DOLE announces pay rules for April 9 holiday

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment on Friday issued the pay rules for April 9 (Araw ng Kagitingan or Day of Valor), a regular holiday nationwide.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz reminded employers to ensure voluntary compliance with core labor standards for workers on this day.

“I call on the country’s employers in the private sector to voluntary comply with core labor standards to ensure the social protection of our workers during this regular holiday,” she said in a statement.

“If the employee reports for work during a regular holiday, he shall be entitled to 200 percent of his regular pay for that day for the first eight hours, and for work in excess of the eight hours, an additional 30 percent of his hourly rate,” Baldoz said.

If the day falls on an employee’s rest day and he goes to work, he shall be paid an additional 30 percent of his daily rate of 200 percent. For work in excess of eight hours on those days, he gets an additional 30 percent of his hourly rate.

“If the employee does not render work during a regular holiday, he is still entitled to 100 percent of his salary for that day,” Baldoz said.

President Benigno Aquino, by virtue of Proclamation No. 59, issued on August 16, 2012, had affirmed the observance of the Araw ng Kagitingan as a nationwide regular holiday.

April 9 marks the heroism of the country’s soldiers and veterans in Bataan and Corregidor during World War II.

Also known as Bataan and Corregidor Day, Araw ng Kagitingan was first observed when the late President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino promulgated Executive Order No. 203 of 1987 to honor and remember the gallantry and valor of the Filipinos during the war.