DOLE AO 264 is mema not a memo

 

The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) issuance of Administrative Order 264 Series of 2026 resolves nothing and clarifies nothing about the TRO on the P85 wage hike. Thus, it does not diminish the need for trade unions and DOLE to secure the immediate lifting of the Pasig TRO. 

 

Likewise, AO 264 does not address the structural defect of regionalized wage setting. Reform of provincial rates requires congressional action and a new law.  

 

This is the bigger problem to confront. For this, labor solidarity and direct actions are needed to stop capitalists’ resistance to change and endless maneuvers, like the TRO.

Partido Manggagawa to Tolentino: Bawiin ang ₱85 sa kamay ni Judge!

The TROs issued against the ₱85 NCR wage increase have become a direct challenge not only to workers but to the labor chief and his entire department. The true test now is whether Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino can reclaim the lost ground, or he will simply allow the process to stall the wage order in favor of few employers. 

 

As Labor Secretary, Tolentino carries far greater responsibility than any trial court judge in protecting workers’ rights. The Secretary is mandated by the Constitution and the Labor Code to promote workers’ welfare and exercise primary jurisdiction over wage policies. A judge merely resolves the case before the court. The Labor Secretary must defend the order and ensure that lawful wage increases are not defeated by legal maneuvers.

 

PM therefore calls on Secretary Tolentino to personally lead DOLE’s legal effort to immediately lift the TRO and vigorously defend the ₱85 wage order before the courts. Passivity will only embolden employers to weaponize TROs against every future wage increase.

 

If wage orders can be suspended so easily, then workers are left with rights only on paper, while the NWPC-DOLE ends up making the P85 wage hike story history rather than “historic”. 

 

Secretary Tolentino must prove that DOLE is not a mere issuer of wage orders but their strongest defender.

 

Workers need a Labor Secretary who will fight for their wages—not simply administer the process.

 

Bawiin ang P85 sa kamay ni Judge at ibigay agad sa manggagawa.

 

Do this and history shall be our judge.

 

 

Judge’s TRO favors billionaires over hungry workers

Labor organizations under the Nagkaisa labor coalition, including Partido Manggagawa (PM), will file today a Motion for Intervention before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court to oppose the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by Judge Manongsong against the implementation of the ₱85 NCR wage hike. 

 

The intervention will argue that the RTC has no jurisdiction to stop the implementation of a wage order, as the Labor Code expressly prohibits courts from issuing injunctions or TROs against proceedings and decisions of the wage boards. 

 

More than a legal error, however, the TRO reflects a disturbing lack of empathy and social sensitivity toward millions of workers who continue to struggle with soaring prices while waiting for long-overdue wage relief.

 

We call on Judge Manongsong to immediately dismiss the petition filed by RII Builders, reportedly owned by a billionaire, and Readycon, a company reported to be a major DPWH contractor. It is deeply unjust that the plea of a handful of wealthy corporations was acted upon with such urgency while the daily hardship of minimum wage earners received little consideration. Courts should not become instruments for delaying the constitutional commitment to social justice by shielding powerful business interests at the expense of workers who can barely make ends meet.

 

The case likewise exposes not only the legal infirmity of the TRO but also the weakness of the country’s wage-setting system and the failure of the Department of Labor and Employment to adequately defend the wage order. 

 

The incident underscores the urgent need for Congress to enact the proposed ₱200 legislated wage hike and undertake comprehensive reforms of the prevailing wage determination system so that workers’ incomes are no longer held hostage by business interest through litigation every time a modest wage increase is granted.

 

PRESS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa

August 3, 2026

 

Partido Manggagawa: Pasig RTC TRO on ₱85 Wage Hike Suffers from Two Fundamental Legal Defects

 

Partido Manggagawa (PM) strongly opposes the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pasig City, Branch 152, which halted the implementation of Wage Order No. NCR-27 granting an ₱85 minimum wage increase to workers in Metro Manila.

 

Based on our legal analysis, this TRO suffers from two clear legal defects.

 

First, it violates Article 126 of the Labor Code. The law explicitly provides that no preliminary injunction, permanent injunction, or TRO may be issued by any court, tribunal, or other entity against proceedings before the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) or the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs). Despite this prohibition, the Pasig RTC issued a TRO directly restraining the RTWPB-NCR and the NWPC from implementing the wage order—the very act that the law expressly forbids.

 

Second, and more importantly, the petitioners filed their case in the wrong venue. Under Article 123 of the Labor Code, the exclusive remedy available to any aggrieved party questioning a wage order is to appeal to the NWPC within ten (10) days from the publication of the wage order. If dissatisfied with the NWPC’s decision, the proper recourse is to file a petition with the Court of Appeals—not with a Regional Trial Court. This procedure has been the governing rule since the enactment of Republic Act No. 6727, and the Supreme Court has consistently held that the primary jurisdiction of the NWPC must first be exhausted before the regular courts may intervene.

 

Instead of following this statutory process, Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders Inc. went directly to the Pasig RTC through a petition for declaratory relief—effectively engaging in forum shopping to circumvent the tripartite dispute resolution mechanism specifically established by law for wage order controversies.

 

This reveals the real strategy behind the TRO. The employers did not challenge the wage order through the legally prescribed process before the RTWPB and the NWPC. Instead, they shifted to a petition for declaratory relief to gain access to a regular court and obtain a TRO. The real issue is not the ₱85 wage increase, but the deliberate sidestepping of the proper remedy in favor of an improper venue.

 

Partido Manggagawa calls on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to vigorously assert these two legal arguments during the August 3 hearing: the violation of Article 126 and the failure to follow the exclusive remedy provided under Article 123. The courts must not be allowed to become instruments for delaying a workers’ benefit that has already gone through the full deliberative process of the Regional Wage Board—a process in which these same employers themselves participated as stakeholders.

 

The ₱85 wage increase is not a gift. It is a right earned by workers, supported by evidence, grounded in due process, and guaranteed by law. It must not be held hostage by a TRO that itself runs contrary to the very law it is supposed to uphold.

 

PRESS STATEMENT

August 1, 2026

 

Tungkol sa TRO sa P85 Wage Hike na inilabas ng Pasig RTC

Mali ang Pasig RTC sa paglalabas ng TRO laban sa implementasyon ng P85 wage hike dito sa NCR. Bukod sa labag ito sa Labor Code, wala rin itong katwiran. 

 

Magkakaroon lamang ng katwiran ang TRO ni Judge Manongsong kung  naka TRO din ang presyo ng mga bilihin. 

 

May system loss na nga sa kuryente, pati sweldo ay gusto pa yatang ipa- system loss ni Judge. 

 

Isusubo na lang nawala pa. Wages delayed are wages denied.

 

Ang alam lang yata ni Judge ay ang karapatan ng lahat, kabilang ang employer na tumakbo sa korte anumang oras. Ang hindi niya kabisado ay hindi pwedeng takbuhan ng employer ang pananagutan sa sahod ng mga manggagawa.

 

PRESS STATEMENT

Partido Manggagawa

30 July 2026