Duterte calls on big business to release 13th month pay amid COVID-19 quarantine

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night called on big businesses to release the 13th month pay of employees amid the enhanced community quarantine that has been declared over the entire Luzon.

"'Yun sanang malalaking enterprises dito, maybe you can consder paying the 13th month pay... kung walang trabaho as a way of showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical time," Duterte said in a nationally televised address.

Duterte made the call during his meeting with officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Malacañang.

"‘Yung sanang mga malalaking enterprises maybe you can consider paying the 13th month pay or just paying them maski kalahati sa suweldo nila kung walang trabaho as a way of showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical time,” Duterte said.

The President joined the call of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who said that giving out workers’ 13th month pay will compensate for the one month they won’t be able to report to work.

Apart from giving employees their 13th month pay, employers were advised by Año to adjust work schedules, adopt flexible arrangements as well as allow workers the use of their leave credits and other privileges.

Jobs in the travel and tourism sector alone are expected to be lost amid the COVID-19 situation in the country, the government had said. -NB, GMA News