President Rodrigo Duterte will decide on Monday on the proposed four-day work week to conserve energy by the National Economic and Development (NEDA), the Palace said yesterday.
At the same time, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said employers may implement a four-day workweek even without a new law or a department order.
“We have already issued labor advisories concerning this [four-day workweek], such that they can implement flexible work arrangements,” Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez said.
Earlier, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua suggested a four-day workweek to conserve energy and alleviate the public’s expenses amid the series of big time oil price hikes.
Since 2020, many companies in the Philippines have been implementing flexible work arrangements such as work-from-home, reduction of normal workdays, and job rotation, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview on ANC’s Headstart, Benavidez said the Labor department supports a four-day workweek, and said private companies can take the initiative, if they wish.
“We can appeal to the private sector to implement a four-day work week because again it’s a management prerogative. Employers have to decide on this, it’s within their sole jurisdiction.”
The labor agency has also proposed a P24 billion wage subsidy for minimum wage earners, Benavidez said.
“I think that’s more or less P5,000 for a minimum wage earner for a period of three months. We’ve requested additional funding from the Office of the President. I think this is now under consideration,” he said. “Given the limitation of funding, we deem it proper to prioritize 1 million micro enterprises. They are the most affected.”
Presidential candidates Senator Panfilo Lacson and Leody de Guzman said a four-day workweek should not result in a loss of income for daily wage earners.
“As long as daily wage earners will be compensated for their extended hours of work which should be equivalent to five days, I will support that four-day workweek to save on the use of fuel,” De Guzman said.
“It is a good suggestion and we should support that,” he added.
He noted the four-day week will not only help Filipinos save on fuel, but give them more time to spend with their families on their days off.
Lacson also said the Department of Finance’s proposal of additional relief of P200 a month for poor households may not be enough for them to get by.
He said suspending the excise tax on fuel products when their prices reach a threshold and reimposing it when prices go below that threshold is more practical.