MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday advised those who want to extend their vacation on days recently declared by Malacañang as “special working days” to just file for a leave.
“Ang importante dyan, kasi kung halimbawa hindi ka papasok, may bayad pa rin ‘di ba pero walang production. Pero ngayon na public holiday pero working, kapag hindi ka pumasok walang bayad,” Bello explained in an online media forum.
(What is important here, because before if you won’t go to work, you will still receive pay but there is no production. But now that the dates were declared working holidays, you will not receive compensation if you don’t go to work.)
“Kung gusto mong mapahaba ang bakasyon, ‘di mag-avail of your leave credits. Leave credits ka na lang (If you want to extend your vacation, just use your leave credits),” he also said.
Bello’s justification of the government’s move echoes that of Proclamation No. 1107 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last Friday, which declared November 2 (All Souls’ Day) and December 24 (Christmas Eve) and December 31 (last day of the year) as “special working days.”
The presidential order states that “for the country to recover from the adverse economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need to encourage economic productivity by, among others, minimizing work disruption and commemorating some special holidays as special working days instead.”
Bello stressed that the affected dates had no historical, cultural, or religious significance.
“Wala naman kasing historical significance, cultural significance, wala namang religious significance so siguro the reason [why] hindi na lang gawing non-working, kung gustong ma-maintain, then it can still be a holiday but this time in order not to affect the productivity of our business and economy, gawin na lang working holiday,” he pointed out.
(There is no historical, cultural, or religious significance on those dates. So maybe if we want to maintain it as holidays, it can still be a holiday but this time in order not to affect the productivity of our businesses and economy, just make it working holiday.)
“Syempre noong araw mabigat sa mga employers ‘yan at tsaka kapag hindi pumasok, wala kang magagawa eh ‘di ba? So sayang ang araw, ang daming affected hours of production,” he added.
(Of course, before it was a burden for employers and if [an employee] does not report to work you can’t do anything, right? So the day is wasted, many hours of production were affected.)
Bello said the Philippines has the highest number of non-working holidays in Asia.