Labor groups have staged a protest at the labor department on Tuesday to call for the payment of 13th-month benefit of employees amid the possibility of its deferment.
“The workers stress that we have long fought and won the battle to claim our right to wage benefits such as the 13th-month pay. When we say it is a right, that means it cannot be taken away from us at the capitalist’s whim,” KMU Chairperson Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog emphasized.
“The law is clear, we have to pay our workers on or before 24 December their 13th-month pay, the only exemption [is] if the company is in distress,” DOLE Sec. Silvestre Bello III clarified.
Bello was referring to Presidential Decree No. 851 of 1976 that requires employers to grant workers a 13th-month pay. However, its IRR include exemptions such as distressed employers or companies with huge losses for the past year.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said a vast portion of companies in the country may find it difficult to provide such pay, considering that 90 percent of businesses in the country are SMEs.
“Maraming hindi kaya magbigay… So ang sinasabi namin, bakit ‘di na lang magpautang ang gobyerno sa mga kumpanyang walang pambayad (Many cannot provide…We are suggesting that the government should lend money to companies that do not have funds [13th-month pay]),” ECOP Pres. Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said.
The DOLE is set to release the result of its meeting with labor and employers groups regarding the qualifiers for the “distressed employers” term under the law and the possibility of postponing such pay. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio
