Duterte urges employers to give 13th-month pay in advance

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged businesses to consider giving in advance their employees’ 13-month pay or half of their salaries as the country fights the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“‘Yun sanang malalaking enterprises dito, maybe you can consider paying the 13th month pay or just paying them maski kalahati sa sweldo nila as a way of showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical time,” Duterte said in a televised speech.

(The big enterprises here, maybe you can consider paying the 13th-month pay or just paying them even just half of their salaries as a way of showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical time.)

Duterte earlier placed the entire Luzon on an enhanced community quarantine where “strict home quarantine shall be implemented in all households; transportation shall be suspended; provision for food and essential services shall be regulated; and heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures will be implemented.”

Health officials have so far recorded 140 cases, including 12 fatalities, related to COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019. The country is currently under a state of public health emergency due to the virus, which originated from Hubei province in China.

The Philippine government has also upgraded its alert on COVID-19 from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Sublevel 2, which is hoisted when there is evidence of community transmission and prevalence of cases beyond what the government can address.