On July 25, the first tranche of Metro Manila’s new minimum wage takes effect. Wage Order NCR-27, approved by the regional tripartite wage board on June 30, adds P60 to the daily minimum now, and another P25 in January 2027. That brings the non-agriculture rate from P695 to P755, and eventually to P780.
Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino calls the P85 total “makasaysayan” (historic), the largest single daily increase Metro Manila’s wage board has granted since it was created in 1989, covering some 1.1 million workers.
Predictably, nobody is fully happy. That is usually the sign of a tripartite compromise. But beyond the noise, the wage order raises harder questions about inflation, enforcement, and whether our wage-setting system still works.
Too much and too little at once
For labor groups, P85 is effectively a token. Kilusang Mayo Uno was quick to point out that even P780 falls far short of the roughly P1,200 a day they estimate a family of five needs to live decently in the capital.
