‘Generosity is easy when someone else pays the bill.’
This was the comment of Restaurant Owners of the Philippines (RestoPH) President David P. Sison in a post on his Facebook page over the weekend, in reaction to government benefits granted to senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWD), and lately, laborers. As of press time, the post has garnered over 2,200 likes from Facebook users and was shared by 3,000 individuals, a number of them fellow restaurateurs and chefs.
He said the restaurant industry, for instance, supports the recently announced P85 wage increase in the National Capital Region. ‘Our people deserve it, and they know how much we value them. But when the announcement was made, no support came with it. Just the mandate. The applause goes to the government. The payroll comes from us.’
Of the total wage increase, the first tranche of P60 per day was made effective on July 25, 2026, while the second tranche, at P25 per day, will be rolled out on January 20, 2027. The wage increase supposedly covers over 1.1 million minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.
The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) recently called for the suspension of Wage Order No. 27, which contained the wage increase, as it will likely trigger a ‘compounding wage-spiral,’ leading to higher prices of consumer goods and services, and the erosion of the purchasing power of the poor.
FEF, a group of former Finance Secretaries, economists previously with the government, along with those in the academe and banking industry, also said micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), will suffer the greatest from the new mandated wage increase. Government estimates that MSMEs account for 99 percent of the country’s total industry.
Meanwhile, Sison also stressed: ‘In 1992, Republic Act 7432 promised [that] the State would shoulder it. Businesses could claim every peso back as a tax credit,’ said Sison. ‘In 2004, Republic Act 9257 quietly changed that. The credit became a mere deduction. Today, for every P100 of discount we [restaurants] grant, we recover only P20. The other 80 comes from the business.’
The discounts granted to PWDs under RA 9994 in 2010 and RA 10754 follow the similar provisions under RA 9257.
Sison, who is also general manager of a local food chain, Mama Lou’s Italian Kitchen, complained that, ‘Every time the government announces a new benefit, people celebrate. And they should. Seniors get their discount. PWDs get theirs. Workers get a raise. Beautiful announcements. Press conferences. Applause. But do you know who pays for it? Not the government. We do.’
The RestoPH official underscored that the industry is not opposed to such benefits. ‘Give them. Our lolos and lolas [and PWDs] deserve them. Our workers deserve them. But why is it that every promise the government makes, [it’s] business [that] pays for [these]? Generosity is easy when someone else pays the bill,’ he concluded.
The stakeholders group urged the return to the rules under RA 7432, where the government allowed businesses to claim senior discounts as a tax credit, with the same applied to other similar government-mandated discounts.
Earlier, RestoPH sounded the alarm on the major struggles currently being faced by the restaurant industry, including the high cost of LPG along with rising rent and utilities, which have frozen the hiring of new staff and reduced the operating hours of many establishments. (See, ‘Rising fuel costs drain PHL restos, hurt sales,’ in the BusinessMirror, April 22, 2026.)
There are 230 RestoPH members across Metro Manila, 49 percent of which are small restaurant operators with one to five branches.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Annual Business Survey of Philippine Business and Industry released in 2023, there were close to 30,000 registered restaurants/mobile food services and beverage service outlets in the country, which accounted for almost 89 percent of the accommodation and food service activities. Independent research put the number of restaurants closer to 50,000.