Abolish provincial wage rates now — enact national wage for all workers

THE People’s Progressive Humanist Liberal Party (POLPHIL) declared its full and uncompromising support for congressional measures seeking to abolish the provincial wage rate system, dismantle the Regional Wage Boards, and establish a standardized national wage for Filipino workers.

PolPHIL Secretary General Ric Serrano commended Kamanggagawa Rep. Eli San Fernando for leading the push for wage justice with the support of the House Committee on Labor.

“The provincial rate system is obsolete, unjust, and economically backward,” Serrano stated. “There is nothing rational about paying workers less simply because they live outside Metro Manila. Prices of food, fuel, electricity, medicine, tuition, and transport are not discounted by geography.

The market is national. Inflation is national. Exploitation has also been national.

For decades, regional wage boards have institutionalized inequality instead of correcting it, resulting in a permanent wage gap that forces millions to migrate to the capital, worsening congestion and weakening provincial development.

The group said lawmakers claiming to represent the provinces should easily support the bill, noting the openness of Speaker Bodjie Dy to its passage. “Opposition to a national wage means choosing profit margins over people and cheap labor over human dignity,” the party added.

POLPHIL National Vice Chairperson Elmer Argano warned legislators that workers and communities will remember who stood for fair wages and who defended an unjust system. “In 2028, accountability will not be theoretical,” Argano said. “A national wage is not radical — it is rational, just, and long overdue.”

POLPHIL called on its members and allies nationwide to mobilize support and urge local leaders to back the measure. Equal work. Equal dignity. Equal pay. End wage discrimination by geography. Pass the national wage now.