23/04/2026
Press Release
April 23, 2026
Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa
Labor group files P200 wage hike petition in NCR
The group Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa file a P200 wage hike petition this morning at the NCR Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board. “Tama na. Sobra na. Umento na! High inflation due to the war on Iran constitutes a supervening event that necessitates the P200 wage hike. The government’s own data—from the Philippine Statistics Authority—reveals that the current P695 minimum wage in Metro Manila has an effective real value of only P539.18, representing a loss of P155.82 since 2018,” stated Rey Almendras, president of the group Kapatiran and also of the Philip Morris Fortune To***co Labor Union.
A delegation workers accompanied Almendras and Kapatiran secretary Ronald Tan, who is also union president of the Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa ng Dunkin Donuts. Almendras and Tan co-signed the wage petition.
The petition is first in the NCR while a P100 wage hike demand was filed last month in Region 7 (Central Visayas). A bill for a P200 legislated wage hike is also pending in the House of Representatives.
Almendras added that “Electricity bills this April 2026 will rise by about P107 for residential consumers with an average usage of 200 kWh, following a P0.5335 per kWh rate increase implemented by Meralco in its franchise area. Lahat na nagtaas pero ang sweldo napako.”
“The seriousness of the current economic conditions has been formally acknowledged by the National Security Council, which has declared that the Philippines is facing a socio-economic crisis. Sapat na itong batayan para sa deklarasyon ng supervening event,” Almendras argued. It is still two months before the lapse of one year after the last NCR wage order.
Kapatiran is joining the planned Labor Day protest by unions and other workers groups such as Partido Manggagawa. Aside from a wage hike, Labor Day demands include higher assistance for informal workers, improved public employment program, suspension of the excise tax on oil, abolition of the vat on oil and electricity, review of the oil deregulation law and electricity privatization, state-led renewable energy program and a stop to the US-Israel war on Iran.
There are Labor Day marches planned in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo by the group Partido Manggagawa in alliance with other labor organizations. # # #
#₱200dagdagsahod
