The minimum wage of a family of five residing in the National Capital Region (NCR) fails to meet almost half of their basic needs, the Ibon Foundation said.

"The P645 NCR minimum wage is only 53 percent of what a family of five needs to meet their basic needs" Ibon Foundation said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Based on their latest data as of March 2025, "a family of five in NCR should receive a wage of P1,222 per day or P26,579 per month in order to live decently".

A family of five needs per month around P13,906 for food expenses, P2,755 for water, electricity, gas, etc., P4,722 for house rent or rental value, and P1,505 for transportation.

The daily minimum wage in NCR has remained at P645 per day since July 2024.

On Saturday, the National Wages and Productivity Commission said the minimum wage rate in the NCR will be open for review in May.

It was on June 27, 2024 when the NCR wage board issued a wage order for minimum wage earners. The wage order raised the minimum wage rate in Metro Manila from P610 to 645 for the non-farm sector and from P573 to P608 for the agriculture sector.

Marie Manalili/DMS