The Tide can Turn…. But are Progressives Serious Enough to Win?
On Progressive Victories Against the Right-Wing Surge
A Progressive Tide?
The sweeping Democratic Party victory in the 2026 US midterm elections was warmly greeted by many across the globe. With clear majorities in the US congress, and victories at state and local levels, the American people have spoken. Trumpism has been soundly rejected by an undeniable majority of US citizens.
Just a few weeks ago, the Brazilian elections were likewise closely watched. The attention enjoyed by these elections go beyond national or regional concerns. People tuned in because these political developments reflected the polarization and radicalization we see in many other places.
It was in this context that progressive forces and trade unionists the world over collectively breathed a sigh of relief when Lula and the PT won, and are now celebrating the Democratic victory. Well-deserved praises and warm greetings quickly flowed in from various movements, parties, and personalities inspired by these successes.
After years of democratic backsliding in Europe, the United States, and across much of the Global South, finally, some good news! These past few weeks are a welcome relief for the many people anxious about the climate crisis, the threat of AI, and the slow social decay brought about by decades of rampant neoliberalism.
The hardwon victories in the Americas can be seen as part of a broader chain of successes against a fair-right tide that, a few years ago, seemed all too inevitable.
In Sweden, social democracy, also by an inch, managed to secure a victory to push out the far right Sweden Democrats in power. One of course cannot ignore the popular New York City Mayor Mamdani, whose municipal socialism continues to draw national attention in the United States to a growing and revitalized socialist movement.
Successes against Orban in Hungary, the sweeping victory of the Student List in Serbia, and the impressive full slate election of local socialists in Vancouver, Canada are also welcome news. Massive protests against austerity and the neglect of public services have exploded in France. The massive mobilizations have also inspired protest movements in other parts of Europe.
It seems that the far right is not automatically guaranteed to reap the benefits of widespread discontent at the neoliberal status quo. Many of the democratic and progressive forces that beat the far right campaigned on a message centered on economic justice and addressing decades of resentment at a political establishment unable to improve people’s lives.
Affordability, decent public services, people-centered governance, anti-authoritarianism, and an unapologetic rejection of big business influence in politics resonated strongly with the electorate in several countries. As the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) observed, the right wing tide can be turned. We just need the right strategy, tactics, and political instinct.
However, winning elections and mass movement eruptions are not enough. Explosions of popular support and fury will eventually dissipate. The barricades cannot stay up forever. Life must go on, people need to go back to school, work, and to our lives.
For working people, success cannot be measured just by the thousands and millions that march. Our victory depends on how much of the progressive social vision is realized through reforms, policy, and our everyday lives. The ultimate measure of success is not what government we helped elect, but if our jobs, commutes, food, and healthcare have improved.
We workers, in other words, cannot win through opposition alone.
The Day After the Election
Despite the progressive victories, it is clear that we remain in the middle of a global crisis. The ongoing collapse of the neoliberal order — through the breakdown of multilateral institutions and the rise of anti-democratic forces — is destroying political certainties that were hegemonic for almost half a century. At the same time, the climate crisis presents an existential threat that will force economic and social transformation, or else we risk our common ruin.
The success of the radical right is thanks to its ability to capture and mobilize popular rejection against the political-economic system of neoliberal globalization. The myriad movements of the right — from the French National Rally, the German Alternative fur Deutschland, Trump in the United States, the Bolonaros in Brazil, and the Dutertes in the Philippines — are all expressions of the right wing solution to the present crisis.
This should not surprise us. Fascism emerged as the right’s solution to the uncertainties and crises of the 1930s.
In today’s political and social battle for humanity’s future, the right has found its answer. The question for us is simple. Are we serious about developing our own?
This is the main strategic challenge that confronts the progressive movement globally. Progressives can, have, and will win elections. But can they govern differently? Can progressives develop, advance, and defend a program of social justice rooted in economic transformation?
To a certain degree, the impressive gains by the radical right can also be connected to the inability of our movements to articulate our own strategic vision. Progressives currently struggle with expressing a vision of the future that can be advanced through programs and collective action. This problem is made worse by the history of compromise, cooptation, and accommodation by progressive parties and representatives with capital and the neoliberal order.
