Sept. 7, NCR-28 grants a single P60 daily wage increase effective Sept. 26. The employers said the order “has delivered the very relief the petition seeks.”
They also argued that the petitioners were not parties to the trial court cases, had bypassed the hierarchy of courts and had failed to show grave abuse of discretion by the lower courts. They said Article 126 of the Labor Code bars injunctions against proceedings before wage boards, not the enforcement of an issued wage order.
In a reply dated Oct. 12, the petitioners argued that NCR-28 did not resolve claims for the period from July 25 to Sept. 25 or the remaining P25 tranche under NCR-27.
The petitioners said the P60 increase represented about 8.63% of the previous P695 daily minimum wage. Assuming 54 compensable working days, they estimated a potential wage differential of P3,240 per worker, or P3.564 billion for 1.1 million minimum wage earners. The filing described this as an “indicative aggregate, not an adjudicated sum.”
The petitioners also estimated a P30-a-day wage distortion adjustment for 1.7 million workers, amounting to P2.754 billion. Combined, the estimates total P6.318 billion, although the petitioners stressed that these were not judicial findings.
“The workers cannot recover yesterday’s meals by receiving tomorrow’s wages,” according to the reply.
Mr. Matula said the estimates “illustrate the potential economic significance of the dispute,” adding that any proven entitlement should be resolved promptly.
Nagkaisa said the petition raises questions about whether trial courts may block wage orders under Republic Act No. 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act. The Supreme Court will decide on the petitioners’ motion for leave to file the reply and the OSG’s request for more time. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking