Sen. Raffy Tulfo has filed a bill that seeks to prohibit courts, tribunals and other bodies from issuing temporary restraining orders (TROs) or injunctions that would delay or stop the issuance, publication, implementation, enforcement or effectivity of wage orders.
Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, filed Senate Bill No. 2372 to amend Article 126 of the Labor Code and address what he described as legal loopholes affecting the implementation of wage adjustments.
The measure was filed after the Pasig City Regional Trial Court suspended Wage Order No. NCR-27, which granted an P85 increase in the daily minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila.
“The issuance of a Wage Order is a product of rigorous public hearings, economic studies, and tripartite consultations involving government, the labor sector, and the employers. However, the timely implementation of these much-needed wage adjustments is frequently derailed. Aggrieved parties often resort to filing petitions for Temporary Restraining Orders or preliminary injunctions before regular courts to halt the enforcement of newly published Wage Orders,” Tulfo said.
“Because ‘proceedings’ may be narrowly construed to cover only hearings and deliberations before these bodies, parties have been able to seek court orders preventing the implementation and enforcement of final Wage Orders,” he added.
Tulfo said the current practice undermines the country’s wage-setting mechanism, noting that workers’ purchasing power may already have been significantly reduced by the time legal disputes are resolved, effectively defeating the purpose of granting wage increaseses.
He said ensuring the immediate and uninterrupted implementation of wage orders would help protect workers’ economic well-being while upholding the Constitution’s mandate to promote social justice.
Last month, the National Wages and Productivity Commission issued Wage Order No. NCR-27, granting an P85 increase in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers in the National Capital Region.
However, its implementation was suspended on July 30 after the Pasig Regional Trial Court issued a temporary restraining order in connection with a petition for declaratory relief filed by Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders Inc.