We should not forget that many of the progressive parties and personalities we are cheering for have accepted, agreed to, or even implemented the economic and political policies that drove people to the far right in the first place.
The danger for progressives, especially at this political juncture, is complacency. Once in power, the complexities of governance might make it tempting to fall back to old habits and practices. Obviously, good governance, reforms, and pragmatic politics are needed. However, these must not substitute for the ambitious politics, and political struggle needed to reclaim our democracy and transform our economic structures — at home and globally.
The New Struggles to be Born
Clearly, we cannot leave workers’ political and economic demands solely in the hands of our political parties and representatives. A government or political party governing in the name of workers does not always, or automatically, act in the best interests of workers. This is a lesson that organized labor learned the hard way.
Given the long history of betrayal, compromise, and cooptation by our own political representatives, how should workers navigate the political currents of our time?
For organized labor, the answer lies in rediscovering the power of collective and militant action. History shows us that the mass mobilization of trade unionists and labor activists is not just against the state or capital. Often, the rank-and-file must fight their own political leadership — whether inside the trade union and mass movements, our political parties, and other institutions.
We must rebuild collective power and militant action, not to destroy our leaders and organizations. This “culture of struggle” is necessary if we are serious about building the political power to force the state and capital to accept workers’ demands. This culture of struggle is essential to ensure that our own political representatives will consistently fight for the interests of the ordinary worker. This culture of struggle can be organized labor’s contribution to the progressive strategic vision.
Electoral victories and mass protest must fuel the organizing drives that can build organized mass movements. These movements in turn, informed by the experiences and aspirations of the working class, can help develop the progressive alternative to neoliberal technocracy and rightwing barbarism.
Fortunately, the building blocks of an alternative are there. Programs and demands that address cost of living, affordability, healthcare, wages, and political reforms — against political elites/dynasties, privatization, and corporate lobbying — are widely popular across societies.
Millions remain ready to fight for a future of solidarity, cooperation, and shared humanity. Can progressives give this energy and hope an inspiring vision for the future?
Trump’s Electoral Defeat Is A Victory For Democratic Resistance
Trump’s Electoral Defeat Is A Victory For Democratic Resistance, But The Struggle Is Far From Over
The defeat of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the US midterm elections is a significant victory for democratic resistance and a powerful rebuke to an administration whose policies have deepened economic insecurity, widened social divisions, attacked fundamental rights, and undermined democratic institutions.
We salute the millions of working-class Americans, young people, women, and marginalized communities who made their voices heard at the ballot box, especially the African American and Latino communities. Their votes reflect growing frustration with an administration that has failed to address the economic hardships of ordinary people while advancing policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy and powerful.
This electoral outcome demonstrates that working people are not powerless in the face of authoritarian tendencies, political intimidation, and attacks on their rights. When people organize, mobilize, and assert their collective political power, they can hold even the most powerful political leaders accountable.
But this victory must not become an occasion for complacency.
Trump remains in office, and an electoral defeat does not automatically dismantle the political, economic, and institutional structures that enabled his rise. The incoming congressional majority must use its mandate to investigate abuses of power, hold the administration accountable, restore democratic checks and balances, and roll back the regressive policies imposed under Trump’s presidency.
This means reversing attacks on workers’ rights and social protections, restoring environmental safeguards, defending migrants and marginalized communities, protecting reproductive and civil rights, and challenging policies that concentrate wealth and power in the hands of corporations and billionaires. It also means confronting the influence of money and corporate interests in American politics.
We must also recognize that the implications of this election extend beyond the United States, but that its impact on the Global South should not be overstated.
Trump’s defeat weakens his political mandate and may constrain some of his administration’s most aggressive initiatives. However, it does not automatically signal a fundamental change in US foreign policy or its relations with developing countries. The bipartisan foundations of American economic and geopolitical dominance, including its unequal trade relations, military interventions, and pursuit of strategic interests abroad, remain largely intact.
