De Lima files bill to give employees 5-day calamity leave

Senator Leila de Lima has filed a bill seeking five-day special emergency leave with pay for public and private workers affected by natural calamity or disaster.

If approved into law, Senate Bill No. 1910 will allow workers affected by calamities or disasters to protect themselves and their families, as well as their properties.

"Ours is a tropical country and our industries thrive in water. But the force of the earth that catapults us to our growth as a nation is the same force that endangers our people," she said.

Under her proposed measure, an employee who has rendered at least six months of service should be entitled to a five-day calamity leave with pay in times of natural calamities or disasters.

Qualified to take a "calamity leave" are those who are stranded in calamity-stricken areas, those who have incurred disease or illness, or need to take care of family members, or to attend to repair and clean up their damaged properties during calamity or disaster.

The grant of a five-day calamity leave, however, shall be subjected to careful verification, including the declaration of calamity, medical certificate, announcement of work suspension, road closure, availability of public transportation, among others.

De Lima, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, said the government should strike a balance between the duties of every Filipino as an employee and his primal instinct to survive during emergencies.

"The fight to survive is the daily concern of every Filipino, but it is more important when Mother Nature herself makes her presence known," said De Lima, currently detained over drug-related charges that she said were part of political persecution by the Duterte administration. —KBK, GMA News