EMPLOYERS HAVE NO RIGHT TO CRY “DUE PROCESS” AFTER SKIPPING WAGE BOARD HEARINGS

 

Partido Manggagawa (PM) Chairperson Renato “Ka Rene” Magtubo today condemned the Pasig Regional Trial Court’s injunction against NCR Wage Order No. 27, calling it an illegal intrusion into a process that belongs solely to the wage boards. 

 

“Absent sa hearing ng NCR Wage Board, tapos kay Judge Manongsong nagpakanlong?” complained Magtubo.

 

Magtubo, former PM partylist representative and now a Marikina City Councilor, also slammed petitioner-employers — Readycon Trading and Construction Corp and R-II Builders - for skipping RTWPB consultations and public hearings, then running to court. 

 

“They skipped the venue the law required them to attend. They bypassed the NWPC, their proper forum. Now they claim due process and forum-shop in the regular courts. You cannot refuse to speak, then cry you were not heard,” he said. 

 

Citing Articles 123 and 126 of the Labor Code, Magtubo said the law bars regular courts from stopping wage order proceedings. Exclusive jurisdiction lies with the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board and the National Wages and Productivity Commission. 

 

“The law is clear. The Pasig RTC injunction is a plain jurisdictional defect, not a legal remedy,” he said. 

 

Magtubo argued further that Wage Order No. 27 gives workers only an ₱85 increase — ₱60 in July 25 and ₱20 in January 2027. Even with this, wages remain far below the ₱1,300 a day a family of five needs in NCR. And yet even this meager relief is being strangled in the regular courts,” he said. 

 

He warned that the delay directly hurts workers who followed the legal process. “Every month this injunction drags on is a month of stolen wages. If employers can use regular courts to indefinitely suspend a wage board decision, where do workers go to claim a right the law already granted?” 

 

Magtubo also urged Congress to amend Articles 123 and 126 to penalize courts that entertain such injunctions and to fast-track their dismissal. 

 

“Beyond patching the law, this proves the regional wage board system is too slow and too vulnerable. It is time Congress legislates a national minimum wage indexed to the cost of living — insulated from legal harassment and court interference,” concluded Magtubo.

 

PRESS RELEASE 

August 14, 2026 

 

PM condemns Pasig judge’s forever TRO

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa slammed the decision of Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Marie Joyce Manongsong to grant the employers’ petition for a writ of preliminary injunction against the implementation of the P85 wage order for minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region.

 

“Judge Manongsong’s forever TRO deprives at least a million minimum earners from benefiting from the recent wage order. The forever TRO suspends the wage hike for workers and gives capitalists a profit increase. Pinalawig ng preliminary injunction ang pagKAKAMALi ni Manongsong na patawan ng TRO ang wage order, bagay na singlinaw ng sikat ng araw ay di maaring gawin ayon sa Labor Code at Wage Rationalization Act,” asserted Rene Magtubo.

 

Magtubo argued that “If just two employers can afford to post a P10 billion bond then why can’t all the NCR-based capitalists afford to pay the P60 first tranche? P10 billion is enough to pay the P60 wage increase for 1.1 million minimum wage earners for a total of 151 days or almost 6 working months. Capitalists have the capacity to pay the wage hike. But they are so greedy and don’t want their profits reduced.”

 

Magtubo called the workers in Metro Manila and the whole country to express their outrage at the forever TRO against the wage hike. “Judges and employers, not just in NCR but in other regions, can always invent legal arguments against the wage hike and for a profit increase. Workers should wage an extra-legal battle to win a wage increase!”

Press Release

Partido Manggagawa

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