Sen. Cynthia Villar Speaks on Senators’ Stand on Holidays in PH
CYNTHIA VILLAR – The Senator clarified the statement of Senate President Chiz Escudero on limiting the holidays in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, among the most-awaited days of many Filipinos are holidays. There are several regular and special non-working holidays in the Philippines this 2024. Undeniably, in the case of some employees, the holidays mean to finally have a time for a celebration, to rest, or spend time with family and friends.
There are at least two (2) types of holidays in the Philippines — the working holiday and the non-working holiday. The latter includes the regular and the special non-working days. There are a lot of them in a year and they mean differently among the workers.
In the case of the employees of private companies, during non-working holidays, the workers who have to report to work are set to receive additional pay on top of their salary for the day. In other cases such as the case of the government employees and in other private firms, non-working holidays means an additional day for rest without a salary deduction.
Recently, Senate President Chiz Escudero’s statement hooked the attention of countless Filipinos and gathered different reactions from the people. It was after the Senate President said that the lawmakers in the Senate have agreed to limit the approval of bills on local holidays.
According to Senate Pres. Escudero, the senators want the Filipino workers to become “more competitive”. Based on a report on GMA News, Sen. Cynthia Villar clarified the statement of the Senate President.
According to Sen. Cynthia Villar, the senators agreed to limiting only the non-working holidays. She stressed that the lawmakers are okay with the working holidays because the employees can still attend to work after attending a program in line with the holiday celebration.
“‘Wag lang masyadong maraming non-working holiday… ‘Yung working holiday, okay lang ‘yun kasi parang magpo-programa ka lang to celebrate something but people will still work,” the Senator said.
Based on the report, Sen. Cynthia Villar stressed that everyone is affected by a non-working holiday. The Senator said that both the government and the private enterprises are affected by a non-working holiday as they have to give the workers salaries without work productivity,
According to Sen. Villar, a working holiday is different as the employees can have the chance to celebrate the holiday celebration but still the work continues. Previously, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma expressed that there are both positive and negative effects of limiting local holidays.
The labor Secretary stressed that limiting local holidays negatively affects the productivity but, on the other side, there are additional incentives for those who choose to work on holidays.