For the peoples of the Global South, therefore, we should welcome this setback to Trump’s political project without placing our hopes for a more just international order on changes in Washington alone. Our struggle for economic sovereignty, decent work, social justice, climate justice, and a genuinely democratic international order must continue independently of who occupies the White House or controls Congress.
Ultimately, the most important lesson of this election is that electoral victories must be translated into substantive political and economic change. The working people who helped deliver this rebuke must remain organized, vigilant, and demanding. They must hold the incoming congressional majority accountable as firmly as they have held Trump accountable.
The defeat of Trump is not the end of the struggle. It is an opportunity to advance it.
Protect Unions vs State Intimidation
LEARN Statement on the Recent Police Raid Against TF Logistics Union President
The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) strongly condemns the raid committed by state forces against labor leader Ruel Polon at his Sta. Rosa City residence. Polon serves as President of the TF Logistics workers’ union, an affiliate of the Philippine Metalworker’s Alliance (PMA). The union is currently in the middle of a labor dispute, having filed a notice of strike following instances of alleged unfair labor practices. These include management interference in union affairs and attempts to divide the union.
Workers Money Must Work For Workers
Joint SENTRO and LEARN Statement on the on the ₱40-Billion loss for the SSS
In a country where insecurity is the main problem of most people – food insecurity, financial insecurity, job insecurity – it is unsurprising that reports stating a ₱40-billion in paper loss for the Social Security System (SSS) caused widespread concern among workers. Clearly, Filipinos have little confidence on our government. How can we trust our institutions when the flood control investigations went nowhere? How can we trust our leaders when the Vice President herself is facing serious impeachment charges over massive corruption?
Workers’ money must work for workers. The SSS must show that it can protect their pensions, uphold their rights, and invest responsibly for the future.
On the Right Side of History: Philippines Walk Out for Palestine an Expression of International Solidarity
Joint SENTRO and LEARN Statement on the Philippine Walk Out at the UN
The Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) and Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) commends the Philippine delegation for joining the walkout during Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the United Nations.
For Palestinians, resistance is not an abstract issue. It is the struggle of a people refusing dispossession, occupation, and the denial of their right to determine their own future.
This unyielding courage must be the rallying cry for the international community as we continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In this spirit, we recognize the Philippine government’s principled stand on this generation-defining question. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has expressed alarm over Israel’s settlement expansion and settler violence, saying these undermine the viability of a two-state solution.
The Philippines has also recognized the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
Our government should continue to give that principle meaning—not only in words, but by its actions on the international stage.
The walkout was a small act, but a powerful one. This must be the first step for the Philippines’ greater show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and it must not be our only act of defiance against the genocidal actions of the state of Israel.
Palestine must not be erased. The Palestinian people must not be silenced. Genocide and occupation must not be normalized.
From the Philippines to Palestine, the struggle for freedom, self-determination, and justice continues.
Long live international solidarity!
P7.2-TRILLION BUDGET: Ayuda for Workers, Billions for Trapos
Joint SENTRO and LEARN Statement on the 2027 Government and DOLE Budget
For workers, the Philippines’ entry into the “middle income country” category earlier this year cannot be seriously believed until the fruits of economic development are felt by all Filipinos. The Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) and Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) views the state budget as one instrument to measure if the government’s political and fiscal priorities are aligned with the needs of our people. Unfortunately, the government’s 2027 budget still reflects old political priorities by the ruling elite —- ayuda and pork barrel (under different names) for political dynasties and ambitious politicians, estimated to be P735 Billion of the 7.2 Trillion budget.
This is especially the case when we look into the budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). A breakdown of DOLE’s funding for 2027 reveals that it has become an ayuda department. 64% of DOLE’s total budget goes to Livelihood and Emergency Employment (TUPAD). Around PHP 16.7 billion is devoted to TUPAD, while funding for the arbitration of cases, labor laws compliance, resolution of appealed cases, and development of policies related to wages and productivity combined amounts to PHP 2.4 billion.
