Taxes & Income
The NCR minimum wage finally moves to ₱755 this Friday, but not through the wage order you read about in July. That one was frozen by a court. Here's what NCR-28 actually pays, why the raise took two attempts, and what to check on your payslip.
By Chai Cabana·How we check our numbers
If you work in Metro Manila for minimum wage, your daily rate goes from ₱695 to ₱755 on Friday, September 26, 2026. About 1.1 million workers are covered.
You may be thinking you already got this raise in July. You didn't — and the reason is the most unusual part of this story.
Earlier this year, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for NCR issued Wage Order NCR-27: an ₱85 increase in two tranches, ₱60 from July 25, 2026 and another ₱25 on January 20, 2027.
Two construction firms asked the Pasig Regional Trial Court, Branch 152 to stop it. The court suspended the order on July 30 with a temporary restraining order, then granted a preliminary injunction on August 13. The case is still pending. So for practical purposes the legal minimum in Metro Manila stayed at the NCR-26 rate of ₱695, even though plenty of coverage had already announced ₱755.
Rather than wait out the litigation, the board issued a second, separate order: Wage Order NCR-28, a standalone ₱60 increase that the injunction doesn't reach. No tranches, no conditions. That's what takes effect on Friday. DOLE has said the ₱60 is not a deduction from NCR-27's ₱85, since the earlier order was never implemented.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 25, 2026 | NCR-27 first tranche (₱60) scheduled to take effect |
| July 30, 2026 | Pasig RTC Branch 152 issues a TRO |
| August 13, 2026 | Court grants a preliminary injunction |
| August 17, 2026 | DOLE files a motion for reconsideration |
| September 7, 2026 | RTWPB-NCR issues Wage Order NCR-28 |
| September 11, 2026 | NCR-28 published |
| September 26, 2026 | NCR-28 takes effect: ₱60 increase |
| Sector | Until Sept 25 | From Sept 26 |
|---|---|---|
| Non-agriculture | ₱695 | ₱755 |
| Agriculture; retail and service with ≤15 workers; manufacturing with <10 workers | ₱658 | ₱718 |
Both tiers go up by exactly ₱60.
The daily figure is the one the law sets, but it isn't the number that tells you how your month changes.
| Before | From Sept 26 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per day | ₱695 | ₱755 | +₱60 |
| Per hour (8-hour day) | ₱86.88 | ₱94.38 | +₱7.50 |
| Monthly, 261-day factor | ₱15,116.25 | ₱16,421.25 | +₱1,305 |
| Monthly, 313-day factor | ₱18,127.92 | ₱19,692.92 | +₱1,565 |
| Over a full year (261 paid days) | — | — | +₱15,660 |
Which monthly figure applies to you depends on the day factor your employer uses — 261 days for a five-day week with unpaid rest days, 313 for a six-day week. It changes the answer by more than ₱3,000 a month, so it's worth asking HR rather than assuming. You can check either against your own payslip with the minimum wage calculator or the daily rate converter.
Statutory minimum wage earners are exempt from income tax under Republic Act No. 9504 — and the exemption isn't limited to basic pay. It also covers:
That means the full ₱1,305 a month lands in your pocket, with no withholding taken out of it.
This is where it pays to actually read your payslip. If you earn exactly the regional minimum and your payslip still shows withholding tax, that is worth raising with HR — it's a common error, not a rule. The income tax calculator will show you what someone at your rate should be withheld, which is a useful thing to bring to that conversation.
One caveat worth knowing: the exemption applies while you are a minimum wage earner. Earn above the regional floor and the ordinary TRAIN Law brackets apply to the whole amount, not just the excess.
The ₱25 second tranche that would have brought NCR to ₱780 on January 20, 2027 belongs to Wage Order NCR-27 — the enjoined one. Until the Pasig case is resolved, treat that increase as genuinely uncertain rather than scheduled. NCR-28 stands on its own and does not carry it. The same goes for any wage differential covering July 25 to September 25: whether it's owed depends on how the NCR-27 case ends, and DOLE hasn't issued guidance on it.
For everyone outside Metro Manila: this is an NCR-only order. The other sixteen regional boards set their own rates on their own timetables, and the national spread still runs from roughly ₱401 to ₱755 a day. Our minimum wage by region guide has the full table with the wage order behind each one.
₱60 a day is ₱1,305 a month, untaxed, for 1.1 million people — real money against Metro Manila rent and fares, and worth checking that you actually receive it.
It also arrived two months late because the first attempt got stuck in court, and the ₱25 that was supposed to follow in January is now an open question. If you'd budgeted around ₱755 in July, this is the raise you were already told you had.
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