Advocate groups protest the return of articles of impeachment against VP Sara Duterte to the lower chamber and 19th Congress' failure to pass the wage hike bill on June 12, 2025. Photo from Kilusyong Mayo Uno 

MANILA — Days after the May elections, debate erupted on social media on who deserved credit for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act: The senator who sponsored the bill or the president who signed it into law?

There is no scrambling for credit however for the wage hike bills that died on the vine at the House and Senate, approved on third reading but stalled at the bicameral conference committee.

House adjourns 19th Congress without ratifying wage hike bill

The bills to grant minimum wage earners an extra P100-P200 a day were left as is as each chamber stood firm on their version.

Proposals will have to be filed again at the 20th Congress, leaving workers two avenues to seek increases: Regional wage boards and collective bargaining through unions.

Who 'killed' the wage hike bill? Senate, House trade accusations

The Palace has taken its standard "hands-off" approach while the Senate and House trade blame.

"Diktador ba ang Pangulong Marcos Jr.? Hindi naman po. Hayaan na lang po muna natin ang usapin na 'yan sa Kongreso," Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said this week.

(Is President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. a dictator? He is not. Let's leave that issue to Congress)

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines called the development "a failure of political will and the national spirit of the Executive and Legislative who refuse to recognize that poverty wages means a class of the permanently poor."

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'LACK OF TIME' 

The two bills — approved by the Senate in 2024 and by the House on June 4 — proposed wage hikes of P100 or P200 a day, a difference that had to be hashed out by a bicameral conference committee that would be meeting in the last session days of the 19th Congress.

The Senate has stressed that the House passed its version at the last minute — economists at the House thumbed the bill down last year, calling it "inflationary" — leaving no time for dialogue.

Senate leaders said the bills could still be sent to Marcos Jr. for his signature if the House adopted a more "realistic" P100 increase.

Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero said the Senate had never contemplated a P200 increase and that he did not know the House's basis for it.

In defending the Senate's proposal, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Houses's P200 was too high and would likely end up vetoed anyway.

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WHY MARCOS JR. IS 'CATCHING STRAYS'

Labor and activist groups have placed the blame on the President and on Congress and on government's tendency to give elite and business interests priority.

"'Yung ginawa ng Kongreso at ng Malacañang sa amin kahapon ay pagpapaalala lamang sa ating manggagawa na hindi pa tapos ang ating laban para sa ganap na kalayaan,” Josua Mata, NAGKAISA Labor Coalition convenor said on Independence Day.

(What Congress and Malacañang did to us yesterday is a reminder to workers that our struggle for genuine freedom is not yet over.)

Despite the separation of powers, presidents have considerable influence in Congress, especially since the Duterte administration, when supermajorities became the norm.

Presidents also have the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council that identifies the administration's priority bills. The wage hike bill is not among those.

Lawyer Renee Co, representative-elect of Kabataan party-list, said the President could have certified passage of the bill as urgent or called for a special session otherwise get it passed.

'THE OUTCOME SPEAKS FOR ITSELF'

"The outcome speaks for itself: Marcos Jr did not use his immense power and influence to rally the legislature to approve a substantial wage hike that is much needed by Filipino workers," the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights said.

Before time ran out for the bills, the Palace said Marcos Jr. "will look at the economic implications on this and how to resolve this with the opinion of the wage boards," panels that determine the minimum wage in each region.

Workers argue that prices are high everywhere and that the supposedly lower cost of living in the provinces that justify lower wages outside Metro Manila no longer apply.

Marcos Jr.'s economic team also thumbed down the increase, saying it could "lead to higher production costs, which could result in higher prices" as businesses pass on cost to consumers to ensure profit.

These were the same arguments that employers' and business groups gave to oppose the hike. They also said raising wages could lead to job losses.

In response to these projections, economist Sonny Africa of the IBON Foundation think tank, said: "Has anyone ever heard any admin's economic team warn of 'dangerous repercussions' on workers and their families of poverty wages?" 

The P100-P200 increase sought is far from the "living wage" of P1,200 —the minimum wage ranges from P336 to P645 — that would allow a Filipino family to have some leisure activities and some savings.

NAGKAISA's Mata said, though, that they would at least have lifted millions of workers above the poverty threshold of P13,797/month.

Workers have said the extra money would mean families would have more to spend and to contribute to the economy.

"Malinaw na malinaw sa atin na hindi talaga gusto ng Pangulo itong legislated wage hike kasi if he wants it, pu-pwede talagang mangyari," Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, a member of the House bicameral contingent, said on DZMM Teleradyo on Sunday.

(It is very clear to us that the President did not want this legislated wage hike because if he wanted it, it would have happened.) 

TUCP, which endorsed Marcos Jr. in the 2022 elections, reminded him of a promise that workers would not be left behind.

"Three years have passed, and so we ask once more: will you join us, Mr. President?" the group said this week.

Kilusang Mayo Uno, which did not endorse Marcos Jr., meanwhile reminded workers that the fight for a livable wage does not end in Congress.

"Ipakita natin sa lansangan ang ating galit! Sumandig tayo sa lakas ng ating pagkakaisa!" it said.

(Let us show our anger on the streets! Let's rely on our own unity!)