This budget exposes the wrong priorities. While we acknowledge that TUPAD is necessary, especially in times of great personal and national emergency, temporary measures cannot substitute for decent work. Why is it that DOLE is spending billions more for workers out of jobs rather than ensuring that workers have decent jobs in the first place?
The government of Marcos Jr., like that of Duterte and all others before them, is simply managing poverty instead of preventing the abuse and exploitation of workers. Worst, TUPAD is being used as another form of pork barrel. Billions go into assistance that can be distributed through political discretion, rather than building a robust, rights-based public employment program.
SENTRO and LEARN call for a transparent, accountable, and truly pro-worker DOLE and Government budget. Labor justice cannot be reduced to ayuda for desperate workers. The Department of Labor cannot be reduced to an agency handing out dole outs, while the institutions that can prevent rights violations, enforce labors standards, strengthen collective bargaining, and develop sound wage policies remain neglected.
There must be more funding for labor rights administration, labor inspection, labor standards enforcement, and the institutions responsible for labor justice. We call for a review of TUPAD’s design and implementation. This program must be a vehicle for genuine public employment — aligned with State industrial and development policy. It cannot be reduced to an aid program for trapos. Workers do not need a government that merely gives ayuda after our rights have been violated or neglected. We need a proactive government, and a competent DOLE, whose objective is the creation of decent and secure employment, not temporary measures. The 2027 budget must not be a budget for managing poverty and securing political loyalty. It must be a budget for labor justice, decent work, and an economy that works for the people.
When Workers are Organized, Our Hospitals become Better and Safer
LEARN Solidarity Statement Celebrating AFW’s 10th National Convention
The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) warmly greets our brothers and sisters in the Alliance of Filipino Workers as they hold their 10th National Convention. We are glad to see the AFW go from strength to strength as they continue to uphold the rights and dignity of workers in private hospitals and care facilities.
Mabuhay ang AFW!
Mabuhay ang mga manggagawa ng pribadong ospital!
Mabuhay ang uring manggagawa!
Hindi sira ang sistema; Nakadisenyo ito laban sa atin
Madalas nating naririnig na “sira ang sistema” kada balita ng pagtaas ng bilihin, pagkakapos ng sahod, aligasyon ng katiwalian, o mga pag-aaral na pinapakita ang lumalalang inekwalidad sa ating lipunan.
Hindi sira ang sistema. Natural na produkto ng sistema ang mga problemang hinaharap natin.
Ang krisis na kinakaharap ng mga ordinaryong tao – ang pagtaas ng mga bilihin, binabarat na sahod, kawalan ng trabaho, at nakalululang yaman ng iilan – ay hindi kakulangan ng polisiya. Ito ang mga natural na produkto ng isang ekonomiyang umiiral para unahin ang kita bago ang tao.
Ugat ng Ating Kahirapan
Ang ugat ng modelong ito sa Pilipinas ay nagsimula noong panahon ng diktadurang Marcos. Niyakap ng bansa noong dekada 70s ang isang modelong export-oriented, at foreign investment-led para sa ating ekonomiya. Ibig sabihin, nakatuon ang puhunan, imprastraktura, at direksyon ng ating mga industriya at kapital sa pagsisilbi sa mga pangangailangan ng mga dayuhang bansa at negosyo.
Para magawa ito, may simpleng pang-akit ang gobyerno sa mga dayuhang negosyante: Dito kayo mamuhunan, tutubo kayo dito dahil mababa ang sahod, mura ang paggawa. Naging opisyal na polisiya ang “cheap labor regime” na ito sa pamamagitan ng Wage Rationalization Act of 1989. Dito nagsimula ang kalakalan ng pagtatakda ng sahod ayon sa mga rehiyon, mga sahod na hindi kailan man naging sapat upang tugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng mga manggagawa.
Tinayo ng diktaduryang Marcos ang pundasyon ng modelong pangekonomiya na patuloy na nagtatakda ng direksyon ng bansa. Pinagpatuloy lamang ito ng mga sumunod na administrasyong. Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, Aquino, at Duterte — iba-ibang pwersa, magkakaibang personalidad, pero pare-parehong polisiya at economic manager.
