House minority lawmakers have revived their campaign to create a unified national wage board and impose a standardized living wage of ₱1,200 for all private sector employees nationwide. This initiative follows the failure of the 19th Congress to pass a bill that would have raised minimum wages by ₱200 across the country.

On July 30, the Makabayan bloc, represented by Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Party-list) and Rep. Renee Co (Kabataan Party-list), filed House Bill 2599, which seeks to amend the Labor Code by eliminating regional wage boards and replacing them with a central National Wages and Productivity Board.

The proposed law mandates a baseline minimum wage of ₱1,200 regardless of region, a figure based on the IBON Foundation’s estimation of a living wage adequate for a family of five to afford a decent standard of living.

The bill emphasizes that the national minimum wage should be "sufficient for a worker to provide their family the basic and necessary expenditures that take into consideration all of their family's physiological, social and other needs, so as to enable them to live and maintain a decent standard of living beyond mere subsistence, with adequate allowance for social security."

To enforce compliance, the measure proposes penalties ranging from ₱25,000 to ₱100,000 for employers who fail or refuse to pay the mandated wage. Employers would also be required to retroactively pay unpaid wages calculated by the number of working days the increment was withheld, pay ₱50,000 in moral damages to each affected employee, and double the amount of unpaid benefits. In severe cases, employers may face imprisonment of three to five years and suspension of business permits.

The lawmakers criticized the existing regional wage boards, established in 1989 during President Cory Aquino’s administration, describing them as an "irrational system" that has obstructed the establishment of fair minimum wages nationwide. The regional wage boards set different minimum wages based on local cost of living assessments, leading to considerable disparities—for example, Metro Manila’s minimum wage stands at ₱695 for non-agricultural sectors, while wages in other regions remain significantly lower.

Tinio and Co highlighted that many provinces with higher estimated living wage requirements still earn less than Metro Manila. They also pointed out that the wage boards have been slow to adjust wages in response to market changes. The bill’s explanatory note contends that the prices of basic goods, such as rice and galunggong, no longer vary significantly by region, challenging the rationale behind regional wage differentiation.

Since 1989, minimum wages have risen by an average of ₱381, marking a 428% increase from the ₱89 recorded then—approximately five times higher. However, the cost of essential commodities has surged even more drastically; rice prices are now around seven times more expensive, and galunggong prices have increased tenfold.

The bill stresses that while wage increases have been cautious and fragmented, the costs of living have escalated sharply across all regions without substantial government measures to mitigate the impact.

Additional minority lawmakers have introduced similar bills advocating for "equal pay for equal work" policies and the elimination of regional wage boards. Alongside these efforts, some legislators have refiled the previously stalled ₱200 minimum wage increase bills as the 20th Congress convenes.