P150 wage hike pushed as TUCP party-list seeks reelection

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines party-list on Tuesday filed its certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) for the 2025 midterm elections for its ninth straight year in the House, calling on Congress to pass the P150 legislated wage hike for private sector workers.

TUCP filed its CONA through its legislative officer Carlos Miguel Oñate.

“We are still pushing for P150 across the board wage hike. Bilang co-author ng Trabaho Para sa Bayan law, naninindigan kami sa TUCP na ang bawat Pilipino ay may karapatan sa permanente at disenteng hanapbuhay,” Oñate said.

(We stand by our principle that every Filipino has a right to permanent and decent jobs.)

Other party-list groups who filed their CONA on Tuesday include:

• Sagip
• Nanay
• Arangkada Pilipino
• Magsasaka
• Agri
• 1-Pinoy
• ARTE, among others

Wage hike

Asked about the biggest hurdle to the passage of the P150 legislated wage hike, Oñate said the cause needs more support to take root.

Bagamat kami po ay kalyado ng Marcos administration, patuloy po yung laban ng TUCP para sa Legislated Wage Act. Sa katunayan, maaaring may isa lamang po kami representante sa Kongreso, ngunit ‘yung co-authors po namin sa Legislated Wage Act, meron lang po kami halos isang daan sa House of Representatives,” Oñate said.

(While we are an ally of the administration,  we will continue to push for legislated wage hike. We only have one representative but the co-authors of the measure are close to 100.) 

“Kung kaya ang panawagan po natin kay Speaker Martin Romualdez at kay Congressman Fidel Nogales na siyang chairman ng House Committee on Labor ay idaos na po iyong pang-apat at huling hearing sa committee para finally i-approve na itong P150 [legislated wage hike] sa House of Representatives,” Oñate added.

(And so we call on Speaker Romualdez and Congressman Nograles who chairs the House Committee on Labor to conduct the final committee hearing to pave the road for the passage of this measure into a law.)

The Senate passed a slightly lower P100 legislated wage hike in May 2023, but it remains stuck at the committee level in the House of Representatives.—LDF, GMA Integrated News

(The Senate already pulled it off. If the Senate can do it, the House of Representatives can certainly do it better.)