Pribatisasyon, deregulasyon, at liberalisasyon — sa madaling salita, ang pangunguna ng pribadong sektor sa pagtukoy ng mga prayoridad ng ekonomiya — ito ang neoliberalismo. Ito ang naging doktrina, ang “common sense” na naging gabay at sukatan ng seryosong pamumuno.
Ano ang naging bunga ng bulag na pagtitiwala sa galing, talino, at kabaitan ng mga Ayala, Aboitiz, Razon, Sy, at iba pang mga oligarch?
Ang ating kuryente, na binuksan sa pribadong sektor noong 2001, ay isa sa pinakamataas sa buong Asya. Ramdam natin agad ang bawat paggalaw ng presyo ng krudo sa pandaigdigang merkado dahil pinili ng Estado ang deregulasyon kaysa pagpapatupad ng kontrol sa presyo. Ilang milyon ang binabayad natin kada buwan para sa tubig na hindi maasahan ang kalidad dahil naging negosyo na ang ating mga pangunahing serbisyo?
Bulag na Pnanalig sa Pribadong Sektor
Sa harap ng mga kabiguan ng polisiya, patuloy ang pananalig ng ating mga economic manager sa merkado at pribadong sektor. Sabi ng ating mga kawani, ang pag-akit daw ng dayuhang kapital at pagsuporta sa pribadong sektor ang pangunahing layunin ng Estado. Ano ang ginawa ng mga kapibahay natin sa Asya? Nagpatupad sila ng klarong polisiyang industriyal (industrial policy) at pinagplanuhan ang pagpapalago ng ekonomiya.
Imbis na magpundar ng mga industriya na maglilikha ng mga produktibo at maayos na trabaho, iniwan ng ating gobyerno ang ekonomiya sa kamay ng ating mga naghaharing negosyante. Hindi nakakagulat na mas pipiliin ng mga ito ang pagkakitaan ang mga monopolyo at sindikat kaysa suportahan ang mga pabrika at industriya. Ang resulta? Isang ekonomiya na “upper middle income” pero hindi makalikha ng sapat na disenteng trabaho.
Ano ang gagawin ng mga kababayan natin kapag walang trabaho? Makipagsapalaran sa kalunsuran o ibang bansa.
Imbis na tignan na kabiguan ng polisiya ang sistematikong pag-abroad ng ating mga manggagawa, ginawang pangunahing industriya ng mga dumaang gobyerno ang pag-export ng ating paggawa. Ang salaping pinapadala ng ating mga OFW (remittances) ang naging pamalit para sa ganap na industriyalisasyon.
Ito ang dahilan kung bakit laganap pa rin ang kahirapan sa kabila ng paglago ng ekonomiya.
Ito ang dahilan kung bakit malalim pa rin ang inekwalidad sa kabila ng malaking tubo ng mga kumpanya.
Ito ang dahilan kung bakit hindi umaangat ang ating mga sahod sa kabila ng ating gumagaling na produktibidad at husay sa paggawa.
May Hangganan ang Ayuda — Kailangan ng Pagbabago!
Hindi sapat ang ayuda upang lunasan ang problema ng ating lipunan.
Nakatutulong ang ayuda, makaliligtas ito ng buhay — lalo na para sa mga pinakamahirap sa bansa. Pero walang cash assistance program ang sasapat sa isang ekonomiya na mababa ang sahod, walang kasiguraduhan sa trabaho, at ang yaman ay nasa kamay lamang ng iilan. Kaya nito ibsan ang mga sintomas, pero hindi ang ugat ng ating mga problema.
Kailangan nating baguhin ang sistema. Magsimula tayo sa mga istruktural na mga reporma: ibasura na natin ang cheap labor strategy, magsabatas tayo ng nakabubuhay na sahod, bumuo tayo ng polisiyang industriyal, disiplinahin ang mga kumpanya at monopolyo, palakasin ang mga serbisyong publiko, at buwisan ng ankop at patas ang mga nakikinabang sa sistema upang mabago natin ito.
Wala Ibang Magpapalaya kung hindi ang Ating mga Sarili.
