(Eagle News) — The Department of Labor and Employment is studying the feasibility of the proposal to allow for a 14th month pay for employees in the private sector.
In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said they were “consulting with both the labor and management.”
President Rodrigo Duterte, on the other hand, he said, was “consulting with our economic advisers.”
“In other words, there is willingness and openness in the proposal for the 14-month pay,” he said.
Although he said the proposed 14th-month pay was a “huge help” to the families of the workers, “we have to consider a lot of factors..”
“Foremost is the need to maintain the beneficial social partnership between workers and employers, as well as in considering its possible implications in the economy,” Bello said.
It was Senator now-Senate President Tito Sotto who filed Senate Bill No. 2 seeking for the additional pay, but the bill has been pending in the Senate since 2016.