– NO MORE HOLIDAY ECONOMIC na DAW???
Malacañang has apparently gotten over its penchant for shifting holiday observances as part of its “holiday economics,” a term coined by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2001 to boost tourism.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the annual Labor Day celebration will be observed across the country on the date itself, which this year falls on a Tuesday.
Under holiday economics, Labor Day would have been observed on Monday, April 30, giving employees a long weekend. This would have made Tuesday a work day.
Under the law, employers must pay 200 percent of their daily rate to employees who report for work on legal holidays — January 1, April 9, May 1, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, June 12, the last Sunday of August (National Heroes Day), the end of Ramadan, November 30, Christmas Day and December 30.
On special holidays, employers must pay 30 percent over the regular rate. These are August 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day), November 1, election day, the last day of the year, Black Saturday and holidays that may be declared from time to time by the President, according to Rose Viray, compensation and benefits head of the Inquirer.
President Arroyo on Tuesday issued Proclamation No. 1279 declaring Monday, May 14, a special public (nonworking) holiday nationwide “to give the people the fullest opportunity to exercise their right of suffrage” and vote.
“Nobody should be working during elections because it is worth going and exercising your right of suffrage,” Ermita said.
When Arroyo introduced holiday economics at the beginning of her presidency, questions were raised on the soundness of moving holidays in order to give workers long weekends.
Critics claimed this would result in lower output and affect economic productivity. Others said this was tantamount to tinkering with history via executive fiat.
But National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) figures showed that if business in tourism and related industries increased by 10 percent as a result of the long weekends, the economy would actually experience a 3.5-percent growth, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).
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