Kailangan pa ba ipaliwanag kung bakit walang interes ang mga naghaharing uri na askyunan ang mga pagbabagong nabanggit natin?
Nakikinabang sila sa sistemang umiiral.
Patuloy na naghahari-harian ang mga dinastiyang pulitikal at malalaking negosyante sa ating bansa. Nasa interes ng mga ito na panataliin ang kasalukuyang kaayusan sa Pilipinas. 
Mayaman ang kasaysayan sa mga halimbawa ng isang katotohanan: Ang pagbabago at pagpanalo ng ating karapatan ay hindi kusang binibigay. Hindi ito nagmumula sa kabaitan ng mga namumuno. Ang pagbabago ng ating kalagayan ay produkto ng organisado at malawak na pakikibaka.
Kung magkakaroon man ang Pilipinas ng isang ekonomiya na pinagsisilbihan ang mga manggagawa imbis na tubo, hindi ito magsisimula sa mga dinastiya o negosyante. Magsisimula ito sa pagkakaisa at pagkilos ng mga manggagawa – hindi lamang upang idemanda ang mas mataas na sahod o ayuda, pero upang isulong ang alternatibong modelo ng ekonomiya.
Hindi sira ang sistema. Nakadisenyo ito para manatili tayong mahirap.
Hanggang kailan natin tatanggapin ang ganitong kalagayan?
FACT CHECK: Mas Nakakahamak nga ba sa ekonomiya ang Php 85 Wage Hike?
Ang buhay ng mga manggagawa ay buhay na isang kahid, isang tuka. Klaro sa kanya na dapat ipatupad ang Php 85 Minimum Wage Hike, kahit na hindi pa rin ito sapat sa lahat ng kanyang pangangailangan.
Ngunit, kahit ang simpleng katotohanang ay nahaharap sa maraming batikos: mabigat daw para sa mga negosyante ang dagdag sahod. Paano naman daw ang mga maliliit na negosyo?
Mukhang kailangan magkalinawan ulit: Totoo ba na mas makakahamak kaysa makakatulong ang Minimum Wage Increase na Php 85 sa NCR?
CLAIM #1: Mas matatamaan ang maliliit na negosyo, hindi ang malalaking korporasyon dahil 99.6% ng mga negosyo ay MSMEs kung saan binubuo ng mga ito ang 67% ng mga trabaho.
PERO: Owner- o family-operated ang mayoridad ng micro-enterprises. Halimbawa ang mga tindahan, karinderya, manininda, atbp. Sila ay napapaloob bilang mga BMBEs na maaaring maging Qualified BMBE na exempted sa Minimum Wage Law.
VERDICT: FALSE.
CLAIM #2: Mas mataas pa sa inflation rate ang Php85 dagdag sahod dahil 12.2% wage hike ang Php85, samantalang nasa 6.2% lang ang inflation rate noong July 2026.
PERO: Hindi kinuwenta nito ang inflation rate simula sa huling pagtaas ng Minimum Wage. July 2025, Php695 ang Minimum Wage sa NCR. Kaltasin ang inflation sa mga nakaraang buwan na walang dagdag sahod at Php466 na ang katumbas nito ngayon.
VERDICT: FALSE.
CLAIM #3: Papatayin ng Php85 Wage Hike ang dami ng trabaho, lalo na para sa young& “unskilled” workers dahil sa datos na nagsasabing bumababa ng 7%-11% ang employment ng young & “unskilled” workers tuwing may minimum wage increase.
PERO: Hindi automatic na katumbas ng Minimum Wage increases ang malawakang pagpatay sa trabaho, at napakita na ito ng international research. At, kung ang mababang sahod job-generating, bakit laganap ang unemployment, underemployment, at mababang kalidad ng trabaho?
VERDICT: FALSE.
CLAIM #4: Tataas ang inflation rate kapag nagkaroon ng minimum wage increase dahil tataas ang business costs at mapupuwersahan mga negosyo na magtaas ng presyo, lalo na kung mas mabilis ang pagtaas ng sahod kaysa sa productivity rate ng manggagawa.
