MANILA – Sen. Raffy Tulfo has filed a bill seeking to prohibit courts, tribunals and other entities from issuing temporary restraining orders (TROs) or injunctions against the issuance, publication, implementation or enforcement of wage orders.

Tulfo, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, filed Senate Bill No. 2372 to amend Article 126 of the Labor Code and close what he described as a legal loophole that allows wage orders to be delayed through court intervention.

The proposal came after the implementation of Wage Order No. NCR-27, which granted an P85 daily minimum wage increase for private-sector workers in the National Capital Region, was suspended following the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the Pasig Regional Trial Court in response to a petition filed by two private companies.

Tulfo said wage orders are the result of extensive public consultations, economic studies and tripartite discussions involving the government, labor groups and employers.

He said, however, that their implementation is often delayed when parties seek TROs or preliminary injunctions before regular courts.

Under the proposed measure, no court, tribunal or other entity would be allowed to issue a TRO or injunction that would stop the issuance, publication, implementation, enforcement or effectivity of any wage order.

Tulfo said Article 126 of the Labor Code currently prohibits injunctions against proceedings before the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs), but argued that the provision has been interpreted narrowly to apply only to proceedings before those bodies and not to final wage orders.

According to the senator, this allows parties to secure court orders preventing the implementation of wage increases even after the wage orders have been issued.

He said such delays undermine the country’s wage-setting mechanism because workers lose the intended benefits of the increase as inflation continues to erode their purchasing power while legal disputes remain pending.

Tulfo said the measure aims to ensure the immediate implementation of wage orders, protect workers’ economic welfare and uphold the constitutional mandate of social justice.