Union Case

EMPLOYERS CONFEDERATION OF THE PHILIPPINES vs.
NWPC
G.R. No. 96169
September 24, 1991
FACTS
On October 15, 1990, the Regional Board of the National Capital Region issued
Wage Order No. NCR-01, increasing the minimum wage by P17.00 daily in the
National Capital Region. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)
moved for reconsideration; so did the Personnel Management Association of the
Philippines (PMAP). ECOP opposed. On October 23, 1990, the Board issued Wage
Order No. NCR-01-A amending Wage Order No. NCR-0.
ECOP appealed to the National Wages and Productivity Commission. On November

6, 1990, the Commission promulgated an Order, dismissing the appeal for lack of
merit. On November 14, 1990, the Commission denied reconsideration.
The Orders of the Commission, as well as Wage Order No. NCR-01-A, are the
subject of this petition, in which, ECOP assails the board's grant of an "across-the-
board" wage increase to workers already being paid more than existing minimum
wage rates, up to P125 a day, as an alleged excess of authority, and alleges that under
the Republic Act No. 6727, the boards may only prescribe "minimum wages," not
determine "salary ceilings." ECOP likewise claims that Republic Act No. 6727 is
meant to promote collective bargaining as the primary mode of settling wages, and
in its opinion, the boards cannot preempt collective bargaining agreements by
establishing ceilings. ECOP prays for the nullification of Wage Order No. NCR 01-
A and for the "reinstatement" of Wage Order No. NCR-01.
The Court directed the Solicitor General to comment on behalf of the Government,
and in the Solicitor General's opinion, the Board, in prescribing an across-the-board
hike did not, in reality, "grant additional or other benefits to workers and employees,
such as the extension of wage increases to employees and workers already receiving
more than minimum wages “but rather, fixed minimum wages according to the
"salary-ceiling method."
ISSUE & RULING
WHETHER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6727 DELEGATED TO THE REGIONAL

BOARDS NO MORE "THAN THE POWER TO GRANT MINIMUM WAGE
ADJUSTMENTS" AND "IN THE ABSENCE OF CLEAR STATUTORY
AUTHORITY,” THE BOARDS MAY NO MORE THAN ADJUST "FLOOR
WAGES."
ECOP insists, in its reply, that wage is a legislative function, and Republic Act No.
6727 delegated to the regional boards no more "than the power to grant minimum
wage adjustments" and "in the absence of clear statutory authority," the boards may
no more than adjust "floor wages."
The Solicitor General, in his rejoinder, argues that Republic Act No. 6727 is intended
to correct "wage distortions" and the salary-ceiling method of determining wages is
meant, precisely, to rectify wage distortions.
The Court is not convinced that the Regional Board of the National Capital Region,
in decreeing an across-the-board hike, performed an unlawful act of legislation. It is
true that wage-fixing, like rate constitutes an act Congress; it is also true, however,
that Congress may delegate the power to fix rates provided that, as in all delegations
cases, Congress leaves sufficient standards. As this Court has indicated, it is
impressed that the above-quoted standards are sufficient, and in the light of the floor-
wage method's failure, the Court believes that the Commission correctly upheld the
Regional Board of the National Capital Region.
It is the Court's thinking, reached after the Court's own study of the Act that the Act
is meant to rationalize wages, that is, by having permanent boards to decide wages
rather than leaving wage determination to Congress year after year and law after law.
The Court is not of course saying that the Act is an effort of Congress to pass the
buck, or worse, to abdicate its duty, but simply, to leave the question of wages to the
expertise of experts. As Justice Cruz observed, "with the proliferation of specialized
activities and their attendant peculiar problems, the national legislature has found it
more necessary to entrust to administrative agencies the power of subordinate
legislation' as it is caned."
It is another question, to be sure, had Congress created "roving" boards, and were
that the case, a problem of undue delegation would have ensued; but as we said, we
do not see a Board (National Capital Region) "running riot" here, and Wage Order
No. NCR-01-A as an excess of authority.

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EMPLOYERS CONFEDERATION OF THE PHILIPPINES vs.

ECOP appealed to the National Wages and Productivity Commission. On November

ISSUE & RULING

WHETHER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6727 DELEGATED TO THE REGIONAL

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