Fewer holidays urged to draw more investors
April 2, 2013 at 12:55
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may need to go on a non-working holiday diet to be more “attractive” to foreign and local investors, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.
With the recent credit upgrade from Fitch Ratings, the Philippines is now poised to become one of the top investor-friendly darlings of Asia.
This was supported by the latest Arangkada report issued by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC), which showed that the Philippines has already made considerable gains in addressing the concerns of foreign and local investors particularly in the labor sector.
Among these gains was the recent amendment of the Labor Code to promote tripartism in crafting labor reforms and the mandatory conciliation-mediation effort for dispute settlement.
The JFC also commended the Philippine government for addressing skills-job mismatch through its K-to-12 program, wherein high school students will be given skills training by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The report also highlighted the country’s low strike incidence, DOLE’s effective information dissemination, and issuance of the DOLE’s advisory, which allowed for flexible work arrangements.
However, the JFC, which is composed of at least 300 local and foreign investors, said the country’s numerous paid holidays continue to be a “flabby” issue policy makers would need to address.
The Arangkada report makes use of the six-star rating system, where six is the highest, in evaluating the government’s performance in addressing industry concerns.
“The [most recent] report only gave two stars for the efforts to rationalize holidays to approach ASEAN average of 15 paid holidays a year,” Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.
DOLE, in a study conducted by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), has already warned Congress against increasing the number of the country’s holidays since the latter’s negative effects for the country, particularly for small and medium scale enterprises, outweigh their benefit for the tourism industry.
There are at least eight pending bills in Congress seeking to declare new non-working holidays, including Chinese New Year’s Day and Corazon Aquino Day. Last year, the government declared at least 12 regular holidays and six special non-working holidays.
This made the Philippines only the second country in the Asia-Pacific region, next to China, with the most number of working and non-working holidays.
During a regular holiday, workers on duty receive at least twice their regular pay, while those who work during a special non-working holiday receive at least 150 percent of their normal wage.
In line with these developments, the Arangkada report recommended the passage of a Holiday Rationalization Act, which would restrict the number of non-working holidays in a year.
“The GPH is not undertaking a study to recommend fewer paid holidays to improve competitiveness. While there is a fixed list of regular national holidays, the Executive and Legislative branches of government have more holidays without consulting employers. In December 2011, Chinese New Year 2012 was added. Bills in Congress to observe paid holidays for teachers and to commemorate September 3, National Victory and Liberation Day are moving,” the report said.
Source: Samuel P. Medenilla, Manila Bulletin. 31 March 2013.
