Sotto refiles bill on 14th-month pay
Sen. Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III — FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has refiled a bill requiring private sector employers to grant workers a 14th-month pay to ease their burden of rising costs of goods and services and help them cope with educational expenses.
The chamber’s minority leader also suggested that the 13th-month pay be released by June.
The 14th-month pay will be in addition to the existing 13th-month pay already being given to workers under Presidential Decree No. 851, which was enacted in 1976.
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“After almost five decades, the needs and cost of living of every Filipino worker have drastically changed. Thus, it is high time that employees in the private sector receive their 14th-month pay,” Sotto said.
June, December tranches
Under Sotto’s refiled Senate Bill No. 193, the minimum amount of the 14th-month pay shall not be less than one twelfth (1/12) of the total basic salary earned by an employee within a calendar year.
He suggested further that the 13th-month pay be released by June 14 to help workers with educational expenses for their children, while the 14th-month pay be given not later than Dec. 24 to assist families with holiday and year-end costs.
His proposed law will cover all nongovernment rank-and-file employees, workers under the kasambahay law, and others already entitled to 13th-month pay, provided they have worked for at least one month during the calendar year.
‘Struggling businesses’
But distressed companies, nonprofit institutions suffering from major income declines, and employers already providing a 14th-month pay or its equivalent will not be required to give additional pay under Sotto’s measure.
“The bill has exemptions for qualified employers so as not to burden struggling businesses, as they are equally important for our economy,” he stressed.
Sotto said that the bill supports employees without weighing down employers. /cb
