Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) sharply condemned the latest minimum wage increase in Northern Mindanao as the Regional Wage Board’s (RWB) “kababuyan” (disgust to workers)” and utter worthlessness.
“Workers’ wage increases by a measly ₱39 more, it will even be given in tranches!” the group said. “This is what workers will keep suffering under the Bulok, Barat, at Makupad* (rotten, miserly and sluggish) Regional Wage Board.”
According to the group, the RWBs are pulling down workers’ wages, forcing them deeper into poverty and indignity.
KMU demanded the abolition of the RWBs and the implementation of a nationwide living wage.
A family of five needs an average daily wage of ₱1,200 to live decently, according to Ibon Foundation. At present, the highest daily minimum wage is only at ₱695.
Workers in Northern Mindanao face even worse conditions. Those under Wage Category I (includes Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Malaybalay, Valencia, Gingoog, El Salvador, Ozamiz, and municipalities such as Tagoloan, Villanueva, Jasaan, Opol, Maramag, Quezon, Manolo Fortich, and Lugait) receive only ₱461 a day, or around ₱12,000 a month. Under Wage Category II, which covers the rest of the region and small establishments with 10 or fewer workers, the rate is ₱446 a day or ₱11,600 a month.
Under Wage Order No. RX-24, the meager ₱39 increase will even be split into two tranches: the ₱25 will be given effective January 16, and the remaining ₱14 to follow on May 11. For now, wages will rise only to ₱486 (Category I) and ₱471 (Category II). Only by May will NMR wages reach ₱500 and ₱485, respectively. This barely reach ₱12,610–₱13,000 a month, which is not even half of the ₱31,200 monthly living wage.
In 2025, the regional wage increased only by ₱23 per day for non-agricultural workers. Agricultural workers’s wages increased by ₱35, but this was given in two tranches.
[*] “Bulok, Barat, at Makupad” bears the acronym “BBM” which is Ferdinand Marcos, Jr’s popular nickname.
