Senate ‘ready’ to deliberate on bill seeking 14th month pay — Villanueva

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate labor committee is open and “ready to hear” the measure seeking to require the private sector to pay their employees 14th month pay, Senator Joel Villanueva said Monday.

The “14th Month Pay Law” was among the first bills filed in the Senate on Monday. It was re-filed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

“We are ready to hear it. We are ready to hear both sides, especially the stakeholders. We want to find out its effects,” Villanueva, who chaired the labor committee, told reporters in an interview.

However, the senator said he has yet to read the re-filed bill, and he wants to “hear from the horses’ mouth” the positions on the 14th-month pay proposal.

The measure did not reach the plenary floor in the 17th Congress as some sectors had expressed objections to the measure, according to Villanueva.

“May mga nagparamdam din ng objections (There were some who expressed their objections) and unfortunately, we were so busy,” he said.

“So we’ll see, I hope and pray this time around we have another three years of a shot to tackle and deliberate this in such a way na makita natin lahat ng anggulo at makita natin (that we see all angles). If this will help, why not?” Villanueva added. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

RELATED STORY:
Labor group looks forward to passage of Sotto’s 14th month pay bill