The General Alliance of Workers Association (Gawa) has issued a formal letter of protest condemning the National Government for excluding private minimum wage earners from emergency cash assistance, or "ayuda," despite the prevailing economic crisis.
Labor Day Protest
Wennie Sancho, Gawa secretary general, said they signed the protest on behalf of hundreds of thousands of factory workers, sales personnel, security guards, janitorial staff, fast-food crews, BPO agents, and other private sector employees earning statutory minimum wage in Negros Island Region (NIR) and Western Visayas on May 1, 2026.
"While workers in the transport sector, farmers, and fisherfolk have received targeted subsidies and cash assistance in 2025-2026 to cushion fuel, fertilizer, and climate-related shocks, minimum wage earners have been categorically disqualified on the sole basis of employment status," he said.
Sancho added that this violates the principle of equal protection under Article III, Section I of the 1987 Constitution.
Erosion of Purchasing Power
Due to the erosion of their purchasing power, Sancho stressed that the current P550 per day daily minimum wage in Western Visayas has an effective real value of P412.50 due to cumulative inflation driven by energy cost, transport fare hikes, and food prices.
"Gawa maintains that minimum wage earners bear the same burden of increased commodity prices, electricity rates, and transportation costs as other sectors," Sancho said.
He said the policy of using "employment" as a disqualification criterion penalizes formal tax-compliant labor and creates a perverse incentive towards informality.
Demands for Inclusion
Sancho noted that in observance of Labor Day and pursuant to the State's duty under Article XIII, Section 3 of the Constitution to "afford full protection to labor," Gawa demands the immediate inclusion of all private minimum wage earners in all ongoing and future Ayuda programs retroactive to Q1 2026 in Western Visayas.
Sancho said the government cannot invoke "employment" as proof of sufficiency when the minimum wage no longer satisfies the basic needs of a family of five, as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority itself. He said to grant aid to one sector and deny it to another, when both suffer the same inflationary impact, is neither just nor constitutional.
"Labor Day is not a holiday for speeches. It is a reckoning. If the State recognizes labor as a primary social economic force, then it must protect labor with resources, not rhetoric," he added.
Sancho said this protest is filed without prejudice to other legal and administrative remedies available to workers under existing labor laws and statutes.
