P50 Wage Hike: A Cruel Charade in Manila’s Squalid Slums

By Louis ‘Barok’ C Biraogo — July 4, 2025

IMAGINE toiling 12 hours a day in Manila’s stifling heat, dodging jeepney exhaust and monsoon floods, only for the government to toss you a coin—literally. The Philippines’ much-hyped P50 wage hike, a pathetic 89 cents, is like offering a Band-Aid to a bullet wound. For the 1.2 million workers in Metro Manila, this “historic” increase—approved with pomp by the NCR Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board—bumps the daily minimum wage from P645 to P695. That’s an extra P1,300 a month, enough for a few kilos of rice or a week’s jeepney fares, but a cruel mockery of the P1,200 daily living wage a family of five needs to survive in this sprawling, punishing city. While workers ration their meals, the Ayala Mall’s Porsche dealership boasts a waiting list. Welcome to progress, Filipino-style.

The Mirage of Magnanimity

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) trumpets the P50 hike as a triumph, a “unanimous” gift to 1.2 million workers. But let’s do the math: P50 a day, or P1,300 a month for a six-day workweek, barely covers a sack of rice (P2,500) or a month’s rent in a cramped Quezon City tenement (P5,000–P8,000). Meanwhile, the IBON Foundation pegs a decent living at P1,200 per day—P31,200 a month. This hike isn’t relief; it’s a taunt. Workers scrape by, choosing between food and medicine, while Manila’s elite sip overpriced lattes in BGC’s air-conditioned cafes. The P50 increase isn’t generosity—it’s a middle finger to the poor, dressed up as compassion.

The Farce of Tripartite Harmony

Oh, the spectacle! Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma calls this P50 hike “fair,” a unanimous masterpiece from the NCR wage board’s cozy cabal of bosses, bureaucrats, and labor reps. Nothing unites Manila’s power brokers like agreeing workers deserve scraps! This isn’t policy; it’s theater, a headline-chasing charade to mask a rotting system. Laguesma’s glowing rhetoric reeks of a government that sees poverty as a branding issue. “Fair”? Tell that to the security guard working double shifts to afford his kid’s school fees. The board’s “consensus” is a sham, a nod to fairness while Congress buries a P200 wage bill because, well, votes are already banked for 2025.

Labor’s Pyrrhic ‘Triumph’

Labor groups aren’t buying the hype. Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) branded the hike “insulting,” while the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) called it “damage control” for a government dodging real reform. Even the unions know this P50 is a slap in the face, wrapped in a DOLE press release. For two years, they fought for a P200 legislated wage hike, a modest ask compared to the P750 some demanded. Yet Congress stalled, and President Marcos refused to certify it as urgent. Why settle for P50 when lawmakers could’ve mandated real change? Because the system thrives on keeping workers desperate, their dreams deferred by a government that prioritizes photo-ops over progress.

Bosses’ Crocodile Tears and Bogus Fears

Cue the employers’ melodrama: “Save our tycoons!” The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) wail that small businesses might—gasp—skip their third yacht to afford this hike. They warn of layoffs and closures, but where’s the evidence? Did the P40 hike in 2023 tank the economy? Did the P35 hike in 2024 spark mass firings? No. The “job losses” scare is greed masquerading as concern. Big corporations will shrug this off, while SMEs could be propped up with tax breaks or subsidies—if the government gave a damn. Instead, we get fear-mongering to keep wages low and profits fat.

The Forgotten: Maria’s Hunger Games

Meet Maria, a 38-year-old janitor in Quezon City, supporting five kids on P645 a day. She scrubs floors in a mall where shoppers drop her monthly salary on a designer bag. Her “raise” of P50 buys two kilos of rice—enough for a couple of days. Celebrate accordingly. Maria’s plight is the norm for the maids, drivers, and guards who keep Manila humming. Worse, the hike skips informal workers—street vendors, jeepney drivers, the invisible poor—who get nothing but a front-row seat to the government’s apathy. While the elite brunch at Wildflour, Maria skips meals to pay school fees. This isn’t just policy failure; it’s a moral crime, a betrayal of the workers who prop up this city’s glittering facade.

A Machine Built to Break the Poor

Compare Metro Manila’s P695 to the P400 daily wage in some provinces, and the joke stings harder: NCR workers are “lucky” to starve slower. The Philippines’ decentralized wage system ensures regional disparities fester, pushing rural families into Manila’s slums, where they’re crushed by high costs and low pay. This isn’t progress—it’s feudalism with a Wi-Fi signal. Corruption siphons billions, roads and trains crumble, and the government treats wages like a campaign prop, not a lifeline. The P50 hike is a symptom of a machine rigged to grind down the poor, where the powerful thrive and the rest are told to be grateful for crumbs.

No More Crumbs: A Reckoning

The P50 wage hike isn’t just inadequate—it’s an insult to the dignity of labor. Does President Marcos really think 89 cents a day will silence the growling stomachs of 1.2 million workers? The Philippines can do better. Tax the oligarchs whose skyscrapers mock Manila’s slums. Pass the P200 wage bill languishing in Congress. Jail employers who flout compliance. No more empty gestures, no more coins tossed at the desperate. Demand a living wage, or admit this economy runs on exploitation, fueled by the sweat and suffering of the poor. Until then, the P50 hike is a cruel reminder: in Manila, the elite feast, and the workers starve—barely.