PERO: Base sa datos ng 2012-2022, tumaas na ng 28.9% ang Labor Productivity Rate, habang ang tinaas ng minimum wage sa NCR ay 20.7%. Samantalang, sa panahon na iyon, tinaas ng inflation rate ang consumer price index ng 35.3%. Tumaas ang productivity at inflation, pero naiwan ang sahod ng manggagawa.
VERDICT: FALSE.
CLAIM #5: Ang Php85 Minimum Wage Hike ay mas mataas kaysa sa historical norm dahil ang mga nakaraan na malakihang Wage Hike ay Php15 hanggang Php53 lamang. Dagdag pa, ay dinahilan ito ng pagtaas ng poverty incidence.
PERO: Ang dagdag sahod mula Php695 papuntang Php780 ay katumbas ng 12.23% lamang. Mas malaki ang rate nito sa kasaysayan: 12.88% noong 1999, hanggang 39.06% noong 1989. Magkalapit lang din ang rate sa dapat naging dagdag sahod ngayon sa 2000 na 11.86%.
Nakakabahala ring ang pag-ugnay ng poverty incidence sa minimum wage increase, na para bang ito lamang ang nagtutulak sa manggagawa patungo sa kahirapan.
VERDICT: FALSE.
FINAL VERDICT:
Hindi totoo na walang epekto sa ekonomiya ang dagdag sahod. Kaya mainam na gamitin ang kaalaman sa ekonomiya para siguraduhin na may disenteng buhay ang mga manggagawa.
Pero hindi solusyon ang pananakot at pagpapanatiliing mahirap ang mga manggagawa para mabuhay ang mga negosyo.
Philippines Now an “Upper Middle Country”: Statistically Yes, but Quality of Life Poor
LEARN Response to World Bank Announcement that Philippines Reached “Upper Middle Income” Status
Recently, the Philippines has been classified by the World Bank as an “Upper Middle Income” country. We now join a growing number of developing economies that have a GNI per capita between $4,496 and $13,935. While the Marcos Jr. administration maximizes the opportunity to announce that its policies and governance works, the everyday reality of working people tells a different story — a story of poverty, insecurity, chronic stress, and terrible public services.
Claims by Finance Secretary Frederick Go that “The Philippines’ transition to an upper middle income country is an affirmation of the reforms and policies that the government has consistently pursued to strengthen our economy and to create more opportunities for our people,” needs to be carefully scrutinized.
The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) cautions against any premature celebration of Philippine “progress”. Going beyond statistics and impressive figures of GDP/GNI growth, progress must also be measured in improvements to the quality of life that Filipinos experience.
According to the Social Weather Station, last March 2026, self-rated poverty was a dismal 52%. Self-rated food poverty meanwhile remained troubling at 42%. Workers still suffer from poverty wages. The “historic” wage hike in the NCR that DOLE Secretary Tolentino bragged about is a pathetic 85 pesos increase — in a further insult to workers, this would be implemented in two tranches. This is nowhere near the minimum 200 peso wage hike that labor unions are pushing for wage recovery. To hear that the country is getting wealthier while workers still cannot recover the value of their wages — much less actually increase its real value —is difficult to accept. The present situation only deepens distrust at the government and the big businesses that profit while the majority suffer.
The government’s claim of success reveals that it is severely out of touch with the everyday realities that the majority of Filipinos experience. The celebratory tone brings to mind statements by government executives that the worsening traffic paralyzing our cities should be seen as a “positive sign” of economic growth. These pronouncements, heard from the previous Aquino III and also the Marcos Jr. administration, are so alien and different to our actual lives.
LEARN strongly doubts that the people stuck in traffic, the riders struggling to breathe in clogged underpasses, and the commuters desperate for a ride home actually believe that things are improving. Until the supposed “prosperity” of the nation is actually felt by the majority through proactive policies such as a living wage, public employment, and genuine industrial policy, claims that we are getting richer are hard to believe. Perhaps the people living in Forbes Park and BGC are doing well, but the rest of the country definitely isn’t.