A party-list lawmaker on Monday urged the private sector employers to release the 13th-month pay or year-end bonus of their employees early.

Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor said paying the bonus ahead of the December 25 schedule would be a “gesture of compassion” on the part of employers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“That will surely ease the financial burden our workers and our people have to face everyday because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic difficulties. Many of them are forced to resort to borrowing money just to make both ends meet,” he said.

He said private sector employees could also do early shopping to escape the Christmas chaos.

Bonus of gov’t workers

Defensor said more than 1.5 million workers in the government will receive their Christmas bonus starting this week.

He said under Section 8 of Republic Act No. 11466 or Salary Standardization Law 5, the year-end bonus equivalent to one-month salary, plus a PHP5,000 cash gift, “shall be given in November of every year”.

He said this is restated in National Budget Circular No. 579, which Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado issued in January this year.

“I am assuming that the budget secretary has released the funds needed for the payment of the government workers’ Christmas bonus and PHP5,000 cash gift,” Defensor said.

He said if the funds are already available, agencies could begin giving the bonus on Nov. 15.

“And since this week’s payday falls on Sunday, the bonus could be advanced as early as Thursday for personnel on a four-day workweek, or Friday for those on the usual five-day work schedule, or on Monday,” he said.

RA No. 11466, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in January, contains the newest four-year salary upgrading program in the bureaucracy.

Under the law, the lowest-paid worker gets an adjusted monthly salary of PHP11,551 up to PHP12,244, depending on length of service, this year. The pay increases to PHP13,000-P13,780 in the fourth year (2023).

On the other hand, the highest-paid official, the President, receives PHP407,734 this year. His salary goes up to PHP431,718 in 2023.

Defensor said the law, however, does not apply to President Duterte and incumbent members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Constitution prohibits them from being beneficiaries of their official acts. (PNA)