For workers like gas station attendant Robin Bautista, the promise of a P85 daily wage increase in Metro Manila represented a much-needed lifeline to cover basic family expenses. However, this hope was quickly dashed after a local court issued a preliminary injunction, indefinitely freezing the pay hike following petitions from construction and fishing industry groups. These businesses argue that the salary boost would severely impact their profit margins, effectively stalling a measure that the government had originally hailed as a historic victory for labor.

Labor organizations, led by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), are now mounting aggressive protests, accusing the government of passivity in the face of corporate pressure. Critics are calling for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take decisive action, arguing that his administration’s failure to intervene is exacerbating the financial struggle of over a million workers. While some business leaders remain neutral and compliant with the court’s decision, a few individual employers have chosen to bypass the legal limbo, opting to pay the increase voluntarily to support their staff during these inflationary times.