The General Alliance of Workers Association (Gawa) has appealed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to include all private sector minimum wage earners in the Negros Island Region (NIR) in the government's cash assistance or 'Ayuda' system.
Wennie Sancho, Gawa secretary general, said they submitted their letter addressed to Marcos on May 1, 2026. He stated that it is their demand to include all private sector employees earning the minimum wage in NIR in the Ayuda system, retroactive to January 2026.
'While workers in transport, agriculture, and fisheries have received ayuda to offset fuel, fertilizer, and climate-related shocks, minimum wage earners have been disqualified solely on the basis of employment status,' Sancho added.
Sancho noted that this policy penalizes tax-compliant, Social Security System (SSS)-paying workers who endure the same six percent inflation, P78 per liter diesel, P14 per kilowatt-hour electricity rates, and brownouts.
Sancho pointed out that the P550 daily minimum wage in Western Visayas has an effective real value of only P412.50 as of 2018 due to inflation.
'Employment does not equate to sufficiency when wages no longer cover basic needs for a family of five, as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda),' he said.
Gawa also asked Marcos to release a Labor Day Emergency Wage Subsidy of P5,000 for workers earning P610 per day and below to restore purchasing power lost since 2022, and to issue a policy directive to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) eliminating 'employed' status as a disqualification for crisis aid.
'Mr. President, you have called labor the backbone of the economy. We ask that this recognition be matched with equity. Minimum wage earners in NIR are not asking for charity; we are demanding inclusion in the same safety net extended to other Filipinos in crisis,' Sancho said.
