P1,200 minimum wage bill filed anew

House minority lawmakers have revived their push to establish a national wage board and enforce a standardized living wage of P1,200 for private sector workers. This comes after the 19th Congress failed to even pass a legislated P200 increase in minimum wages across the country.

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The Makabayan bloc, Party-list) and Rep. Renee composed of Rep. Antonio Co (Kabataan Party-list), Tinio (ACT Teachers filed House Bill 2599 on Wednesday, July 30, in a renewed bid to pass the proposed National Minimum Wage Act.

The measure’s primary goal is to amend the Labor Code to abolish regional wage boards and establish a National Wages and Productivity Board to take their place. At the same time, it seeks to automatically set the minimum wage to P1,200, regardless of region.

The proposed rate reflects IBON Foundation’s estimate of a living wage sufficient for a five-member family to afford a decent standard of living.

The bill revises standards for national minimum wage fixing to specify that the wage rate must be enough to raise a family and to “maintain its decent existence.”

“It shall be of such amount which is sufficient for a worker to provide their family the basic and necessary expenditures that take into consideration all of their family’s physiological, social and other needs, so as to enable them to live and maintain a decent standard of living beyond mere subsistence, with adequate allowance for social security,” the bill states.

Penalties. The measure also suggested a penalty of P25,000 to P100,000 for employers who refuse or fail to pay the national minimum wage to their workers.