In a meeting with the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) March 24, DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the government is poised to adopt what it calls “prudent declaration of non-working holidays through presidential proclamation.”

Baldoz said in her presentation there will be no additional non-working holidays other than the 15 regular ones under the labor code.

Additions will be subject to company policy upon mutual agreement of labor and management, she noted.

JFC said too many holidays, especially those which are unscheduled or unannounced, add cost and reduce productivity of manufacturing and services.

Ebb Hinchliffe, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), said the group is drawing up a study that would assess the impact of non-working holidays on the operations of especially large AmCham members, with Procter and Gamble, PMFTC (Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. Inc.) and Chevron as examples.

Hinchliffe said results of the study would be out in May.

The group laments the fact that aside from the holidays already mandated by law, local governments and the president declare holidays.

“AmCham and other member-organizations of the Joint Foreign Chambers met last March 24 with Baldoz to raise, among other things, concerns on the high number of non-working holidays in the Philippines,” it said.

JFC noted this is affecting the competitiveness of the Philippines.

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) also had an audience with Baldoz and separately with officials of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) on the same issue.

“DOLE is on our side, understanding that the declaration of more non-working holidays undermines the competitiveness of the country,” ECCP said in a report.

Elmer San Pascual, spokesperson of PEZA, said export firms in economic zones were particularly caught off-guard by the declaration of the Chinese New Year as a public holidays well as the observance of the Muslim holidays, which add up to the number of breaks of workers and subsequently an additional burden to employers.

San Pascual said most affected are those with 24/7 operations as well as business process outsourcing companies.

But in her presentation, Baldoz said the Philippines has the same number of national holidays as that of Malaysia and Thailand. Vietnam has the lowest number at 10.

She added the holiday pay rates in the Philippines are also competitive with the rest of Asean at 200 percent, except for Lao which pays 250 percent up to 350 percent.

Baldoz cited the Philippines has a shorter number of mandatory annual leave at five days compared to six for Thailand, 12 for Indonesia and 13 for Vietnam and Malaysia.

This year, the Philippines marks 19 non-working national holidays, not including those imposed by local governments.

Source: Malaya Business Insight