19th Congress ends session without ratifying wage hike bill
MANILA, Philippines — The 19th Congress ended its session without ratifying the proposed wage hike bill, as the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to reach a consensus on how much minimum wages should increase.
Both the House and the Senate went into sine die adjournment on Wednesday—ending the third regular session—with neither of the two chambers adopting another chamber’s measure, or presenting a bicameral conference committee report.
This means the bill can no longer be forwarded to President Marcos for his signature.
Earlier, Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Nograles called on the Senate to join the House in convening the bicameral conference committee on the minimum wage hike bills, so that the discussions would be more transparent.
Nograles—chairperson of the House committee on labor and employment—said that he has sent a letter to Senate committee on labor chairperson Senator Joel Villanueva about the convening of the bicam.
According to Nograles, they prefer a bicam as it will be a more transparent means of threshing out differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill, instead of just adopting Senate Bill (SB) No. 2534.
“The House of Representatives acted swiftly and decisively. We passed our version of the bill on third reading, submitted the names of our conferees in advance, and have since stood ready to enter into bicameral discussions with our Senate counterparts,” Nograles said.
READ: House OKs P200 minimum wage hike on final reading
“(The House strongly prefers a transparent and deliberative bicameral process) rather than being bamboozled into accepting the Senate version wholesale, without discussion or compromise,” he added.
Nograles said that the Senate should not force the House to “rubber-stamp” a version that was not borne out of dialogue between lawmakers of co-equal branches.
READ: Solon: Minimum wage hike ratification possible before Congress adjourns
The House last Wednesday approved House Bill (HB) No. 11376 or the proposed Wage Hike For Minimum Wage Workers Act, which pushes for a P200 increase in the per-day salaries of minimum wage earners. The Senate’s version, approved in February 2024, meanwhile pushes for a P100-daily minimum wage increase.
Under the Congress’ rules, when there are different provisions in similar bills approved by the Senate and the House, a bicameral conference committee shall be convened, which will come up with a final version of the proposed measure.
This final version, contained in a bicameral conference committee report, should be ratified by the House and the Senate separately during a plenary session, before it is forwarded to President Marcos for his consideration.
Lawmakers from the House, like primary author and Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, have repeatedly said that they are amenable to holding discussions with the Senate the soonest possible time, to address differences.
Brosas said they do not mind if the wage hike would be P100 or P200 per day — or a compromise of P150 per day — will be used in the final version, as long as it is ratified and sent to the President’s desk. /cb
