Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (C) is proclaimed duly-elected president at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, suburban Manila on May 25, 2022. ( AFP / Ted ALJIBE)

Viral video misleads on Philippine minimum wage

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 31, 2022 at 10:30
2 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video with millions of views on Facebook and TikTok claims the Philippine government has approved legislation to hike the national minimum wage at the start of incoming president Ferdinand Marcos Jr's term. However, the government agency that sets minimum wages said the claim was false. As of May 31, no credible reports indicated the agency had increased the daily minimum wage to 820 pesos ($16), as the video claims.

"Good News! The law has been approved! Amazing new rules for company [sic]," reads Tagalog-language text overlay on a video shared in a Facebook post on May 14.

The clip, viewed more than 7.5 million times, shows a person writing on a whiteboard: "Minimum wage 820 pesos, start July 1, 2022 #BMM [sic]".

"BMM" appears to be a misspelling of "BBM", the initials of the incoming Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr who is popularly known as Bongbong.

The son and namesake of a former dictator, Marcos Jr won a landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election in May and will take office on June 30.

The Facebook post reads: "The rule BBM implemented for companies is nice."

The purported wage 820 pesos is equivalent to $16. In the Philippines, minimum wages are usually given as a daily amount.

Screenshot of the misleading post taken on May 30, 2022

The video was also shared on TikTok, and screenshots from the clip circulated on Facebook here, here, here and here.

Comments suggest some social media users believed the claim to be true.

"Congratulations 100% AGREE THANKS FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE...THANKS TO OUR BELOVED PRESIDENT BBM," one wrote.

"This is why BBM is my president!" said another.

'Not true'

The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), an agency of the labour department that sets daily wages, told AFP on May 30 that the claim was "not true".

On May 31, the NWPC website showed the minimum daily wage in the Philippines ranged from 282 pesos ($5.40) to 570 pesos ($10.90), depending on the region.

While the NWPC is set to increase minimum wages in June, weeks before Marcos takes office, the increase amounts -- which vary by region -- are all below the 820 pesos mentioned in the misleading posts.

Domestic workers' minimum wages are subject to different rules.

In April, a labour group reportedly filed a petition to hike the daily minimum wage to 820 pesos in Central Luzon region.

However, the NWPC told AFP that the petition was still under review on May 30.

Marcos Jr's office did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Pro-Marcos social media pages have pounded Filipinos with a barrage of propaganda around the presidential election, including a wave of false claims debunked by AFP.

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